Gender, national identity and the Royal (Argyll) Commission of Inquiry into Scottish education (1864-1867)

Concern over the state of education in Scotland saw the Argyll Commission set up in 1864. Its reports revealed differences in the experience of schooling throughout Scotland as well as resistance to Anglicisation. Nevertheless, the influence of English attitudes is reflected throughout the reports. So too are the themes of social control and the interaction of class, gender and nationality. The Commission was not primarily concerned with gender issues, but it insisted that the 'democratic' tradition, which favoured the talented poor boy, should be safeguarded, while it was clear that the position of women in Scottish education would be profoundly affected by its outcome. The hope was that increased employment of schoolmistresses would not result in loss of the schoolmaster's professional status. Rather, the former were to be enlisted in defence of the national education tradition against the encroachment of inferior English policie