ABSTRACT
The tension between individuality and uniformity in schools is fundamental to their function in society: their task of preparing children for adulthood can only be achieved if they are successful simultaneously in managing large groups and responding to individual needs. In the 1960s and 1970s, the fashionable view among psychologists (reflected in the Plowden Report on primary education; Plowden Committee, 1967) was that schools made little difference. It was thought that home factors exerted much
In February 2005, Scotland’s first minister, Jack McConnell, made an outspoken attack on what he saw as the damage caused by liberal values in education. Among other things, he said, a large number of Scottish schools had got rid of school uniform over the years. On 2 March, The Scotsman newspaper invited two public figures to debate the issue.
