Social World of the School Education and Community in Interwar London
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Hester Barron is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Sussex
<p>'Hester Barron puts the school back where it belongs, as the heart of communities, in the period when the primary school became the most significant and most appreciated state institution in most people's lives, a harbinger of later prized welfare-state institutions. The result is a vivid and eloquent social history of interwar London viewed through its children, their parents and their teachers.'<br />Peter Mandler, Professor of Modern Cultural History, University of Cambridge<br /><br />This fascinating study demonstrates just how many answers there can be to the question ‘what are schools for?’ and will be valuable to anyone with an interest in the history of childhood and education as well as those working on interwar Britain more broadly.<br /><i>The Journal of the Social History Society</i></p>
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This book shows why the study of schooling matters to the history of twentieth-century Britain, integrating the history of education within the wider concerns of modern social history. Drawing on a rich array of archival and autobiographical sources, it captures in vivid detail the individual moments that made up the minutiae of classroom life. It focuses on elementary education in interwar London, arguing that schools were grounded in their local communities as lynchpins of social life and drivers of change. Exploring crucial questions around identity and belonging, poverty and aspiration, class and culture, behaviour and citizenship, it provides vital context for twenty-first century debates about education and society, showing how the same concerns were framed a century ago.
This book argues that the interwar classroom shaped twentieth-century Britain. It recreates and analyses life in London’s elementary schools in the 1920s and 1930s, building a mosaic of the educational experience. It argues that schools were grounded in their local communities and should be seen as key drivers of social change.
Map of Inner London
Introduction
Part I School and community
1 The school as a community
2 The school in the community
Part II What were schools for?
3 Preparing for the future
4 Fighting poverty
5 Brightening lives
6 Making citizens
7 Teaching morals
8 A sense of place
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
What were schools for, why did they matter and what do they tell us about society? In this compelling account, the lived experience of the classroom illuminates the social history of interwar Britain. Drawing on a rich array of archival and autobiographical sources, it captures the individual moments that made up the minutiae of classroom life. Focusing on elementary schools in London – where global, imperial, and national identities competed with local and family interests – it creates a mosaic of the educational experience across the capital between the wars.
By charting the growing role that schools played in communities, this book reveals the social relationships that shaped modern Britain: of children, guardians, neighbours, teachers, school managers, inspectors, welfare workers, medics, clerics, local businesses, and government officials. In doing so, it centres schools as key drivers of social change. Exploring crucial questions around identity and belonging, poverty and aspiration, class and culture, behaviour and citizenship, it shows that schools were an integral part of interwar society.
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Hester Barron is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Sussex