Science, Society and Politics in Late Nineteenth-Century England: A Further Look at Mechanics' Institutes

Laurent, John

doi:10.1177/030631284014004004

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In response to industrialization in the late 1800s, the Royal Society of Arts introduced 'Technical Instruction' in a range of areas alongside educational examinations in 'Technology' (Society of Arts, 1895). The 19th century also saw the growth of Mechanics Institutes (firstly in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1820s) -partly designed for the education of the industrial working classes in technology, and partly as enculturation into the idea of progress through the industrialisation of society (see Laurent, 1984). To these can be added the strong tradition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries of workplace apprenticeships and later, of college-based day-release courses for workers.…”

Section: History Of Technological Education In Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abridged International Perspectives of Technology Education and Its Connection to STEM Education

Wright

Reeves²,

Williams³

et al. 2018

IJE

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STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas are integral content disciplines in all economies. Although most countries have and continue to ensure quality science (S) and Mathematics (M) education for primary (elementary) and secondary school students, the technology (T) and engineering (E) content areas tend not to be regarded as core to national curricula in the same way that science and mathematics are regarded as essential. This article discusses efforts in various countries to better promote and integrate Technology and Engineering Education (TEE) in schools. This paper highlights common themes and argues that we can learn from each other’s efforts in TEE. We argue that dialogue across nations can help us to build international STEM education collaboration networks, better understand the nature of STEM and how to better engage pupils and students in STEM subjects, and work towards gaining inputs to national TEE policy that can leverage positive change.

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Section: History Of Technological Education In Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abridged International Perspectives of Technology Education and Its Connection to STEM Education

Wright

Reeves²,

Williams³

et al. 2018

IJE

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show abstract

“…In these establishments, attendance to science courses was mixed in terms of social class -at least in institutes located in large towns -although working class and lower middle class was the general profile. 100 From the late 1830s, affluent mechanics' institutes such as Liverpool and Manchester, established secondary schools within their premises. The mechanics' institute movement was a useful ally, as it had already established national or regional networks, large libraries and teaching collections, and an early experience in science teaching and textbook production.…”

Section: Secondary Education and The Readerships Of Physics In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary Matters: Textbooks and the Making of Physics in Nineteenth-Century France and England

Simon¹

2012

Hist Sci

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Concerning national education in England, it is like with all the other institutions in this country: at first sight it does not appear as a system, as the logical development of an idea, of a preconceived plan, but as the odd product of several forces which are diverse and often opposed; it is in appearance a purely fortuitous set of traditions, of more or less reasoned uses, local improvements, audacious or timid innovations, all together abandoned to individual initiative, in a complete abstention of public authority. It is a city built without any given alignment, where houses are randomly placed and capriciously moulded.Jacques Demogeot and Henri Montucci, 1868 1 A very good indication of the progress the teaching of science is making in our schools and elsewhere is the rapidity with which edition after edition of Ganot's Physics is called for and published. Anon., Leeds Mercury, 1875 2In 1866, in the context of educational reforms in France, Jacques Demogeot and Henri Montucci were commissioned by the French government a report on British secondary and higher education. Commissioners were also sent to other countries, including Germany, Belgium and Holland, following a common practice in nineteenth-century educational reforms which heavily drew on international comparisons for the preparation of national policies. Demogeot and Montucci published their report subsequently as a book, which was also widely read in Britain. 3 Their opening paragraph, included at the heading of this paper, seems to indicate a major incongruence between French and British education. The two national case studies presented in this paper have conventionally been considered as representing essentially antagonistic models of educational development. This thought, which precedes Demogeot and Montucci and is still deeply grounded in contemporary French and English culture, has shaped scholarship on the development of science education in these countries. While French historians have stressed the role of national structures of formal education and state intervention, historians of English science have tended to focus on the role of voluntarism, informal education, autodidacticism and market forces. 4 However, Demogeot and Montucci's perspective was biased by their (otherwise reasonable) aim of finding in England objects and patterns which could be compared with their experience in the French educational terrain. 5 Being both teachers in a major lycée in Paris, the objects they found more likely to develop comparisons with were the English public schools. Their focus on public schools was in fact in accordance with that of the British government, which shortly before Demogeot and Montucci's visit to England, had commissioned a report on this type of educational

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“…54 By 1851, there were approximately 700 institutes of various sizes in England, in both towns and "quite small villages." 55 By 1875, the movement was still "vigorous," but toward the end of the century, mechanics' institutes were being replaced by extended elementary schooling, state-supported technical and evening schools, and the increasing availability of libraries, museums, and inexpensive books. 56 In John Laurent's study of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, founded in 1837, he found that the 109 institutes with approximately 18,000 members in 1850 had grown to 276 institutes with 60,000 members by 1890.…”

Section: Evening Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Walking the Low Road: The Pursuit of Scientific Knowledge in Late Victorian Working-Class Communities

McLaughlin-Jenkins¹

2003

Public Underst Sci

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For late-century Victorians, science was everywhere part of the culture, but current studies are mainly concerned with the cultural elite. This is because the formal "high road" of official schooling, expensive reading materials, and memberships in prestigious scientific societies required both time and money, both of which were in short supply in the laboring sector. In contrast, this article looks at an alternate path: the "low road." It is the road of unofficial schooling, cheap reading materials, local clubs, and shared community resources that served up ample opportunity to satisfy working-class scientific curiosity and intellectual hunger. As part of both common knowledge and as an intellectual prop for working-class emancipation, the facts of science and the authority that went with them were appropriated at varying levels by the working-class community. Science was a fundamental component of leisure, self-improvement, and political ideology, as working men, women, and children took the low road to greater participation in the life of the nation. Defining and mapping the low road is crucial for current scholarship in the history of science, which neglects working-class issues, and for workingclass history, which neglects the relevance of science in the formation of modern social and political ideologies. SAGE PUBLICATIONS (www.sagepublications.com) PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

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Science, Society and Politics in Late Nineteenth-Century England: A Further Look at Mechanics' Institutes

Cited by 20 publications

References 6 publications

Abridged International Perspectives of Technology Education and Its Connection to STEM Education

Abridged International Perspectives of Technology Education and Its Connection to STEM Education

Secondary Matters: Textbooks and the Making of Physics in Nineteenth-Century France and England

Walking the Low Road: The Pursuit of Scientific Knowledge in Late Victorian Working-Class Communities

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