Introduction
Abstract
This chapter proposes that the post-war period saw the ‘invention’ of the working-class adolescent, in the work of psychotherapists, psychologists and the teachers turned authors of the English secondary modern school novel. It introduces the idea of the school counsellor as the figure who was tasked to navigate the adolescent through the complexities of the comprehensive school from the late 1960s and the changing fortunes of school counsellors in the state school system. This chapter considers the ‘form’ of the state school story, its recurring features and its adaptation to new kinds of schools from the 1950s to the present.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Historical Education Studies Worldwide
Themes in Literature Analysis
Modernist Literature and Criticism
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 3–25
- Publication date
- 18 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter