ABSTRACT
The interaction between ragged scholars and teachers is the primary focus of this chapter. It questions narratives of the teacher’s control and the children’s obedience, arguing that the fragility of the teacher’s authority and their vulnerability in the classroom is a recurring theme in both promotional literature and reports from individual institutions. Those instances in which parents sought assistance with difficult children suggest the valued role ragged schools could play within communities. It argues that affectionate relationships could be forged between scholars and teachers – a ragged school teacher could be a figure of stability in a life that was otherwise erratic. Such evidence undermines historical accounts that cast the children as victims of middle-class fervour. The final part of this chapter focuses on the progressive form of education to which the movement aspired, contrasting this with the challenges encountered in practice.
