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ABSTRACT
Brian Simon (1915–2002), an influential Marxist historian and educationist in Britain, had been campaigning for comprehensive education from the late 1940s to the 1960s. In the early 1970s, followed by a rapid expansion of comprehensive schools since the issue of Circular 10/65, comprehensive education was under attack by the Conservative government and other conservatives. In the mid-late 70s, along with the conservatives and the New Right, left-wing intellectuals also undermined the public’s confidence in comprehensive education. Faced with the crisis in comprehensive education, Simon continued to battle for it by shifting between different roles. Simon was not only involved in politics of education, but also dealt with ideological issues implicit in contemporary educational theories nationally and internationally which caused harm to comprehensive education. Despite this, very little research has focused on Simon’s ideas and practice in relation to comprehensive education in the 1970s. Therefore, this paper aims to fill the lacuna.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Professor Gary McCulloch and Professor Antonio Francisco Canales Serrano for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this paper. She would also like to acknowledge the strong support from the UCL IOE Archives where she collected Brian Simon papers, and the International Centre for Historical Research in Education (ICHRE) at the UCL IOE.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Brian Simon, “Marxism and Education” (working paper, January 1968). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/36.
2 H. Y. Ku, “Ideological Struggle in Education: Brian Simon and Comprehensive Education Movement (1946-1965)”, History of Education 51, no. 2 (2022): 266–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2021.1924876
3 Simon, “Marxism and Education”.
4 Brian Simon, The Common Secondary School (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1955), 99–100, 105.
5 Caroline Benn and Brian Simon, Half Way There: Report on the British Comprehensive Reform. 1st ed. (London: McGraw-Hill, 1970), 6, 9.
6 Brian Simon, Education: The New Perspective (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1967), 12.
7 Department of Education and Science (DES), Circular 10/65 (London: HMSO, 1965).
8 Ibid., 108.
9 Brian Simon, “Education and the right offensive”, in Does Education Matter? ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1985), 197–216 (p. 201).
10 Brian Simon, “Autobiography Vol. II (1945–1994)” (working paper [n.d. 1993?]). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/5/2/16.
11 Ibid.
12 Matthew R. Kavanagh, “British Communism and the Politics of Education, 1926–1968” (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 2005), 211.
13 Simon, “Autobiography Vol. II (1945–1994)”.
14 Since Simon was an influential historian in Britain and internationally, there have been works on Simon’s legacy in educational historiography. For example: Marc Depaepe, “It’s a Long Way to … An International Social History of Education: In Search of Brian Simon’s Legacy in Today’s Educational Historiography”, History of Education 33, no. 5 (2004): 531–44; K. J. Brehony, “Education as a ‘Social Function’: Sociology, and Social Theory in the Histories of Brian Simon”, History of Education 33, no. 5 (2004): 545–58; Gary McCulloch, “A People’s History of Education: Brian Simon, the British Communist Party and Studies in the History of Education, 1780–1870”, History of Education 39, no. 4 (2010): 437–57. Apart from this, there is research about Simon’s campaign against intelligence testing and his early education in family life. For example, Deborah Thom, “Politics and the People: Brian Simon and the Campaign against Intelligence Tests in British Schools”, History of Education 33, no. 5 (2004): 515–29; and Gary McCulloch and Tom Woodin, “Learning and Liberal Education: The Case of the Simon Family, 1912–1939”, Oxford Review of Education 36, no. 2 (2010): 187–201.
15 DES, The Organization of Secondary Education (Circular 10/70) (London: HMSO, 1970).
16 Brian Simon, “Opportunities for Education – A Matter of National Survival”, Morning Star, 13 July 1970, 4. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/6.
17 Ibid.
18 Betty Reid to Brian Simon [n.d., between 16 September and 17 October 1970]. Communist Party paper, People’s History Museum Archives, CP/CENT/CULT/3/12. Brian Simon, “Speech made by Brian Simon to the ‘Battle for Educational Opportunity Conference’” (working paper, 1970). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/17.
19 Caroline Benn was the driving force behind the Comprehensive Schools Committee (CSC) set up in September 1965. She played the role of “Information Officer”, monitoring closely every aspect of the comprehensive education movement. See Brian Simon, “Obituary of Caroline Benn” (working paper [n.d. 2001?]). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 2/18.
20 Benn and Simon, Half Way There, 1st ed., 5.
21 Simon, “Speech Made by Brian Simon”.
22 Brian Simon, “Wyggeston Parents” (lecture, 18 November 1970). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/37; Brian Simon, “On Comprehensive” (lecture, Watford, May 1971). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/38.
23 Brian Simon, “Half Way There” (lecture, Glasgow EIS, March 1972). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/43.
24 Caroline Benn and Brian Simon, Half Way There: Report on the British Comprehensive Reform. 2nd ed. (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1972), 491–2.
25 Ibid., 492.
26 DES, “Education: A Framework for Expansion” (The White Paper, HMSO, London, 1972), 1, 3.
27 Editorial, “16–19”, Forum 15, no. 2 (1973): 35.
28 Editorial, “A Summer’s Outrage”, Forum 16, no. 1 (1973): 1.
29 Brian Simon to Jack Walton, 17 August 1973. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/4/45.
30 Joan Simon to Alan Evans (NUT), 9 September 1973. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/4/48.
31 Indictment of Margaret Thatcher (Leicester: PSW (Educational) Publications, 1973), 26. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/4/58.
32 DES, Education Act 1968 (London: HMSO, 1968), Section 13 (1).
33 Ibid., Section 13 (3).
34 Ibid., Section 13 (4).
35 Indictment of Margaret Thatcher, 26.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., 31.
38 Ibid., 20–3.
39 Ibid., 29.
40 Ibid., 28.
41 Brian Simon, “Letter to the Editor of the Guardian” (working paper, September 9, 1973). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/4/45.
42 Ibid.
43 Hilary Brook, “Mrs. Thatcher Indicted”, The Teacher, 12 October1973. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 4/4/45.
44 Simon, The Common Secondary School, 99.
45 Benn and Simon, Half Way There, 1st ed., 360.
46 Brian Simon, “Streaming and the Comprehensive School”, Secondary Education 1, no. 1 (1970): 3–5 (3). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/6.
47 Ibid., 4.
48 Benn and Simon, Half Way There, 1st ed., 24, 146.
49 Brian Simon, “Streaming and Unstreaming in the Secondary School”, in Education for Democracy, ed. David Rubinstein and Colin Stoneman (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1972), 142–50 (p. 143).
50 Ibid.
51 National Committee (working paper, 8 September 1969). Communist Party paper, People’s History Museum Archives, CP/CENT/CULT/1/12; Brian Simon, “Intelligence, Race, Class and Education”, in Intelligence, Psychology and Education: A Marxist Critique, ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1978), 237–63 (p. 243). (Reprinted from Marxism Today, November 1970).
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid., 245.
55 Cyril Burt, “The Mental Differences between Children”, in Black Paper Two: The Crisis in Education, ed. C. B. Cox and A. E. Dyson (London: The Critical Quarterly Society, 1969), 16–25 (p. 20).
56 H. J. Eysenck, “The Rise of the Mediocracy”, in Black Paper Two: The Crisis in Education, ed. C. B. Cox and A. E. Dyson (London: The Critical Quarterly Society, 1969), 34–40 (p. 34).
57 Brian Simon, “The Black Paper” (working paper [n.d., 1970?]). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/6.
58 Burt, “The Mental Differences between Children”, 20; and Eysenck, “The Rise of the Mediocracy”, 36.
59 Simon, “Intelligence, Race, Class and Education”, 247.
60 Simon, “Speech Made by Brian Simon”.
61 Ibid.
62 Brian Simon, “Introduction”, in Intelligence, Psychology and Education: A Marxist Critique, ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1978), 9–27 (p. 9).
63 Brian Simon, “Epilogue: Comprehensive School Organization in the 1970’s”, in Intelligence, Psychology and Education: A Marxist Critique, ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1971), 264–76 (p. 272).
64 Ibid.
65 Quoted from Brian Simon, “That I.Q. Myth Again”, Education: Today and Tomorrow 25, no. 2 (1973): 10–11 (p. 10).
66 Quoted from Brian Simon, “A New Role for Psychology”, Forum 16, no. 1 (1973): 30.
67 Brian Simon, “Jensen on Intelligence” (working paper, 1973). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/17.
68 Ibid.
69 Brian Simon, Education and the Social Order, 1940–1990 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1991), 304; and Ministry of Education, “Secondary School Examinations other than the GCE” (Beloe Report, HMSO, London, 1960), 46–7.
70 Brian Simon, “Examinations and the Comprehensive School” (lecture, Sydenham, 7 May 1970). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/37.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Benn and Simon, Half Way There, 1st ed., 353.
75 Ibid., 174, 354.
76 Schools Council, A Common System of Examining at 16+ (London: Evans/Methuen Educational, 1971), 7.
77 Ibid., 9–10.
78 Simon, “Half Way There”.
79 Editorial, “ROSLA and De-Schooling”, Forum 14, no. 3 (1972): 69.
80 Benn and Simon, Half Way There, 2nd ed., 497–8. See also Editorial, “Comprehensive Reform”, Forum 15, no. 1 (1972): 1.
81 Simon, Education and the Social Order, 430; Clyde Chitty, Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right? (Sussex: The Flamer Press, 1989), 55.
82 Editorial, “Advice to Reg Prentice”, Forum 16, no. 3 (1974): 67.
83 Brian Simon to Caroline Benn, 17 March 1974. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 2/17.
84 Ibid.
85 DES, The Organization of Secondary Education (Circular 4/74) (London: HMSO, 1974).
86 Ibid.
87 Editorial, “Advice to Reg Prentice”.
88 Ibid.
89 Editorial, “The Politics of Education”, Forum 17, no. 1 (1974): 2–3.
90 DES, The Direct Grant Grammar Schools Regulation (London: HMSO, 1975).
91 DES, Education Act 1976 (London: HMSO, 1976), Section 2.
92 Brian Simon and Charles Godden, The Comprehensive School (London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1978), 8. Communist Party paper, People’s History Museum Archives, CP/CENT/IND/10/2.
93 Ibid.
94 Brian Simon, “Ideological Questions in Education” (working paper [n.d., 1975?]). Communist Party paper, People’s History Museum Archives, CP/CENT/CULT/4/6.
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid.
97 Ibid.
98 Brian Simon, “Educational Backwoodsmen”, Morning Star, 12 May 1975, 4. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 3/3.
99 Ibid.
100 Ibid.; Iris Murdoch, “Socialism and Selection”, in Black Paper 1975: The Fight for Education, ed. C. B. Cox and Rhodes Boyson (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1975), 7–9 (p. 7).
101 H. J. Eysenck, “Educational Consequences of Human Inequality”, in Black Paper 1975: The Fight for Education, ed. C. B. Cox and Rhodes Boyson (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1975), 39–41 (pp. 39–40).
102 Brian Simon, “Book Review on ‘Education, Equality and Society’” (working paper, 25 May 1975). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/17.
103 Ibid.; Bryan Wilson, “Introduction”, in Education, Equality and Society, ed. Bryan Wilson (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1975), 9–38 (p. 38).
104 Simon, “Book Review on ‘Education, Equality and Society’”.
105 G. H. Bantock, “Equality and Education”, in Education, Equality and Society, ed. Bryan Wilson (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1975), 110–54 (p. 133).
106 Brian Simon, “Editorial”, Marxism Today, 25 May 1975; see also Cyril Burt, “The Inheritance of Mental Differences”, in Education, Equality and Society, ed. Bryan Wilson (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1975), 62–109 (p. 105).
107 Simon, “Editorial”.
108 Simon, “Ideological Questions in Education”.
109 Brian Simon, “How to Fit round Kids in to Square Schools”, Morning Star, 9 November 1976. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/15.
110 Brian Simon, “Forward to Second Edition”, in Intelligence, Psychology and Education: A Marxist Critique, ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1978), vii–xii (p. vii).
111 Brian Simon, “HMI and Mixed Ability”, Forum 21, no. 2 (1979): 53–5 (p. 54).
112 Ibid.; HMI, Mixed Ability Work in Comprehensive Schools (London: HMSO, 1978), 60.
113 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 181.
114 Ibid., 52.
115 Ken Jones, Education in Britain: 1944 to the Present (Cambridge: Polity, 2003), 100–1.
116 Arthur Seldon, “The Riddle of the Voucher”, in Introducing Market Forces into “Public” Services (The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon, Vol. 4), ed. C.n Robinson (Indiana, USA: Liberty Fund, 2005), 319–417 (p. 335).
117 Arthur Seldon, “Charge”, in Introducing Market Forces into “Public” Services (The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon, Vol. 4), ed. Colin Robinson (Indiana, US: Liberty Fund, 2005), 95–302 (p. 161).
118 Rhodes Boyson, “The Developing Case for the Educational Voucher”, in Black Paper 1975: The Fight for Education, ed. C. B. Cox and Rhodes Boyson (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1975), 27–8 (p. 27).
119 Ibid.
120 Ibid.
121 Simon, “Educational Backwoodsmen”, 4.
122 Rhodes Boyson, “The School, Equality and Society”, in Education, Equality and Society, ed. Bryan Wilson (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1975), 155–200 (p. 196).
123 Simon, “Editorial”.
124 See note 21 above.
125 Ibid.
126 Brian Simon, “Whose Objectives Anyway?” (working paper [n.d., 1970/1971?]). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/17.
127 See note 21 above.
128 See note 78 above.
129 Ibid.
130 Norman St. John-Stevas, Standards and Freedom (London: Conservative Political Centre, 1974), 10–11.
131 Editorial, “The Politics of Education”, 3.
132 Simon and Godden, The Comprehensive School, 7.
133 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 157.
134 Editorial, “Whither the HMI”, Forum 21, no. 2 (1979): 37.
135 Brian Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, Marxism Today (June 1976): 169–77 (p. 169).
136 Ibid.
137 Simon, “Ideological Questions in Education”.
138 Ibid.
139 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 174.
140 Ibid., 177.
141 Brian Simon, “IQ, Selection, and the Development of the Comprehensive System” (working paper, 1976). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/9; Brian Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, Marxism Today (July 1977): 195–205 (p. 203). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/10.
142 Simon, “IQ, Selection, and the Development of the Comprehensive System”.
143 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 174.
144 Ibid.
145 See note 78 above.
146 Ibid.
147 Brian Simon, “Problems in Contemporary Educational Theory: A Marxist Approach”, Journal of Philosophy of Education 12 (1978): 29–39 (pp. 34–5).
148 “730 Keep the Red Flag Flying”, Times Educational Supplement, 25 July 1975. Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 3/3.
149 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 169.
150 Ibid.
151 Ibid.
152 Brian Simon, “What School is for” (working paper, 28 December 1976). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/18.
153 Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, 199.
154 Ibid.
155 Ibid.
156 Brian Simon, “Education and Social Change: A Marxist Perspective”, Marxism Today (February 1977): 36–44 (p. 43).
157 Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, 199.
158 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 175.
159 Ibid.
160 Brian Simon, “Education! The Socialist Perspective” (working paper, May 1978). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/41.
161 Editorial, “Schools Can Make a Difference”, Forum 16, no. 2 (1974): 35.
162 Ibid.
163 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 173.
164 Brian Simon, “The Education of the Intellect” (lecture, Warwick University, 9 May 1978). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/5.
165 Ibid.
166 Ibid.
167 Simon, “Ideological Questions in Education”.
168 Ibid.
169 Ibid.
170 Ibid; Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 174.
171 Brian Simon, “Community and Curriculum” (lecture, Association for the Study of the Curriculum Conference, 11–13 April 1980). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/56.
172 Ibid.
173 Simon, “Problems in Contemporary Educational Theory”, 36; and Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, 200.
174 Simon, “Contemporary Problems in Educational Theory”, 177; and Simon, “Community and Curriculum”.
175 Jones, Education in Britain, 100.
176 Simon, “What School is For”.
177 Brian Simon, “The Primary School Revolution: Myth or Reality?” (working paper, 21 October 1980). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/15. The Tyndale affair occurred in 1974 in a small ILEA primary school, in which a few teachers adopted an extreme version of child-centred education and caused conflicts between teachers and parents. For more details on the Tyndale affair, see Simon, Education and the Social Order, 444–5.
178 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 65.
179 Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, 196.
180 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 60.
181 Peter Gordon, Richard Aldrich and Dennis Dean, Education and Policy in England in the Twentieth Century (London: The Woburn Press, 1991), 197.
182 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 40.
183 DES, School Education in England: Problems and Initiatives (The Yellow Book) (London: HMSO, 1976), 22.
184 James Callaghan, “A Rational Debate Based on the Facts” (The Ruskin Speech).
185 See note 176 above.
186 Brian Simon, “What Schools are for? Retrospect and Prospect” (lecture, Lancaster C. C., 16 February 1977). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/18.
187 HM Inspectorate, Curriculum 11–16 (The Red Book 1) (London: HMSO, 1977), 6; Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 110–11.
188 Chitty, Towards a New Education System, 106.
189 Ibid.
190 Simon, “Marx and the Crisis in Education”, 198–9.
191 Ibid., 198.
192 Ibid., 204–5.
193 Brian Simon, “The Green Paper”, Forum 20, no. 1 (1977): 18. See also DES, “Education in Schools: A Consultative Document” (The Green Paper, HMSO, London, 1977), 12.
194 DES, “The Green Paper”, 12.
195 Ibid., 13.
196 Ibid.
197 Simon, “The Green Paper”, 18.
198 Simon and Godden, The Comprehensive School, 6.
199 See note 197 above.
200 DES, The Green Paper, 16.
201 Ibid., 17.
202 See note 197 above.
203 Ibid.
204 Brian Simon, “Educational Research: Which Way?”, Research Intelligence 4, no. 1 (1977): 2–7 (p. 2). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/6.
205 Ibid., 6.
206 Ibid.
207 Ibid., 7.
208 Brian Simon, “To Whom do Schools Belong?” in Does Education Matter?, ed. B. Simon (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1985), 55–76. Shena Simon was Brian Simon’s mother. She served on the Education Committee in Manchester for more than 40 years.
209 Ibid., 68.
210 Ibid., 71.
211 Ibid., 69–70.
212 Ibid., 70.
213 Brian Simon, “Classroom Observation: Myth and Reality” (lecture, BERA conference, September 1980). Simon papers, IOE UCL Archives, Simon 1/15. This research programme was conducted by Simon himself between 1975 and 1980. See Brian Simon, A Life in Education (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1998), 126, 128.
214 Simon, “The Primary School Revolution: Myth or Reality?”
215 Simon, “To Whom do Schools Belong?”, 72.
216 Simon, “Autobiography Vol. II (1945–1994)”.
217 Richard Johnson, “Thatcherism and English Education: Breaking the Mould, or Confirming the Pattern?”, History of Education 18, no. 2 (1989): 91–121 (p. 93).
218 Simon, Education and the Social Order, 432.
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Hsiao-Yuh Ku
Hsiao-Yuh Ku is currently working as an associate professor at the National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. Her research interest is on the English history of education, especially focusing on educational reforms and debates in the twentieth century. Her book, entitled Education for Democracy in England in World War II, was recently published by Routledge.