Historians and educationalists have often assumed that working-class adult education emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century with the introduction of state-funded technical colleges. This was not the case. In 1823, the Glasgow Mechanics' Institute was opened and within a few years similar institutions were being established across the…

Further education colleges in England and Wales have offered government-recognised courses and qualifications which receive public funding and have included technical and vocational courses since their foundation in the early twentieth century. Yet developments in such curricula and qualifications are not new and they can be traced back to the…