A key factor motivating the organisation of tutorial classes for adult learners, based on collaboration between the Workers' Educational Association and universities in England and Wales, was a belief that they offered an educational vehicle for the promotion of liberal concepts of political citizenship.  Attempts to disseminate this tutorial class model were not always successful, despite the promotional efforts of Albert Mansbridge and his fellow supporters.  This article considers the educational and organizational charecteristics of tutorial classes and makes a regional comparison of their meagre development in Scotlandwith their sustained growth elsewhere between 1907 and 1939.  it identifies a complex weave of factors, related to both the nature of student demand and the funding of adult education, that inhibited the growth of tutorial classes in Scotland.  These factors also provide insight into general barriers to the development of liberal adult education to promote citizenship in Scotland.