Deirdre Raftery is a historian of education at University College Dublin, Ireland. A recent Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK, and a Life Member of the University of Cambridge, UK, she has written many books including Women and Learning in English Writing, 1600-1900 (1997), and (jointly) Emily Davies, Selected Letters (2002), and Female Education in Ireland, 1700-1900: Minerva or Madonna? (2005). She has also contributed chapters to Routledge books including The Routledge Companion to Education, and Routledge's new Introduction to the Study of Education (Routledge, forthcoming). She is joint editor of History of Education, and a member of the Executive Committee of the History of Education Society (UK).

David Crook joined Brunel University in 2011. Formerly a comprehensive secondary school teacher, he worked at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK, between 1994 and 2010, including periods as Course Leader for the MA in History of Education, Assistant Dean of Research and Consultancy and Head of the Educational Foundations and Policy Studies Department. He remains a Visiting Fellow of the Institute. His many publications include McCulloch, G. & Crook, D., The Routledge international encyclopedia of education (2008) and Crook, D.& McCulloch, G., History, politics and policy-making in education (Routledge 2007). He is joint editor of History of Education, and a member of the Executive Committee of the History of Education Society (UK).