But Who Is it for? The History of School Science in England
- PDF / 214,134 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 22 Downloads / 177 Views
But Who Is it for? The History of School Science in England Edgar Jenkins (2019) Science for All: the Struggle to Establish School Science in England. UCL IOE Press. ISBN: 978-1-78277-264-4, x + 207 pages, price: £24.99 (pbk) Michael J. Reiss 1 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
1 Context In many countries around the world, school science occupies a rather privileged position. Typically, it is compulsory for many, sometimes all years of mandatory school education. Sometimes, there are specialised laboratories provided and in a few countries, including England. There are even, at least at secondary level, specialised technicians who assist in laying out and clearing away equipment required for practical work. How did we get to this state of affairs? As any historian knows, there have been considerable changes as to what is taught in schools. Furthermore, this is often a site of contestation. As one subject grows in influence, another may wane. Over the course of my professional life in science education in England (37 years by now), I have seen an increasing emphasis on science and on other subjects, e.g. business studies, while certain subjects, e.g. foreign languages and Design and Technology (which was subjects like metalwork, woodwork and home economics when I started teaching) are now taken by fewer students. However, in common, I suspect, with many science educators, I have little rigorous knowledge of the history of school science in my own country, let alone in others. Interestingly, this is a somewhat different state of affairs from my knowledge of the philosophy and sociology of school science; where, without claiming to be an expert, I nevertheless feel I have quite a solid grounding, that is common to many science educators. My initial response, therefore, on hearing that Edgar Jenkins was writing a history of school science in England was to welcome it. We have very few specialist historians of science education and Edgar (if I may so call him in a review, rather than ‘Jenkins’) is one of them. Readers of this journal are likely to know some of his previous work. An early and valuable study was From Armstrong to Nuffield (1979, John Murray). Subsequently, * Michael J. Reiss [email protected]
1
Institute of Education, UCL, London, UK
M. J. Reiss
with David Layton and others, he published the influential Inarticulate Science? Perspectives on the Public Understanding of Science and Some Implications for Science Education (1993, Studies in Education) and, in 1996 with Jim Donnelly and others, he authored Investigations by Order: Policy, Curriculum and Science Teachers’ Work under the Education Reform Act (1996, Studies in Education), a brilliant and searing indictment of attempts to require all school children to undertaken original project work in science. This book is based on documents, both primary and secondary; it is not a book that avails itself of oral history and, as the author points out:
.… much work remains to be done to understand how the national debate about science and education in England p
Data Loading...
