Sixty per cent of teachers in Britain are women: 74 per cent of primary school teachers and 45 per cent of secondary teachers. This text proposes that behind the familiar image of the woman teacher lies a curiously neglected history. Drawing on both published and unpublished material, including teachers' own autobiographical writing, this book examines the current state of educational provision and its surrounding debates. The author asks disquieting questions: do teachers endure condescension because the profession is dominated by women?; what does it say about the nature of a society prepared to hand over the education of its children to adults whose powers of mind are so consistently distrusted?; and what is the effect on children of mainly being taught by women? In addition she takes on some of today's contentious issues including the alarm at girl's successes and panic about boy's relative failure.