CREATING THE MOULD: the construction, reproduction and representation of the identities and cultures of the state grammar schools, 1868-1939

This thesis explores how the identity and culture of the grammar school evolved once the
state began to involve itself in secondary education from the time of the 1868 Taunton
Commission. Through a case-study of four girls’ and four boys’ schools, including an
ancient foundation, it is possible to show how not only the government and its agencies, but
also local government, local people, headteachers, teachers and pupils all played a role in
constructing and negotiating the identities and cultures. With in-depth work mostly confined
to secondary schools in the industrial north and midlands and in London, this thesis
investigates the schools in four small provincial towns in the south-east – in Maidstone,
Southend, Woking and Chichester. The early twentieth century schools under investigation
would hardly be recognised as grammar schools now, with different origins, little in the way
of examination success, almost non-existent sixth forms, and with few facilities such as
playing fields and libraries. By the end of the 1930s, however, the case-study sources suggest
that the key features of the modern grammar school had emerged.
A largely neglected topic since the advent of the comprehensive schools in the 1960s,
academics have traditionally focused on modern grammar schools as middle-class schools
that failed the poorest in society. This thesis shifts the focus of the debate to the creation of
cultures in these schools, through their organisation and public presentation, buildings and
material cultures, games and other extra-curricular activities. With the schools opening up
secondary education to both girls and the lower-middle and skilled working classes, the
impact of gender as well as class on the schools’ identities and cultures is also analysed. By
investigating both girls’ and boys’ schools, the conflicting expectations of the girls in this
period, compared to the boys, are highlighted. The thesis also expands knowledge of boys’
schools, which have only been the subject of a small number of investigations. School and
local government minutes, as well as local newspapers, have been useful for this thesis, but
the school magazines have been the key source.