The liberal playground

Abstract

The Cambridge Malting House serves here as a case-study for investigating the tensions within 1920s liberal elites between their desire to abandon some Victorian and Edwardian sets of values in favour of more democratic ones, and at the same time their insistence on preserving themselves as an integral part of the English upper class. Susan Isaacs, the manager of the Malting, provided the parents-some of whom belonged to the most famous 2 scientists and intellectuals of their age-with an opportunity to fulfil their 'fantasy' of bringing up children in total freedom. In retrospect, however, she deeply criticized these milieus for not fully understanding the real socio-cultural implications of their ideological decision to make independence and freedom the core values in their children's education. Thus, 1920s progressive education is a paradigmatic case study of the cultural and ideological inner contradictions within liberal thought in the interwar era. The article also shows how psychoanalysis-which attracted many progressive educators-played a crucial role in providing liberals of all sorts with a new language to articulate their political visions, but at the same time, explored the limits of the liberal discourse as a whole.

How do children build knowledge in early childhood education? Susan Isaacs, Young Children Are Researchers and what happens next

“…Isaacs conducted her research at MHS between 1924 and 1927. It was a progressive school in Cambridge, England for children aged 2-10 years (Bar-Haim, 2017;Graham, 2009). Her research and progressive practice were founded on the extensive knowledge she had acquired through her formal education spanning initial teacher training, philosophy, psychology, and the experiential learning afforded to her as a psychoanalyst, ECE educator and researcher (Graham, 2009).…”