Problem: With a few notable exceptions, the history of adult education in British Columbia has received relatively little attention. What information there is, is often confined to somewhat narrow time frames, locations, or topics. A general overview of the history of adult education in British Columbia during the 20th century seems to be lacking. This study is a modest attempt to begin adding voice to this important but largely overlooked area. Conceptual Approach: The approach taken is one of historical review. The study, while to some degree quantitative, is much more interested in the qualitative aspects of the material examined. Newspapers, which the author suggests provide a unique historical record, serve as the sole source of data. Methodology: The B.C. Legislative Library Newspaper Index from 1900 -1999 is the source of documents for this study. A thorough reading of all newspaper articles (550+), cited as being related to adult education, was undertaken. Articles were grouped by decade and recorded. Within the decades certain themes were identified and also recorded. Two specific themes (lifelong learning and distance education) received special attention and were examined and recorded separately. Findings: There are a number of reoccurring themes that arise during the period examined. Many of these themes have a direct correlation to issues facing adult education today. These issues include, but are not limited to: • lifelong learning • distance education and related educational technology • duplication of services • libraries and adult education • defining/purpose(s) adult education. Since these and other issues are part of the current discourse about adult education, it seems reasonable that lessons learned/not learned in the past not be forgotten. With the benefit of historical hindsight, which includes sources that are not confined to potentially narrow interests, adult educators may become better informed by considering these issues.

Problem: With a few notable exceptions, the history of adult education in British Columbia has received relatively little attention. What information there is, is often confined to somewhat narrow time frames, locations, or topics. A general overview of the history of adult education in British Columbia during the 20th century seems to be lacking. This study is a modest attempt to begin adding voice to this important but largely overlooked area. Conceptual Approach: The approach taken is one of historical review. The study, while to some degree quantitative, is much more interested in the qualitative aspects of the material examined. Newspapers, which the author suggests provide a unique historical record, serve as the sole source of data. Methodology: The B.C. Legislative Library Newspaper Index from 1900 -1999 is the source of documents for this study. A thorough reading of all newspaper articles (550+), cited as being related to adult education, was undertaken. Articles were grouped by decade and recorded. Within the decades certain themes were identified and also recorded. Two specific themes (lifelong learning and distance education) received special attention and were examined and recorded separately. Findings: There are a number of reoccurring themes that arise during the period examined. Many of these themes have a direct correlation to issues facing adult education today. These issues include, but are not limited to: • lifelong learning • distance education and related educational technology • duplication of services • libraries and adult education • defining/purpose(s) adult education. Since these and other issues are part of the current discourse about adult education, it seems reasonable that lessons learned/not learned in the past not be forgotten. With the benefit of historical hindsight, which includes sources that are not confined to potentially narrow interests, adult educators may become better informed by considering these issues. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Canadian interest in a vanishing rural civilization before the First War was epitomized in the Agricultural Instruction Act of 1913. Encouraging agricultural education, the Act provided funds, expertise, and national determination in the quest to regenerate the rural areas. In British Columbia the Federal and Provincial Departments of Agriculture, the University, and the schools all offered agricultural education. Spurred by the Act, the schools in particular rode a tide of increasing influence as the key educative institution in society. The programme in British Columbian schools, established by J.W. Gibson, was unique in Canada for its "district supervisors" appointed to rural municipalities as beacons of light and missionaries to the hinterlands. Gibson's programme focussed upon school grounds beautification, school gardening, and livestock. At first the most important concern was gardening. The long drought, summer care difficulties, frost, marketing problems, marauding, vandalism and infestations of mice and cut worms all weakened the gardening mission by 1920. Skilfully the supervisors reshaped the gardening reality into a more viable livestock mission. Featuring agricultural clubs, school fairs, and the Coast exhibitions, the new activity also provided opposition to pre-established interests and other expanding agencies of agricultural education. When the Agricultural Instruction Act was discontinued, the fate of the work fell to the province. Unhappily, economic depression and the costly failure of agriculture and rural settlement strained educational finance. Even before the province withdrew support, however, the school's regenerative mission was faltering. The failure of agricultural education was related to what other educational institutions were doing, to the characteristics of teachers, to the social class views of parents and children, to economic conditions, and to the ability of the populace to finance the innovation. Moreover, at the heart of Gibson's mission lay a myth of the land. Gibson's fixation on the character immanent in the soil and his opposition to vocationalism meant that schools could not concern themselves with the practicality of revitalizing rural life. Clearly the solution to the hydra-headed rural problem was more than the school could accomplish. By 1929 the school had actually worsened the rural problem by facilitating the movement from the land. As the school became increasingly important in promoting middle class respectability, upward mobility, and professional orientation, there was increasing public awareness of a hierarchy of occupations at the bottom of which lay farming. The disappearance of district supervisors, school gardening, and Gibson's high school programme signalled a new, educational configuration in the province. Halted in a relentless process of assuming more and more educative functions of society, the school withdrew and dealt more exclusively with what had always been a primary focus--academic knowledge for professional preparation. If Gibson's programme failed, it offered important commentary on the nature and purpose of Canadian schooling. Recent Canadian educational historiography has neglected the history of teachers and teaching, and a number of radical historians have stressed social control as the fundamental purpose of schooling. Contrasting with their emphasis on the malignant influences of social class, racism, sexism, bureaucracy, and the failure of the schools to achieve equal opportunity, the experience of Gibson and his missionaries stressed the constructive purpose of schooling, the delight in learning, the often enthusiastic interchange between teacher and pupil, and the concept of growth. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study argues for a transition from imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia educational thought, policy and practice from 1900 to 1939. Three contrasting and complementary internationalist orientations were dominant in British Columbia during that period. Some educators embraced an altruistic “socially transformative internationalism” built on social gospel, pacifist, social reform, cooperative and progressivist notions. This contrasted with a self-interested “competitive advantage internationalism,” more explicitly economic, capitalist and entrepreneurial. A third type was instrumental and practical, using international comparisons and borrowing to support or help explain the other two. The thesis pays special attention to province-wide developments both in government and out. These include the work of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), of several voluntary organizations, and provincial Department of Education policy and programme innovations. Examples include the rise, demise, and revival of cadet training, technical education, Department curriculum policy, and the work of the Overseas Education League, the National Council on Education, the Junior Red Cross, the World Goodwill Society of British Columbia, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the League of Nations Society in Canada. A diverse array of BCTF leaders, parents, teachers, voluntary organizations, students, educational policy makers and bureaucrats, editorialists, the general public, and the provincial government supported international education and internationalist outlooks. The argument is supported chiefly by organizational and government documents, by editorials, letters, articles, commentaries, conference reports, and speeches in The B.C. Teacher, by Department of Education and sundry other reports, by League of Nations materials, and by newspapers and other publications. Distinctive imperially-minded educational ideas and practices prevailed in British Columbia from about 1900 to the mid-1920s, whereas explicitly internationalist education notions and practices complemented or overshadowed imperial education from about 1919 to 1939. The transition from imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia education and society coincided with Canada’s industrialization in an interdependent global economy, and its maturation into an independent self governing nation within the Commonwealth and League of Nations.

This study argues for a transition from imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia educational thought, policy and practice from 1900 to 1939. Three contrasting and complementary internationalist orientations were dominant in British Columbia during that period. Some educators embraced an altruistic “socially transformative internationalism” built on social gospel, pacifist, social reform, cooperative and progressivist notions. This contrasted with a self-interested “competitive advantage internationalism,” more explicitly economic, capitalist and entrepreneurial. A third type was instrumental and practical, using international comparisons and borrowing to support or help explain the other two. The thesis pays special attention to province-wide developments both in government and out. These include the work of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), of several voluntary organizations, and provincial Department of Education policy and programme innovations. Examples include the rise, demise, and revival of cadet training, technical education, Department curriculum policy, and the work of the Overseas Education League, the National Council on Education, the Junior Red Cross, the World Goodwill Society of British Columbia, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the League of Nations Society in Canada. A diverse array of BCTF leaders, parents, teachers, voluntary organizations, students, educational policy makers and bureaucrats, editorialists, the general public, and the provincial government supported international education and internationalist outlooks. The argument is supported chiefly by organizational and government documents, by editorials, letters, articles, commentaries, conference reports, and speeches in The B.C. Teacher, by Department of Education and sundry other reports, by League of Nations materials, and by newspapers and other publications. Distinctive imperially-minded educational ideas and practices prevailed in British Columbia from about 1900 to the mid-1920s, whereas explicitly internationalist education notions and practices complemented or overshadowed imperial education from about 1919 to 1939. The transition from imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia education and society coincided with Canada’s industrialization in an interdependent global economy, and its maturation into an independent self governing nation within the Commonwealth and League of Nations. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Generations of Canadians are familiar with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's school radio broadcasts. Agreement between the CBC and the Ministry of Education ensured that the CBC provided the necessary technical arrangements required to air and distribute the broadcasts, while the Ministry of Education agreed to provide the creative component for the programs - script writers, actors and actresses, musicians, and others. The broadcasts came to include music, art, social studies, science, and language arts. This thesis examined the historical development of British Columbia school radio, the shape of the broadcasts themselves, and British Columbia teachers' experiences associated with school radio. This study also examined the experiences of CBC and Ministry of Education personnel who were involved in the production and distribution of British Columbia school radio. Interviews with British Columbia teachers who listened to the broadcasts from 1960-1982, and Ministry of Education and CBC employees whose work brought them in contact with the school radio broadcasts, provided the core evidence for this study. Ministry of Education and CBC employees provided the context for the interviews. Interviews, combined with the Ministry of Education Reports, enabled the re-creation of the experiences associated with British Columbia school radio. Although there were differences amongst classroom eachers' reactions to the programs, there were some striking similarities. On the whole, British Columbia teachers found school radio interesting, informative, and purposeful. School broadcasts allowed teachers a moment to 'catch their breath' when preparation time was not the norm. Interviews with CBC employees revealed more similarities than differences with respect to their experiences. They reported that the broadcasts provided British Columbia schools with educationally sound material. Although CBC personnel did not find the broadcasts professionally challenging, they had fond memories of their association with the programs. Ministry of Education employees interviewed reflected very different opinions relating to their experiences as script writers, producers, directors, performers, and others. Nonetheless, they provided valuable information as to how school broadcasts were put together for pupils and teachers. Changing instructional technology, which included the introduction of a visually stimulating medium such as television, the introduction of audio-visual equipment such as tape-recorders which enabled the delay of broadcasts, and the implementation of a restrictive CBC budget brought the British Columbia school broadcasts to an end in 1982.

Generations of Canadians are familiar with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's school radio broadcasts. Agreement between the CBC and the Ministry of Education ensured that the CBC provided the necessary technical arrangements required to air and distribute the broadcasts, while the Ministry of Education agreed to provide the creative component for the programs - script writers, actors and actresses, musicians, and others. The broadcasts came to include music, art, social studies, science, and language arts. This thesis examined the historical development of British Columbia school radio, the shape of the broadcasts themselves, and British Columbia teachers' experiences associated with school radio. This study also examined the experiences of CBC and Ministry of Education personnel who were involved in the production and distribution of British Columbia school radio. Interviews with British Columbia teachers who listened to the broadcasts from 1960-1982, and Ministry of Education and CBC employees whose work brought them in contact with the school radio broadcasts, provided the core evidence for this study. Ministry of Education and CBC employees provided the context for the interviews. Interviews, combined with the Ministry of Education Reports, enabled the re-creation of the experiences associated with British Columbia school radio. Although there were differences amongst classroom eachers' reactions to the programs, there were some striking similarities. On the whole, British Columbia teachers found school radio interesting, informative, and purposeful. School broadcasts allowed teachers a moment to 'catch their breath' when preparation time was not the norm. Interviews with CBC employees revealed more similarities than differences with respect to their experiences. They reported that the broadcasts provided British Columbia schools with educationally sound material. Although CBC personnel did not find the broadcasts professionally challenging, they had fond memories of their association with the programs. Ministry of Education employees interviewed reflected very different opinions relating to their experiences as script writers, producers, directors, performers, and others. Nonetheless, they provided valuable information as to how school broadcasts were put together for pupils and teachers. Changing instructional technology, which included the introduction of a visually stimulating medium such as television, the introduction of audio-visual equipment such as tape-recorders which enabled the delay of broadcasts, and the implementation of a restrictive CBC budget brought the British Columbia school broadcasts to an end in 1982. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study describes the evolution of the British Columbia business education curriculum from 1875 to 1990. Since the 'official' curriculum document at any particular time represents the central focus of formal educational endeavours, it and related ensuing specific business subject curricula were the central objects of analysis for this study. The primary or "parent" document of the general curriculum for each important revision period was examined first for such clues as its language, purposes, aims, emphases and concerns gave to its philosophy and general orientation. Next, each of the commercial/business programmes that issued from that major revision was examined in order to determine its relationship to the "parent" document. Individual courses within the programmes were then analyzed. Finally, each curriculum was examined to ascertain its relationship with its social, economic, political and historical contexts. Some important themes have emerged: a shift in the clientele for business education, a series of changes in the focus of the programme, and some related changes in the status of the field. The evolution of commercial education from a course of study for 'gentlemen' into one for an almost exclusively female clientele by mid-century, into one for both genders by 1990 greatly affected the contents and emphases of prescribed programmes. The contents and emphases of those prescribed programmes were also determined by the broader social, political and economic contexts in which they operated. During certain periods, the programme presented an image of business as "offic work", and thus utilitarian, functional, nonacademic, and of primary interest to female students. Emphasis on "entry-level" skills for office employment characterized the programme. At those times its prestige within the school subject hierarchy tended to be low. At other times business education was a more general course, theoretical, and fairly academic in nature, presenting a broad conception of the business world. In those periods business education included theories and practices related to owning, directing and conducting business as well as office skills and routines. During these times, business education enjoyed high status within the school subject hierarchy, and appealed to both male and female students. In addition, the status of business education depended on the attention it received from such influential entities as strong business interest groups, and the federal and provincial governments. While more tentative than some of the other considerations the thesis does examine the interrelationships amongst such elements as curriculum, academic and nonacademic streaming, gender roles, employment training, and political and economic agendas of government. Although the exact impact that each had in determining business education curricula is not yet entirely clear, their central role in the process is made amply clear in this descriptive study. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

With the onset of the depression in 1929 the Province of British Columbia found itself almost immediately in economic difficulties. As a province dependent to a very great extent on exports of raw and semi-processed products it faced by the winter of 1930 mounting unemployment, with which it was ill-prepared to cope, and declining revenues. The efforts of the Conservative government in power to meet the situation by attempting to implement the policy of a balanced budget were unsuccessful and by 1932 the province was facing a severe financial crisis. In the ensuing failure of morale the Conservatives allowed representatives of the business community, chiefly concentrated in Vancouver, to inspect the activities of all government departments and make recommendations which would help to improve the condition of the provincial treasury. The resultant Kidd Report, as it became known, threw education into high relief and in the subsequent election it became an important issue. The controversy over education brought out a number of issues which had been the cause of debate and dissension since the turn of the century. The question of the best means of financing the schools was the most pressing and.obvious one. Every economic recession in the past had highlighted this problem as schools under such circumstances usually suffered from inadequate local revenues and reduced government grants. In addition the problem was generally exacerbated by an increasing school population. But other questions disturbed educations: what subjects should be taught in schools, what emphasis should be given to traditional academic subjects and what to the more practically oriented ones, what structure of schools was the best, what was the function of public education, and most fundamentally, what was the philosophy of education which should be adopted in the changed and changing world of the twentieth century? Until very recently it has generally been stated by historians and educators writing about education that the changes which were proposed and implemented during the decade of the thirties were the product of a genuinely humanitarian impulse, a desire to make education more democratic and egalitarian, and dedicated to the cultivation of the worth of each individual child. However, the developments in the field of education which occurred under the Liberal administration cast serious doubts on this interpretation. The Liberal victory in the fall of 1933 brought to power in British Columbia a party which under the leadership of T. Dufferin Pattullo was, at least in stated social and economic policy, considerably to the left of the federal Liberal party, but nevertheless strongly committed to the preservation of the capitalist system. Pattullo appointed as Minister of Education G.M. Weir, head of the Department of Education at the University of British Columbia and coauthor of the Putman-Weir Survey, an exhaustive survey of education in the province written in 1925. He was widely known as a progressive educator, one who was in favour of the innovations of the "new education". Such innovations were not new to British Columbia but the reasons for their adoption during the first two decades of the century suggest primarily a desire for the production of a socially and vocationally efficient citizenry, a theme which is also basic to the Putman-Vfeir Survey. Similarly through the years from 1933 to 1940 the sane motivation seems apparent in the words and actions of those educators most responsible for educational change. Both the King Report on School Finance in British Columbia written in 1935 and the extensive curriculum revisions of elementary, junior and senior secondary schools undertaken in 1935, 1936 and 1937 give ample evidence of this. In addition there appears during these years an overriding concern with the preservation of the state. Fearful that the democratic state as they understood it had been placed in jeopardy by an unbridled individualism, educators in British Columbia sought to make the schools primarily the vehicle for what they tented the socializing of the student. In effect this amounted to conditioning him to retain those values which were deemed vital for the state's survival, and to reject those which seemed to act as a barrier to necessary social and economic change. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

In 1957, The University of British Columbia launched Canada's first degree-granting program in adult education. It subsequently grew to be one of the largest departments in the Faculty of Education, and recognized internationally for its work. As it grew, however, the program lost its initial administrative privilege. This study asks why UBC had the honour of this Canadian "first," and how the program flowed and ebbed. It shows the relations between the department's administrative and intellectual activities, and how the program fit British Columbia's social development more generally. The study concludes that the successes were largely opportunistic, as the program profited from the changing face of higher education more generally and privileges secured under an early administrative regime. The program's failure was that it did not create a stable identity independent of these opportunities: it failed to gain recognition from academic outsiders as the home of distinct adult education research and knowledge, and it failed to become the gatekeeper of a controlled profession.