Labour and Trade Union Studies (MA)

Overview

This course will appeal especially to those who work for, or are active in, a labour movement organisation. The core modules provide the historical background and contemporary framework for an understanding of the issues facing the labour and trade union movement in its national and international settings. Optional and research methods modules, together with the dissertation, provide an opportunity for more specialist work, which can be related to your own trade union or employment sector. The course is taught by staff from the Centre for Trade Union Studies. We work closely with other staff from the university, including those in the Working Lives Research Institute, and can draw on the unrivalled resources of the TUC Library Collections and The Women’s Library, both housed at the University

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/fass/

Applying and entry

PLEASE NOTE There is no official closing date for this course, but you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only consider your application if there are places available on the course.

Tel: 020 7133 4202
Email: admissions@londonmet.ac.uk

Good Honours degree or equivalent. If you have lower qualifications but substantial relevant work or trade union experience, you are also encouraged to apply. You will be asked to provide a written summary of your work history and show how it relates to the aims of the course.

Course contents

Course structure

The course structure consists of two core taught modules, four optional modules and a triple-module dissertation.

Compulsory modules are:

• Labour in the Global Economy
• The Ideology and Politics of Trade Unionism
• The History and Sociology of Work
• Research Methods

 Optional modules include:

• Employment Law and Practice
• Finding Gender in the Archives
• Governance and the Public Sector
• Europe Since 1918
• European Integration
• History & Theory of Human Rights
• Women, Gender and Human Rights
• Collecting Life Histories
• Employment Relations
• European Integration
• Human and Social Capital
• Social Identities and Collectivity

 Read more details about the modules

A dissertation of 12,000-15,000 words is required for the MA.

Assessment

Assessment is through course project work and essays.

Careers

Career opportunities

On completing this course you will be well placed to develop a career in trade union, labour movement and industrial relations settings. You will also have developed skills useful for other non governmental organisations and research organisations. You may also apply to develop your dissertation into an MPhil/PhD.

Student profiles