The Crisis of Meritocracy? A Longer Historical Perspective with Peter Mandler

Mile End Institute Podcast

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the right of every child to an equal state-provided education and thrown the annual mass examination of children and teenagers into chaos, while many observers worry about the longer-term impacts of educational inequality.

In this episode, Dr Colm Murphy is joined by Professor Peter Mandler, author of The Crisis of the Meritocracy: Britain's Transition to Mass Education since the Second World War. They discuss how and why mass education had become such a crucial social and political issue and consider whether a historical perspective can help us to navigate today’s debates around education.