Recent adult education in Great Britain

Abstract

The four major forces in British adult education are the Ministry of Education, the universities, the Workers' Educational Association (W.E.A.), and the Local Education Authorities (L.E.A/s). Traditionally their relations have been regarded as a partnership. The Ministry provides grants to Districts of the W.E.A. and to University Extra-Mural De? partments. L.E.A.'s also make grants and are required to operate schemes for further education which allow for the provision of classes by the universities and the W.E.A. The W.E.A. is linked to the universities by the fact that the most advanced types of courses it organizes, university tutorial and sessional classes, may be provided only by universities. To administer the body of work which results each university has a joint committee which includes representatives of the W.E.A. Although there is this network of co-operative relations the universities and the W.E.A. also arrange courses and classes independently of each other. In the case of the universities these are described as 'University Extension' and may consist of anything from short courses of two or three lectures to classes which last for three years. Likewise the W.E.A. may arrange one-year, terminal and informal courses without reference to the universities. The L.E.A.'s are able to provide anything they think desirable; the limits to what they do are determined partly by their enterprise and partly by the need to take into account the activities of the universities and the W.E.A.