Local Education Authorities and the Organisation of Secondary Education, 1943-1950

This article explores the attitudes adopted by local education authorities in England and Wales towards the reorganisation of secondary education in the new era of secondary education for all that was introduced through the Education Act of 1944. In general the Ministry of Education and the post-war Labour government actively encouraged Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to introduce a tripartite system of grammar, technical and modern schools in their areas. However, in many cases it is difficult to attribute LEA support for a bipartite or tripartite system to supine acquiescence; the LEAs involved were also making a principled choice to define the nature of educational provision in their own areas. The article discusses in particular depth the views of LEAs that preferred a bipartite arrangement, and those that promoted tripartism, in order to identify the character of the issues as they appeared to LEAs in this period.     

Evolution or Revolution: dilemmas in the post ERA management of special educational needs by local authorities

Abstract

The management by local education authorities (LEAs) of provision for special educational needs has long proved problematical, especially in mainstream schools. In the period following the 1981 Education Act, many LEAs sought to develop a ‘continuum of provision’ by the central direction of resources into the mainstream, but with limited success. In the wake of the 1988 Education Act, LEAs will need to pursue a more collaborative approach to the development of special needs policy. Examples of such approaches are studied and a model of an interactive relationship between schools and LEAs is proposed. Finally, the implications for LEA support services are discussed together with suggestions of a distinctive role for institutions of higher education.     

Implementing the Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs

Abstract

This article explores the provenance and features of the new Code of Practice for special educational needs and then reports on research on the implementation of the Code in one Local Education Authority. It is argued that the Code has managerial, curricular and consumer dimensions, all of which have a number of implications for policy and practice, for both LEAs and schools. In particular, the Code can be seen as a mechanism for controlling and targeting resource allocation as well as a means of increasing accountability in relation to provision and partnership with parents. The Code is also closely linked to the changing role of LEAs and is therefore likely to affect the relationship between LEAs and schools.     

On the Receiving End: New Labour and the LEAs

This paper (written by a Chief Education Officer wholly in a personal capacity) argues that appraising New Labour's energetic programme of educational policies from an LEA perspective should utilise the values of pluralism, achievement and equality of opportunity. The Government's actions directly related to LEAs themselves meant that LEAs now operate under close direction, under licence and subject to rigorous and high stakes scrutiny. There is a consequential loss of pluralism. The attempts of the Government significantly to raise ‘standards of achievement’ are assessed, as are its claims to have re‐addressed issues of equality of opportunity     

Local Authorities and Comprehensivisation in England and Wales, 1944-1974

Drawing extensively upon local authority records and private papers, this article argues that the post-Second World War drive for comprehensive education was a grass roots initiative. A diverse group of English and Welsh local education authorities (LEAs) challenged the orthodoxies of tripartism or bipartism in the late 1940s, paving the way for officially sanctioned non-selective experiments during the following decade and the 1960s 'breakout' (after Simon, 1991) of comprehensive-minded LEAs. The article focuses upon the experience of going comprehensive at the local level and discusses some of the variables that influenced the type and timing of secondary reorganisation. It demonstrates that political and personnel factors were crucial to the success or failure of a particular scheme. Some LEAs became embroiled in bitter controversies relating to their proposed reorganisation scheme, but it is argued that this was the exception, rather than the rule. The vigorous debates of this period gave comprehensive reorganisation a democratic flavour, but they also regularly brought local government into conflict with the centre. By 1974, it is contended, the post-War 'partnership' was all but dead.     

'A Free Hand and Ready Help'? The Supervision and Control of Elementary Education in Staffordshire c. 1902-1914

This article looks at the controversy surrounding the 1902 Education Act in Staffordshire, and the role of the Education Committee and its first Director, Graham Balfour, during the first ten years of the implementation of the Act. The 1902 Education Act has often been seen as a watershed in the conflict between Nonconformist and Established Church educationalists. This study shows that while religious controversy dominated the months surrounding the passing of the Act and continued to preoccupy certain interest groups for many years, the new bureaucracy created in 1902 changed the central issues in elementary education. Religious priorities were replaced by financial and organisational priorities. Balfour's success in dealing with these new priorities provided elementary education in Staffordshire with a unity and stability notably absent during the 19th century. This article assesses Balfour's perspective, the attitudes and expectations of religious and educational groups, and the reality of elementary education in Staffordshire after the implementation of the 1902 Education Act.     

Pre-figurative practice and the educational leadership of Sir Alec Clegg in the West Riding of Yorkshire,England (1945–1974)

ABSTRACT

This article recalls a time when local government infrastructure was strong and a Chief Education Officer's (CEO) vision could be realised across a region, in Clegg's case the West Riding of Yorkshire, one of the largest of the pre-1974 counties in England. It is timely to revisit Clegg's educational leadership and practice from 1945 to 1974, as a valuable source of learning, and challenge to the current ideologically-informed policy rhetoric which has undermined the framework of democratic educational decision-making. The authors identify four possible areas to learn from Clegg's work. Firstly, the need for CEOs or their modern-day equivalents or successors, to consider their potential as political and community leaders; secondly, Clegg's leadership style prefigures some of the recent discussion about the leadership of public services in uncertain times; thirdly a re-evaluation of administration and bureaucracy; and lastly the need for supportive partnerships to enable schools to thrive.     

Mapping the terrain of female education in Ireland, 1830–1910

Education for Irish women and girls developed significantly in the period 1830–1910. During this time, formal state‐funded education systems were established in Ireland by the British government. Some of these systems included females from their inception and some attempted to exclude girls and women. This article charts the opening up of formal schooling and university to Irish girls and women, examining the points at which they were excluded, the alternative educational provision developed by Protestant women and Catholic religious, and the means whereby the case for female education was successfully made. Moving from the public/private paradigm which has dominated much of the discussion around women's education for the period in question, the article focuses on what was occurring in some political and social institutions of the period and identifies women's agency and autonomy within such institutions. Through ‘mapping’ this ground, the article notes women's success in gaining access to institutions previously dominated by men, and highlights areas that require sustained scrutiny by scholars.     

Why (not) associate the principle of inclusion with disability? Tracing connections from the start of the ‘Salamanca Process’

This article reflects on changes in the disability-related educational approach of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), specifically investigating the context UNESCO's Special Needs Education unit was embedded in while following up the ‘World Conference on Special Needs Education’ that was held in Salamanca 20 years ago. The paper starts with the observations that first education for all and inclusive education are currently as education themes of UNESCO quite similar in terms of their scope and rationale. Second, although debates on inclusive education have been fuelled in context with the UN-‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, disability plays a less important role in UNESCO's programme spectrum, compared to some decades ago. Drawing from a study on institutions and knowledge analysing shifts in meanings of inclusive education, the recent tautology of themes is interpreted in connection with changes of UNESCO's approach to special needs education after 1994 and as consequence of shifts occurring back then in perceptions about the goals of UNESCO programmes. Borrowing from Organisation Studies, the article highlights conceptual changes in UNESCO's programmes, from traditional special (needs) education to inclusive education. Data used have been collected in the archives of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Method of the interpretive inquiry is in-depth content analysis.     

Further education outside the jurisdiction of local education authorities in post-war England

This article revisits the three decades following the end of World War Two – a time when, following the 1944 Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) were the key agencies responsible for running the education system across England. For the first time, there was a statutory requirement for LEAs to secure adequate facilities for further education (FE), and the post-war era is generally remembered as a period when they dominated FE. Yet this is not the full story of FE in post-war England: it is often forgotten that a significant amount of FE existed outside the municipal framework. This article returns to the post-war decades and begins to uncover the largely forgotten history of FE outside local authority control at that time. It highlights how voluntary and private organisations offered various forms of post-compulsory education outside the municipal framework, and how they contributed to the eclectic and diverse nature of FE across England. This, I argue, not only reflected the expedience, compromise and inertia that characterised FE in post-war England but was rooted in a capture of educational policy more generally by a privileged elite intent on maintaining a social order characterised by social, economic and cultural divisions.     

Provision of Counselling Services in Secondary Schools: A Survey of Local Education Authorities in England and Wales

This paper explores the current state of counselling as provided by local education authorities (LEAs) to secondary schools in England and Wales. A questionnaire was sent to all 172 LEAs in England and Wales. The data suggest that the counselling provision is highly variable and somewhat fragmented in scope. The data also indicate that the perception of the role of school counselling services by educational professionals varies considerably, and that there were a number of issues concerning integrated versus decentralized forms of provision. The study has a number of implications for the main stakeholders, including schools, LEAs, pupils and parents, concerning future developments in this increasingly important policy area. These relate to minimum qualifications for counsellors, confidentiality, accessibility to pupils and funding.     

Secondary modern schools: are their pupils disadvantaged?

There are still 10 English local educational authorities (LEAs) that are wholly selective and a further 10 with some grammar and secondary modern schools. This article examines the academic performance of pupils in secondary modern schools and the funding of these schools using national data sets matching pupils' performance at Key Stage 2 and General Certificate of Education (GCSE) as well as data on funding from Section 52 statements. Students in secondary modern schools gained one less grade on average than equivalent students in comprehensive schools while grammar school pupils obtained five grades more. After taking account of the cost factors and grant entitlements that influence funding per pupil, secondary modern schools in the years 2000/01–2002/03 were funded around £80 less per pupil while grammar school pupils received over £100 more per pupil compared to comprehensive schools. Secondary modern schools were more likely to be in financial deficit than comprehensive and particularly grammar schools. Thus, students are academically disadvantaged by attending secondary modern schools, which in most selective LEAs do not receive sufficient additional funding to offset the depressing effects on attainment of the increased social segregation arising from a selective system.     

The impact of Western progressive educational ideas in Japan: 1868–1940

Little is known about the impact of Western educational ideals in Japan during the Meiji (1868–1912), Taisho (1912–1926) and Showa (post‐1926) eras, although, in reality, there was considerable interest among Japanese educators in Western thought and practice and there were numerous attempts to disseminate these ideas widely. This article highlights some of the more significant of these developments and attempts to assess their impact and their interpretation in a Japanese context. Translations of foreign philosophical and educational works on the one hand and the publication of teachers' magazines on the other were the two viaducts for what became little short of a Japanese educational movement that was one of the stepping stones to the modernisation of Japan and which has resonated down to the present. In this article this process is described through its chronological phases, during the period which saw Japan's transition from an intellectually isolated, inward‐looking society into one which developed as a democracy and saw the coming of industrialisation before moving into a period of Fascist supernationalism.     

Toward a research and development agenda for successful schooling practices

Currently in the UK there is much pressure to increase the recruitment and retention of ethnic minority teachers, not only to respond to the continuing shortage, but to develop a teaching force that reflects the diversity in the UK population and provides role models for ethnic minority students. There is, however, little research on how ethnic minority teachers cope with the demands of the profession, especially in their first year. The introduction by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) of an induction period for Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in 1999 was an attempt to create a programme of individual support and monitoring to provide NQTs with a bridge from Initial Teacher Training (ITT) to becoming established in their chosen profession. We believe it is now timely and important to examine how ethnic minority beginning teachers experience these new arrangements. In this paper we, therefore, explore the induction experiences of British teachers of Asian and African Caribbean origin in three Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in the North West of England. We conclude that the NQTs are being provided with equal opportunities by their employers and that affirmative action may have been undertaken by a few of these employers during the recruitment and selection process, although some anecdotal evidence is also presented of discrimination. Further, the paper suggests that the majority of the NQTs find their schools and LEAs supportive and the induction process valuable, although it highlights the need for additional support in some individual cases.     

European Survey of Master's and Doctoral Dissertions in Science Education

Editorial comment and summaries

English

Drs Kjöllerström and Lybeck present here a brief report of their European survey of master's and doctoral dissertations in science education, undertaken subsequently to a workshop on Research in Science Education in Europe held at Malente, FR Germany in 1976. The full report of their survey has recently been published by the Institute for Science Education (IPN), Kiel, FR Germany.

The article published here reports on the distribution, size and organization of science education research groups, their areas of research interest and higher degree programmes. It also surveys the main areas of science education research at master's and doctoral level undertaken during the period 1971‐1976, and the employment taken up by master's and doctoral students upon completion of their studies.     

Educational Media and ‘Agit Prop’: I. The legacy of Vertov

A 75 year‐old educational media process, involving interactive multimedia, formative evaluation, and a sophisticated distance education system, is described. Although these techniques are mainstays of modem educational technology, their origins in the work of 1920s' film director Dziga Vertov have not previously been recognised. This article (the first of a 2‐part paper) registers the techniques' roots on the Leninist ‘agit prop’ film train, and their development by Vertov for social intervention purposes. It describes their essence, a feedback process whereby media footage is viewed and discussed by its producers and the people it portrays, and used as a catalyst for mass education and change. The Vertov Process culminated during the 1930s in the work of Alexander Medvedkin before being suppressed by Stalin. The article charts the subsequent influence of Vertov's educational techniques on the European schools of film documentary led in Britain by John Grierson, and in France by the avant‐garde movement and by the anthropologist film‐maker Jean Rouch. In 1996, Vertov's centennial year, the two articles indicate the film‐maker's role as an unsung founding father of the modern educational media, and political and cultural reasons for the lack of recognition which his visionary educational impact has received.     

Special Educational Provision after LMS

Jennifer Evans is lecturer in the Department of Policy Studies and Ingrid Lunt is senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs, Institute of Education, London University. This article examines recent and proposed educational legislation from the perspective of its impact on provision for pupils with special educational needs. Some findings from surveys carried out by the authors in English LEAs are presented.     

Data-Pac: What's in it for Teachers?

Data-Pac materials which enable teachers, in conjunction with educational psychologists, to compile individual programmes of tasks and targets for children with learning difficulties are being used in a growing number of LEAs. Peter Leadbetter, senior educational psychologist, Birmingham Education Department, and David Winteringham, senior educational psychologist, Coventry Education Department, describe how the programmes work.     

中国共产党领导下的高等教育自学考试40年发展与新时代改革创新思考

高等教育自学考试制度创立40年来,在完善我国高等教育体系、造就培养专门人才、服务社会经济建设、促进精神文明建设等方面作出了重要贡献。通过回顾高等教育自学考试制度的发展历程,总结其经验,分析其不足及短板,深入思考其改革发展方向和路径,提出高等教育自学考试在新时代要以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导,全面贯彻党的教育方针,落实立德树人根本任务,助力服务全民终身学习教育体系构建,加强法规制度体系、培养标准体系、综合评价体系、教育服务体系和质量保障体系建设。