Originally published 1978.This volume examines the purpose and the functioning of the present education system inthe UK and when it was originally published it was the first overall review of developments in British education since the 1944 Education Act. It discusses some of the most significant reforms which have stemmed from developments in the primary schools, in particular from the adoption of child-centred and progressive methods of teaching.

In the decades after 1944 the four nations of Britain shared a common educational programme. By 2015, this programme had fragmented: the patterns of schooling and higher education in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England resembled each other less and less. This new edition of the popular Education in Britain traces and explains this process of divergence, as well as the arguments and conflicts that have accompanied it. With a reach that extends from the primary school to the university, and from culture to politics and economics, Ken Jones explores the achievements and limits of post-war reform and the egalitarian aspirations of the 1960s and 1970s. He registers the impact of the Thatcherite revolution of the 1980s, and of the New Labour governments which were its inheritors. Turning to the twenty-first century, Jones tracks the educational consequences of devolution and austerity. The result is a book which is more attentive than any other to the ever-increasing diversity of education in Britain. This comprehensive and accessible overview will have a wide appeal. It will also be an invaluable resource on courses in educational studies, teacher education and sociology.

Originally published 1978.This volume examines the purpose and the functioning of the present education system inthe UK and when it was originally published it was the first overall review of developments in British education since the 1944 Education Act. It discusses some of the most significant reforms which have stemmed from developments in the primary schools, in particular from the adoption of child-centred and progressive methods of teaching.

The 1944 Education Act was a crucial piece of British legislation - one of the most important this century. It was passed against a background of war and growing popular demand for social reform. It provided a framework for the education service which remained largely intact for almost fifty years. Since 1988, however, with the introduction of a National Curriculum and competition between schools, the workings of the Act have been largely dismantled. In The Making of the 1944 Education Act, Michael Barber presents a lively evaluation of the Act - its background, passage and effect - fifty years after it was introduced. He looks briefly at the frustrated attempts at reform between the wars and how the upheaval of World War II created the right conditions for successful legislation. The book then follows the passage of reform and quotes liberally from contemporary sources such as the Times Educational Supplement and Hansard to illustrate its narrative. It is a fascinating history of educational policy, and of British culture and politics towards the end of the war.

Published in the year 2006, Unpopular Education is a valuable contribution to the field of Media and Cultural Studies.

This book provides an overview of the relationship between the sweeping social changes of the post-war period and education in England. It outlines the major demographic cultural and socio-economic developments which made new demands of the education service during the twenty years following the War and analyses the responses made by schools, colleges and universities. The book provides not only an informed narrative of the development of formal education, but also an authoritative account of the ways in which suburbanisation and the growth of the new property-owning middle class determined both the rhetoric of education and the structure of the system which emerged through the implementation of the 1944 Education Act.

Originally published in 1976,this survey of policy-making in secondary education in Britain from 1944-1977, analyzes the relationship between the politician and the educationist and the part each plays in the policy-making process, paying particular attention to the role of central and local government, the teachers’ organizations and the political parties. The volume illustrates how the anticipated importance of the teachers’ organizations in initiating changes in policy was ill-founded while the political parties made a valuable contribution.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, University of Potsdam (Anglistik & Amerikanistik), course: British Culture in the 19th and 20th Century, language: English, abstract: In the last decades, the educational systems ‘widened’ steadily. Learning opportunities and participation are on the increase. Particularly the number of people that remain in the educational system beyond compulsory education rose considerably. This expansion continues: Following an almost universal taking part in secondary education, tertiary education registers a continuous perpetually participation rate (OECD 31-32). The responsibility for the education in England lies with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) led by the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP. This year’s progress report states that parents want the best for their children. They want them to be safe, happy, healthy, doing well in a good school with high standards, and able to get good qualifications and eventually a good job. [...] The world is changing, and so are the skills, attitudes and aspirations that children and young people need to succeed in a changing global economy (DCSF 3). This shows that nowadays education is given a high priority in the English society. It has not always been like that. The present English educational system is the result of a historical development for centuries. The system certainly has features of recent foundation, but its most basic aspects persisted directly and visibly from the nineteenth century. A key moment in educational reform seemed, and still seems, to be the Education Act of 1944. “It is a very great Act which makes – and in fact has made – possible as important and substantial advance in public education as this country has ever known.” (Dent 1). This paper shall deliver insight into the reforms of the 1944 Education Act. In this regard, I would like to enlarge on its roots and aims – especially concerning the influence of World War II. Furthermore, I will introduce the Act itself, its strengths and weaknesses, and its potential impact on the present English education system. There are certainly several more interesting aspects regarding the issue, but due to the restricted number of pages, I will not be able to go into all of them.