This paper presents a historical reflection on gender and literacy, with a view to informing the present teaching of literacy in early childhood. The relationship between gender, literacy and opportunity in the labour market is examined, given that despite girls' achievement in literacy, in comparison with boys', women continue to earn…

As part of its stated mission to Christianise Britain, from its earliest years the BBC broadcast religious programmes intended for a child audience. Directed at sites domestic and educational, these broadcasts constituted a means of the mediatisation of religion for children. This paper explores the work of the pioneer children's religious…

Narrowing the focus of existing research on academics' and historians' use of digital technologies and social media, this paper considers historians of education and their use of online platforms. It combines a small-scale survey of the self-reflections of historians of education together with personal reflections gained from building the social…

Treading in the footsteps of past generations, Ontario policy advisers journeyed throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1966 to directly understand the educational reforms that were being undertaken in that country. On their return, these consultants brought back a number of innovations for discussion with their parent committee in the…

This article considers in a wide perspective the crisis in the assessment of examinations in A-level English Literature and current attempts to address the problems. Examining the implications of a survey of recent reports initiated by the regulator, it argues that trying to ensure reliability merely through technological advances and changes in…

The History Workshop movement took its stance on the democratisation of history making, becoming notorious for its exuberant gatherings and impassioned "histories from below". At the centre of the early Workshop was the British historian Raphael Samuel, who has been described as the personification of its intellectual and ethical…

This paper explores how Norah Fry's concerns of 100 years ago have been relevant to the work of the Norah Fry Research Centre. In 1898, Norah Fry began to investigate the social conditions and educational needs of people with learning disabilities living in Bristol and Somerset. In reporting her findings to a Royal Commission in 1905, she set out…

The neo-liberal move to depoliticise and deregulate governance of public sectors by transferring them to the technocratic and administrative marketplace management endangers the political and democratic processes at all levels. It influences education and educational leadership at their very core: the purpose of education is shifting from…

This essay takes issue with earlier critical work arguing early British children's literature functions to construct middle class subjectivites. Using the John Newbery Medal as a case study, this essay examines the prizing of children's literature and its cultural discontents. The author uses a third-person limited omniscient point of view to…

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the role of programme leaders (PLs) in a pre-1992 university, based on interviews with PLs (7) and a survey of taught Masters students (54) in a single school. The study elicits PLs' activities, most of which might be categorised as managerial and administrative, with leadership required…

During the first years of the twentieth century, Christian missionaries tried to improve their efforts to bring the message of the Gospel to areas such as British Tropical Africa. The process stemmed from the World Missionary Conference in 1910 in Edinburgh, Scotland, where conference organisers used the then popular method of social surveys to…

This paper explores the changing roles of families in children's developing literacy in the UK in the last century. It discusses how, during this time, understandings of reading and writing have evolved into the more nuanced notion of "literacy." Further, in acknowledging changes in written communication practices, and shifting attitudes…

"Historical thinking" has a central role in the theory and practice of history education. At a minimum, history educators must work with a model of historical thinking if they are to formulate potential progression in students' advance through a school history curriculum, test that progression empirically, and shape instructional…

This paper considers how teachers, psychologists and policymakers can respect the rights of all school students, through methods that are principled, humane, cost-effective and democratic. It examines how special educational needs and disability (SEND) services affect all school students and teachers, and their rights. The paper considers the…

Each year the National Reference Test (NRT) reports the proportions of students achieving at or above three key GCSE grades in English and mathematics. The NRT is therefore uniquely placed as a Key Stage 4 assessment which compares performance directly at ability level, to contribute to the evidence on the impact of disruption to education due to…