Historians have become uneasy about using the word ‘fact’, and many historians do not accept that a value-free or neutral historical account is either possible or desirable. It is simply not possible to root out bias and subjectivity when doing history. The past can never be seen as a collection of acts and ideas that the historian simply must find. This chapter looks at the history and politics of education in the United Kingdom. In the twentieth century, we have had board schools, elementary schools, grammar schools, direct grant schools, secondary modern schools, technical schools, comprehensive schools, grant-maintained schools, multilateral schools, city technology colleges, middle schools, technical colleges, sixth-form colleges, special schools, faith schools, free schools, specialist schools, and academies. This chapter will detail the historical context of the current education system to give the reader an understanding of the role of education in the midtwentieth century and the debates that helped to develop the understanding of education within the neoliberal economy and wider society. Until the 1980s, most education was provided by elected local education authorities (LEAs), directed and funded by the central government. The 1988 Education Reform Act began the marketisation of education, aimed at raising standards by increasing parental choice and competition between schools. After 2010, there was a substantial move towards the privatisation of education through policies such as the growth of chains of academies run by private businesses.

The organisation of the education system before the 1944 Education Act was in desperate need of reform. Secondary education in this period was fundamentally elitist. Elementary schools provided limited education for most children aged 5 to 14, secondary, for children aged 11 to 16 or 18, chosen by their ability to pay fees or win scholarships, and some limited provision in junior technical colleges. The 1944 Education Act provided the framework for the postwar education service, secondary education for all, and a unified education service.

When the Education Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 15 December 1943 it was described by many at the time as the most comprehensive measure in the history of education. But the passage of the Bill through the House of Commons was very slow.