This book marks the centenary of the 1918 Education Acts and the thirtieth anniversary of the 1988 Education Reform Act by bringing together fifteen contributions originally published in the British Journal of Educational Studies. The book locates these chapters in the context of the 1902 and 1944 Education Acts and educational reform legislation in the 20th century, thus providing a starting point for discussion of continuities and changes involving power, control and regulation, and for critique and challenge regarding the framework and historical development of UK education.

Gary McCulloch is the Brian Simon Professor of History of Education at UCL Institute of Education, London, UK. He is currently President of the British Educational Research Association and Editor of the British Journal of Educational Studies. His recent publications include A Social History of Educational Studies and Research (with Steven Cowan, 2017), and The Struggle for the History of Education (2011).

Introduction 1. Planning the Education Bill of 1902 2. Implementing the Education Act of 1902 3. Arthur Balfour and Educational Change: The Myth Revisited 4. Churches and Children - A Study in the Controversy over the 1902 Education Act 5. The 1902 Education Act: The Search for a Compromise 6. Wesleyan Methodism and the Education Crisis of 1902 7. H.A.L. Fisher, Reconstruction and the Development of the 1918 Education Act 8. The 1918 Education Act: Origins, Aims and Development 9. Lord Butler and the Education Act of 1944 10. Forty Years On 11. 'Spiritual Development' in the Education Reform Act: A Source of Acrimony, Apathy or Accord 12. Special Educational Needs and the Education Reform Act, 1988 13. The 'Pink-Tank' on the Education Reform Act 14. Power and Control in Education 1944-2004 15. 60 Years On: The Changing Role of Government