'Researching and writing adult education history'

Reflecting on his recent book, The Vital Message: Continuing Education and the University of Cambridge 1945-2010, Mark Freeman will consider the challenges of writing an institutional history of university adult education, particularly in the recent period. There is a long tradition of adult education history, often written from within institutions themselves. [Vaughan College has three such histories]. This tradition has reflected the senses of both marginality and mission that have characterised self-perception in extramural departments.  This may have been intensified in recent years under the impact of rapid and damaging changes in the funding environment, and the closure of many such departments. Nevertheless, the ‘Great Tradition’ of post-war university adult education produced many curricular and teaching-related innovations that remain worthy of study from a historical perspective.

About the presenter

Mark Freeman is Professor of Social History and Education in the Institute of Education, University College London.  His is a historian of modern Britain, focusing on the history of adult education, youth organisations and informal education. He has published several books and articles on various aspects of modern British history.  He was co-investigator on a large AHRC-funded project entitled ‘The Redress of the Past: Historical Pageants in Britain 1905-2016’ and co-editor of Restaging the Past: Historical Pageants, Culture and Society in Modern Britain. He is on the editorial board of the journal History of Education. 

Tea and cake will be provided from 6pm. The Forum will start at 6.15pm.