Association of Lecturers in Colleges of Education in Scotland records

Minutes and papers of Council meetings, including Chairman’s Committee and National Executive, 1957-1968, 1970-1984; Conditions of Service Committee correspondence and papers, 1959-1986; Regulations Committee minutes and papers, 1960-1966, 1971, 1975; Education Committee correspondence, reports and policy documents, 1964-1983; membership lists and lists of branch officials; general correspondence, 1958-1968, 1980-1983; correspondence and programmes for annual conferences, 1962-1974; newsletters and bulletins, 1961-1965, 1971-1975, 1979-1980, 1984-1985; ballot papers on the future of ALCES, 1974; liaison with trade unions and other organisations; branch meeting minutes.

The Association of Lecturers in Colleges of Education in Scotland (ALCES) was founded in 1959, following earlier moves, in 1954, to form a local association of college lecturers at Aberdeen College of Education. The move to found such an association may be linked to the restructuring of training colleges in Scotland in 1959. The colleges were removed from the control of the national and local provincial committees for the training of teachers and designated as colleges of education, each under their own board of governors. In 1959 there were colleges at Jordanhill in Glasgow, Moray House in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, together with two Roman Catholic colleges - Notre Dame in Glasgow and Craiglockhart in Edinburgh - and the specialist Dunfermline College of Physical Education for women students. Three new colleges would be opened in the 1960s in Hamilton, Ayr and Falkirk.
ALCES submitted comments on all the major issues in education from the 1960s onwards, including the closure of colleges of education in the 1980s. The organisation affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and Scottish Trades Union Congress in the 1970s. As the colleges of education reduced in number and the remaining colleges merged with local universities, ALCES merged with the Educational Institute of Scotland as the EIS-University Lecturer’s Association (EIS-ULA).

Mainly open, apart from membership records, which are closed to comply with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Acc 99/12

The Association of Lecturers in Colleges of Education in Scotland (ALCES) was founded in 1959, following earlier moves, in 1954, to form a local association of college lecturers at Aberdeen College of Education. The move to found such an association may be linked to the restructuring of training colleges in Scotland in 1959. The colleges were removed from the control of the national and local provincial committees for the training of teachers and designated as colleges of education, each under their own board of governors. In 1959 there were colleges at Jordanhill in Glasgow, Moray House in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, together with two Roman Catholic colleges - Notre Dame in Glasgow and Craiglockhart in Edinburgh - and the specialist Dunfermline College of Physical Education for women students. Three new colleges would be opened in the 1960s in Hamilton, Ayr and Falkirk.
ALCES submitted comments on all the major issues in education from the 1960s onwards, including the closure of colleges of education in the 1980s. The organisation affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and Scottish Trades Union Congress in the 1970s. As the colleges of education reduced in number and the remaining colleges merged with local universities, ALCES merged with the Educational Institute of Scotland as the EIS-University Lecturer’s Association (EIS-ULA).

Created by Victoria Peters, September 2012, from a paper list prepared by Margaret Harrison.

published