ABSTRACT
The work of understanding the past of the sixth form and of examining its potentiality for future development is made difficult by the existence of the conservative ideology which has grown out of the tradition, but which must be distinguished from it. What has been attempted is an exercise in using history in order to recover, as usable knowledge, the tradition of sixth forms and sixth form education. Matthew Arnold, it will be remembered, put 'religious and moral principles' and 'gentlemanly conduct' ahead of 'intellectual ability' as aims of education. For most of the nineteenth century the category evolved both in the sense that educational leaders consciously reinterpreted its form and purposes, and in the sense that the publics for whom it had meaning were extended. The larger independent and direct grant schools were still seen as the repository of what is good in sixth form education.
