ABSTRACT
As is generally the case with education reports, the 1921 Newbolt Report seeks to contextualise itself; in providing its rationale for existence, it offers both a critique of English education at the time of its writing and locates itself within the history of the teaching of the subject. This chapter explores the contexts for Newbolt, initially through an exploration and analysis of its own words which shed important light on its authors’ perspectives on the historical and contemporary contexts for school English. These views are of course important, but they are inevitably the views of a particular collection of experts with their own interpretations of the contexts for their work. This chapter also, therefore, considers other evidence adding to our understanding of Newbolt: what we know about English teaching in 1921 and its history up to that point, and the influence of social, cultural and political post-war contexts on the work of Newbolt and his Committee. In summary, this chapter offers readers a view of the historical and contemporary contexts that surrounded The Newbolt Report, and in doing so seeks to contribute to our understanding of its enduring legacy and importance for English educators.
