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ERIC Number: EJ1426518
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Apr
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0020-8566
EISSN: EISSN-1573-0638
A Design for Democracy: Britain's 1919 Report, the Context of Its Creation and Its Relevance Today
Paul Stanistreet; Alan Tuckett
International Review of Education, v70 n2 p289-309 2024
The "1919 Report" of the British Ministry of Reconstruction's Adult Education Committee, produced as the First World War was ending, reflects the optimism of its committee about the possibilities for a more socially just and democratic society and its concern to find an alternative to economic deprivation and disenfranchisement. Its central thesis is that adult education is "a permanent national necessity" for an active informed democracy, which should, therefore, be both "universal and lifelong". Despite the report's lukewarm initial reception, its influence on the development of adult education over a century in Britain and in other anglophone countries has been marked. As R. D. Waller argued in 1956, it "is probably the most significant single contribution made to the literature of adult education", certainly in the United Kingdom. It may well also be the first major national report on adult education published anywhere to be grounded in a comprehensive survey of existing provision. This article examines the context of its creation, its core arguments and their strengths and deficiencies, as well as its reception and subsequent impact. The article ends with a consideration of the report's contemporary relevance and how its core ideas of voluntarism and co-construction of knowledge can support democratic renewal through education.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2123/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (Great Britain)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A