The infamous ‘Gizza job’ phrase seems just as (if not more) relevant now as what it meant in 1980’s Liverpool. Historically I come from generations of dockers who lived with this reality on a daily basis. Survival in this respect is built into my DNA.

The increasingly popular proliferation of zero hour contracts in education, of not knowing what each new day would bring in terms of teaching hours is a song we all now sing. The days of permanency and of the security that brings rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The strength of trade union support becoming a thing of nostalgia, a part of British social and economic history now dead.

In FE, my role is to prepare students for employment and this is why I believe ‘transferable skills’ are key to this happening yet ironically my own position in the employment market is just as uncertain and vulnerable as theirs. The ability to identify my own transferable skills are equally important. Adapting to the speed of an ever shifting cultural economy is now something we all have to face. It affects the student and teaching community. We are all in this boat together as we so often hear on news reports. Therefore, strategies are needed so that people sail through the turbulent, fragile seas and make it to shore.

This project represents my attempts at moving beyond survival for surviving alone is just not good enough anymore.