The British Adult Residential College

Abstract

A CTING on the principle that education is a lifelong process as broad as society and as varied as life, British educators in recent years have established a number of adult residential colleges, inspired, in part, by the folk colleges of Denmark, but peculiarly adapted to the demands of British life. In these colleges persons over eighteen may learn while they earn, without any thought of degrees, certificates, credits, and other tangible awards usually associated with university life. Authority for the establishment of these adult colleges is derived from the Education Act of I944, which states that it is no longer simply the ' permissive function of the Local Education Authorities but their actual duty to provide some type of approved fulland part-time education for persons over the compulsory school age of fifteen, and to furnish the means for time occupation in such organized cultural training and recreative activities as are suited to their requirements.' Adult education is receiving more attention today in Great Britain than in the United States, and Americans can learn much from British work in this field. The British regard adult education as a third stage in educational life; it is a continuation of the secondary and county-college system which provides for students aged fifteen to eighteen who are employed but who are required to attend school parttime. In comparison with the regular school curriculum, adult education in the residential colleges is more closely related to the demands of contemporary society; it is not primarily concerned with the acquisition of basic skills.2 In recent years the residential college has sought to cope with postwar social confusion, especially as regards the problem of increased leisure time. The courses of study are intended to provide an understanding of both national and world problems. Men and women today need practical information not only concerning their own lives and occupations and the situations which may arise within their own community, but also about the crucial issues that plague the peoples of all countries. In spite of their inherited preference for the terminal qualities of schooling, the British realize that adult education is indispensable if citizens are to