Learning about the world around us

Here at the WEA we offer a huge range of humanities and science courses, with something for everyone.  

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If you’re interested in the natural world, our geography and environment courses are the perfect choice. Our packed curriculum explores some of the biggest issues facing society, such as climate change and the fight against the destruction of some of Earth’s most precious resources. The option to learn in person or online means that our geography courses can whisk you away to a far-flung corner of the globe, all without you ever having to leave your own home. 

Studying a science

If you choose to take one of our psychology courses you’ll be immersed in the study of the human mind. With options to learn about memory and identity, you’ll get the chance to explore and debate some of the most famous psychological experiments.  

There’s also Sociology too, a subject that focuses on human behaviour, interaction, and relationships. If you’d like to explore some of the biggest questions in life, then our philosophy courses are for you. Small class sizes mean that you’ll get to discuss and debate in a supportive environment, all with an experienced tutor on hand.  

Attend a Humanities and Science course near you  

Whether you choose to learn from the comfort of your own home or opted for face-to-face learning at a local community venue, you’ll be taught by a talented tutor who is an expert in their subject. Our learning experience sets us apart from other providers, with learners regularly highlighting the difference that an encouraging environment makes. 

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History

Explore key events and figures in history with our History course. Learn about different periods, cultures, and significant historical developments. Ideal for history enthusiasts and anyone interested in learning about the past.
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Course Information

Dates:
Tue 21/01/2025 -
Tue 18/03/2025
Location:
Peterhouse Community Centre
122 Forest Rise
Walthamstow
London
E17 3PW
Course code:
Q00017606
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £80.00

History: Behind the Iron Curtain

On this nine week course held in Rearsby, we will look at life in the six countries of Eastern Europe under Soviet control from the late 1940s until 1989. This is mostly a social history course, and only peripherally covers East-West tensions, often referred to as the Cold War. We’ll see how the Soviet Union and its proxies, the communist parties of the six countries, endeavoured to impose a new way of life on people, sometimes subtly through the media and propaganda and at other times using methods of coercive control. How it was to live there – the realities of being in a bureaucratic state with central planning and surveillance; why youth groups were considered so important; rebellions against the state; the Berlin Wall. If you are interested in history and culture, this course will be suitable for you.
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Course Information

Dates:
Tue 21/01/2025 -
Tue 18/03/2025
Times:
11:00am - 12:30pm
Duration:
9 sessions
Location:
Rearsby Village Hall (Rearsby)
1851 Melton Road
Rearsby
LE7 4YS
Tutor:
David Price
Course code:
Q00013185
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £56.70

History: Brushstrokes of History

On this nine week history course held in Lutterworth we will learn what art can teach us about the times in which they were created. We will look at key events in the history of the Netherlands from 1300-1600; the significant political events in France before the Revolution, and also Napoleon’s rise to power. No prior knowledge is expected, just an interest in history and culture – the course will be accompanied by images of artworks. Learners are invited to ask questions if they choose to. Topics of art will include the history of Antwerp - Charles V abdication; and the beginning of the Dutch Revolt and becoming a Protestant-dominated city; and Amsterdam; Louis XIV and the succession by Louis XV in 1715; and the reign of Louis XVI to 1789 when the French Revolution begins.
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Course Information

Dates:
Thu 23/01/2025 -
Thu 27/03/2025
Times:
10:15am - 11:45am
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
The Wycliffe Rooms
Freemasons Hall
George Street
Lutterworth
Leicester
LE17 4ED
Tutor:
David Price
Course code:
Q00013056
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £56.70

History: How the Vote was Won - Campaigns for Democracy in Britain

An opportunity to explore the fascinating stories of movements and individuals who worked to achieve the right to vote in Britian. Our subjects range from Puritan soldiers in the 17th century to Welsh republicans in the 19th and women mill workers in the early 20th. We will meet Levellers, Chartists, Suffragists and Suffragettes as well as lesser-known groups. As we encounter campaigners divided over tactics, politics and ethics, we will see how the right to vote overlapped with other controversies and ask why advances and setbacks happened when they did.
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Course Information

Dates:
Mon 27/01/2025 -
Mon 24/03/2025
Times:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration:
8 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Symon Hill
Course code:
Q00018050
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £59.20

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Membership Information

Duration:
12 months
Fee:
£15

History: Highlights Of British Archaeology: Viking (800 AD) To High Middle Ages

Recent fieldwork allows us to define three distinct phases of Anglo-Scandinavian occupation: raiding, conquest and settlement. Sites at Repton and Torksey provide evidence of Viking Age winter camps from the Conquest Period, whereas spatial analysis of both artefact scatters and place names vividly demonstrate the areas of Norse settlement. We shall be looking at major developments in shipping technology from the Saxon through to the High Middle Ages, without which none of these invasions, including 1066, would have been possible. As part of our Medieval studies we shall examine the eclectic Medieval “Voynich Manuscript”. Using the illustrations we shall try to make some sense of it.
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Course Information

Dates:
Mon 27/01/2025 -
Mon 31/03/2025
Times:
1:45pm - 3:45pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Grimsby Central Hall & Arts Community Ce
Duncombe Street
Grimsby
DN32 7EG
Tutor:
Simon Tomson
Course code:
Q00018374
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £84.00

History: Vienna and Berlin 1814-1914

An exploration of the history of Vienna and Berlin in the 19th century. We will look at how they became capital cities; the revolution in 1848-49 and its effects; massive migration as a result of industrialisation; political events; cultural developments; and some of the personalities based in these cities during this period; including the ideas and activities of Freud, Strauss, Herzl, Hitler and Trotsky. We will examine the paradoxical nature of the monarchy in Vienna in presiding over progress in democracy and tolerance but remaining officially absolutist; and will consider how William II’s personality affected his political decisions both internally and in foreign policy.
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Course Information

Dates:
Fri 31/01/2025 -
Fri 14/03/2025
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
7 sessions
Location:
The Rothley Centre (Rothley)
12 Mountsorrel Lane
Rothley
LE7 7PR
Tutor:
David Price
Course code:
Q00013039
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £50.40

Art Appreciation: The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is indeed a jewel box of great painting. With works by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Michelangelo, some of the greatest works of the Italian Renaissance are to be found there. But this is more than just a collection of great works. It is also the pope’s private chapel and so these works were created not just for display but to relay a greater message to the world, But how many of the thousands of visitors really understand that message or what these works are about? In this study day we shall seek to decode the 'messages' contained in these great works and see what Sixtus IV and Julius II and their artists were really saying to us.
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Course Information

Dates:
Tue 04/02/2025 -
Tue 25/02/2025
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
3 sessions
Location:
The Cornerstone (Wokingham)
Norreys Avenue
Wokingham
RG40 1UE
Tutor:
Guest Speaker
Course code:
Q00017593
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee:
£30.00

History: Vienna 1814-1914

In the 19th century, the population of Vienna grew from about 300,000 people to more than 2 million and it became the sixth largest city in the world, capital of an empire of 53 million and a centre for the arts, scientific ideas, and political theorising. We will see how Vienna became a capital city and how its importance was solidified by the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. We will also look at the revolution in 1848-49 and its effects, the development of the Ringstrasse, and the massive migration to the city as a result of large scale industrialisation.
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Course Information

Dates:
Tue 04/02/2025 -
Tue 18/02/2025
Times:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration:
3 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
David Price
Course code:
Q00012810
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £22.20

History: Scandals that changed History

History, international and domestic, is littered with scandals. Whether they truly change the course of history is itself a debatable question. What is certain is that they reflect their times in remarkable ways. The course will select from a range of scandals, some notorious, some lesser known, to illustrate this. Among the likely candidates for consideration from a very wide field are: Gladstone’s work with prostitutes, the assassination of Rasputin, Lloyd George’s three scandals for the price of one, the suicide of Stalin’s wife, the Profumo affair, the Luncheon Voucher Scandal, Mao and the tea girl, the Post Office scandal.
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Course Information

Dates:
Tue 04/02/2025 -
Tue 04/03/2025
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
Kegworth Village Hall (Kegworth)
Nottingham Road
Kegworth
DE74 2FH
Tutor:
Michael Lynch
Course code:
Q00012839
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £42.00

History: 'A calamitous Plantagenet century', England 1200 - 1330

This course examines the century that shaped England, bookended by arguably England’s worst King, John, and one of its greatest, Edward I. The century began with England's integral of a vast continental empire that stretched from the Scottish borders to the foothills of the Pyrenees. The 13th century began for England with the reign of King John, who lost his continental empire and almost lost his throne to a baronial revolt against his rule and an invasion of England by the French. One hundred and thirty years later, John’s great-grandson did lose his Kingdom to an invasion led by his wife, Isabella, to overthrow him and replace him on the throne. The intervening years were no less dramatic: years of baronial unrest, Magna Carta, and the growing influence of foreigners around King Henry III culminating in the rebellion of Simon de Montfort and the Baron's War against the King in the 1260s. The England that we know, its governance and institutions were shaped during these 130 years of the calamitous thirteenth century.
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Course Information

Dates:
Wed 05/02/2025 -
Wed 19/03/2025
Times:
11:30am - 1:00pm
Duration:
7 sessions
Location:
St Lukes Church Hall (Tiptree)
66 Church Road
Tiptree
CO5 0SU
Tutor:
Michael Long
Course code:
Q00018061
How you'll learn:
Online and in venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £44.10