Whig education reform

Question 1

Describe the state of education in the early 19th century

Answer 1

Most working class children received no formal education at all. Those few who were educated went to church schools that were run by the clergy with support from the wealthier classes. They taught the three Rs with an emphasis on promoting religion, teaching people to read so that they could study the Bible

Question 2

List the reasons why working class children were unable to attend school in the early 19th century

Answer 2

• Parents could not afford the fees
• They were needed for farm or factory work
• Many were expected to look after their brothers and sisters at home

Question 3

Why were an increasing number of children attending Sunday schools?

Answer 3

They did not interfere with work and the fees were either low or non existent

Question 4

Why did the government not provide or pay for schools like they do today?

Answer 4

Because it was not seen as government business and so was left to churches and voluntary organisations

Question 5

Why was there now motivation for the government to get involved in education?

Answer 5

• With the growth of factories and industrial towns, the government was keen to maintain control over the working class, especially to reduce crime rates and disorder
• Factory owners wanted workers who could read notices and written instructions and who would accept factory discipline

Question 6

How did the 1833 Factory Act impact education?

Answer 6

It made two hours of education compulsory for children between 9-11

Question 7

What did some factory owners do with regards to education?

Answer 7

Set up their own schools

Question 8

What did some children who were especially committed to their education do?

Answer 8

Go after work, arriving tired and dirty

Question 9

What did the government do to support education in 1833?

Answer 9

Provided a £20,000 grant to support the building of new schools, which went to the churches to extend their own system, it was not a large sum, but was symbolically important in the sense that the state had played an active role in supporting education

Question 10

How did education receive a boost in 1844?

Answer 10

The Ragged School Union was set up to provide basic education for children of the city slums to prevent them from sliding into crime and anti-social behaviour, it was voluntary initiatives like this that the government wanted to support

Question 11

What did the government set up to support education?

Answer 11

A committee to support schools, which led to the annual grant being increased from £20,000 in 1833 to £370,000 in 1850

Question 12

What did the government set up to support education?

Answer 12

A committee to support schools, which led to the annual grant being increased from £20,000 in 1833 to £370,000 in 1850

Question 13

What was the most common type of school during this period?

Answer 13

Monitorial schools

Question 14

How does a monitorial school work?

Answer 14

The teacher or master will teach the older children, who then become monitors and pass down this information to the younger children. The benefit was that a single teacher could deal with as many as 100 students, but the downside was that teaching was very mechanical

Question 15

What was the significance of James Kay-Shuttleworth?

Answer 15

He was a doctor who worked in the slums and believed that the only way to improve the lives of the poor was through education. He set up a scheme of teacher training as secretary for the government education committee, believing that more good teachers were necessary to do this

Question 16

How did the government help create more teachers?

Answer 16

Young people were paid a wage in order to train and would then be given a government grant to one of the 29 colleges for teaching training in Britain after working alongside a master

Question 17

What had most people accepted about education by the middle of the 19th century?

Answer 17

That it should be the government’s responsibility

Question 18

Why were the ultimate consequences of Whig education reform a mixed bag?

Answer 18

• Far more children went to school and received a basic education than they had done at the start of the century
• Few stayed at school beyond the age of 11 and many of the poor still didn’t go to school at all

Question 19

Why was it not until a few decades later that education would receive a major boost?

Answer 19

Because the first state schools were set up in 1870 and education was made compulsory between 5-10 years old in 1880

Question 20

What was the main concern for educational reformers at this time?

Answer 20

The lack of education for working class and poor children

Question 21

Why did an industrialised society necessitate a more educated public?

Answer 21

Because the workforce needed to be literate

Question 22

Give an example of two different organisations who promoted the monitorial method of education

Answer 22

The National Society and the British and Foreign Society

Question 23

Describe Sunday Schools at this time

Answer 23

Started up by Methodist Chapels’ with over 1 million working class children attending by 1830, where they would learn to read

Question 24

How were Sunday Schools funded?

Answer 24

By voluntary contributions from congregations or interested benefactors

Question 25

What was the most successful school system for less well of children at this time?

Answer 25

Monitorial Schools

Question 26

Describe the traditional model of education provision

Answer 26

• Education was a preserve of the wealthy, with sons of the aristocracy being educated at home by private tutors and then being sent on to public schools to like Eton
• The syllabus was largely classical

Question 27

How did industrialisation change the traditional model of education?

Answer 27

• Created a prosperous new middle class who were willing to pay fees for their sons to be educated at public or grammar schools
• In a society where there was rapid technological development and innovation, there were demands for schools to teach more science and maths

Question 28

Why did the government give a £20,000 grant to be shared between the National Society and the British and Foreign Society?

Answer 28

Because monitorial schools were becoming overwhelmed by rapid urban development and pop growth

Question 29

Who strongly opposed the idea of providing working class children with a basic education so they could be more useful on the factory floor?

Answer 29

The traditional political classes

Question 30

What happened to the government grant in 1839?

Answer 30

It was increased to £30,000

Question 31

What did the Whigs put forward proposals for in order to give the state more control over educaton?

Answer 31

Proposals for establishing non-denominational colleges for teacher training and place responsibility for education in the hands of a Privy Council Committee, without clergy representation. There was an outcry from the Anglicans and so the Whigs dropped the scheme

Question 32

What was the significance of James Kay-Shuttleworth in the push for education reform?

Answer 32

He was a philanthropist and champion of the poor who devoted himself to establishing a state funded system of popular education, setting up the first teacher training college in 1839 from his own resources

Question 33

How did the Whigs fail to introduce further education reform in 1843?

Answer 33

Home Secretary Graham introduced the Factory Education Bill, which attempted to make schooling under Anglican direction compulsory for child labourers. However, this would be soundly defeated as the Whigs had miscalculated the joint Nonconformist and Catholic opposition to the scheme

Question 34

How did Kay-Shuttleworth’s education committee fail to introduce further reform in 1846?

Answer 34

It attempted to create a national system of teacher training to standardise the quality of teaching in grant-aided schools. However, the scheme required additional funding and was met with so much criticism over the cost that it was abandoned

Question 35

What had these grants and early attempts to educate working class children set a precedent for?

Answer 35

That the state could not only intervene in education, but also had a responsibility to bring about a compulsory comprehensive education system for all children, whatever their status or means