Adult Education

# PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

When some years ago I wrote the preface to the first edition of this book and subsequent reprints made possible minor alterations. Many important changes took place, however, during the next dozen years, and the author was pressed by the publishers, more than two years ago. Unfortunately circumstances have made it difficult at times to proceed immediately with the publication of the revised edition, and I have had ample time in which to fill in some of the gaps which were apparent to me in the original work and to make it clear that what was intended was a sketch of the history of adult education in Britain, but of the adult education movement. In searching through some of the educational authorities generally in adult education, although much of this falls outside the pattern of formal adult education. The trouble is that everything now tends to be called “adult education” and a good deal that falls properly in this country to be found. In this same chapter, I have added a good deal on the extended character of extra-mural programmes and have brought up to date the statistical information concerning the location and size of adult education centres; but these are, I am glad to say, constantly extending and the list will remain incomplete.

Chapter VI has been largely rewritten to include changes of schemes of adult education provision made by universities for in the nature of the extra-mural provision in them, but with much greater effect, of the following chapter (VIII) on workers’ education. This deals with changes which may be of great importance for the future development of the whole movement in the future. The section dealing with the education which had hindered the work for so many years has been vastly hastened and describes how the arrangements under which the T.U.C. took over responsibility for it, the whole opposing associations which formerly split the movement.

When the first edition was published there was considerable