Working Lives in the Coal Mines: Mining History and Heritage

This course explores the experiences of workers in the coal mining industry from the 1840s to the 1920s and its impact on Britain. It is offered by the University of Strathclyde through Future Learn, an online education platform.

On this course, participants are exposed to the history and heritage of British mining labour. They'll discover the evolution of the role of coal-miners in the 19th century, the hardships they endured, and learn how mining has affected British industrial heritage today. The course consists of four modules, each focused on a different kind of worker associated with the mining industry and the particular challenges they faced: the collier; the child miner; the surface worker; and the trade unionist.

Some of the learning outcomes of the course are:

• Learning historical, literary and genealogical research skills through online resources and museum archives
• Assessing mining artefacts and representations of life in the mines
• Relating to wider issues of class, gender, and political and professional identity