Development of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement in Britain and Beyond

Martyn Walker is a Principal Lecturer and researcher at the University of Huddersfield. He is a member of the Policy Research Group in the School of Education and Professional Development and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Educational Administration and History. Martyn is a member of the Royal Society of Arts and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His work, based on the history of adult education, has been widely published in scholarly journals.

• 1. Introduction 2. A Brief History of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement 3. Scientific Education offered up to 1850 4. Scientific and Technical Education 1851 – 1900 5. Social Class and Membership 6. Mechanics’ Institutes and Female Membership 7. From Rented Accommodation to Civic Pride 8. Mechanics’ Institute Libraries and the Contribution to a Public Readership 9. Analysis of Three Clusters of Mechanics’ Institutes and Their Impact on Their Local Communities 10. Expansion of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement beyond Britain 11. Conclusion and Legacy of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement

Walker is to the congratulated for providing a solution to the problem of how furthereducation for the working classes was introduced in Britain during the century butin addition for posing a question as to the degree that similar, or different, methodswere used to promote this further education for the working classes in these other locations.Reading Walker’s book may provide some interesting further research for thosein the “other locations” mentioned in the book.Barrie Brennan, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia, Adult Education Quarterly