Adult education between the wars: the curious case of the Selborne Lecture Bureau

‘Independent’ lecture agencies are a neglected element in the history of education. Between 1918 and 1939, the Selborne Lecture Bureau was a significant national provider of adult education in Britain, both in its own right and as a supplier of lecture(r)s to Women's Institutes and other bodies, and it pioneered the use of films in schools. For a brief period, it was an ‘educational’ vehicle for the Empire Marketing Board with a programme of over 2400 lectures in 1929. The Bureau originated in the early twentieth century split between the conservative (and male) traditions of natural history and the radical (and female) campaigning (anti‐) plumage movement that produced the RSPB. The interwar history of the Selborne Lecture Bureau provides a counterpoint to conventional accounts of adult education between the two world wars, part of an influential ‘third stream’ alongside the ‘liberal tradition’ and growing state and local authority provision.     

Objective bees in psychological bonnets: intelligence testing and selection for secondary education in Scotland between the wars

If there is one thing on which historians of psychology, and in particular of intelligence testing, are agreed, it is the contribution made to the history of mental measurement by Scots — or at least those working in Scotland. The impact of this work on selection for secondary education, however, was limited: in spite of apparently favourable circumstances, Scotland was even slower than England to accept what was regarded as one of the ‘progressive’ ideas of the time.     

丹麦职业教育的发展历程及启示

从14世纪的学徒制到成为“丹麦终身教育体系的重要组成部分”的现代职业教育与培训,丹麦职业教育大致经过了五个发展阶段.丹麦职业教育发展所取得的成功和经验,对于推动我国职业教育改革与创新具有借鉴意义.     

Country Briefing: Special education in Denmark

Denmark is a country with a relatively high expenditure on education, and was one of the first countries in the Integration movement. Now the country is including all but 1.25 per cent of all pupils in a comprehensive school. The 1.25 per cent are attending special schools or special classes. To make this possible, 13 per cent of all students in regular schools on a yearly basis receive special needs education support as a supplement to regular education. Special education within the regular school system has existed for 99 years, and special teacher training has a 66-year history, originating in training of speech therapists. At present, the prevalence of special needs education is between 25 and 35 per cent, and this gives rise to questions about the relation between special needs education and differentiation of instruction which, in turn, has implications for training of teachers in special needs education.     

The decline of the adult school movement between the wars

This article considers the decline of the adult school movement, one of the largest voluntary movements in the history of adult education, and critically examines some of the reasons that have been used to explain it. It explores various features of the decline, using records of selected adult schools, and discussing variations by region and gender. It argues that adult schools pursued a strategy of ‘resistance’ to secularisation, and increasingly concentrated on their core religious activities rather than attempting to compete with secular adult education providers. As a result, whereas the late nineteenth century had seen a rapid turnover of adult scholars, by the 1930s they were increasingly restricted to a committed core, dominated by older men and, especially, women. Reasons for the decline include the availability of alternative leisure pursuits, a lack of unity within the movement, and the association of the schools with unfashionable styles of philanthropy.     

Going to university in England between the wars: access and funding

In October 1934 the National Government took over what had previously been a commercial initiative to encourage milk‐drinking in schools. By the outbreak of war the Milk in Schools Scheme had reached 87 per cent of elementary schools in England and Wales and 56 per cent of pupils were drinking one‐third of a pint daily. This paper investigates the motivations behind this scheme and the problems associated with its implementation. There was resistance from within government and a number of objections were raised around the country, particularly to the strategy of the Board of Education. The conclusions are, first, that the economic necessity of providing a market for liquid milk was more important in the mind of policy‐makers than nutritional supplements for undernourished children and, second, that the evolution of the policy itself was highly contingent upon the network of power and influence within which it operated. In 1933 it would have been difficult to predict with any degree of certainty how a Milk in Schools Scheme would have operated, but in time it was to become one of the government’s most robust and universally supported food policies.     

New rules of university governance in Denmark

In relation to the legislative activities in many parliaments in recent years regarding new rules of university governance this article tries to analyse how such new rules are implemented and used in daily practice at one specific university. In 1995 a survey study was conducted in a Danish university on the responses from the different internal university groups on the new Danish University Act of 1993. This article presents main findings in the ways the new law is interpreted and used by students, service staff, faculty and middle management. The study of the transformation of formal rules into daily management and cooperation practice shows that professional values, traditions and local culture have an important influence on the ways governance systems are seen and used. It appears that organisational change is slower and more contingency-oriented and incomplete than often imagined by legislators.     

New perspectives of the relationships between higher education and employment

Abstract

The relationships between higher education and the world of work revived in 1990 as a major issue of debate. Growing enrolment as well as labour market problems in many industrialised countries fuelled the debate. A close look reveals that the systematic information provided on graduate employment is often insufficient or biased. In spite of controversial assessments of graduate employment and work, most experts, however, tend to agree that a growing diversification is an appropriate response. Also, common views are widely held as regards the desirable curricular approaches: emphasis ought to be placed on general knowledge and flexibility, problem‐solving abilities, a confrontation of theory and practice, interdisciplinarity and international competencies. These views are advocated irrespective of whether higher education is expected to follow closely the presumed demands of the employment system or whether higher education is called on to counteract instrumentalist pressures and to prepare students for a proactive role in society.     

New findings on the links between college education and work

This article utilizes data from two surveys of college graduates to addres the issue of the value of postsecondary education in the labor market. In considering income, relation of job to college major, and job satisfaction, it concludes that underemployment and job dissatisfaction are less pervasive than many researchers would have us believe. Differences by sex are also considered. Given a choice of whether or not to attend college, it seems clear that the decision to attend is the wise one. And one way to maximize potential job-related benefits is to be judicious in choice of major. Students apparently are of this advice and are acting accordingly.     

Ministry of Labour female training programmes between the wars: 1919-39

British Somaliland, a protectorate from which Christian missionaries were excluded, opened its first government‐run school in 1938. The intention of the new director of education, Randall Ellison, was to use written Somali in preference to Arabic. This drew intense criticism from local religious leaders, and had to be abandoned. Accused of being a missionary in disguise, Ellison’s work led to a riot in the town of Burao in 1939 in which three people were killed. Although the school at Berbera functioned for just two terms, the opposition it aroused forms a link in an anti‐Western chain of events that stretches from the 1899–1920 revolt of Sayyid Muhammad ‘Abdille Hassan up to the Al‐Qaeda‐linked killing of two British teachers in 2003. This paper is based on Ellison’s letters to his family and on official and other sources.     

幼儿艺术教育与人格发展的关系新探

幼儿艺术教育对人格发展的影响已经受到普遍关注,本文从艺术的本真含义、艺术的功能和本质,以及人格的含义及形成特点出发,探讨艺术教育与儿童人格发展的内在联系,艺术教育是如何影响儿童的人格的,并在此基础上探讨真正有利于幼儿人格发展的艺术教育理念和模式。     

对现代远程教育中新技术应用的理性思考

随着信息技术的发展.新技术得到了人们的瞢遍关注.被不断地引入到远程教育中,推动着远程教育的发展.但与此同时,对新技术的引进也存在着一定的盲目性,并由此带来了成本增加、资源浪费等一系列负面现象.因此,在远程教育中应当确立选用新技术的正确的基本原则.     

简论四次战争间路易十四的外交

通过分析路易十四在四次战争中的外交活动来揭示他的对外政策及其实质,这些活动包括每次战争中当时外交目标的调适、所施展的各种外交手段;为此首先讨论了法国外交思维形成的历史过程,从而认为：路易十四的外交活动不是和平的使者,而是制造战争的工具,这就是其对外政策实质。