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 […]
What makes a ‘public school’ public?
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 […]
Head Hand Heart
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 […]
Alcuin of York
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. […]
100 learning theorists
Donald Clark is perhaps unusual amongst edtech entrepreneurs in that he knows his education theory very well. He has distilled this knowledge into a highly readable series of short articles about 100* key educational thinkers, ranging from ancient philosophers to modern-day pedagogists and innovators. Clark outlines their main contributions to education and assesses their legacy. It’s a hugely valuable resource […]
Why is the history of education worth knowing?
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 […]