1 The Potency of the Periodical Press -- 2 Schools, Pedagogy and Teachers -- 3 Journalism and fiction: the education debate in Household Words and selected novels by Charles Dickens -- 4 Religion and Elementary Education -- 5 Elementary Education Beyond the Schoolroom -- 6 English Children and their Periodicals -- 7 Conclusion: Elementary Education: ‘an arena of struggles, practical and theoretical’.

The nature and purpose of elementary education featured prominently in English periodicals throughout the nineteenth century. This book’s central argument is that the periodical press provided a unique cultural space for literary and intellectual contributions to sustained debates about education. Furthermore, political, economic, social, religious, literary, and cultural developments converged with pivotal educational turning points featured in periodicals that affirmed the creative force of education. However, relatively little scholarly attention has been given to periodicals as a medium for exploring the tension between competing educational ideas and practices in Victorian England. This book therefore reassesses elementary education through the new literary perspectives of periodical culture. Edwin Patrick Powell is an independent scholar, having formerly been a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. He has held teaching and leadership roles in secondary, further, and higher education. His particular expertise has been in the area of professional development at graduate and postgraduate levels for teachers, trainers, tutors, and learning support assistants across all phases of education. Powell's scholarly research has appeared in journals and books, and he has presented academic papers at local, national, and international conferences. Powell was awarded his doctorate in literature at the University of Essex.