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Tony Brown and Bob Boughton
Background
The AMWU is pioneering a significant expansion of its education for full time officials and officers (that includes opportunities for accreditation), as well as the continued development of its program for delegates and activists.
This is an ambitious and unique education and training program that aims to develop effective, informed, mindfully militant and inspiring organisers and other officials.
The program has been developed in a context where union density is falling across industries and more specifically within the manufacturing industry. The Australian union movement has adopted ‘organising’ as its key strategy for renewal, is employing new education programs and curricula to support this shift in approach, and an emerging literature is discussing the impact of this change.
The AMWU is committed to developing the most effective way of organising in order to develop a growth strategy, and to prepare its membership to defend their conditions and be industrially and politically assertive. Components of this strategy include prioritising organising, education, leadership development, accountability and internal management systems that are integrated to make a strong union.
The AMWU education program differs from programs adopted by other Australian unions. Evaluating the new program will provide information to the AMWU about the introduction of the program, about attitudes towards the program and in particular any changed attitudes, and will consider ways of strengthening the program and contribute to its future evolution.
Method
We understand that at the time of writing around 80 AMWU staff have participated in some part of the education program.
We propose an evaluation methodology that will assist the union to:
- determine the program’s effectiveness
- make judgements and future decisions,
- assist in managing resources, and
- improve the program.
Our approach would involve focusing on the breadth of the program and how it fits in with the union’s overall policies and strategies. Our approach will be a collaborative one in that it will involve researchers, National Education Staff and other nominated AMWU officers.
We see the evaluation as having five stages:
- Familiarisation – understanding the context and rationale for the program and its educational design. This will include a discussion of the contemporary literature around organizing theory and practice.
- Observation – designing the detail of the study. Questions that would guide this stage include:
- Why was the program introduced?
- What are its intended outcomes?
- How do officers, staff and other relevant members feel about the program?
- Who are the key stakeholders? (Union Divisions, State Branches, officials, members?)
- vWhat are the costs and benefits of the program?
- What constraints are operating
- Information gathering – this would include interviews and questionnaires, course observation, and reference to documents and policies. We will aim to identify understandings of the program, attitudes to the education program, participant assessment of the courses; and trace any changes in attitudes and behaviour.
- Analysis – The collected information will be analysed and discussed. We are conscious that this type of evaluation requires regular revision. New questions will arise as information comes to hand and we will seek to be flexible enough to incorporate this data and to check it with key figures in the union. We suggest that at this stage a seminar be convened with education staff and select officers, including course participants, where interim findings are presented and discussed.
- Reporting – The evaluation findings will be reported to the union. An important aspect of the report will be how the evaluation can equip the union to make judgements and decisions to shape and strengthen the program’s future.
Having already mapped the union modules against the Business Services ITAB Unionism competencies and having attended one of the short courses we have achieved a degree of familiarisation with the program and its intentions.
Summary
We see this research as being both a:
- formative evaluation – that is, feedback gathered during courses and through the conduct of the research with educators, officials and participants will be regularly discussed allowing reflection-in-action to take place thereby enabling the research to be continuously re-assessed, and
- summative evaluation between researchers and stakeholders, that is it will assist in judging the worth of the program at the end of the program activities.
Advantages to the AMWU are that it will:
- utilise expertise in design, delivery, assessment and evaluation in adult education and learning, thereby adding value to the program
- result in a written evaluation that places the AMWU program in the wider literature and context of organising practice and union research and education.
- build relationships between university-based educators/researchers, themselves trade union activists, and an important national trade union. Such partnerships develop collaborative capacity building and mirror similar capacity building approaches utilised by employers for many years.
Advantages for the researchers is the
- opportunity to develop more detailed knowledge of a field in which we have ongoing research and teaching interests,
- opportunity to apply our research interests and expertise in a field that shares our political commitment.
Timeframe
A possible timeframe for consideration would be:
Stages I and II to commence mid 2004
Stage III Initial survey of attendees and non-attendees
Individual interviews with random sample of:
Officers (national, state and Division officials)
Course participants
Where possible follow-up interviews would be conducted over a 6 or 12 month period.
Stage IV Analysis and feedback discussions would be conducted in late 2004 / early 2005.
Seminar would be convened in late 2004
Stage V Report submitted in first half 2005.
Future development
The final report should also give some attention to how an ongoing evaluation strategy could continually ‘assess’ the program and to consider how the education strategy might be further adapted so that the union can build into its operations a Knowledge Management strategy.
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