In this comprehensive and extensively researched history, John Roach argues for a reassessment of the relative importance of State regulation and private provision. Although the public schools enjoyed their greatest prestige during this period, in terms of educational reform and progress their importance has been exaggerated. The role of the public school, he suggests, was social rather than academic, and as such their power and influence is to be interpreted principally in relation to the growth of new social elites, the concept of public service and the needs of the empire for a bureaucratic ruling class. Only in the modern progressive movement, launched by Cecil Reddie, and the private provision for young women, was lasting progress made. Even before the 1902 Education Act however the State had spent much time and effort regulating and reforming the old educational endowments, and it is in these initiatives that the foundations for the public provision of secondary educational reform are to be found.

In this comprehensive and extensively researched history, John Roach argues for a reassessment of the relative importance of State regulation and private provision. Although the public schools enjoyed their greatest prestige during this period, in terms of educational reform and progress their importance has been exaggerated. The role of the public school, he suggests, was social rather than academic, and as such their power and influence is to be interpreted principally in relation to the growth of new social elites, the concept of public service and the needs of the empire for a bureaucratic ruling class. Only in the modern progressive movement, launched by Cecil Reddie, and the private provision for young women, was lasting progress made. Even before the 1902 Education Act however the State had spent much time and effort regulating and reforming the old educational endowments, and it is in these initiatives that the foundations for the public provision of secondary educational reform are to be found.

Drawing on hitherto-unused sources this book represents a shift in the historiography of British education. At the centre of the investigation is Joseph Payne. He was one of the group of pioneers who founded the College of Preceptors in 1846 and in 1873 he was appointed to the first professorship of education in Britain, established by the College of Preceptors. By that date Payne had acquired a considerable reputation. He was a classroom practitioner of rare skill, the founder of two of the most successful Victorian private schools, the author of best-selling text-books, a scholar of note despite his lack of formal education, and a leading member of the College of Preceptors and such bodies as the Scholastic Registration Association, the Girls’ Public Day School Trust, the Women’s Education Union and the Social Science Association.

This book explores the development of education in France and England from the French Revolution to the outbreak of World War II. The author uses social equality as a framework to compare and contrast the educational systems of both countries and to emphasise the distinctive ideological legacies at the heart of both systems. The author analyses how the French Revolution prompted the emergence of an egalitarian ideology in education that in turn was crucial for propagating the values of equality, patriotism and unity. In tandem, the volume discusses the equally dramatic consequences of the Industrial Revolution for English society: while England led the world by 1800 in trade, commerce and industry, a strict form of liberalism and minimal state intervention impeded the reduction of educational inequality. This pioneering book will be of interest to students and scholars of educational equality as well as the history of education in France and England.

For most of us, school was our first detailed experience of a building outside the homes of our parents, friends and relations. Many people react emotionally when their old school, charged with so many memories, is closed or demolished. Not all school buildings are worthy of designation, but many are major local landmarks and demonstrate an important part of our society's evolution. This book aims to raise awareness of the wide range of school buildings built in England from the Reformation to the Millennium, and discusses which buildings may be worthy of greater appreciation and preservation. It summarises the development of schools and analyses how social attitudes have been expressed in their architecture and planning. Finally, it looks at the adaptation of older schools to modern needs and new uses for schools around the country, drawing on examples of best practice from Historic Building Inspectors and Advisers.

The progressive raising of the school-leaving age has had momentous repercussions for our understanding of childhood and youth, for secondary education, and for social and educational inequality. This book assesses secondary education and the raising of the school-leaving age in the UK and places issues and debates in an international context.

The textbooks written by Adolphe Ganot (1804-1887) played a major role in shaping the way physics was taught in the nineteenth century. Ganot's books were translated from their original French into more than ten languages, including English, allowing their adoption as standard works in Britain and spreading their influence as far as North America, Australia, India and Japan. Simon's Franco-British case study looks at the role of Ganot's two textbooks: Traite elementaire de physique experimentale et appliquee (1851) and Cours de physique purement experimentale (1859), and their translations into English by Edmund Atkinson. The study is novel for its international comparison of nineteenth-century physics, its acknowledgement of the role of book production on the impact of the titles, and for its emphasis on the role of communication in the making of science.