Dr Geoff Andrews

Profile details

 

Lifelong Learning Visiting Fellow, Michaelmas term 2024

Biography and research

After leaving school at 16, Dr Geoff Andrews took up a place at Ruskin College, an adult education college linked to the labour movement. After graduating from University College, Cardiff, he has spent the majority of his academic career in adult and continuing education. He is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at The Open University, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts.

He has written widely on aspects of British and Italian history and politics, and more recently on the Cambridge spies. His publications include The Shadow Man (a biography of communist intellectual James Klugmann); Agent Moliere: the Life of John Cairncross; Not a Normal Country: Italy After Berlusconi; The Slow Food Story; and Endgames and New Times: the Final Years of British Communism. His new book project is a history of the British labour movement, with a strong focus on the role of adult education in shaping its ethos. Of particular interest is the university extension movement, the distinctive contribution of women tutors and students to the history of adult education, the contested history of Ruskin College, the early years of The Open University, and what current debates in lifelong learning can learn from this earlier history.

Working with Oxford Continuing Education

Geoff will continue his new book project whilst at Oxford and collaborate with Department colleagues on pedagogic research. He will also be hosting a series of talks at the Department about the history of continuing education and the current landscape of lifelong learning.

Upcoming Talks

  • 'Adult Education, the Labour Movement, and the Search for Intellectual Freedom' - Tuesday 29 October 2024, 12:30-13:30

  • 'Lifelong Learning, Then and Now: Reflections from The Open University' - ​Wednesday 13 November 2024, 12:30-13:30

  • 'The Oxford University Extra-Mural Delegacy as an Academic Community: Organisers, Tutors and Students' - Thursday 5 December 2024, 12:30-13:30