Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. […] Children address teachers by their first names. Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.

In the next section I explore why we seem to have lost sight of questions about values, purpose and the goodness of education. I suggest that at least part of the explanation for this has to do with what I will refer to as the 'learnification' of education: the transformation of an educational vocabulary into a language of learning.

Coordinate term: chavette

"A nice li'l thing, wi' a wunnerful curly head--eh, Phoebe?