Features

Learning & Development: Then and now and Bertrand Russell

In the latest in our series marking the tenth decades of Nursery World and Early Education, Tony Bertram reflects on the origins of nursery schools and the thoughts of Bertrand Russell

Nursery World and the forerunner of Early Education were founded about the same time in the 1920s. It was not a coincidence. Many names within NW’s Editorial Board can be found as Vice Presidents and mover and shakers within Early Education. Collectively they were to form a powerful political and social reforming group and, unusually for the time, mostly they were women.

Their radicalising movement emerging from women’s contribution to the First World War and the bravery of the Suffragettes, challenged and changed Edwardian social dynamics. With enfranchisement and access to higher education, they began to draw attention to the issues faced by families and children and for the first time, early childhood education came onto the political agenda. Nearly a century later it is interesting to explore what still has resonance for us today.

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