1951 witnessed the beginning of a unique experiment in urban further education in Ireland with the founding of the Catholic Workers’ College in Dublin by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Originally intended to augment the initiatives in other parts of Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe, to instruct Roman Catholic workers in the teachings of the Church on social policy (“learning the encynicals”), this endeavour rapidly changed its focus to the more general education and preparation for task of union shop-stewards or representatives. The research project that forms the basis of this paper set out to investigate the cultural and church influences that informed the foundation of the college as well as the influences on curriculum development and the approaches to teaching and learning employed in those early years. Particular attention was paid to the dynamics of how the focus on church instruction shifted to one of literacy and political education as a result of the interactions between the first students and staff and how the young college negotiated its legitimacy and its status with the trade unions of the time.

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