The Life of a School—A Research Guide

Goodson (learning theory, U. of Brighton and U. of Plymouth, UK) and Anstead, a consultant who specializes in leadership, society, and organizational culture, explore the history of the Beal Technical School in London to demonstrate the methods and problems involved in researching the story of a school, showing education history scholars and researchers guidelines and examples for doing so. They describe the use of qualitative, quantitative, and oral sources, and their experiences with them, then provide a historical narrative of the school's history based on traditional archival sources. They detail an approach based on critical incidents, their experience of research shown through a methodological diary, their examination of a specific curricular subject at the school, how popular memory constructs an alternative history of a school, and how to study a school's everyday life. There is no index. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ivor F. Goodson is Professor of Learning Theory at the University of Brighton, and Joss Owen Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth (UK). He is the founding editor of the Journal of Education Policy. Ivor is also a Research Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace.
Christopher J. Anstead earned his PhD in History from the University of Western Ontario. He has published a number of studies examining the interplay of leadership, society and organizational culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As the Managing Director of KeyWillow Consulting, Chris now applies those lessons to the present-day world of the private sector.