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All Our Future: the lessons from the first 50 years of Scottish comprehensive schooling for Scotland, the UK and beyond



Overview


A Research Project in co-operation with School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

Summary

This study will mark the 50th anniversary of the introduction of comprehensive schooling across Scotland by the publication of a book reviewing the experiences of our comprehensive schools from a long-term perspective and reflect on current and future policy concerns. The study will draw on CES and other research over the period and include contributions from the other ‘home countries’ of the United Kingdom.

Part 1 will discuss the purposes and ideals of comprehensive education, and introduce readers to the Scottish system, its reform on comprehensive lines after 1965 and the various developments since then. Part 2 will examine the experience of comprehensive education in Scotland over 50 years under a number of thematic headings, examine the evidence on the impact of comprehensive reforms, and draw lessons for the future of comprehensive education in Scotland and elsewhere. Part 3 will present reflections on the lessons which other countries – particularly the other ‘home countries’ of the United Kingdom - may draw from the Scottish experience.

Aims of the book
    • to reflect on the purposes of secondary education and their relationship to comprehensive schooling;
    • to summarise and make accessible relevant information and research on the challenges, successes and failures of comprehensive schooling in Scotland, and the lessons which Scotland and other countries may draw from this experience;
    • to foreground the historical importance of the concept of the 'comprehensive school' in improving access, equality and achievement;
    • to draw lessons for future schooling policies, in Scotland, the rest of the UK and elsewhere, from the experience of the past;
    • to contribute to current debates on the future of comprehensive education, such as:
    » can comprehensive education reduce social inequalities? Can it do so at the same time as bringing learning closer to the home environment and to the social contexts which are the source of current inequalities?
    » is there a tension between the ideals of comprehensive schooling and the typical compromises of democratic living such as parental choice, accountability systems and quality assurance? Are these ideals compatible with education markets?
    » how can a comprehensive system combine professional autonomy and leadership with a learner-centred approach and an ethos of continuous improvement?
    » should a comprehensive system be organised around a single institution – the comprehensive school – or a network of providers in a comprehensive system?
    » how should a comprehensive system balance the benefits of uniform provision, based on a common entitlement, with the benefits of flexibility and diversity and flexibility of institutions, processes and pathways?
    » is civic diversity/plurality best represented in a shared institution (the common school) or by diverse institutional forms?
    » how should a school system balance the interests, values and powers of the ‘expert’ (public professional), the ‘community/nation’ (political representative) and the ‘consumer’ (student/parent)?

As part of the study we are seeking the views of current school leavers about their experiences of schooling in the 21st century, to compare with the views of their counterparts in the late 1970s, for more information see Tell Them From Me 2014.

Project dates
January 2014 – July 2015

Researchers




Publications


Please click here to see available publications.

 

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