Association of Tutors in Adult Education

The Association of Tutors in Adult Education, which began in the early 1920s as the Tutors' Association, had links with the Co-operative Movement and the Workers' Educational Association. The World Association for Adult Education was founded in London in 1919, with the stated purpose "to dispel the melancholy belief that grown men and women have nothing left to learn". Its first chairman was Albert Mansbridge and the provisional committee included Margaret McMillan.

From the guide to the Papers, correspondence and publications of the Association of Tutors in Adult Education and related organisations, ca.1920-1995, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)

The Association of Tutors in Adult Education (ATAE), founded in 1913, represented full or part-time teaching in adult education of a non-vocational character. It aimed to protect the professional interests of tutors and was instrumental in rising salary scales and improving allowances and working conditions. The ATAE represented the interests of any tutor involved in dispute with their employing body. The association published a magazine, The Tutors' Bulletin, from 1922 until 1958 when it merged with Adult Education . Branch meetings and annual general meetings were organised to provide a forum for discussion of issues concerning the profession.

The ATAE was represented on a number of national bodies concerned with adult education including the Workers Educational Association's Central Council, the National Institute of Adult Education, the Central Joint Advisory Council for Tutorial Classes, and the UNESCO Committee on Adult Education.

The association was based at the Blenheim Institute, Blackman Lane, Leeds in the 1950s. It was divided into regional areas. A separate body for Scotland, the Scottish Tutors Association, was established in 1928 with affiliation to the ATAE but with greater autonomy. The ATAE was also known as the 'Tutor's Association'.

From the guide to the Records of the Association of Tutors in Adult Education, 1928-1968, 1928-1968, (The University of Nottingham)