Don’t be put off if you haven’t got the dosh

Albert and Frances Mansbridge founded the Workers Education Association in 1903 with the objective of providing education to the labouring classes in an attempt to raise their quality of life. Over 100 years later the WEA organises from 7,500 to 10,000 non-vocational, low-cost courses a year for working and low-income people, though it is primarily open to whoever wants to learn. Christine Alford went to find out.

WEA tutor and cultural studies support worker Ann Kramer comments: “The principle is: education is for everyone. So, you know, people shouldn’t be put off if they haven’t got the dosh.”

Raising levels of confidence, health and well-being in adults so that new heights and goals can be reached lies at the heart of what the WEA does today. Ann continues:

“I believe it can change lives. This may sound dramatic but I have met people whose lives have dramatically changed by learning from the WEA.”

There are over 80 courses running in East and West Sussex, which have over time been refined into a choice of subjects that directly represent the demand in the area. What gives the WEA the freedom to run its courses in this way is the separation it has from any curriculum.

Although this means there is not a formal certificate when completing the course, students do however learn in a non-competitive atmosphere without the stresses of an exam looming on the horizon.

Liz Allen, tutor of Modern Fiction: Britain and Beyond and Hastings and St Leonards branch secretary, explains: “The WEA is run very democratically. A tutor may arrange for a literature course to take place but the books studied are decided upon by the pupils.”

Some of the courses available in Hastings, St Leonards and Rye are:  Burning Issues: What’s in the news and how did it get there? The Story of China: Understanding Modern China through a study of its history, and Creative Writing.

Karen Chang, who is now a committee member of the Hastings and St Leonard’s branch, comments: “The first time I attended a WEA course was back in the 80’s and I met a life-long friend there.”

Community-based

The WEA is a registered charity that is predominately run by volunteers on a branch-by-branch basis. So, although there is a central hub, what courses are taught is decided on at a local, community level. In this sense the WEA very much works from the ground up to provide communities with the knowledge they seek.

Any funds that are raised from the courses then go back into the community. As Liz explains: “The branches are run entirely by volunteers who spend time liaising with tutors and finding locations. Often the classes are held in people’s houses, community centres and churches. Courses are often run in Fellowship St Nicolas Church and any money left over goes to supporting the Church.”

Albert and Frances Mansbridge’s vision was to empower the working-class people to be able to make decisions outside of the immediate work sphere. Albert Mansbridge said that:

“A wise and educated workforce could make political strokes, promote bills, register protests and send deputations to responsible ministers. The true appeal is that they lift themselves up through higher knowledge which will inevitably bring about right and sound action upon municipal, national, and imperial affairs. It will be promoted by wise and free education and sustained by it.”

The WEA is carrying on this good work and always looking to extend its reach to new people. Ann tells HOT that people who already know about the WEA are devoted to it. She also explained that a person’s knowledge of a subject does not matter and that people should not be put off if they feel they don’t have enough expertise to attend a course because, after all, the WEA is about life-long learning, so all you need is the curiosity to know a little bit more.

 

All photos courtesy of WEA.

See WEA website for courses in the Hastings, St Leonards and Rye area.

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