{"id":82,"date":"2020-05-31T09:27:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T09:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lightboxeslettering.com\/exhibition\/?p=82"},"modified":"2020-06-11T14:35:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T14:35:18","slug":"roles-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lightboxeslettering.com\/exhibition\/roles-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the past, going into the printing industry would usually have involved undergoing training and taking up an apprenticeship. This would mean working in a printing company, while continuing to learn a chosen role, whether as a compositor, machine minder, platemaker, camera operator, film assembler or retoucher. Most apprenticeships took four years. Many of these roles were thought of as being for men, and young women would not be advised to go into them by their careers advisers. In London most training and apprenticeships were undertaken at London College of Printing, now London College of Communication in Elephant & Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris Bone (left) and Colin Nixon at London College of Printing, 1968. Courtesy of Colin Nixon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most printing companies would only employ people who belonged to unions, and these became known as \u2018closed shops\u2019. The exception to this was in workers\u2019 co-operatives, where the structure meant that people who worked there were not employees and therefore could sometimes not join a union. Many of the radical presses took on people who wanted to be part of a political movement and so were not so strict about having completed the same levels of training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 21st<\/sup> century printing apprenticeships are much more rare and the industry as a whole is not often presented as an attractive option to young people leaving school. Like the processes and the roles that used to be involved in the print industry, many of the printing courses found in London College of Communication\u2019s archives now no longer exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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