ABSTRACT
The history of schooling for both the middle- and working-classes has been marked by gender differentiation. Among the middle-classes girls' education was influenced by the domestic ideology which developed from 1780 to 1850, the period in which industrialisation separated home and work. The middle-class domestic ideology also influenced attitudes to working-class girls, whose role was that of the 'good woman' who would have practical household skills. Theoretically, gender differentiated expectations in the curriculum ended with the 1944 Education Act, which established secondary education for all based on 'age, ability and aptitude'. In practice, however, assumptions about gender roles continued to shape policy decisions. The changes can be viewed from differing feminist perspectives. The main ones in the 1980s were liberal feminist and radical feminist. Liberal feminists concentrated on giving girls equal opportunities to develop all their potential within the existing system. The National Curriculum introduced a common curriculum which had been a feminist demand.
