liberal reforms - COMPLETE Flashcards
what reforms did the liberals pass?
- free school meals
- ## school medical inspections
give some background to the introduction of free school meals.
compulsory education brought to light that children from slum areas were too hungry to learn.
prior to 1906 it was illegal for local authority school boards to provide free school meals.
what did an 1889 report indicate regarding hungry schoolchildren?
that over 50,000 pupils in london alone were attending school “in want of food”.
what was the first reform passed by the liberals?
the provision of school meals act (1906)
what did the provision of school meals act do?
allowed local authorities to provide school meals to needy children.
gave them tax raising powers to pay for school meals.
was the school meals act compulsory?
no - it only encouraged the provision. in fact, roughly half of authorities in britain did not act and by 1939 less than 50% were providing free school meals.
what did fraser, a historian, say about the school meals reform?
“only a small measure and produced only limited progress”
what did a 1907 survey show regarding schoolchildren?
that they gained weight during school terms and lost weight during holidays
what suggests that the school meals act was effective?
- a 1907 survey showed that children gained weight during school terms and lost weight during the holidays
- in 1914 the government face local authorities grants to cover half the cost of the service
- by 1914, 14 million school meals per annum were being provided for 158,000 children
- the service is still in use today
what suggests that the school meals act was not effective?
- because it wasn’t compulsory, roughly half of authorities in britain did not act
- “only a small measure and produced only limited progress” fraser, historian
- by 1939 less than 50% were providing free school meals
what did the liberals introduce to tackle very frequent outbreaks of disease?
the school medical inspections act
what did a 1908 government report find regarding children’s health?
- 50% of children with medical problems had not been treated
- 80% of them had defective teeth
- 30% had lice or nits
- 9% had tickets due to inadequate
- 50% of recruits to Boer War (1899-1902) were unfit to serve
what was the name of the act that made school medical inspections compulsory and when was it passed?
the education act, passed in 1907
what did the education act (medical inspections) specify?
that schoolchildren must receive at least 3 inspections during their school years
what was ineffective about the education act?
no such measures were introduced for life after school
did not improve health conditions of adults or school leavers
what was effective about the education act?
helped improve national health levels in children
by 1914 most authorities were providing some medical treatment for children
what did some people think about school medical inspections and their ineffectiveness?
it was simply pointing out to children their ailments without providing treatment - it was cruelty
what did the children’s charter do?
- banned children under 14 from entering pubs
- children under 16 were forbidden to smoke or drink alcohol, or beg
- borstals or corrective schools were set up to deal with child criminals, to keep them away from adult criminals
- children were tried in juvenile courts
- probation officers were employed to guide young offenders when they were released from borstals
what percentage of old people ended up in poorhouses in some areas?
roughly 50%
what were the requirements to get a pension?
- be 70+
- be british (no passports/birth certificates to prove it)
- had lived in britain for 20 years
- had not been in prison in past 10 years
- had not avoided work in the past
- had not been detained for drunkenness in past 10 years