This research project set out to examine a grassroots education initiative providing English language classes for precarious migrant workers at a UK higher education institution. Supported by BERA’s 2022/23 Small Grants Fund, the study had three key objectives:

• Gain a retrospective, in-depth and contextualised understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the initiative from the viewpoint of (i) organisers, (ii) volunteers and (iii) migrant workers.
• Critically investigate wider issues regarding precarious migrant workers’ experiences of linguistic disadvantage and access to language learning and wider learning opportunities in the workplace.
• Identify potential collaborations and engagement pathways with relevant actors across the institution in order to work towards a culture of social responsibility around the issue of developing (language) learning opportunities for precarious migrant workers.

Report summary

This report summarises the outcomes of a research project that examined a grassroots education initiative providing English language classes for precarious migrant workers at University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IOE). The classes were predominantly accessed by Latin American cleaners at the institution. The focus of the research was to understand the challenges and opportunities of the initiative, to critically investigate wider issues regarding precarious migrant workers’ access to language learning and wider learning opportunities in the workplace, and to advance potential collaborations and engagement pathways with relevant actors across the institution in order to promote a culture of social responsibility around this issue and to strengthen precarious migrant workers’ rights, inclusion and wellbeing at UK higher education (HE) institutions. HE institutions in the UK employ a significant number of precarious migrant workers, such as in cleaning, hospitality and security, who can have quite differing experiences. Cleaners are most likely to be faced particularly with being rendered to invisibility and impacted by language barriers due to the nature of the work and their less public-facing roles. The workers’ precarity and marginality are often further exacerbated by their roles being outsourced and not being directly employed by the university, which additionally diminishes their rights and inclusion with often detrimental effects on their wellbeing. It is hoped that this report and the research underpinning it will open a conversation about strengthening the rights, inclusion and wellbeing of this part of the workforce at UK HE institutions. Doing so would considerably leverage the social responsibility and impact as well as civic capacity of HE institutions to drive positive societal change, which has become a growing aspect of their accountability and legitimacy.