It is a charge commonly laid at history teachers that we, myopically, teach only the same-old same-old. Steven Driver has taken extreme steps to avoid this by focusing on a particular neglected event -- the American occupation of Nicaragua in the early twentieth century -- as part of his preparation of his students for A-level coursework. He…

This paper deals with a short biography of Paul Dirac, his first celebrated work on quantum mechanics, his first formal systematic use of the Dirac delta function and his famous work on quantum electrodynamics and quantum statistics. Included are his first discovery of the Dirac relativistic wave equation, existence of positron and the intrinsic…

Based on over twenty years of empirical and intellectual work about knowledge production in the field of educational administration, I examine the origins and development of the canon, methodologies and knowledge workers in England. I focus on the field as being primarily concerned with professional activity and how and why this was established…

This book was written across a period of intense turmoil and change in higher education in Australia and England. We are deeply unsettled by these changes and wish to open up the discussion about what it means to be an academic and engage in academic work in the 21st century. Accordingly, each of the authors has nominated a theme or lens through…

In 1975, the fourth Annual Conference of the British Educational Administration Society (BEAS, now BELMAS) had as its theme "Autonomy and Accountability in Educational Administration". In their concluding comments, the editors of the published Proceedings wrote: "Our concern has been with accountability and autonomy, not as…

The blackboard, a useful teaching tool in nineteenth-century England, was transformed into a teaching necessity in the decades following 1870, when the Education Acts made school free and mandatory for all children. The resulting huge population of schoolchildren inspired the development of teaching techniques appropriate for large-group learning.…

This article looks at the impact of Philippe Aries's classic "L'Enfant et la vie familiale sous l'ancien regime", published in 1960. His well-known idea of the emergence of "Le sentiment de l'enfance" caused a lively debate among historians and social scientists resulting in fundamental contributions to our knowledge about the…

James Moffett's "Teaching the Universe of Discourse" set out an agenda for the study of development in writing, which influenced James Britton's work in the UK. Subsequently, however, the work of both these thinkers was largely set aside in the approach to writing taken by national strategies in England. In this article, we trace the…

Developed by the German pedagogue Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), the Kindergarten offered a revolutionary educational program for young children. In the mid-nineteenth century, after several decades of limited success in the German states, Froebel's Kindergarten began to be transplanted to other countries, including the USA and England. The…

In the early nineteenth century, governments began to develop specialized educational programs--kindergartens and infant or nursery schools--to give children a head start in life. These programs hinged on new visions of childhood that originated in England and Europe, but what happened when they were transported to the colonies? This book unwinds…

The monitorial system of education was the most promising device in the field of primary education at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its astonishing spread across the five continents represents one of the earliest processes of internationalization in the field of elementary schooling, which has rarely been analysed from the point of view…

Identifies five intellectuals who made distinctive contributions to the founding of new universities in England, Germany, and the United States. Institutional and individual biographies profile: Thomas Jefferson (University of Virginia); Wilhelm von Humboldt (University of Berlin); Lord Brougham (University College, University of London); A.D.…

Every way of thinking is both premised on and generative of a way of naming that reflects particular underlying convictions. Over the last 15 years, a way of thinking has reemerged that strives to reposition students in educational research and reform. Best documented in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States, this way of thinking is…

Reports on the work of Harriet Martineau, an economist who had a major impact on British economic theory and public policy in the mid-1800s. Discusses the background and development of her theories. Describes the impact they had on Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, and other social scientists. (CFR)

The last 20 years have seen the development of sophisticated techniques for analysing individual data within a hierarchical context and the growing availability of good datasets to which these techniques can be applied. The modelling of pupil performance controlling for prior attainment has led to a type of analysis commonly titled…