Author Description

As in England and Wales, there is no unified system for provision of adult education in Scotland. The various levels and types of postschool learning opportunity have emerged from a series of ad hoc arrangements and have been conditioned by local factors reflecting the characteristics of various Scottish religious, economic, legal, political, and educational institutions. The earliest attempts to organize adult education in Scotland can be traced to 1709 to the efforts of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the organized and systematic provision of adult education began to emerge. In the later Victorian age technical education began to develop in response to the needs of manufacturers; however, there were still no national schemes for certification of journeymen. The period between the two world wars was marked by an increasing separation between technical and liberal adult education. Since World War II adult education in Scotland has been characterized by a gradual professionalization in many areas of adult educational practice, expansion and increasing heterogeneity of both vocational and nonvocational provision, further rationalization of vocational certification, and improved recognition of occupational qualifications. More recently, there has been a proliferation of experimental distance and modular learning systems. (MN)