A Preston education centre is aiming to help workers organise themselves democratically.

The Preston Co-operative Education Centre (PCEC) is collaborating with trade unions to develop a curriculum that will give workers a framework to take matters into their own hands.

Courses are being developed in trade union education and how unions can support co-operative and democratic practice.

The plan is to offer a variety of face-to-face, hybrid and virtual classes from the PCEC’s Church Street base.

With links to the Preston Model, the PCEC is influenced by the story of the Mondragón co-operatives in the Basque Country.

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A spokesperson for the PCEC, which was founded in 2021 as a union-coop, said: “The beginnings of the world’s most successful co-operative group in Mondragón began with years of education and training before the first co-operative was formed.

“Like Mondragón, we know that sustainability in co-operative business comes hand in hand with education and renewal. We are passionate about education, democracy and co-operation.”

They continued: “Our courses will meet the needs of our students, and will lead to a regeneration of democratic and co-operative ways of working for Preston and beyond.

“Our work will support people to create new co-operative businesses within a co-operative framework of community wealth building.

“We offer an alternative to standard business approaches. We believe in making the profits of our work benefit other co-operatives and local communities for the common good.”

To find out more, visit the Preston Co-operative Education Centre website.

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