ABSTRACT

In the eyes of some commentators, and in the experience of many primary school teachers, the period 1967-74 following the publication of the Plowden Report was a ‘golden age’ with primary education receiving much political and public attention and praise, increased resources, promised expansion (especially of nursery education) and a long overdue acknowledgment of its fundamental importance. Paradoxically, in view of her later policies, this trend reached a climax under Margaret Thatcher as Secretary of State when in 1972 her White Paper, the misnamed (as it turned out) Framework for Expansion promised ‘to bring about a shift of resources within the education budget in favour of primary schools’ at the expense of secondary and higher education.