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The Workers' Educational Association
of Great Britain
by
Albert MANSBtIDGB
Founder and General Secretary (1903-1915) o/ the Workers'
Educational Association, Chairman of the World
Association for Adult Education
HE significance of the Workers' Educational Association lies
in the fact that it has succeeded in bringing about united
action by the umversities of England and the organisations
of working men and women. It has fused the influence of these
institutions into one strong and vital force for the development of
education among working men and women throughout the
country. In so doing it has helped to create a new attitude
towards education on the part of the community at large. The
new attitude revealed itself most clearly in the sudden demand
for increased educational facilities towards the end of the period
of the recent war. This demand is, however, in danger of falling
short of its promised fulfilment by reason of the stringent
financial condition of the country, but in any case the Association
has demonstrated most clearly that, if there is to be reform and
advance in the schools for children and adolescents, there must
be a keen, understanding, adult population exerting its influence.
The spirit and perception of a man or woman who is pursuing
education deliberately for himself, or herself, are altogether
different from those of one who is merely talking about it as an
idea. The great success of the Association lies in the fact that
it has developed large numbers of people who are working in
the true spirit of scholarship. With this introductory statement
it will be well to turn to the origin of the Association and the
ideas which led to its establishment.
OiUINS OF THE AssocA'rioN
The working men and women who stood most conspicuously
for education had been found ever since the middle of last
century in the Co-operative movement. With prophetic insight
the pioneers of the Rochdale Co-operative movement provided for
a grant for education out of their realised trading surplus before
the amount of the dividend upon purchases was determined.
There probably existed in their minds some memory of the
Mechanics' Institute movement, but as no direct connection can
be traced the conception of the idea must be attributed to that
.336 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW
instinctive desire of men and women for knowledge, not in the
narrow sense, but for education conceived as the development
-of both body and mind. A great amount of effort, expressing
itself in classes and lectures, is found throughout the Co-operative
movement, whether in the North or South of England. This
activity was stimulated and given direction by the great teachers
-and scholars who were chosen to speak at the annual Co-operative
congresses. In this way Professor Stuart, who founded University
Extension, Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, who first introduced citizen-
ship into the education code of the country, and Arnold Toynbee,
the 'brilliant Balliol tutor, did signal service to the cause of educa-
tion. The address of the last of these at Oxford in 1881 was of
-outstanding importance. From that time Co-operative education
had an organised and definite policy, the friendship with the
universities was cemented and sealed.
Eight years before this Professor Stuart, responding to the
requests made by working men, particularly the Trades Council
,of Nottingham, and by the North of England Council for promot-
ing the Higher Education of Women, had induced the University
,of Cambridge to found the University Extension movement. The
early lecturers went out with a sense of mission, and found in
the co-operative societies a base prepared and fit for their action.
Professor Stuart himself devised the actual form of the Extension
lectures as the result of ideas based on the obvious needs of the
-working men of Rochdale, successors of the Pioneers already
mentioned. The operation of University Extension revealed many
working-men scholars. They were not admitted to the universi-
ties in the normal way, but many of them attended the summer
'meetings, and on these occasions their enthusiasm became white-
hot. Among the most notable of these mer. was Robert Halstead,
until lately the secretary of the Co-operative Productive Federa-
tion. Year by year he organised parties of Co-operative students
-at Oxford and Cambridge, and for this he deserves to be remem-
bered as a pioneer.
The spirit of the Association was already there when, in 1003,
-the material expression of it was proposed. The articles which
founded the Workers' Educational Association-or "an Association
to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men", as it was
then called ()-pointed out the desire of working men and women
-to express themselves, and made it quite clear that this expression
-could only be secured through the development of education ;
further, that the education of working men by working men
-would prove to be narrow and circumscribed, but that, if working
men within the trade union and Co-operative movements joined
'hands with scholars, not only would the thought and power of
.ordinary people be developed, but scholarship would receive a
new infusion of spiritual and intellectual force. It was made
-quite clear that labour divorced from scholarship would be
'handicapped and hindered, but that scholarship divorced from
(1)Cf. Unversity Extension Journal, Jan., Mar., Apr., May 1903.
THE WORKERS' EDUCATIONMM ASSOCATION 337
labour would become artificial and turn in upon itself. It was.
an expression of the root idea that all the right activities of a
people have a direct influence upon intellectual and spiritual
growth. Suggestions had been made previous to this to unite the
Co-operative educational movement and the universities, but.
success was achieved in 1903 because trade unionists were
included. A small committee consisting entirely of trade unionists.
and Go-operators undertook the work prior to the first public
meeting held in Oxford on 22 August 1903.
At once the proposals of the Association struck the public
imagination and secured the aefinite support of the national trade
union and Co-operative bodies. It may be well to repeat here
the first actual statement of the Association consequent upon its.
formation.
Its immediate work will be:
(1)to make an exhaustive enquiry into the state of working-class
education in England, the results of which will be published from time to
time, and will form a basis of future action;
(2)to develop, strengthen, and extend the influence of existing agencies,
i. e. Co-operative classes, working men's clubs, local lectures, reading circles,
Polytechnics, Umversity Extension courses, etc.;
(3)to endeavour by means of an improved continuation school system,.
as well as by tutorial classes and pioneer lectures, organised by the
Association, to educate working men to such a point as will enable them to,
take full advantage of the systematised teaching provided In a University
Extension centre or college, which it is intended to place In every town and
district ;
(4) to provide special educational facilities for working men such as-
railwaymen who are prevented by the ordinary conditions of their employ-
ment from talng advantage of existing systems.
At this time the objective of the promoters of the Association
was altogether vague. This was the chief criticism passed upon
it, but, if any attempt had been made to be definite, no real results-
would have ensued. It was better to bring scholars and working-
people together regularly and see what resulted from this than
to attempt to predict the results beforehand. No one knew what-
was going to happen to the Association.
During the first year very little work was accomplished, but.
at the beginning of the second year, largely owing to the
enthusiasm of a working printer at Reading, the pioneer local
branch of the Association was established. Its constitution was'
drafted by representatives of the local co-operative society and
trade unions and the Principal of University College, Reading,
and proved to be an invention of an important and permanent
character. It was open to any educational or working-class.
organisation in the town to affiliate to the branch and to have
a representative upon the local council. This at once united the-
efforts of the town and made it possible to proceed to educational
work of a deliberate character. After this branches spread
rapidly and, appropriately enough, with most effect in the town
ofRochdale, which created an organisation consisting of over one-
hundred affiliated bodies. The wealth of educational effort which
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW
sprang up at this time was quile remarkable, and indeed hag
never been exceeded in the whole history of the Association.
In the annual report for 1907 records of 47 branches were
presented, but the income of the Association at that time had risen
to only £294. The work was accomplished as the result not of
financial aid but of generous effort on the part of working men
and women up and down the country and the entirely generous
attitude of scholars. This fourth annual report records 43 con-
ferences in various parts of the country; an enquiry into the
education of working women, five courses of lectures in the
University of Birmingham, perhaps the most remarkable series
of lectures ever given in London on the history of Westminster
Abbey, in the Abbey itself ; and enquiries into the attendance at
evening schools, work in connection with public libraries, the
development of curricula for working people, and, lastly, into
the history of working-class education (2). There can be no doubt
that the activity of the Association in its early years was wide-
spread and full of piomise. It was then that the foundations of
the Association were laid and the superstiucture planned, and in
its main principles the Association has not changed since.
CONSTITUTION OF THE AssOcIATION
An examination of the constitution of the Association may
perhaps be appropriate at this stage. Originally it was quite
loose. It allowed simply for individual membership, an executive
committee, local committees, an advisory council, and an annual
meeting. In the year 1907, acting on the instructions of the
annual meeting of 1906, a revised constitution was drawn up
providing for the- creation of district authorities as well as local
branches. Subject to certain necessary conditions the districts
were declared to be autonomous. This point is .Worthy of note,
because it largely determined the development of the Association
in later years. It was possible for members to join the central
body, or the district authority, or the local branch, or all three.
The annual meeting provided the means of ultimate control. This
constitution operated until 1915, when a new one was framed
which in a practically unaltered condition governs the Association
today Individual membership of the national body was
abolished. The annual meeting was also abolished, and the
government of the Association was placed in the hands of a
central council representative of the different districts and
affiliated national bodies. It was felt strongly, however, that the
powerful influence exercised by the annual meeting must not be
allowed to lapse, for at this gathering year by year people from
all over the country attended to hear inspiring educational
messages from leading scholars and workers, and intense
enthusiasm was aroused. Accordingly the revised constitution
(2) See A. E. DoBBS : Education and Soczat Movements, 1700-1850. London,
Longnians Green, 1919. 10s. 6d. This embodies the results of the enquiry.
THE WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCaTION39 339
provided for an annual convention which, although possessing
no legislative powers, would provide a platform for the discussion
of questions of national importance. During the war conventions
were not held, but during the last few years they have shown
signs of becoming as effective as the old annual meetings.
Thus the Association is open, and has always been open, to
every person and to every institution interested in the develop-
ment of the education of working people. * It has never been in
any sense a "class" movement, but it was recognised from the
outset that it could only succeed in its work if the bulk of its
membership was drawn from working men and women. It was
democratic in conception, and it was always in the minds of those
who were responsible for its development that, if the proportion
of working men and women in the Association fell below that
in the community-estimated roughly at 75 per cont.-the Associa-
tion would not only become vitiated, but scholars would cease to
take an interest in it, because the new note that it struck was as
a movement of working men and women reaching out for
scholarship. It had no other attractive power. Its pioneers
always asserted that every normal man or woman was ready to
seek knowledge and anxious for development. The experts
smiled at this belief, but it made the work of the Association
possible. It was found that a class could be formed from any
ordinary audience of working men and women, whether in town
or country.
TuToRmI CLASSES
It will, perhaps, be noticed that in the original aim of the
Association the term 'tutorial classes' was inserted. The crea-
tion of such classes in connection with the universities is the
achievement which, more than anything else, has justified the
educational reputation of the Association. The general effect of
the movement was produced by its advocacy of the 'highway'
of education as superseding the 'ladder' of education. The origin
of the university tutorial classes is simple. University Extension
lectures were organised at Rochdale with great effect, working
men forming the greater part of the audience; but these working
men felt that they had no opportunity of studying a subject
thoroughly. This problem was brought before the notice of the
central Workers' Educational Association, which suggested that,
if they could get 30 students who would pledge themselves to
study for a period of years and to write regular essays, the Associa-
tion would endeavour to secure them a teacher, appointed by a
university, who would satisfy their needs. The Rochdale men,
pioneers once again, adopted the suggestion, and as a result the
first tutorial class was formed there, to be followed immediately
by the formation of a class at Longton in the Potteries.
The idea of a university tutorial class is that the course, lasting
normally for three years, shall be on the level of that obtaining
in the subject in a university, but that the tutor 'hall be in a very
340 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW
real sense the servant of the class. No class of adults studying
non-vocational subjects can persist unless the individuality of the
students is recognised. This leads to the recognition of the
principle of full and free discussion, and the elimination of many
.of the methods prevailing in classes for children or adolescents,
or even at the universities. In an adult class there must be no
such thing as competition, but rather full co-operation, in which
every member is happy to say what he thinks or knows about
the subject or to ask what questions he wishes.
At first it seemed to some that this method would produce
results of a low average and perhaps of a chaotic nature, but a
little experience proved that the intellectual standard was raised
to a surprisingly high level. In fact, the Board of Education,
when making regulations for the classes, found no difficulty in
stipulating that a class must aim at attaining the standard of a
university class in honours in the subject studied. It is to the
lasting credit of English educationalists that the idea of the
tutorial class was welcomed and received in every quarter. The
Board of Education set itself to do everything in its power to help
the movement and, instead of attempting to make the class fit the
regulations, made the regulations fit the classes. The local educa-
tion authorities, except in instances of now recognised narrow-
ness, were ready to make grants and to assist in other ways. The
older universities of Oxford and Cambridge showed once again
that they were not out of touch with the aspirations of a new
epoch. The credit of adopting the system first belongs to Oxford,
but that was mere accident. The active assistance of the Vice-
Chancellor of the time (Sir Herbert Warren), the then Dean of
Christ Church, and the present Master of Balliol, coupled with
the enthusiasm of the representatives of the Trades Union Con-
gress, the Co-operative Union, and others, made possible that high
conception of the work which is embodied in the report on
Oxford and Working Class Education(3).
No sooner had the university tutorial class movement been
established than the provincial universities adopted the idea, and
set up joint committees on the principle suggested in the
Oxford report, namely, that the administration of the classes
should be placed in the hands of university committees consisting,
so far as at least half the membership was concerned, of repres.
entatives of workifig men and women nominated by tie Workers'
Educational Association. Today every university in England
land Wales has such a joint committee, and the work of these
committees is co-ordinated by a Central Joint Advisory Committee.
The internal affairs of the classes are in the hands of the
students themselves who, in addition, have the right of approving
the appointment of their tutor. At the express wish of the
students themselves no certificates or diplomas are given at the
(3) Oxford and Working Class Education :A Report of a Joint Commttee ot
University and Working-Class Representatives on the Relation of tho University
to the Higher Education of Working People. Oxfordi Clarendon Press. 109,
Is. (Out of print.)
THE WORKERS EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION
close of the three years' work. No examinations are held.
Generally speaking the majority of students are between 25 and
45 years of age, although some are much older. One student at
least reached the age of 75.
After a special inquiry by the Board of Education into the
work of the classes the Inspectors reported as follows (4):
No one could attend these classes without being struck by the zeal and
earnestness of the students, their happy relations with the lectumr, the
general atmosphere of comradeship and good feeling in the classes, and the
strong appreciation by the students of the benefit which they are deriving
from the work. These impressions are not derived from any single class
or type of classes. They are common to the diverse and widely scattered
centres which we have visited, and they indicate the possibility of a very
wide extension of teaching of this type. The experiment of the Association
has, in fact, revealed the existence of a very widespread demand for serious
teaching of the best and most thorough kind on matter standing in an
intelligible relation to the life interests of the workmen. It has shown that
the root questions of social history and theory may be examined by
competent teachers leading a class of workmen-students in a spirit at which
no reasonable man will cavil.
The classes are establishing in a number of great Industrial towns cent-
res of genuinely educated thought on social and industrial problems. Mhat
they teach is no mere exotic of culture, but Is Intimately related to the life
and work of the students. Its effects are, therefore, likely to be permanent,
and to spread from the actual members of the class to those wvho come in
contact with them.
As to the sentiments of the students themselves, the following
opinion of a mine surface worker and labour organiser is typical :
I certainly regarded the universities with great suspicion at the first,
and this was only eliminated by personal experience and contact with people
in the universities, until I am now convinced that anything reactionary about
adult educational institutions belongs mainly to tradition and can be borne
down by sheer weight of a demand for a democratic educational system, as
soon as such a demand is made with sufficient strength.
The first tutorial class summer school was held at Oxford in
i9i0 as the result of a suggestion made by the present Master of
Balliol, who felt that students in tutorial classes ought to have
an opportunity of going up to Oxford to consult specialists in
their subjects of study and to receive individual tuition. This
first school lasted for two months, and was attended by 87
students, who vent into residence for varying periods. During
the summer of 1921 residential summer schools were held at
Oxford, Cambridge, Bangor, Bristol, Reading, Repton, and Salt-
burn-on-Sea, in addition to a non-residential school in London.
The charges to students are kept as low as possible, and usually
consist of a registration fee of a nominal amount, e.g. 2s. 6d., and
the cost of board and lodging. It is impossible to estimate
accurately the influence of these schools upon the movement as a
wNhole,.but it is no exaggeration to say that in and through them
(4) BOARD OF EDUCATION Special Report on certain Tulorial Classes in
connection with the WVorkers' Educational Association; Inspectors J. W.
HEA .Am and Prof. L. T. HoBHousE. Special Reports No. 2. 10 pp. London,
H. [Link] Office. 1910.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW
is engendered much of that enthusiasm for education which
makes the winter class work so successful.
The movement has now spread to all the British Dominions,
particularly to Australia and New Zealand, where there are over
U12 classes. The tutorial class method has also been adopted in
the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries.
It appears to be the one great creation of English adult educational
effort which has attracted the attention and elicited the admiration
of those who have observed it from abroad. It is difficult to
estimate the effect of these tutorial classes upon the mind of
England as a whole, and it would not be wise to attempt to do so.
Those who are competent to make estimates do so in varying
terms, some extreme and some moderate. But the fact that many
thousands of working men and women have had the benefit of
the best opportunities of study which can be given them in leisure
hours for periods of three years or more is significant enough in
itself. As for the universities, the rise of the movement has meant
a readjustment of their economic, social, and political studies.
The teaching of economics is a different thing in the universities
today from that which was common in 1907. Many tutors of the
classes have been called upon to occupy professorial chairs, and
many professors have led tutorial classes in addition to their
intra-mural university work.
OTHER FORMS OF EDUCATIONAL WORI
In any estimate of the value of educational work there is a
danger of making unnecessary comparisons between efforts which
are different in nature. The most valuable form of education is
that which is adapted most certainly to the needs and potentiali-
ties of the individuals with which it is concerned. If any attempt
were made by the Workers' Educational Association to induce
all its members to undertake work of a specific kind because it
was more highly appreciated by the world in general, the result
,could only be disastrous. So it is that for one person a tutorial
-class is best, while for another even so apparently insignificant a
thing as visiting a picture gallery or taking part in an educational
ramble on a Saturday afternoon may be most helpful. The
range of the Association's work is wide and based upon the
principle of "to each member according to his (or her) need".
Thus, in addition to university tutorial classes running for three
years, there are courses of study running for one year, in many
of which work is done on as high a level as in university tutorial
*4lasses. There are also lecture courses and isolated lectures.
An interesting illustration of general educational activity is
the rambles which are made from the town of Swindon on each
Saturday afternoon during the summer, when places of historical
interest are visited, and their significance explained by such well-
known men as Dr. Forrest Browne (late Bishop of Bristol),
Viscount Haldane, and others. Even in the early days of the
Association, when courses were arranged in Westminster Abbey
THE WORKERS EDUCATIONAL ASSOCLTION 343
or the House of Lords on Saturday afternoons, the number of
applications for tickets from working men and women was three
times as great as the number of seats available. These lectures
demonstrated very clearly, among other things, the non-parLy
character of the Association. The chairmen of the lectures were
leaders in the three great parties in the House of Commons at
the time-Conservative, Liberal, and Labour.
PRESENT ScopE OF THE WORK OF THE AssocuTion
The report for the year 1920-21 shows that the Association
consisted of 316 branches (5) organised in 13 districts. The total
individual membership was 24,229, while ihe bodies affiliated to
branches, districts, and centres numbered 2,895.
During the winter of i921-1922 there were 336 tutorial classes in
England and Wales, while during the session 1920-4921 there were
299 classes with 7,297 students. Of these 6 classes were taking
advanced courses ; 49 were in their third year, if in their second
year, and 133 in their first year. Nearly 200 earned the full Board
of Education grant of £45 per class. The number of tutors enga-
ged in the work was 191. Of these four took five classes, ten took
four, and sixteen took three classes each.
The subjects of study in the classes were as follows:
Number
of classe'
Economics, industrial and social history 115
Literature (English, Welsh, French, Greek, Irish, and American) 55
Psychology and philosophy 30
Music 12
Political science 12
Biology and natural history 9
Local and central government 7
Sociology 6
Modern European history and history of political freedom 5
Studies in social science 5
Economic geography 4
Anthropology 3
History of Western civilisation 2
Ethics 1
Problems of reconstruction 1
Jewish history 1
History of British Commonwealth 1
The occupations of the students during the same session may
be classified as follows:
Teachers 1,112
Clerks, secretaries, typists, and telegraphists 1,017
Colliery workers, miners, and checkweighmen 714
Housewives, domestics, etc. SGS
Engineers, mechanics, fitters, etc. 531
Metal, machine, and tool workers 411
Railway servants 207
Shopkeepers and assistants 193
Textile workers 197
Professional workers 191
(5) In England, Wales, and Scotland. At present there is only one branch
in Ireland.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW
Foremen, managers, and overlookers 168
Carpenters and woodworkers 160
Food workers, farmers, etc. 146
Builders, bricklayers, and stone workers 131
Tailors, cutters, dressmakers, and milliners 128
Civil servants 122
Insurance agents, travellers, and commercial occupations 117
Printers, engravers, bookbinders, and photographers 06
Labourers 60
Warehousemen 62
Miscellaneous factory workers 56
Boot and shoe trades and leather workers 55
Blacksmiths 48
Draughtsmen and designers 47
Municipal employees 41
Postmen, tramwaymen, and policemen 41
Potters 31
Electricians 30
Miscellaneous and unclassified 602
During the year, in addition to university tutorial classes,
there were held 463 one-year classes, a large number of study
circles, over 800 public lectures, and 69 educational conferences.
Other activities included social gatherings, dramatic groups, and
week-end schools.
The Association, to be estimated properly, must be regarded
not as the wing or section of any existing movement, but as the
creation of the working men and women of England in co-
operation with scholars. It has, and can have, no ulterior
motive. It stands for the realisation of the best in human
personality by ordinary men and women engaged in manual and
other labour. The Association has recently given its assent to
the creation of a Workers' Educational Trade Union Committee,
which has inspired proposals for the development of education
among trade unionists. These have been approved by the Trades
Union Congress, and a committee is now at work. It is too early
yet to say what the result of the creation of this committee will
be. Everyone concerned with it will doubtless recognise that
anything which tends to exclude persons of goodwill, such
as the Workers' Educational Association has drawn together,
from the work of creating new educational opportunities will be
an irreparable loss. No educational movement is justified in
bowing to any passing theory, however specious. It must stand
for its ultimate ideal and the ultimate good. It must refuse
nothing that can minister to its ideal. It must be sensitive to
all movements of the mind and spirit which are worth while,
and must raise itself by its own purity and strength so that
nothing of a lesser or different order can control it. If education
can be kept in this way clear and pure, the welfare of the people
is ultimately secure. If, on the other hand, it is directed or
restricted by any party or any section of the people, however
excellent in itself, then the old troubles will repeat themselves
and it will not make easier the task of those who would build
Jerusalem " in England's green and pleasant land"