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Category: Articles

How we learned to teach ‘small children’
13 January 202219 January 2022

How we learned to teach ‘small children’

Articles by Harley Richardson1 comment

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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Education can save your life – the story of the Neck Verse
3 March 20213 March 2021

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

Articles by Harley Richardson0 comments

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 202031 December 2020

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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The bad-tempered backstory of ‘Town Versus Gown’
2 September 202021 December 2020

The bad-tempered backstory of ‘Town Versus Gown’

Articles by Harley Richardson1 comment

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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Alcuin of York
11 May 202011 May 2020

Alcuin of York

Articles by Harley Richardson1 comment

In my view, this little known media scholar is one of the most important figures in the history of education in England, and actually in Europe. To find out why, read my tribute in Teach Secondary magazine. If that piques your curiosity, you can find out more in an edition of Radio 4’s In Our Time dedicated to the man. […]

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Why is the history of education worth knowing?
6 May 202018 May 2020

Why is the history of education worth knowing?

Articles by Harley Richardson0 comments

Understanding how schools developed in the past can help us make good decisions about how they should look now and in the future. Are you curious about the past? Are you a keen reader? If the answer to both these questions is yes, you’re in luck. There are history books available about pretty much every aspect of human life over […]

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Recent Posts

  • Mar 12, 2022 What do we mean by ‘the best that’s been thought and known’?
  • Mar 01, 2022 Liberation at the East Midlands Salon
  • Jan 13, 2022 How we learned to teach ‘small children’
  • Dec 05, 2021 The Liberating Power of Education
  • Oct 13, 2021 Reimagining schools at the Battle of Ideas

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