School Can Make a Difference

The Social World of the School: Education and Community in Interwar London (Manchester UP, 2022) shows why the study of schooling matters to the history of twentieth-century Britain. Dr. Hester Barron integrates the history of education within the wider concerns of modern social history.

Drawing on a rich array of archival and autobiographical sources, she captures in vivid detail the individual moments that made up the minutiae of classroom life. The book focuses on elementary education in interwar London, arguing that schools were grounded in their local communities as lynchpins of social life and drivers of change. Exploring crucial questions around identity and belonging, poverty and aspiration, class and culture, behaviour and citizenship, Dr. Barron provides vital context for twenty-first century debates about education and society, showing how the same concerns were framed a century ago.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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