The Black Papers were a series of articles on British education, published from 1969 to 1977 in the

Critical Quarterly ''Critical Quarterly'' is a peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by Wiley (publisher), Wiley. The editor-in-chief is Colin MacCabe. The journal notably published the Black Papers on education starting in 1969. Hi ...

; their name intended as a contrast to government

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s. According to the ''

'' website the Black Papers were:

...an attack on the excesses of
progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
and the introduction by the Labour Party of a system of 11-18 comprehensives to replace the grammar school...the furore it created led to the publication of four more pamphlets. Contributors included
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,
Robert Conquest George Robert Acworth Conquest (15 July 1917 – 3 August 2015) was a British historian and poet. A long-time research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Conquest was most notable for his work on the Soviet Union. His books ...
,
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,
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,
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and
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. The Black Papers were not opposed in principle to progressive education, only to its excesses, which were rampant in British schools in the 1960s and 1970s. They criticised selection for grammar schools at the age of eleven and advocated it should be delayed until children were at least thirteen years of age. They criticised the student sit-ins which were damaging the reputation of British universities...The editors became leaders in a national campaign; today the Black Paper proposals for schools by and large are accepted by both the Conservative and Labour Parties in Britain.

The first two, both published in 1969, had the most impact: * ''Fight for Education'', March 1969, edited by Brian Cox and

A.E. Dyson Anthony Edward Dyson, aka Tony Dyson (28 November 1928 – 30 July 2002) was a British literary critic, university lecturer, educational activist and gay rights campaigner. Biography Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, his academic career ...

* ''Crisis in Education'', edited by Brian Cox The

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Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

Edward Short said in a speech to the

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in 1969: "In my view the publication of the Black Paper was one of the blackest days for education in the past century",BBC Radio 4, ''Comp'', programme three: 'The Blackest Day?'
/ref> but ten years later the Black Paper proposals were "at the root of mainstream Labour and Tory policy". Forty years later, Short however had not changed his views, saying of them: "These were scurrilous documents; quite disgraceful".

Notes

{{reflist Education in the United Kingdom

See also

Notes