Save the date: “Exploring Class” Training of Trainers, Gloucestershire, 27 September - 2 October 2025

Two of our founders, shan and Dom, are organising an important training session this Autumn. All details below. See you there!

Do you want to support social-change groups and individuals to examine the way class impacts our lives and our social movements? Do you want to build and strengthen your facilitation skills, applying them to the ways class turns up in your meetings, workshops and trainings? If so, our four-day “Exploring Class Training of Trainers” might be for you.

This intensive, participatory training is organised and facilitated by D. Hunter and shan stephens.  Since 2018 we’ve been running workshops on class up and down the UK, for individuals, co-ops, social-change groups, and organisations. In particular, our 2-day “Exploring Class” workshop supports participants to reflect on their own class stories and experiences, dig into how class dynamics show up in our organising spaces and groups, and practice disrupting these dynamics while planning for change.

Throughout this time we’ve had to turn down workshop requests due to a lack of facilitators, experienced and knowledgeable on class issues, who we could call upon for support. We believe in the merit of these workshops and would like to see them spread through our social movements, developing in content and form.

To this end, we’ve decided to organise and facilitate this training of trainers, with the primary goal of supporting working-class facilitators to lead multi-day workshops on class. The training is based on experiential learning and popular education, and will also draw on a variety of theory and concepts.  You’ll have opportunities for practice and feedback, and to address specific questions and challenges.

The training aims to:

1. Dig deeper into the content and methodology of “Exploring Class” workshops.

2. Build participants’ skills in working with their own classed experience. 

3. Increase participants’ capacity for listening to and responding appropriately (both challenging and supporting) to voices from other class backgrounds.

4. Develop participants’ facilitation practice.

5. Unpack some conceptual and theoretical tools around class and facilitation.

6. Provide an opportunity to take risks, experiment, and refine facilitation skills in a supportive environment.

7. Receive personal guidance from experienced facilitators and trainers in a small group setting.

8. Meet and learn from peers and other facilitators.

   
   
   
   

Who are the trainers?

shan stephens (they/them) is from a blue-collar, working-class background in rural Canada.  I am also white, non-disabled, queer, and trans. I’ve been facilitating and training in Scotland and across Europe since 2006 and have been involved with Tripod Training throughout much of that time. I’ve organised and facilitated numerous residential trainings, training-of-trainers, and other gatherings and  learning spaces for social movements. I co-founded The Class Work Project and edited several editions of Lumpen: a journal for poor and working-class writers. I’ve been active in climate justice organising, autonomous spaces, and tenants rights.

Dom Hunter (he/him) is a white cis-male who spent the first 25 years of my life living in the lumpen-proletariat and working in informal economies. The last 20 have been spent organising in working-class communities and social justice movements more broadly. The former has always inspired and defined how I enter and engage with the latter.  I’ve written two books about these experiences called Chav Solidarity and Tracksuits Traumas and Class Traitors. I am a founder of the The Class Work Project and Lumpen: a journal for poor and working-class writers, as well as A Revolting Class (ARC). Over the last 7 years my political work has primarily been organising with and facilitating lumpen and working-class communities who are using a variety of different methods to organise and survive pending revolution. 

Who is the training for?

We will prioritise poor and working-class applicants, but welcome participants from all class backgrounds. We are especially interested in supporting racialised people from poor and working-class backgrounds to attend, as they have been underrepresented in our workshops – despite being overrepresented in the working-class more broadly (please get in touch to discuss what we can do to support your attendance).

Everyone attending the Training of Trainers should have previously attended a 2-day ‘Exploring Class’ workshop.  If you have not yet done this, there are two opportunities this summer: 28-29 June in Edinburgh OR 12-13 July in Brighton.

Some experience in training or facilitation is preferable, though not required for poor and working-class participants.  Participants from petit-bourgeois, middle-class, or owning-class backgrounds should have some previous experience with facilitating or training on anti-oppression themes.

If you’re not sure if the training is for you, please get in touch at exploringclass2025@gmail.com.

Practicalities

The training will be hosted at Oak Raven in Gloucestershire.  The venue is fully wheelchair accessible and vegan/veggie meals will be provided.  Most accommodation will be in dorm rooms/bunk beds, with a limited number of smaller rooms reserved for accessibility needs.  There is also the possibility to camp, if you bring your own tent.

All participants should arrive between 3:00-5:00pm on 27th September (Saturday).  We will have dinner together and have a brief introductory session in the evening.  The training will end at 11:00am on 2nd October (Thursday).  Due to the experiential nature of the workshop, it is not possible to arrive late or depart early. 

Accessibility

We are committed to ensuring this training is accessible to a wide range of participants.  We will use a mixture of written and verbal content, and share resources and notes in written form after the training.  We can share some content beforehand upon request.  Please note there may be evening sessions on some days, but we will be mindful of providing ample breaks and rest. Please let us know about any access requests when registering.

Cost

Although we are pursuing a variety of avenues to fund the training, we are expecting there to be a charge to attend.  Below is a guideline, according to our sliding scale.  If we secure additional funding, we will lower the fees and provide extra support to those facing barriers to attending.  If you’re not sure where you fit or need to discuss this further, write to us.

Individuals

£600 - £1000+	Those with lots of capital – especially professional managerial class and owning class people. This is the redistributive tier.  [The full cost per person is £550, based on 18 participants.]
£300 - £550	Petit-bourgeois and middle-class folks who have some financial security (either themselves or through friends and family), or who are voluntarily under-employed/studying.
£50 - 200	Poor and working-class folks who are able to contribute to the cost of their place.
We have a limited number of bursaries, including travel costs, available to poor and working-class people who couldn’t otherwise attend.

Organisations

£500 - £1250	Small to medium organisations with staff and training budgets
£300 - £500	Small organisations with limited budgets and no paid staff
Contact us to discuss cost if you are from a larger organisation (10+ staff) and would like to attend.

Registering

To register your interest in attending, please fill in this form.  The deadline for registrations is 12pm, Monday 2nd June.  We aim to get back to you to confirm your place by Tuesday 3 June. Don’t forget that you also need to be available to attend the Edinburgh workshop (29-30 June) or Brighton workshop (12-13 July) if you haven’t already participated in an ‘Exploring Class’ workshop. Please fill out the application form for that too!

Questions?

Get in touch at exploringclass2025@gmail.com.