Synopses & Reviews
Review
"...provides an introduction to recent research in European secondary education, disputes the myth that individual achievement in schooling typically allows social advancement, and identifies issues and questions still awaiting clarification." Academe
Review
"...a provocative and, in many respects, valuable volume that should stir debate and interest." History of Education
Synopsis
The Rise of the Modern Educational System is a pioneering socio-historical analysis of change and development in secondary education in three European countries (England, France, Germany) in the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The authors develop novel theoretical forms of analysis - in particular those of 'systematisation' (Muller) and 'segmentation' (Ringer) - which enables a genuine cross-cultural study and assessment to be effectively carried through. Although clear historical and institutional differences between the three countries are apparent, overall patterns of development emerge as remarkably similar. In particular a common basic transformation of secondary education is shown to have taken place during the period covered (1870-1920), having the objective result of ensuring social reproduction. Special attention is given to the basic restructuring of education in England during this period, where processes of systematisation and segmentation, similar to those operating in France and Germany, resulted in the establishment of a sharply differentiated, hierarchical structure by the close of the nineteenth century.
Synopsis
A pioneering socio-historical analysis of change and development in secondary education in England, France, and Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. Concepts and hypotheses; 1. The process of systematisation: the case of German secondary education; 2. On segmentation in modern European educational systems: the case of French secondary education, 1865-1920; 3. Systematisation and segmentation in education: the case of England; Part II. Structural Change and Social Reproduction in England; 4. Defining institutions: the grammar schools and the systematisation of English secondary education; 5. The reconstruction of secondary education in England, 1869-1920; 6. The sinews of society: the public schools as a 'system'; 7. Structural change in English higher education, 1870-1920; Part III. Debate and Concluding Discussion; 8. The debate on secondary school reform in France and Germany; 9. On 'systems' of education and their comparability: methodological comments and theoretical alternatives; 10. Systematisation: a critique; 11. Segmentation: a critique; Concluding comments; Notes; Index.