ABSTRACT
B. Simon’s essay on the ‘Evolution of the primary school’, is an important analysis of the development of primary education since it was first proposed as a separate stage in education by the Hadow Report of 1926. Many of the remaining extracts are from government publications documenting the establishment of, and the official thinking behind, these new institutions. The Parliamentary Select Committee report on Achievement in Primary Schools introduces a perspective on primary education nearly twenty years after Plowden, and the article by Eric Bolton, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, introduces some critical commentary on the evaluation of primary education. Simon’s essay makes brief reference to the notorious William Tyndale ‘affair’ which helped fuel the public disquiet; some of the main issues associated with that cause celebre are discussed by Gretton and Jackson. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of the arguments offered to support the implementation of a National Curriculum.
