Timeline of key education laws -

Question 1

1869 -

Answer 1

National Education League began its campaign for free, compulsory and non-religious education for all children.

Question 2

1870 -

Answer 2

Forster’s Education Act created a system of locally elected ‘school boards’ to build and manage schools in areas where they were needed, paid for with local taxes.

Question 3

1880 -

Answer 3

Education Act made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten. Many children worked outside school hours and truancy was a major problem due to the fact that parents could not afford to give up income earned by their children.

Question 4

1918 -

Answer 4

Fisher Education Act made the state responsible for secondary education, and attendance was made compulsory up to the age of 14.
In 1947, the school leaving age was raised to 15, then to 16 in 1972, and now to 18 for everyone born after 1997.

Question 5

1844 -

Answer 5

The Butler Act made the two tier system or tripartite system, where students would take 11+ test and there natural IQ would determine if they went to the ‘smarter’ grammar school, secondary modern or less common ‘creative’ T school.

Question 6

1988 -

Answer 6

ERA - Education Research Association, it established league tables, originally published in newspapers introducing competition between schools, meritocracy is therefore encouraged, the better the school does the more funding it gets and the more pupils that ultimately attend.