Power, policy and personality in Scottish education 1885–1928

Bibliographic Data

ID10106348
AuthorsWalter Humes (0000-0002-9803-5062, University of Stirling, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume53
Issue3-4
Pages233-248
Publication date2021-02-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Educational Administration & History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0620 • E-ISSN: 1478-7431
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00220620.2021.1883563
OpenAlexW3126938507
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited32

This paper examines a period in Scottish educational history when civil servants, not politicians, were in the ascendancy in the initiation of policy. The first three Secretaries of the Scotch/Scottish Education Department (SED) – Henry Craik (1846-1927), John Struthers (1857-1925) and George Macdonald (1862-1940) – enjoyed considerable authority, which enabled them to set the tone of the Department’s relations with schools and local authorities. This was possible for a number of reasons: the administrative challenges following the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872; the growing strength of the civil service; weak political leadership; the location of the SED in London, not Edinburgh. The paper examines the Department’s reaction to criticism, including demands for an Advisory Council on Education. It is argued that while some of the policies pursued by Craik, Struthers and Macdonald represented sensible pragmatic responses to rapidly developing circumstances, their management style established a pattern that had unfortunate longer-term consequences

Civil servants · Civil service · Criticism · Literature · Personality · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public service · Roll call · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Tone (literature · Historical Education and Society · History · Law · Psychology · Public Administration · Religious Education and Schools · Scottish History and National Identity · Social Psychology

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