About the Association and distance learning.

Distance learning, or home study, first began as soon as there was a reliable postal service.

The Penny Post began as early as the seventeenth century, but really took off with the invention of gummed stamps, the famous Penny Black, in 1840.

The introduction of the Board Schools in 1870 meant that every child the country received at least an elementary education. For the first time in history the whole population was literate, and the demand for further education grew rapidly.

Postal tuition was perhaps at its most flourishing during and just after the Second World War, when government approached the existing Correspondence Colleges with a view to providing Correspondence Courses for members of the forces. 

The colleges involved in this scheme kept in touch with each other by means of an informal committee, and in 1955 decided to form an Association. Its aims, then as now, were to safeguard the interests of students learning at home by ensuring high standards, and to provide services and a forum for discussion among its members 

Modern distance learning is a far cry from those early beginnings. With the advent of the Internet and email, students are able to keep in touch with their Colleges, their tutors and their fellow students; the resources available are immense and learning has never been so flexible.