In 1903 Albert and Frances Mansbridge established the "Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men". It brought together various supporters of working-class education from churches, trade unions, the Co-operative Movement and the University Extension Movement. It was renamed the "Workers' Educational Association" (W.E.A.) in 1905, partly in recognition of the legitimate claims of working women to higher education. From the earliest days it championed the rights of working-class men and women to study. It had a long and fruitful connection with the Cradley Heath Workers' Institute, from shortly after it opened in 1912, until well into the 1930s.
The aim of the W.E.A. was to, not only provide education, but also to campaign for equal and lifelong access to education for everyone. This was to be achieved by extending university teaching, a topical issue in 1903, but also by working in partnership with hundreds of working class and community organisations.
Albert Mansbridge became the W.E.A.'s first full time secretary in 1906. William Temple, the Bishop of Manchester, was elected its first president. In the early days the only consistent source of funding was for students studying the three year tutorial classes. It was in 1907 that the W.E.A. was first in receipt of government (Board of Education) grant-in-aid. Weekly classes and regular essay writing over a three year period called for a major time commitment. Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, larger numbers of men than women were able to enrol in the tutorial classes.
Tutorial classes first started in 1908 in Longton, Staffordshire and Rochdale, Lancashire. In 1913 R.H.Tawney, eminent historian, social critic, and one of the founding fathers of the W.E.A., approved a meeting to discuss the formation of a tutorial class in the Cradley Heath Workers' Institute. The proposal was greeted enthusiastically and sixty names were put forward for a tutorial class on economic history.
In 1909 the W.E.A.Women's Advisory Committee was established to investigate the provision of adult education classes for women. Alice Wall was appointed the W.E.A.'s first Women's Officer in 1910. By 1914 there were 145 tutorial classes with 3,234 students, 179 branches and over 2,500 affiliated societies. The Trade Union Movement accounted for 953 of these affiliations. In all, the W.E.A. had nearly 11,500 individual members. The first grants from the Trades Union Congress (T.U.C.) and the National Union of Teachers (N.U.T.) were received in 1922. By 1923 there were W.E.A. branches in India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Tasmania.
For the relatively small numbers of women tutorial students the impact was extraordinary. Maud Royden, an Oxford tutorial class lecturer described the women who were studying Shakespeare in her Oldham women's class. She wrote, "They not only stayed the course but, at the close of each class, accompanied me down the street to the railway station still arguing and discussing, stood on the platform while I, my head out of the carriage window, continued the class, and made their last contributions to the discussion in shouts above the roar of the train as it pulled out of the station. Can you beat it?" (Munby, 2003, p217)
The tutorial class, along with trade union education, the other "flagship" W.E.A. provision, attracted more men than women, but the position was reversed for the W.E.A.'s "pioneer" work, which today might be called "outreach" or "informal community learning". It included lecture programmes, study circles and social groups.
Core elements of the women's curriculum were health and hygiene, books and reading. Between 1910 and 1930 there were large numbers of women's history courses, which tended to focus on reclaiming and celebrating achievements. They included, "Famous Women", "The Historical Position of Women" and "The History of the Home". Courses did not always focus on women's immediate concerns. In 1914 a London girls' club ran a W.E.A. newspaper class. In 1931 London women trade unionists attended a Saturday school on "Industrial Conditions in India". In the period between the two world wars numerous Women's Co-operative Guild classes explored "World Problems".
In 1913 the W.E.A.'s magazine, "The Highway", reported that, "Miss Helen Stocks lectured on education and democracy at the Cradley Heath Workers' Institute. Miss Stocks worked for the women chainmakers in their strike some time ago, so she came as no stranger to the neighbourhood. Her lecture was the first of a series which is proving successful. There is talk of a preparatory class for next winter. it is possible that a special class for women chainmakers may be started, and the subject that seems to meet with favour is music." A singing class was established later that year.
Music, dance and drama proved to be popular elements in the women's curriculum in other areas. Morris dancing and folk dancing flourished. In 1912 the W.E.A. in Birmingham had a prize-winning working girls' choir as part of their thriving music section.
A glance through a 1935 copy of "The Torch", the W.E.A.'s West Midlands newsletter, reveals that lectures at the Workers' Institute included;
"Education and Citizenship" by Mr. J.M. Forster, B.A., M.Lit.,
"The Theory Of Religion in Communism" by Mr. H.G. Wood, M.A.,
"More's Utopia" by Mr. R.H. Coates,
"The significance of Nazism in Germany" by Mr. T. Evans,
"The Modern Press and Public Opinion" by Mr. W. Ingham, B.A.,
"What Good are Art and Literature to Me?" by Mr. Martin Gilkes, M.A.,
The W.E.A. also organised social events. In 1934 "The Torch" reported one such event held at the Cradley Heath Workers' Institute, which was attended by nearly seventy people. Two and a half hours of "solid enjoyment" were provided, including games organised by Miss Carter and Mr. Thompson, a dramatic item by Mrs. Gadd, Miss Jones and Miss Southall, dramatic monologues by Mr. Morris and piano solos by Miss Enid Johnson.
The W.E.A. continues today as the U.K.'s largest voluntary provider of adult education. It has maintained its commitment to provide access to education and learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education.
It is one of the U.K.'s largest charities, and operates at local, regional and national levels. Nine regions in England, a Scottish Association and over 650 local branches make up the W.E.A.'s National Association. Through these local and regional centres, today's W.E.A. runs over 100,000 courses each year, providing learning for more than 110,000 adults of all ages, and drawn from all walks of life. Courses are created and delivered in response to local need, often in partnership with local community groups and organisations.
The W.E.A. receives Government funding through the Learning and Skills Council in England, and in Scotland through the Scottish Executive and Local Authorities. The organisation also raises funds nationally and regionally, from a variety of other sources including the European Union and the National Lottery.
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| Updated: | Tue 17 Jul 2007 - 1 |
| Interpretation written by | Louis Howe |
| Author's organisation | Curatorial |
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