Charkin, Emily;
(2020)
'Building a community together': past and present meanings of manual work at Kilquhanity School (1940-1996) and Wennington School (1940-1975).
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This PhD draws on text, testimonial and images to reveal staff and pupils’ lived experiences and attitudes towards manual work at two little-researched experimental schools, Kilquhanity (1940-96) and Wennington (1940-75). My focus on the often ignored or over-simplified practice of manual work reveals it as a significant and multi-faceted aspect of life at the two schools – which also casts light on the wider values and dynamics of the schools. By comparing this detailed, case-study research with accounts of manual work in other progressive, therapeutic, anarchist and radical schools and community experiments in this period, this work contributes new perspectives to the existing historiography on progressive and radical education. It questions the consensus that the better-known, libertarian Summerhill was ‘more radical’ and uncovers a neglected fault-line within the progressive movement relating to concepts of child-centred freedom and mixed-age community. This thesis also brings the past into conversation with the present, exploring whether and how young people experience forms of manual work in contemporary settings, including at the author’s own initiatives at Wilderness Wood in East Sussex. The experiences and ideas in this research challenge and offer alternatives to academic and popular debates about education, which are often dominated by narrow and polarised accounts of liberal versus progressive or vocational versus academic ideas and practices. This work also contributes to wider debates about childhood and society by exploring the potential value of manual work for young people as a ‘beyond voice’ form of participation in community.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | 'Building a community together': past and present meanings of manual work at Kilquhanity School (1940-1996) and Wennington School (1940-1975) |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10117323 |
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