Positioning the Approved Schools

This chapter reviews the extant academic studies in the fields of history, sociology, and criminology, pivotal to understanding the approved schools, the period of time in which they operated, and arguments advanced around them. It considers how recent criminal proceedings relating to the care of girls in the secure estate, past and present, influence this field of research, and explores previous work on the policing of the behaviour of girls in the twentieth century. It considers what contemporary notions of protection of young women, and expectations of their behaviour tell us, and how this can be mapped to wider social progress. Finally, it discusses the concept of state care for children, and how the experiences of children committed to approved schools interlock with the wider social welfare system, and broader models of institutional care for children in the mid-twentieth century.