Education And The Social Order 1940 1990

The fourth and final in the "Studies in History of Education in England" this volume examines the changes and developments in the British education system from the Second World War to the eve of the millennium. Education has always been a battlefield and never more so than in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. Simon argues that educational policy usually reflects the outcome of a struggle between progressives who see reform as a first step towards social change, and conservatives who prefer a stratified system which reflects existing social divisions. It documents the changes that took place as the result of these battles: it begins with the 1944 Education Act and the massive extension of educational opportunity that took place in the postwar period; it then deals with the subsequent prolonged debates about comprehensive education, and other measures of liberalisation during the 1960s and 1970s; and it ends with the years of Conservative government, the 1980s and 1990s, when systematic attempts were made to reverse the advances that had been made during the earlier period. Winner of the History of Education Society Prize 1991-92 Winner of the Standing Conference for Studies in Education Prize 1991-92

This book is the work of the British Educational Research Association Assessment Policy Task Group who produced two of the four papers featured. They all address the reasons behind current UK assessment policy and how it might be improved.

This is the first book to offer an overview of the ways in which the sweeping social and economic changes of the modern period have impacted on the education system. Roy Lowe draws on estensive research to paint a vivid picture of the ways in which schools and universities were moulded by external events and of the part they played in promoting modernisation of society. The book explores some key themes: * the nature of the economic transformations taking place; * the growing awareness of gender issues; * the changing ethnic composition of modern Britain; * the bureaucratisation of society and the rise of a new politics. Exploring the links between these issues and educational provision, Lowe argues that the growing political significance of educational issues is largely explained by the critical part played by the education system in providing social and economic stability during these years of swift social change. Roy Lowe is Professor of Education at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Education for Democracy in England in World War II examines the educational discourse and involvement in wartime educational reforms of five important figures: Fred Clarke, R. H. Tawney, Shena Simon, H. C. Dent and Ernest Simon. These figures campaigned for educational reforms through their books, publishing articles in newspapers, delivering speeches at schools and conferences and by organizing pressure groups. Going beyond the literature in this key period, the book focuses on exploring the relationship between democratic ideals and reform proposals in each figure’s arguments. Displaying a variety of democratic forums for debates about education beyond parliament, the book re-interprets wartime educational reforms from a different perspective and illustrates the agreements and contradictions in the educational discourse itself.

This is the first full-length study of the life and career of Brian Simon (1915-2002), leading Marxist intellectual and historian of education in twentieth-century Britain. Using documentary sources that have only recently become publicly available, it reveals the remarkably broad range of Simon’s life as student, soldier and school teacher, Communist Party activist, and educational academic, campaigner and reformer. In a sympathetic biography that yet retains critical distance, the authors analyse Simon’s contribution to Marxism and the CP, explore the influence of both on his work as a historian of education and trace the significance of his Marxist beliefs, political associations and historical approach to the cause of educational reform. In so doing, they consider the full nature and limitations of Simon’s achievements in his struggle for education. Unlike many Marxist scholars he remained loyal to the CP in the 1950s, which damaged his reputation as a public intellectual. Nevertheless, his support for comprehensive education helped to promote egalitarian educational reforms in Britain, although he was later unable to provide sufficient resistance to the 1988 Education Reform Act and to a decline in the position of the comprehensive schools. In all this, the significance of Simon’s family, and especially his relationship with his wife Joan is to the fore. Joan and Brian forged a formidable 60-year partnership, in politics and the CP as well as in life, that lasted until Brian’s death in January 2002.

This book covers a crucial period for the development of state education in Britain; the advent of the comprehensive debate before and during the Second World War; the War years themselves and the 1944 Education Act; the post-War Labour Government; and Churchill's last government in a time of education expansion. From the 1960s, the focus shifted to questions of social deprivation and educational opportunities, secondary school selection, the debate on standards, Robbins and higher education, and the continuing theme of the dominance of public schools. The book is divided into four sections, which are then divided into chapters. Each chapter takes as its main reference point a key issue within the chronological framework of the book, e.g. resistance to secondary education for all, politics and textbooks, multilateral and technical schools, pressure groups and the 1944 Education Act, Churchill and the Conservatives. Much new light is thrown on the topics by the author's use of new material and he has made a valuable contribution to the politics of education.

From R.A. Butler's 1944 Act through the debate over comprehensives in the 1960s to the 1988 Education Reform Act, Brian Simon chronicles the major events in education over the past 50 years.

A rigorous, compelling and balanced examination of the British public school system and the inequalities it entrenches. Private schools are institutions that children who are already privileged attend and have those privileges further entrenched, almost certainly for life, through a high-quality, richly-resourced education. The Engines of Privilege contends that in a society that mouths the virtues of equality of opportunity, of fairness and of social cohesion, the continuation of this educational apartheid amounts to an act of national self-harm that does all of us serious damage. Intrinsic to any vision of the future of Britain has to be the nature of our educational system. Yet the quality of conversation on the issue of private education remains surprisingly sterile, patchy and highly subjective. Accessible, evidence-based and inclusive, Engines of Privilege aims to kick-start a long overdue national debate. Clear, vigorous prose is combined with forensic analysis to compelling effect, illuminating the painful contrast between the importance of private schools in British society and the near-absence of serious, policy-making debate, above all on the left.