1.
The practicalities and pedagogies of adult
learning co-operatives: the case of
Leicester Vaughan College
Richard Hall ¦ @hallymk1 ¦ rhall1@dmu.ac.uk ¦ richard-hall.org
Malcolm Noble ¦ @malcolmjnoble ¦ malcolm.noble@vaughan.coop

2.
authoritarian managerialism: autonomy and accountability
human capital theory
markets and money: cognitive dissonance
discourses of productivity, excellence, entrepreneurship and impact
declining participation by mature learners, part-time study
academic, professional service staff and student ill-being

3.
A co-operative is an autonomous association of
persons united voluntarily to meet their common
economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations
through a jointly owned and democratically-
controlled enterprise.
International Co-operative Alliance (n.d.). Cooperative identity, values &
principles. https://bit.ly/2ttpFWG

4.
Values Principles
Self-help
Self-responsibility
Democracy
Equality
Equity
Solidarity
Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Co-operation among Co-operatives
Concern for Community

5.
• Leicester Vaughan College: a new kind of institution in an
established tradition: Lower fees, no VCs;
• civic-facing education to working people in Leicester (1862);
• skills for leisure and interest, as well as work;
• joins UoL in 20th
Century;
• Vaughan College closed; disestablishment of Centre as
academic Department (2013/16);
• re-founded as a Community Benefit Society (2017).

6.
LVC Community Benefit Society Objects
•education as a public good
•a broad range of students from diverse communities
•fully-accredited, face-to-face, part-time learning open to anyone
•benefits communities in addressing the challenges faced by
society
•support an equitable and sustainable working context
•reflect local needs, and our local and economic context
•an alternative model of HE pedagogy over profit.

7.
Introductory Counselling
Courses
Humanities courses
Interdisciplinary
courses
Counselling CPD
HE Cert Counselling *
HE Cert Human Culture
and History
HE Cert Social
Sciences
HE Cert Drug and Alcohol
Counselling
HE Cert Heritage and
Conservation
HE Cert Psychology and
Counselling
DIP Counselling
DIP Human Culture and
History
DIP Social Sciences
DIP Drug and Alcohol
Counselling
DIP Psychology and
Counselling
BA Counselling (top up)
BA Human Culture and
History
BSc Social Sciences
MA Counselling MA Society and Culture

8.
Learning about the co-operative movement
• Studying co-operation explicitly across disciplines
• Co-operative studies within a discipline
• Embedding co-operative learning
Co-operative pedagogy: student-as-producer
The Co-operative as a site of pedagogic production

9.
Against what the University has become
democracy into/through the curriculum
inter-disciplinarity/beyond the discipline
uncover alienated-labour and its mediations
less harmful conditions of production

10.
the real intellectual wealth of the individual depends
entirely on the wealth of [her] real connections.
Only this will liberate the separate individuals… Bring
them into practical connection with the production
(including intellectual production) of the whole world
and make it possible for them to acquire the capacity to
enjoy this all-sided production of the whole earth
Marx and Engels (1846/1998). The German Ideology, p. 59.

11.
www.vaughan.coop
@VaughanCoop
Leicester Vaughan College Limited, c/o Leicester Adult Education College, Belvoir
Street, Leicester LE1 6QL.
Registered with the FCA as a Community Benefit Society no 7622.
A member of Co-ops UK M045624.
UK Register of Learning Providers: UKPRN 10067087

12.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.