Theme 2c: Education Flashcards
Education before 1918
- Provided by LEAs - created in 1902 Balfour act
- Local Authorities…
Paid teachers’ wages.
Provided FSM for poor children.
Ensured upkeep of school buildings.
Monitored teaching standards and qualifications.
1918 Fisher Act
- Based on wartime Lewis Report.
- Raised school leaving age to 14.
- Proposed changes to tertiary education - didn’t happen.
- Curriculum changes.
- Costs of education transferred from LEAs to central govt - CENTRALISATION OF EDUCATION.
Educational Provision - 1918-1939:
Two types of school
Elementary school: Basic education until 14.
Secondary + Tech schools: For kids up to 16.
Educational Provision - 1918-1939:
1926 Hadow Committee recommendations
- Abolish elementary: Primary and secondary schools with transfer age at 11.
- Raise school-leaving age to 15
The recommendations from the ____ Hadow _________ were never adopted.
The recommendations from the 1926 Hadow Committee were never adopted.
Educational Provision - 1918-1939:
Elementary schools varied in quality
- They were free
- Learning was done by rote
- Class sizes reached 50/60 kids.
Educational Provision - 1918-1939:
Secondary Education
- Preserve of middle class children.
- Compulsory up to 14.
- 1939: Only 13% of WC children over 13 in secondary.
- Uneven educational provision:
1931 - 5 million in primary vs 600,000 in secondary.
Access to education for working class - interwar
- Couldn’t access same education as middle class.
- Grammar schools were unaffordable - transport, uniform etc…
- IMPACT: Working class were stuck in cycles of poverty
Changes in education 1939-1944:
Impact of WW2
1942 Beveridge Report:
- Key cause behind 1944 Butler Act
- ‘Ignorance’ was one of the 5 big evils - armed forces had to teach basic literacy and numeracy to lower ranks.
1944 Butler Act
- Created by Rab Butler - Education secretary.
- Created a tripartite system.
- Compulsory education up to 15.
- Secondary no longer fee paying - paid for through taxes (govt took control).
Tripartite System:
Grammar schools
Grammar schools:
- Academic curriculum for those who passed 11+ exams.
- No extra spaces for girls despite them doing better.
- Only 20% went here.
Tripartite System:
Secondary Modern
Secondary Moderns:
- Educated majority of working class.
- Received fewer resources and less well-qualified teachers.
- 75% of students went here.
Tripartite System:
Technical Schools
Tech schools:
- Educate middle class for life in scientific or engineering work.
- Few were built due to cost.
- Intake never more than 3%.
Effect of the Butler Act
- WC children had a free and compulsory secondary education.
- Girls now able to attend secondary education.
- A cause of some social change in the 1960s and 1970s.
Criticisms of Butler Act
- Labour left said it deepened class divisions:
Sent majority of WC to poorly funded secondary moderns.
Was socially divisive. - Didn’t achieve parity of esteem.
- No extra places for girls at grammars despite them performing better on 11+ exams.
- Secondary moderns underfunded.
- Few tech schools built.
Crowther Report, 1959
Proposals:
- Raise leaving age to 16
- More education provision for over 16s - Eg, creating more county colleges.
- Get more highly-qualified teachers into the profession.
Newsom Report, 1963
- Found serious failings in inner-city schools.
Recommended: - More practical subjects.
- More inclusive curriculum - sex education for example.
- New focus on researching teaching methods.
Development of Comprehensives - 1964-1970
- Labour wanted Comprehensives to dominate.
- 1965 Education Act:
Informed LEAs to dismantle tripartite system - not forced, only encouraged.
Development of Comprehensives - Under HEath
- Both parties created comps and abolished grammars.
- Many Tories fiercely opposed to comps - Eg, Margaret Thatcher.
- As Education Secretary, Thatcher approved over 3,286 comps to open.
- Thatcher authorised more than any other secretary.
Education Act, 1976
- Reiterated 1965 demands.
- Wilson and Callaghan had the chance to end funding for comprehensives - little enthusiasm to abolish grammars completely (didn’t want MC to turn against them).
- By 1979, comprehensives were the dominant form of secondary education.
Progressive Education
Child-centred learning emerged.
- Partly as a result of the 1967 Plowden Report:
Ban corporal punishment - make primary more caring and less strict.
1969 Black Papers (Tory)
Attack on Progressive Education:
- Criticised decline in teacher’s authority in the classroom.
- HOWEVER, didn’t advocate a return to strict and repetitive learning.
1976 Callaghan’s Yellow Book
Attack on Progressive Education:
- School discipline had declined.
- Curricula didn’t prepare students to take up productive roles in the economy.
1976 Ruskin Speech
- Progressive education had some merits, but failed when applied incorrectly.
- Didn’t want to return to rote learning.
- Called for a national curriculum.
- Teachers should be more closely scrutinised and inspected.
