ABSTRACT
This chapter has two central concerns and objectives which are closely interwoven and interrelated in the text. The first is to provide a substantive, narrative account of the early struggles involved in establishing English as a separate and respectable school subject. The second is to outline and explore, through the narrative, a social interaction model of curriculum change. In relation to this a number of relevant concepts are introduced into the analysis of the substantive material. In attempting to do this I have been made very aware of the difficulties involved in combining theoretical discussion with historical exposition and I am only too ready to acknowledge the resulting weaknesses.
