Professor Jane Martin - Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Building Comprehensive Education:  Caroline Benn and Holland Park School with Professor Jane Martin

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Jane Martin is Professor of Social History at the University of Birmingham. Her main areas of interest are in biography and the history of women’s education and politics and policy-making and she has published widely in these areas. She is former President of the UK History of Education Society and is an Editor of the Routledge Women and Education Major Themes in Education and the Routledge Progressive Education Series. Her most recent book Making Socialists: Mary Bridges Adams and the Fight for Knowledge and Power, 1855-1939 (Manchester University Press) was nominated for the 2013 History of Education Society (UK) Anne Bloomfield Book Prize.

We look forward to celebrating and remembering the life and work of Caroline Benn (1926-2000). Wife of the one of the most prominent socialists in Britain, Caroline made an immense contribution to British public life through her work in educational politics and as one of the leaders of the Comprehensive Education Movement. The lecture draws attention to the significance of her role as school governor at Holland Park Comprehensive School in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the 1970s and 80s to counter the demonization of comprehensive schooling and the ideal of the common school – a cause that Caroline supported all her life. 

The Lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

Venue: Room G33, School of Education (R19). Download a map of the campus

We look forward to seeing you at Professor Martin’s Inaugural Lecture. If we can be of any assistance, please do get in touch.