James N. Britton

James Nimmo Britton (18 May 1908 – 29 February 1994) was an influential British educator at the Institute of Education, University of London, whose theory of language and learning helped guide research in school writing, while shaping the progressive teaching of language, writing, and literature in both England and the United States after the Dartmouth Conference (1966) of Anglo-American English educators.

Britton was born in Scarborough, England, on 18 May 1908. He graduated with a B.A. honours degree in English from University College London, where he held the Campbell Clarke Scholarship and the John Oliver Hobbes Memorial Scholarship. From 1933–1938, he taught English at Harrow Weald County Grammar School, in the state educational system.

In 1938, Britton left his teaching post to become education editor for the publishers John Murray of London. Soon afterwards, he joined the RAF in World War II. Record and Recall: A Cretan Memoir (1988) details an episode in his war experiences when he escaped being captured by German paratroopers who invaded the island of Crete where he helped to staff a radar station in 1941. Returning from overseas, Britton worked at John Murray for several years before completing his M.A. at the University of London. From 1948–1952 he also taught education at the Birmingham College of Art.

In 1954, Britton joined the English Education Department at the University of London Institute of Education where he spent the rest of his career, becoming Reader in Education, head of department, and eventually the Goldsmiths Professor. During the 1970s, he headed a major research group (including colleagues Nancy Martin and Harold Rosen) for the British Schools Council, which examined the instructional role of writing in the British Schools. This led to the publication of The Development of Writing Abilities, 11–18 in 1975 and the refinement of his theory of language use, which distinguished between participant and spectator language roles. This work helped teachers to see the importance of having students use expressive language and foregrounded the crucial role of audience in the development of language abilities. At this time, Britton was also an active member of the Bullock Committee, which issued its influential report, A Language for Life, in 1975.

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