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Tue 05 May 2007Second-level schools and the search for meaningTeaching Matters:The mid-19th century decision by Victorian policy makers to establish universal schooling was a truly profound new departure. For the first time in human history children would be removed for long periods of their lives from the surroundings of home and the workplace and placed in specialist institutions for the purposes of being taught. Such a development required a major leap in the public imagination and in the State's capacity to carry through such a monumental social project.The success of the venture over the last 200 years or so has been such that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without schools. Indeed, we increasingly look to them to do more and more. In this country, as well as traditional teaching, we currently look to second-level schools to "teach" active citizenship, enterprise development, good health, environmentalism, the rules of the road and, probably at some time in the future, good driving.