ABSTRACT
So it was the Evangelicals and not Wilderspin who assumed the leadership of reform in the infant school movement. Ironically, the methods practised in the schools under their control ~ methods which sprang directly from their theological position -~ had contributed to the very crisis which they were concerned to solve. Evangelical doctrine demanded the inclusion in the curriculum of a large amount of Scriptural knowledge, and this in turn necessitated the introduction of rote-learning practices on a fairly large scale. Whereas malformations in the Wilderspin-type infant school could be accounted for by human weakness, the exigencies of Wilderspin's peripatetic work-habits or the voluntary system of management and finance, the Evangelicals modified the Wilderspin model on principle, in conformity with the imperatives of Evangelical ecclesiastical policy.
