Further Education
Further education is post-secondary school education, generally at a certificated level. It encompasses technical and vocational training as well as academic learning after school qualifications and prior to studying for a degree. Further education became the responsibility of school boards after the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 came into force: this act permitted school boards to establish evening schools for young people over the age of 13 (which was the school leaving age at that time).[1]
Evening schools became known as continuation classes, teaching school subjects and also craft, technical, domestic and agricultural classes relevant to local employers. By 1908 the school board also had a duty to provide continuation classes in Gaelic language and literature in the Gaelic-speaking areas and to provide opportunities for health classes and physical exercise.[2] School boards could also make byelaws to require young people to attend continuation classes up to age 17. In 1918 the new county-wide education authorities were required to develop schemes for part-time continuation classes in consultation with local employers and workers’ associations. [3] Young people were required to complete 320 hours attendance each year. In 1945 further education was expanded and education authorities were required to provide facilities for part-time and full-time education in junior colleges as well as voluntary recreational and cultural classes for adults.[4] Young people were required to attend on a part-time basis for the equivalent of one day per week for 44 weeks per year up to age 18. Education authorities were also expected to take into account the need for adequate provision of technical education and local technical colleges.
Colleges that had been established by education authorities were transferred to regional councils in 1975.[5] Under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992, these colleges ceased to be run by local authorities on 1 April 1993, and instead became incorporated bodies with individual boards of management and funding through a central body.[6]
From the 1960s onwards, further education colleges increasing also offered higher education through the Council for National Academic Awards. The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 enabled colleges to be given powers to grant degrees themselves. Following this, colleges started to change their names to reflect their dual role as providers of both further and higher education.[7]
Further education was not the sole preserve of local authorities. Workers’ associations and mechanics institutes, such as the School of Arts, Edinburgh (later Heriot-Watt University), the Andersonian University (later Strathclyde University), the Workers Educational Association and Falkirk School of Arts (1827-1891) provided training in science, engineering and industry during the 19th and 20th centuries. Some became central institutions and then universities, some continued as independent organisations offering adult education, while others closed. However, from the 1940s to the 1990s most further education provision was local authority provided and a list of these colleges can be found in the Transfer of Colleges of Further Education (Scotland) Order 1992.[8]
Records of further education colleges will most often be found in the college itself but may also be found in the archives service of the local authority which was responsible for the college until 1993. National Records of Scotland hold Scottish Government records of communications with and policy on further education institutions (reference code ED27).
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Bibliography
Anderson, R. D., Education and the Scottish people, 1750-1918 (Clarendon Press, 1995)
Anderson, Robert, ‘Historical Perspectives’ in Scottish Education, 5th edition, ed. by T.G.K. Bryce, Walter M. Humes, Donald Gillies & Aileen Kennedy (Edinburgh University Press, 2018)
Haythornthwaite, J. A., N. C. Wilson and V. A. Batho, Scotland in the Nineteenth Century: an analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary Papers, 1800-1900 (Scolar Press, 1993)
References
[1] Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c.62) s.40.
[2] Education (Scotland) Act, 1908 (8 Edw. VII c.63) s.10.
[3] Education (Scotland) Act, 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. V c.48) s.15.
[4] Education (Scotland) Act, 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. VI c.37).
[5] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c.65).
[6] Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 (c.37).
[7] Colleges of Further Education (Changes of Names) (Scotland) Order 1993 (SI 1993 No. 1891).
[8]Transfer of Colleges of Further Education (Scotland) Order 1992 (SI 1992 No. 1597).