ABSTRACT
This first extract has been included for two main reasons. Firstly, it serves to remind readers that primary education was not created from nothing by either the 1944 Education Act or the Hadow Reports of 1926, 1931 and 1933. Schools catering for children of primary school age had a long history, though state provision for this age group dates back only to the nineteenth century. As Blyth argues, primary schools grew ‘mainly, if tardily’ out of elementary schools, though other formative influences are distinguished in his analysis. Secondly, the extract indicates that competing views of primary education (such as those featured in the next section) have a history and are not simply the result of contemporary or near-contemporary circumstances and thinking. The author’s historical analysis neatly complements the ideological analysis presented later in this book. A particularly valuable feature is the delineation of the ‘preparatory’ tradition — a tradition neglected elsewhere in this reader and in most contemporary discussion of primary education.
