Approved Schools for Girls in England, 1933-1973

'Girls will be Girls'

Jessamy Carlson

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9783031651076
• eBook ISBN: 9783031651083
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Education
• Index: History

This book provides a detailed study of approved schools for girls, which operated in England and Wales between 1933-1973. Through original archival research, it traces shifting perceptions of, and policy responses to, girls' delinquency and vulnerability during a period of remarkable social change. It examines the transition of provision for girls and young women 'in trouble' from the large-scale post-Victorian reformatories to the therapeutic Community Homes for Education, and the emergence of a 'diagnostic shift' in the provision of care for children in the juvenile secure estate. Through examining the experiences of younger children, it provides a more nuanced understanding of the role approved schools played for girls in need of care, protection, or control during this period, evidencing the gendered use of care-or-protection orders throughout, and the policing of child and family behaviours under the guises of the Education Act.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Positioning the Approved Schools
• 3. The National Picture: Policy and Insight
• 4. Circumstances: How, Why, and When Children Are Committed to the Approved Schools
• 5. The Local Picture: Approved Schools on the Ground
• 6. Contemporary Research in and on Approved Schools for Girls
• 7. Conclusion
• Back Matter