Psychology of education in the UK: development in the 1960s

This paper attempts an account and evaluation of the historical development of psychology of education in the 1960s in the UK. It contributes to both the history of the academic discipline of educational studies and to the history of higher education. Progress of the subject is introduced in the general context of university developments and the research environment of educational studies and then examines the growth of research and scholarship in psychology of education through an assessment of the contributions of individual psychologists, including the inheritance from pre‐1960s scholars, an analysis of the authorship of papers in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, and case studies of selected university centres of research excellence. A brief discussion of external research funding is followed by a consideration of advanced course development and the provision of suitable textbooks. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research.