Recent Workshops on Social Class Awareness in North London Schools

An A5 12pp self cover pamphlet with contributions by Stefan Szczelkun and Tracy Davidson. This was given to teachers at our awareness raising workshops in North London. It was intended to promote these workshops.Includes two graphic posters by Stefan Szczelkun. Free download. Postscript from the author 2019 Thoughts on the Class Awareness workshops 1993 > Thinking back this booklet does signal > the time when the limit on the > radical intentions of Equal > Opportunities was reached - at least > within institutional settings. Class > awareness would be a real challenge to > capitalism as class inequality is > intrinsic to its operation. I don’t > think there can be a capitalism > without class separation. > > From here on, a reformist version of > Equal Opps was gradually accepted as > the norm. The producers of the ‘pink > pound’ could assert their right to be > treated fairly, the long march of > women could be accommodated within > capitalism (as long as it was mainly > middle class women who were the > beneficiaries) and race awareness had > so many marketable benefits to all > (even with the recent backdrop of a > global fragmentation of Imperial > colonialisms) it could be grudgingly > supported as long as it had > aspirational goals. Even the struggle > of disabled people for access and > inclusive schooling would be given a > hesitant green (or was it amber?!) > light. > > EO in Britain was a sort of progress > and was a turn away from right-wing > forms of capitalism, and it did put a > dent into the invisability of > oppression. It also gave some insight > into the mechanisms of oppression in > general; like the way negative > self-images promoted by oppression > could be internalised and thoroughly > believed by the victims. And to a > lesser extent, a knowledge of how the > oppressor roles diminished us as > humans. But class liberation was > unthinkable by the powers that BE and > those who campaigned for it were > successfully isolated. > > Doing the few workshops we did I could > feel the fear rise in the audience of > teachers as we asked them to benignly > consider their own experience of > class. They might have accepted a > workshop based in facts and figures > (Only recently brilliantly summarised > by Diane Reay in her powerful book > ‘Miseducation’. see my review on > Goodreads) but to be challenged to be > open to learning about class > oppression, to learn about the way the > prejudice might be embedded in > their-self, felt potentially > explosive. This was not about a > literary knowledge but about > challenging embodied understanding. It > is tempting for me to think it was > mainly the older middle class teachers > who looked utterly distraught at the > simple questions we asked, but this > may have been my bias, and more recent > adopters of middle class manners might > have felt their emotional comfort or > stability equally under threat. > Anyway, for whatever reason, we were > not asked to do more workshops after > the first set! > > I had started ‘Working Press: books by > and about working class artists’ with > Graham Harwood in 1986. Our books did > seep into the school system though a > red mole I knew in the ILEA, along > with earlier stuff from the > ‘Federation of Worker Writers’ and > books by the few luminaries who had > insight into class oppression like Ken > Worpole. In 1987 the brilliant young > historian Hilda Kean had assembled and > written a major ‘discussion’ document > for the ILEA called ‘English > Teaching and Class’ (see the Open > Library for a contents list). It was > these widespread efforts that led to > us being asked to do the workshops for > teachers in North London .