Fostering ‘habits of reflection, independent study and free inquiry’: an analysis of the short‐lived phenomenon of General/Liberal Studies in English vocational education and training

Abstract

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education issued Circular 323 to promote the development of an element of ‘liberal studies’ in courses offered by technical and further education (FE) colleges in England. This was perceived to be in some ways a peculiar or uncharacteristic development. However, it lasted over 20 years, during which time most students on courses in FE colleges participated in what were termed General or Liberal Studies classes that complemented and/or contrasted with the technical content of their vocational programmes. By the end of the 1970s, these classes had changed in character, moving away from the concept of a ‘liberal education’ towards a prescribed diet of ‘communication studies’. The steady decline in apprenticeship numbers from the late 1960s onwards accelerated in the late 1970s, resulting in a new type of student (the state‐funded ‘trainee’) into colleges whose curriculum would be prescribed by the Manpower Services Commission. This paper examines the Ministry’s thinking and charts the rise and fall of a curriculum phenomenon that became immortalised in the ‘Wilt’ novels of Tom Sharpe. The paper argues that the Ministry of Education’s concerns half a century ago are still relevant now, particularly as fresh calls are being made to raise the leaving age from compulsory education to 18, and in light of attempts in England to develop new vocational diplomas for full‐time students in schools and colleges.

Keywords:

• young people and work
• liberal education
• technical and vocational education
• further education curriculum

Notes

1. ED 46/855: Policy paper on Further Education for the Central Advisory Council 1958–1964. Official Papers at the National Archive, Kew, London.

2. Haslegrave acknowledged that the term ‘technician’ was difficult to define and the 1961 White Paper had noted that technicians covered a wide range of ‘intermediate’ occupations in industry and commerce. Students traditionally designated as being at ‘craft’ were certainly present in TEC programmes, whilst BEC’s General Certificate and Diplomas (as opposed to its National Certificates and Diplomas) admitted students with few or no qualifications.

3. The general pattern, however, was for students to attend on a day‐release basis, with the ‘day’ being extended into the evening. There was some block‐release, but employers resisted this as releasing workers for longer than a day was too expensive (see Moor, Dean, and Andrews 1983).

4. ED 212/53: Technician Courses and Examinations (Haslegrave Report): comments by various organisations 1970. Official Papers at the National Archive, Kew, London.

5. The other four were: a) the teaching of technology; b) the spread of knowledge in relation to ability; c) organisation of the curriculum; and d) curriculum content and presentation.