There are multiple vantage points from which historians have observed the ways in which both diseased and healthy bodies (as well as their constituent parts) have served as tools of knowledge generation, instruction and coercion in the hands of medical practitioners. From spaces of formal, specialist education such as the medical school to more…

This article examines schooling in the western American state of Colorado during the early twentieth century. Conditions of youth and education are examined at the Walsen coal-mining camp near the town of Walsenburg in the southern region of the state. The experiences of children in the camp are compared to with those living in the town, with a…

The history of Scandinavian social welfare services is a well-established field of research. Numerous studies have examined the principles and consequences of poor laws and criminal legislation with respect to various social groups, the emergence of child-rescue institutions and their activities. The socio-political function of education…

This article aims to describe post-war continuity and change in disaster education in Japan. Preparedness for natural disasters has been a continuous agenda in Japan for geographical and meteorological reasons, and disaster education has been practised in both formal and informal settings. Post-war disaster management and education have taken a…

The children of navvies were subject to the vagaries of an itinerant lifestyle, and during the latter years of the nineteenth century this invariably affected their relationship with an educational system that mandated compulsory attendance. Based primarily on school records, this article explores the contrasting ways in which teachers perceived…

This paper examines the connections between the school building programme in England and the raising of the school leaving age (ROSLA) from 14 to 15 in 1947 and then to 16 in 1972. These two major developments were intended to help to ensure the realisation of "secondary education for all" in the postwar period. The combination led in…

This paper is concerned with the recent history of science curriculum reform in England, though it traces these developments back to the mid-nineteenth century. It first reviews approaches to science in the curriculum until the mid-1960s, identifying the curricular settlement of the postwar years and the beginning of the so-called "swing from…

In this article the authors address the question of why school medical inspection in the Netherlands developed not only considerably slower than the British service but did so also on a more modest scale in terms of the impact on children's lives. In the Netherlands school doctors were not allowed to treat children's illnesses and therefore never…

This article surveys the history of compulsory education for soldiers' career advancement in the British army. It begins with an examination of the organizational context before analyzing the rationale, syllabus, teaching and assessment of soldier education. It concludes that for members of the army education organization their self-perception as…

The article argues that the local authority attendance officers responsible for the enforcement of compulsory attendance changed their approach to truancy under the influence of child welfare legislation and changing views of the child in the first decade of the twentieth century. Some of the changes in their work emerged as a direct response to…

This study examines Soviet strategies for education during its first four decades as they may be deduced from the resources put at its disposal. Despite the political importance for education and for proletarian empowerment at the workplace ("vydvizhenie"), the total enrolment ratio was only one-third higher than in the Tsarist period,…

Explores the relationship between English canal boat children and compulsory education requirements during 1900-1940. Focuses primarily on the 1900-1914 era and the difficulty of educating canal boat children. Discusses the Living In Committee Report and the Canal Boats Bill. Concludes this era contributed to progress in educating travelling…

States that compulsory education was a politically charged subject from 1920-1930 in Great Britain. Declares the political battle centered around the Labour and Conservative parties. Points out the national curriculum movement did not effect the private schools until the 1970s. (KDR)

Provides an overview of compulsory moral education in Japan from 1886 through 1997, tracing the introduction of specific ideals to elementary and secondary students. Argues that moral education was used to instill conformity, docility, and social cohesion in Japanese youth in order to fulfill the priorities of the political system. (CMK)

Discusses issues surrounding the development of mass compulsory schooling and explores the possible development of a theoretical framework for analyzing the effects of such schooling. Concludes that compulsory attendance laws make little difference in rates of school attendance. Rather, social conditions create the environment in which laws become…