A European Life

Eric Bourne came to Britain in 1933 as a nine-year old refugee from Nazi Germany. He received his education at Bunce Court School, the only school for refugees to have moved in full from Germany. To avoid internment as an enemy alien he worked on farms until, in 1943, he joined the British army from which he was demobilised with the rank of Lieutenant. He gained his degree in History from Queen Mary College (University of London) where he also served as President of the Students' Union and as Chairman of the National Association of Labour Student Organisations. Having been much affected by the fate and condition of uprooted children he felt drawn to work with displaced or disadvantaged young people, first in residential youth work in Essex and then as Warden of the newly established Pestalozzi Children's Village. In 1961 he took up the post of County Youth Officer for Derbyshire where, for the next seven years, he greatly expanded services for young people in a County that became a model for youth work nationally.

Eric joined the Inner London Education Authority in 1968 as an Inspector of Further Education and thus began the most productive and significant period of his career. Faced by the fact that hundreds of young people attending Colleges on apprenticeship and other low-level courses were effectively semi-literate and semi-numerate, he determined that the quality of their lives could be significantly improved if only they were presented with learning opportunities that encapsulated the practical demands of everyday life and work. Promoted to Staff Inspector he gathered around himself a team of advisory teachers which developed learning materials and learning strategies which engaged the interests and motivations of this cohort of young people for whom the academically-orientated school curriculum had been an unrewarding experience.

Prior to the untimely abolition of the ILEA by the Thatcher government, Eric Bourne involved himself heavily in the promotion of 'Access' courses whereby academically unqualified or disadvantaged adults could undertake studies in preparation for participation in professional and degree studies. He retired in 1985 and now lives with his American wife in the Peak National Park to which he became deeply attached during his seven years working in Derbyshire.