Welcome to the Glass Age

172 from pots to continuous furnaces, from hand forming to machine operation, assisted by increasing skills and deeper understanding that empowered those responsible for the factories. Travel, although not a new phenomenon, also helped to broaden their minds particularly in terms of design. For example, members of the Wood family learned the latest hand-working techniques in France before returning to the UK to run a factory in Barnsley employing several thousand workers. Industrialization and the move away from hand blown products in turn demanded different skills from the workforce: engineers to run the forming machines and the furnaces; lab technicians to monitor quality and so on. It spawned a major industry of suppliers to provide furnace refractories, forming equipment, control gear, capping and labelling equipment, secondary fabrication such as cutting, polishing, toughening etc. Education has had to change and develop accordingly. Of course, hand-working skills did not disappear. After the first world war, there were many disabled soldiers seeking industries where they could work and make a contribution. Turner put on classes in Sheffield on lamp- working. The skills developed were taken up by the electronics industry and ultimately underpinned the development of radio, television, communications and computing. Hand-working continues to offer valuable employment in artistic glassware. The Ruskin Mill based near Stourbridge, UK is a good example. Many with learning issues that make it difficult for them to fit into more conventional employment have discovered new opportunities. Home working is also once again a possibility and offers opportunities such as jewelry making and upcycling. Current status So, what constitutes effective Education? The dictionary definition of Education is: the act of imparting knowledge or skill; systematic instruction. So, there are (at least) two aspects of education, one is passing on skills and the second is the imparting knowledge. In either case a systematic approach is assumed. It’s also worth considering the dictionary Figure 11.3. The value of recorded knowledge (textbooks) in learning. Source: Pixabay.