Are ‘Quaker’ Schools Quaker?

Chapter 2 provided an introduction to some important Quaker educational thinkers. Their ideas will prove useful as an orientation exercise as we begin to approach the schools in this chapter and later enter through their doors. But before we do this, I’ll describe an event I attended related to Quaker education in the UK. Following this, an overview of the studies of Quaker schools available at the time of conducting the research will be discussed. Then the chapter will move on to discuss what the schools included in the research said about themselves. I will conclude the chapter by considering the potential relevance of themes that will emerge from the research to broader issues concerning education in the UK. This will be more of a taster than a detailed evaluation, but I hope it will help readers imagine why understanding the education provided by a small group of independent Quaker schools a few years ago remains important.