ABSTRACT
Following the publication of the first Black Papers at the end of the sixties, criticisms of state education continued to grow, fuelled by the writings and public statements of ‘educational conservatives’, by disquiet over reading standards and the teaching of English, and by growing political disillusionment with the effects of public expenditure on education. In the mid-seventies criticism of primary education reached a peak, partly as a result of the notorious William Tyndale affair. William Tyndale was a junior school in north London where in 1974 some of the staff, especially Messrs Ellis, Haddow and Austin, introduced radical changes, associated with an extreme form of liberal romanticism (though it needs to be said that many adherents of liberal romanticism did not wish to associate themselves with some of the changes introduced or with the manner of their introduction). The result was a violent dispute within the staff of the junior school, and between a segment of the staff and the school managers, which then involved leading local government politicians, the local inspectorate and, eventually, in 1975-6, a public inquiry conducted by Robin Auld QC into the teaching, organization and management of the junior school and its neighbouring infant school.
The affair was important in bringing out into the open and to the forefront of discussion a number of major educational problems requiring clarification and resolution. These issues included the control of the school curriculum, the responsibilities of local education authorities, the accountability of teachers, and the assessment of effectiveness in education. These problems have been the subject of much discussion and considerable action since 1976, as other papers in this source book and its accompanying volume testify. No attempt is made here to do justice to the complexity of the William Tyndale affair, especially to the differing interpretations of both events within the school and their wider significance. This extract provides one summary interpretation, written by two educational journalists. For other interpretations, readers are referred to Ellis, T. et al. (1976) William Tyndale: The Teachers’ Story, Readers and Writers Publishing Cooperative; Dale, R. (1981) ‘Control, accountability and William Tyndale’, in Dale, R. (Ed.) Politics, Patriarchy and Practice, Lewes, Falmer Press, pp. 209-219; and Auld, R. (1976) William Tyndale Junior and Infant Schools Public Inquiry, London, ILEA.
