Becoming Teachers

There is an extraordinary gap in the published history of schooling in the twentieth century. Nowhere is the voice of the teacher, telling his or her own story, extensively to be heard. This book, drawing not only upon the official documentary record, but also upon the previously untapped recollections of more than 100 former classroom teachers, aims to fill this gap. In Becoming Teachers, the nation's teachers from more than half a century ago tell what twentieth century education has looked like and felt like from their side of the classroom. The book concentrates particularly on the years between the end of the First World War and the passing of the landmark 1944 Education Act. All of the former state school teachers whose testimony stands at the centre of the book began their teaching careers in this period, and most completed the bulk of their classroom teaching in these years.

Oral testimony is set alongside more conventional documentary sources and thematic analysis and individual life histories are brought together. In this respect, the work will break new ground in terms of its methodological approach as well as in terms of its substantive historical concerns.