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Church, school and locality: Revisiting the historiography of "state" and "religious" educational infrastructures in England and Wales, 1780–1870

Church, school and locality: Revisiting the historiography of "state" and "religious" educational infrastructures in England and Wales, 1780–1870

Martin, Mary Clare ORCID: 0000-0002-3568-6423 (2012) Church, school and locality: Revisiting the historiography of "state" and "religious" educational infrastructures in England and Wales, 1780–1870. Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, 49 (1). pp. 70-81. ISSN 0030-9230 (Print), 1477-674X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2012.744070)

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Abstract

The historiographical tradition which developed within the history of education from the 1970s regarded religious organisations as distractions from the “real” task of developing state-funded universal compulsory education. Despite more positive evaluations of voluntary agencies within the history of social policy, since the 1980s, the schools affiliated to the national co-ordinating religious societies are still regarded as potential agents of social control, inadequate in numerical terms, with poor standards, dull curricula and brutal discipline. This article seeks to redress the balance of this historiography by means of a case-study of part of the London hinterland. It will show how voluntary schools attached to national and international “modern” co-ordinating bodies might provide sufficient school places, a curriculum which was structured, with results evaluated positively by inspectors, and could operate systems of rewards rather than corporal punishment. Comparisons with the period after school boards were founded indicates that attendance rates stayed about the same, that the curriculum initially narrowed in one area, and that corporal punishment increased. While these factors were due partly to population increase, the evidence nevertheless demonstrates how voluntary schools could provide adequately, even well, for local populations, and that rate-aided school provision might have negative consequences.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: [1] Published in Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, Volume 49, Issue 1, 2013 - Special Issue: ISCHE 33, July 26–29 de 2011, San Luis Potosí, Mexico rethinking the relationship: society, state and education. [2] The original paper was presented at the annual conference of the International Standing Committee of the History of Education (ISCHE) conference, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, July 2011.
Uncontrolled Keywords: religion, state, standards, curriculum, discipline
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
L Education > LA History of education
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2016 09:22
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/9064

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