The Steward Street School experiment: a critical case study of possibilities

This article presents a critical case study of an inner city state school that for a decade (1940s– 1950s) attracted the interest of a wide contingency of educationalists, policy makers, researchers, artists and various press and film media. It has been argued that if we are to progress 'social...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British educational research journal 2013-02, Vol.39 (1), p.148-165
Main Authors: Burke, Catherine, Grosvenor, Ian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Art Education
Case Studies
Education
Education history
Education policy
Educational Administration
Educational Environment
Educational History
Educational Innovation
England (Birmingham)
Experimental Schools
Experiments
Foreign Countries
History of education
Mass media
Media
Narratives
School Buildings
United Kingdom
Urban Schools
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Summary:This article presents a critical case study of an inner city state school that for a decade (1940s– 1950s) attracted the interest of a wide contingency of educationalists, policy makers, researchers, artists and various press and film media. It has been argued that if we are to progress 'social alternatives' in education, researchers need to construct 'critical case studies of possibilities' drawing inspiration from traces of experimental and utopian practice in schools from the past as well as the present. The article demonstrates how this might be achieved through research that questions dominant narratives, goes beyond the public accounts of particular sites of experimentation and explores multiple-narratives embedded in the records of past practice. The authors argue that such situated counter-currents in the history of education are necessary both to inform our collective notions of past experience and enrich our regard for future possibilities.
ISSN:0141-1926
1469-3518
DOI:10.1080/01411926.2011.615386