Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Studying childhood
- 3 The invention of educational psychology
- 4 Cyril Burt and the psychology of individual differences
- 5 Susan Isaacs and the psychology of child development
- 6 The structure and status of a profession
- 7 Mental measurement and the meritocratic ideal
- 8 The psychometric perspective
- 9 Psychologists as policy makers, 1924–1944
- 10 The measurement of merit anatomised
- 11 Equality and community versus merit
- 12 Egalitarianism triumphant
- 13 Cyril Burt and the politics of an academic reputation
- 14 Equality and human nature
- 15 The measurement of merit revived?
- 16 Conclusion
- Glossary
- Selective bibliography
- Index
2 - Studying childhood
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Studying childhood
- 3 The invention of educational psychology
- 4 Cyril Burt and the psychology of individual differences
- 5 Susan Isaacs and the psychology of child development
- 6 The structure and status of a profession
- 7 Mental measurement and the meritocratic ideal
- 8 The psychometric perspective
- 9 Psychologists as policy makers, 1924–1944
- 10 The measurement of merit anatomised
- 11 Equality and community versus merit
- 12 Egalitarianism triumphant
- 13 Cyril Burt and the politics of an academic reputation
- 14 Equality and human nature
- 15 The measurement of merit revived?
- 16 Conclusion
- Glossary
- Selective bibliography
- Index
Summary
Looking back on the origins of educational psychology from the vantage point of 1923, P. B. Ballard singled out the Child Study movement for particular attention:
Towards the close of last century a few ardent educationalists, seeing the need for a scientific study of the growing mind, started what was known as the Child Study movement. They made wide and searching inquiries, they bombarded home and school with questionnaires, they collected and collated a multitude of facts only a small portion of which will ever be published. It is rumoured that in the store rooms of Clark University… there are tons and tons of documents awaiting the directive mind that will reduce them to order, or, as is more likely, the incendiary hand that will reduce them to ashes.
The movement spawned several organisations which were exclusively devoted to studying child development – the most notable were the Childhood Society, the Child Study Association, and the Child Study Society – and published a mass of material on children and education at a time when the literature on the subject was limited and opportunities for publication restricted. It engaged the enthusiastic support of several people who were destined to exercise a commanding influence over the development of psychology, notably Sully, Winch, Ballard, and Burt, and tried to influence policy towards children, particularly towards the feeble-minded, presenting evidence to Royal Commissions, Departmental Committees of the Education Department, the Home Office, and the Local Government Board, sending witnesses to appear before the Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, and despatching a deputation to the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
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- Measuring the MindEducation and Psychology in England c.1860–c.1990, pp. 18 - 48Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994