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Defines “open learning” and related terms, especially “flexible learning”. These terms focus on the provision of choice to individuals, over various aspects of the learning process. Describes critical stages in the evolution of open learning, including the Open University, National Extension College, collaborative developments with further and adult education colleges, the Open Tech Programme and the Training Agency′s flexible learning project in schools. Reviews progress in applying open learning: much has been achieved in extending learner autonomy, through the development of packages, associated support systems, and information technology. The national vocational qualifications framework requires the deployment of open approaches to learning delivery. Finally, surveys current challenges to the education and training systems and outlines responses to these, based on the achievements of open learning.

Earliest localism was sited on a tree or hill or ford, crossroads or whenceways, where people assembled to talk, (Sax. witan), or trade, (Sax. staple), in eggs, fowl, fish or faggots. From such primitive beginnings many a great city has grown. Settlements and society brought changes; appointed headmen and officials, a cloak of legality, uplifted hands holding “men to witness”. Institutions tend to decay and many of these early forms passed away, but not the principle vital to the system. The parish an ecclesiastical institution, had no place until Saxons, originally heathens, became Christians and time came when Church, cottage and inn filled the lives of men, a state of localism in affairs which endured for centuries. The feudal system decayed and the vestry became the seat of local government. The novels of Thomas Hardy—and English literature boasts of no finer descriptions of life as it once was—depict this authority and the awe in which his smocked countrymen stood of “the vicar in his vestry”. The plague freed serfs and bondsmen, but events, such as the Poor Law of 1601, if anything, revived the parish as the organ of local government, but gradually secular and ecclesiastical aspects were divided and the great population explosion of the eighteenth century created necessity for subdivision of areas, which continued to serve the principle of localism however. The ballot box completed the eclipse of Church; it changed concepts of localism but not its importance in government.

When the Open College was set up in 1987, ICI looked to the new institution as an extra resource to be used when relevant, within its approach to performance improvement. Experience with general presentation on open learning suggested the Open College was too focused on open learning as a “good thing”. Instead, the Open College and ICI developed an approach which started further back, by reviewing organisational performance and the extent to which this might be improved by training – and then if open learning was the appropriate route. The preparation and delivery of the new style presentation is detailed.

In Spring this year Birmingham City Council in the UK became the latest winner of the British Telecom lifelong learning education awards. Aiming to assist one of society’s most neglected groups, the council’s “e‐street” initiative intends to bring basic skills training through computers to homeless people. The £75,000 first prize goes a long way to highlight the increasing importance many institutions place on the concept of lifelong learning. The European Council defines lifelong learning as “learning activities carried out at any time in life and in a wide range of environments, undertaken with a view to improving knowledge and skills.”

Artificial contamination of chicken pieces with bioluminescent E. coli DH5a (pLITE 27) was used to examine the relationship between food hygiene interventions and the extent of contamination in a model kitchen. Analysis showed that, during the preparation of chicken casserole, bacteria were widely disseminated throughout the kitchen and equipment used. Food hygiene interventions were shown to reduce the extent of contamination. Demonstrates that effective cleaning and hand washing are important in preventing cross‐contamination in the domestic kitchen.

Outlines an institutional framework for identifying and rewarding excellence in teaching, drawing on an initiative developed at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. Describes the strategies adopted by the excellence in teaching working group, the outcomes of the project, and identifies how these have been implemented in the university’s promotions policy. Case study offers a framework for practitioners involved in raising the quality and profile of teaching in higher education through a recognition of the achievement of excellence.

Despite the title of this bibliography, there was not a truly underground press in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The phrase is amisnomer, reputedly coined on the spur of the moment in 1966 by Thomas Forcade when asked to describe the newly established news service, Underground Press Syndicate, of which he was an active member. The papers mentioned in this bibliography, except for the publications of the Weather Underground, were not published by secretive, covert organizations. Freedom of the press and of expression is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, although often only symbolically as the experience of the undergrounds will show, and most of the publications that fall into the “underground” described herein maintained public offices, contracted with commercial printers, and often used the U.S. Postal Service to distribute their publications.