The book tells the untold story of the Conservative Party's involvement in terms of stance and policy in the destruction of selective state education from 1945 up to the present day. Close consideration is paid to their attitudes and prejudices towards education, both in power and in opposition. Legh examines the Party's responses to the pressure for comprehensive schooling and egalitarianism from the Labour Party and the British left. In doing so, Legh defies current historiography to demonstrate that the Party were not passive actors in the advancement of comprehensive schooling. The lively narrative is moved along by the author's critical examination of the Education Ministers throughout this period: Florence Horsbrugh and David Eccles serving under Churchill and Eden and also Quintin Hogg and Geoffrey Lloyd under Macmillan, as well as Edward Boyle and Margaret Thatcher under Edward Heath. Legh's detailed research utilises a range of government documents, personal papers, parliamentary debates and newspapers to provide this crucial re-assessment of the Conservative Party and selective education, and in doing so questions over-simplistic generalisations about wholescale support for selective education policy. It reveals instead questioning, compromises and disagreements within the Party and its political and ideological allies. The result is a stimulating revival of existing scholarship which will be of interest to scholars of British education and politics.

"The book tells the untold story of the Conservative Party's involvement in terms of stance and policy in the destruction of selective state education from 1945 up to the present day. Close consideration is paid to their attitudes and prejudices towards education, both in power and in opposition. Legh examines the Party's responses to the pressure for comprehensive schooling and egalitarianism from the Labour Party and the British left. In doing so, Legh defies current historiography to demonstrate that the Party were not passive actors in the advancement of comprehensive schooling. The lively narrative is moved along by the author's critical examination of the Education Ministers throughout this period: Florence Horsbrugh and David Eccles serving under Churchill and Eden and also Quintin Hogg and Geoffrey Lloyd under Macmillan, as well as Edward Boyle and Margaret Thatcher under Edward Heath. Legh's detailed research utilises a range of government documents, personal papers, parliamentary debates and newspapers to provide this crucial re-assessment of the Conservative Party and selective education, and in doing so questions over-simplistic generalisations about wholescale support for selective education policy. It reveals instead questioning, compromises and disagreements within the Party and its political and ideological allies. The result is a stimulating revival of existing scholarship which will be of interest to scholars of British education and politics."--

From Tony Blair to Tonypandy, the BBC to the Bank of England, The Oxford Companion to 20th Century British Politics is an essential source of information on the full range of British political life during the last 100 years. In this comprehensive and authoritative guide, more than 100 contributors--journalists, scholars, former cabinet secretaries, and other specialists--provide more than 3,000 entries on a wide variety of subjects. Organized alphabetically, the entries cover the important ideas, institutions, people and events that have defined modern British politics. The scope of the Companion is necessarily wide, moving from formal politics to the political culture of films, television, and the media, and from domestic economic debates to Britain's changing role on the world stage. Major conflicts and economic events, slogans and sayings, clubs, charities, and societies--the complete world of British politics is captured in this unique reference source. The Companion also includes a wealth ofadditional,resources: a list of office holders from 1900 to the present day, a table of election results up to and including the 2001 elections, the dates of ministries, and a topical table of contents.

Includes Programmed learning news, the official magazine of the Association for Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, Jan. 1969-

Indexes the Times, Sunday times and magazine, Times literary supplement, Times educational supplement, Times educational supplement Scotland, and the Times higher education supplement.