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Frances Mary Buss, the first ‘Head Mistress’
8 June 202011 January 2023

Frances Mary Buss, the first ‘Head Mistress’

Essays by Harley Richardson5 comments

A tribute to a 19th century teacher and campaigner for women’s education, who deserves to be much better known.

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Learning Through the Ages comes to Substack
19 February 202319 February 2023

Learning Through the Ages comes to Substack

Articles by Harley Richardson0 comments

The Learning Through the Ages newsletter has moved to Substack, the popular platform for independent writing, and is now available on email, online at learningthroughtheages.substack.com or in the Substack app. For new readers, I’ve been posting some highlights from this blog, including articles on: Look out for an all-new essay coming soon on the remarkable role that early Sunday schools […]

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Liberal education at the Battle of Buxton
7 November 20227 November 2022

Liberal education at the Battle of Buxton

Opinion by Harley Richardson1 comment

I was invited to discuss my essay The Liberating Power of Education this weekend at the second Buxton Battle of Ideas festival. The text of my introductory speech follows. The discussion that followed, with respondents Dr Adam Simcock and Dr Ruth Mieschbuehler and members of the audience, was recorded and should be available soon. For as long as people have […]

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What do we mean by ‘the best that’s been thought and known’?
12 March 202231 January 2023

What do we mean by ‘the best that’s been thought and known’?

Essays by Harley Richardson0 comments

I was recently interviewed about my essay The Liberating Power of Education for a future episode of Dr James Mannion’s excellent long-form podcast, Rethinking Education. In the often intolerant and tribal world of educational theory and policy, James is to be commended for his willingness to explore differences of opinion in a generous and civil fashion. And we disagreed, civilly, […]

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How we learned to teach ‘small children’
13 January 202220 February 2023

How we learned to teach ‘small children’

Articles by Harley Richardson4 comments

I have contributed two chapters to Routledge‘s History of Education, a primer for undergraduates which is due to be published in 2022. My chapters describe the development of liberal education from Ancient Greece to the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of mass education in England during the 18th and 19th centuries. With so much to cover and only so many […]

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The Liberating Power of Education
5 December 20215 December 2021

The Liberating Power of Education

Books by Harley Richardson0 comments

I’m very proud to have contributed to the Academy of Ideas’ Letters on Liberty series of pamphlets, which has been doing a great job of showing what the much-devalued idea of ‘freedom’ can mean to us today. My Letter is a mini-history of education, which explores the tension between the recognition that knowledge is important and the fear of where […]

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Reimagining schools at the Battle of Ideas
13 October 20211 March 2022

Reimagining schools at the Battle of Ideas

Opinion by Harley Richardson0 comments

I spoke on the Reimagining schools panel at the Battle of Ideas festival, which took place in Westminster on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October. My introductory comments are reproduced below: Pandemic or no pandemic, I think it’s always worth asking could schools be done differently? Could be they be done better? There’s still plenty of scope to experiment – […]

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Education can save your life – the story of the Neck Verse
3 March 202117 January 2023

Education can save your life – the story of the Neck Verse

Articles by Harley Richardson1 comment

One testament to the power of education is that many people credit it with having ‘saved their life’. But whether that’s because knowledge and learning opened up a path to a rewarding career or because it helped someone escape difficult personal circumstances, ‘education saved my life’ is usually meant metaphorically. In medieval England, however, it was literal. Having an education […]

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What makes a ‘public school’ public?
30 December 20205 January 2023

What makes a ‘public school’ public?

Articles by Harley Richardson0 comments

During 2020 I’ve been researching and writing a couple of chapters for a forthcoming Routledge book on the history of education. My contributions look at the development of liberal education from Ancient Greece to the Industrial Revolution. I’m now in the final stages of editing, cutting the chapters down to fit the allotted word count. Here’s one section that got […]

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Head Hand Heart
21 December 202021 December 2020

Head Hand Heart

Books by Harley Richardson0 comments

Santa has brought us some unexpected history of education content this Christmas, hidden between the covers of David Goodhart’s latest book. Goodhart is a journalist, commentator and former director of the think tank Demos. His previous book, The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (2017), introduced the categories ‘Anywheres’ and ‘Somewheres’ to the political lexicon […]

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The bad-tempered backstory of ‘Town Versus Gown’
2 September 20206 March 2023

The bad-tempered backstory of ‘Town Versus Gown’

Articles by Harley Richardson4 comments

The concept of ‘town versus gown’ goes all the way back to the founding of medieval universities, and has played an integral, if not always noble, role in their development.

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Recent Posts

  • Feb 19, 2023 Learning Through the Ages comes to Substack
  • Nov 07, 2022 Liberal education at the Battle of Buxton
  • Mar 12, 2022 What do we mean by ‘the best that’s been thought and known’?
  • Jan 13, 2022 How we learned to teach ‘small children’
  • Dec 05, 2021 The Liberating Power of Education

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