Resistance to, and Development of, Technical Education from the Mid-Eighteenth to the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century: Special Reference to Britain, France, Germany, and Russia

This chapter focuses on the beginnings and developments of technical education with regard to four countries: Britain, France, Germany and Russia. Technical education in this context refers to subjects and practical skills required to support early industrialization such as practical science, engineering and building and construction. The four countries have been selected, not because they happen to be European, but because there are similarities and differences between the way they founded and developed their technical education, particularly during the nineteenth century. Britain was chosen as historians and economists are in agreement that it was the first country to industrialize on a large scale by the beginning of the nineteenth century. France was selected for its early technical developments despite the effects of political upheaval. Germany was studied for its early developments relating to apprenticeships and polytechnics, and Russia for its policy of developing technical education supported by expertise from other parts of Europe. Similar technical education developments were also taking place in other countries as and when they were industrializing on a large scale. Technical education curricula reflected the needs countries had in order to industrialize and during the period of study, all four countries were offering similar subjects, albeit not at the same time or on the same scale. The chapter concludes with the opening decades of the twentieth century, by which time technical education had become firmly established.