accounts of female corporal punishment in secondary moderns are massively under-represented. Especially when you consider the following points:

1 The Education Act 1944 raised the school leaving age to 15, which was increased to 16 in 1972. For the first time, girls from lower socio-economic backgrounds now stayed at school well into their teenage years.

2 These girls were mainly channeled by the 11-plus system into MIXED secondary modern schools, where boys and girls were subject to an identical regime. The drive for female equality, as Ink-Lined Plane points out, meant that teachers were actively encouraged to treat boys and girl pupils the same.

3 Even the most non-academically inclined now found themselves being forced to learn maths, English, French etc at an age when their mothers and aunties were working in the local factories.

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