Dear James and ESOL colleagues friends an comrades
I am overwhelmed at this message. It touches me very deeply. This and the NATECLA Lifetime Achievement Award mean more to me that all the thanks and honours that I have received now and over the years. My involvement
with you the ESOL Community and especially the Action for ESOL Campaign have enriched me immeasurably. The AfE Campaign was probably the best campaign that I have been part for something like 45 years. It was energetic enthusiastic imaginative and above all
fun and successful.
As some of you know i am intending to keep in touch and be part of the ESOL community and Campaigns post UCU. I have an unwaged post at the Institute of Education which means I will be continuing to work and
research around FE. I have offered to continue to work for NATECLA and AfE as an unpaid consultant and political analyst on things like funding.
Many many thanks to you all And see you post UCU
Dan
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of James Simpson
Sent: 09 December 2013 08:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dan Taubman
Members of the ESOL-Research Network will know the name Dan Taubman, the University and College Union’s lead official on FE and Lifelong Learning. What you may not know is that Dan is soon to retire
after many years in education, the last 20 years with NATFHE/UCU.
In July 2013, NATECLA recognised Dan's contribution to ESOL by awarding him a NATECLA Lifetime Service to ESOL Award in recognition of his significant contribution to language teaching and learning. We'd like to take this opportunity here to share our huge
appreciation of Dan's work on behalf of ESOL.
Dan has long been a tireless supporter of ESOL teachers and ESOL provision, most recently the Action for ESOL campaign in which he played a key role. During the campaign he used his extensive knowledge of the FE system, and his links with government and a range
of FE bodies, to support the grassroots activism that defined that struggle. Unlike some full-time union people, Dan saw himself as a resource for the campaign – a source of insight and information but deeply respectful of the professionalism, knowledge and
initiative of what he called 'the ESOL community'. In particular, he deserves thanks for ensuring that UCU funded the costs of the ESOL Manifesto (you can access this at
www.actionforesol.org).
Of course, members of the network will recall that the Coalition was not the first government to cut ESOL funding. In 2007, New Labour also proposed major cuts. Dan was instrumental in pulling together ‘Save ESOL’, the alliance of ESOL teachers, NATECLA, other
trade unions, local and national social and refugee groups, charities and so on, who were successful in persuading the government to think again about the extent of the proposed cuts.
But as Dan would be the first to recognise, his relationship with ESOL hasn't all been one way. We know that he has been inspired by the activism and values he has found amongst ESOL teachers, and that he regards the ESOL community at its best as exemplifying
the democratic professional ethos he has always championed. Certainly, many of us would concur with his view that, whilst skills are crucial, adult learning should also be about 'liberation, empowerment and equality', as he put it in an interview in FE Week
in 2011.
Sadly, the idea of adult education for social change has been much eroded, often with the collusion of FE 'leaders’. Dan's latest initiative was to bring together practitioners and academics in trying to think through how a 'social purpose', democratic professionalism
can be brought back into further education. He plans to continue working on this issue, to which ESOL practitioners have much to contribute. And the good news is that he will also keep working on ESOL campaigns after his retirement so we can maintain our essential
links with UCU and the broader trade union movement.
We're sure that members of this network will want to thank Dan for his work in promoting ESOL and will want to wish him a brilliant (and productive) retirement.
Rob Peutrell, Melanie Cooke, Judy Kirsh.