Failing the Ordinary Child?: The Theory and Practice of Working-Class Secondary Education

How have the ideals of working-class secondary education related to its practical outcomes, and to what extent has it failed the 'ordinary child'? How can the historical tradition of working-class secondary education illuminate our understanding of contemporary debates at the end of the 20th century? In seeking to answer these questions, this book explores working-class secondary education over the past century in terms that help to explain the unresolved issues and debates of the 1990s. It focuses on social distinctions in secondary education, and especially on initiatives designed to provide for the mass of the population, or the 'ordinary child'.