ABSTRACT
One key determinant of the education system as it has developed since 1964 has been the continuing suburbanisation of English society. This period has seen the extension and rounding-off of processes which were under way as long ago as the late nineteenth century, and these have impacted directly on the schools themselves. The steady march of the towns into the surrounding countryside is something which has been going on since the coming of industrialisation. Liverpool extended its boundaries seven times between 1895 and 1952, and other cities did likewise, so what is under review in this chapter can hardly be seen as a novel phenomenon. What is important in the context of this book is the linkage between the rise of a salariat, the coming of new forms of commuting (in particular the rise of the motor car) and the patterns of owner occupation and council provision which have given a particular shape and significance to the development of housing stock in England since 1964.
