The Historical Experience of Liberal Studies for Vocational Learners in Further Education

This paper revisits the liberal studies movement – an important
if under-researched episode in the history of education. It examines the lived
experience of a set of former vocational students, the great majority of whom
eventually went on to teach in further and higher vocational education. All
participants had undertaken a course of liberal studies alongside a programme
of work-related learning at an English college of further education
at some point between the mid-1960s and the late-1980s. The paper presents
two key findings: first, whilst participants’ experiences were varied and
uneven, most seemed quite agnostic about liberal studies in their
youth; second, the great majority of those who took part in the research
were substantially more positive about their learning in retrospect.