Educational Policy and Educational Content: the Teaching of European History in Secondary Schools in England and Wales, 1945-1975
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Educational Policy and Educational Content: The Teaching of European History in Secondary Schools in England and Wales, 1945-1975 ATHENA SYRIATOU University College London Submitted for the Degree of PhD in the University of London May 1997 ProQuest Number: 10044368 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10044368 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract This thesis investigates the way educational mechanisms and policies in British society influenced what was actually taught in schools, during the thirty years after the Second World War. It centres upon the case of the teaching of European history in secondary schools in England and Wales and how this was intended to influence the ideological formation of future generations. This research begins with a philosophical analysis of the role of education in reproducing both social mechanisms and cultural impetus in societies and more specifically in British society. It investigates the relationship between the intention of the state to intervene in the formation of the curriculum and the limitations on the teachers’ liberty to determine content in the classroom. It pays particular attention to the educational trends in history teaching and the role of the subject of history in the classroom. The greater part of this work is devoted to an examination of the content of history syllabuses and history examination questions, as well as to a sample of history textbooks used in secondary schools during the period 1945-1975. It shows that the dominant image encountered in this educational material was that of liberal England contrasted with absolutist and rebellious Europe. North-western Protestant principles, the benefits of colonialism and the moral superiority of great powers over weaker ones, were assessed favourably in these textbooks, giving a version of European history which made Britain stand out as a generator of liberty and progress. These concepts were fostered in a educational system which was tolerant enough to sustain views which were antagonistic to it without being threatened by them. Contents Abstract page List of illustrations 4 List of Tables 4 Acknowledgements 5 Notes on Abbreviations 7 List o f Interviews 4 Chapter I : Introduction 9 P art I; The Educational Policy 24 Chapter II: 1945-1975 and the Educating Function of the State 25 Chapter HI: The Agents of Curriculum Formation 52 Chapter IV: The Educational Society and History Teaching in Secondary Schools, 1945-1975 84 Part II: The Educational Content 116 A: The Examinations Chapter V : The Examinations 117 B: The Textbooks 158 Chapter VI: Choosing from the Store Cupboard 159 Chapter VII: Textbooks 1945-1964 178 Chapter VIE: Textbooks 1964-1975 216 Chapter DC: Liberty and the Domination of the Winner 232 Chapter X: Conclusion 245 Appendices: 250 1. Interviews 251 2. Tables 308 Bibliography 313 Illustrations 1. The Barber of Ber I in pcigs 212 Tables Table 3.1 65 Table 5.1 129 Table 5.2 145 Table 5.3 and table 5.4 154 Table 5.5 and table 5.6 155 Table 5.7 and table 5.8 156 Table 5.9 157 Table 6.1 175 Tables 1 and 2 309 Tables 3 and 4 310 Tables 5 and 6 311 Tables 7 and 8 312 List of Interviews A Joan Le win 252 B Ann and Graham Morris 264 D Professor Conrad Russell 282 C Professor Peter Hennessy 284 E Dr. Richard Cockett 292 F Mr Alfred Catterall 298 G Professor M.R.D. Foot 307 To my parents Acknowledgements During the period of time I have been working on this thesis I have come to owe gratitude to a lot of people. It has been a tremendous privilege to be supervised by Professor Martin J. Daunton. This was not only because I had the advantage of being taught by one of the most brilliant historians in British academia, but also because I had to deal with a most supportive and inspiring personality. It was also my good fortune to meet at the early stages of this thesis Mrs Joan Lewin, a teacher herself in Teachers Training Colleges who generously offered me all along the breadth of her experience and knowledge in history teaching and of the educational process during our numerous discussions at the Institute of Historical Research. My contact with Professor Norman Davies has also been most valuable. Our conversations on the uses of European History were very illuminating in forming an opinion about the issues this thesis deals with. I also thank Dr. Jonathan Morris, my second supervisor, for his enthusiasm and his excellent ideas on my thesis. The research of this thesis has been drawn from a number of archives and libraries, whose staff have been of enormous assistance. My particular thanks are due to the archivists of the eight examining boards, and especially to the Northern Examination Joint Matriculation Board and the University of Cambridge Board. I also thank the archivists and librarians of the Institute of Education in London, the Department of Education and the Institute of Historical Research. I am particularly grateful to the Institute for Textbooks Examination in Brunswick for giving me a grant to visit their collection of textbooks. I had continuous support from the Institute of Contemporary British History and particularly from Virginia Preston, from Dr. Peter Catterall, Paul Nicholson and Dr. Michael Kandiah, and I thank them. For the statistical analysis this thesis contains, Enid Hennessy, Eny Vezeridou and Dr. Michael Sarantinos have been extremely helpful and I thank them too. I am also obliged to Dr. Kier Waddington, who kindly helped me to lay out this text in a coherent way. I also thank all the people I interviewed who were particularly patient with my ignorance. These are Mrs Joan Lewin, Mrs Ann and Mr Graham Morris, Professor Conrad Russell, Professor Peter Hennessy, Mr Alfred Catterall, Dr. Richard Cockett and Professor M.R.D. Foot. However, my gratitude also goes to all those people who made the two countries where I have spent my life in recent years true homes. These are Aspasia Lambrinidou, Alexis Heraclides, Pericles Alkidis, Zina Assimacopoulou, Philippa Thomas, Martin Porter, Eny 7 Vezeridou, Petros Damilos, Ada Syriatou, and especially Christos Scorinis. Last, but by no means least, I want to thank Stavros Constantakopoulos, for bis unfailing friendship and support. This thesis is dedicated to my parents who were the first people to teach me that the only true education comes through love and friendship. All mistakes are of course my own responsibility. Abbreviations AEB Associated Examining Board AEG Assessment for Examinations and Curriculum CSE Certificate of Secondary Education CSG Curriculum Study Group DES Department of Education and Science GCE General Certificate of Education HMIs Her Majesty’s Inspectors JMB Joint Matriculation Board LEAs Local Education Authorities NUT National Union of Teachers 0 and A-level Ordinary and Advanced Level ODLE Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations GLEB Oxford Local Examination Board PRO Public Record Office SCCE Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations SSEC Secondary School Examination Council UCLES University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate UESEC University Entrance and School Examination Board WJEB Welsh Joint Examination Board CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Formulating the Question One of the major domestic topics of political controversy in Britain in the last few decades has been education; one of the major foreign policy topics has been Britain’s relationship with Europe. Although education, and especially secondary education, was still a minor political subject up to the beginning of the century, it then grew in importance to become in the late twentieth century a voting issue of the first order. Britain’s relationship with Europe, on the other hand, has split public opinion and political parties, ever since the end of the Second World War. The two issues are not obviously connected unless the influence of education in forming public opinion on the identity of Europe is examined. Public opinion on various policies concerning Britain’s attachment to Europe which has been developing a united political front was to be influenced not only by the arguments on specific issues, but also by the traditional perceptions of Britain’s differences from Europe - differences which some considered generic. Although it is obvious that not all elite groups agree on what should be the role of Europe in the present, most of them agree on what Europe’s role has been in the past. In Britain, it was widely believed that Europe’s history was one of tyranny and revolution, constantly in contradiction with democratic England. Linda Colley has argued that during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the whole edifice of British national identity was built on concepts of the negation of Europe - which at that time was represented by militant Catholicism or rival imperial powers. However, during the late twentieth century - with the empire long lost and Protestantism but a residual part of British culture - British politicians and voters of all persuasions are deeply suspicious of Continental views which shows how deeply rooted the perception of Europe as the Other really is.^ How these ideas were communicated to pupils in schools from 1945 to 1975, is the main subject of this thesis.