Primary Education (1959)

Primary Education (text)


Primary Education (1959)
Suggestions for the consideration of teachers and others concerned with the work of Primary Schools

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1959
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.


Background notes

Historical context

Between 1905 and 1937 the Board of Education published several editions of its Handbook of Suggestions for teachers in public elementary schools.

This 1959 book, published by the Ministry of Education, was an updated version of the Handbook (though the word itself was dropped from the title) and was designed for teachers in the new primary schools which were established following the 1944 Education Act.

It presents a fascinating snapshot of primary schools in England in the 1950s and of educational thinking at the time - eight years before the publication of the 1967 Plowden Report Children and their Primary Schools.

The book online

The full text (from the fourth impression published by the Department of Education and Science in 1965) is presented in a single web page.

I have corrected a couple of misprints and a few spelling inconsistencies. Anything added by way of explanation is shown [in square brackets]. The text is displayed with its original capitalisation and paragraphing.

The above notes were prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 21 December 2008.