Education, the Wasted Years? 1973–1986

The great confidence enjoyed by the education system during the 1960s gave way to considerable disenchantment in the 1970s and 1980s. First published in 1988, Education, the Wasted Years? 1973–1986 is an attempt to describe and analyze what took place in the major areas of education between 1973 and 1986, by when a general consensus in favour of education as it was practised had disappeared.

Although each contributor has written independently on his/her own area of expertise, there is a common thread throughout their work which may be summed up by the view that the education service deserved greater support than it received from either Government or the public. Inevitably, there are overlaps between various chapters: education cannot be satisfactorily treated in sharply separated compartments. Some themes necessarily appear more than once. Such differences of emphasis or nuance will illuminate the work as a whole.

This book will be of interest to students and researchers of education.