ABSTRACT
The publication in 1967 of the Plowden Report, Children and their Primary Schools, 1 was such an important turning-point in home-school relations that all developments since that time can be seen as relating either directly to the Report or to the lively debate which followed in its wake. For the first time, there was official recognition of the potential role which parents could play in their children's schooling. The Report drew on a great deal of research on the relationship between home background and educational achievement. It faithfully mirrored the growing number of initiatives by teachers to narrow the distance between home and school. Inevitably, it also drew on many aspects of the conventional wisdom of the day which were subsequently questioned and found to be lacking. In this chapter, we will look critically at the attitudes towards parents which led to, and informed, Plowden.
