Education since 1940

This attempt at equality was quite successful as it provided all schools with these new featured and made them safer places to learn. Children would now get more things such as meals to eat so that they can acquire energy in between their learning time. The new facilities given were an improvement on before but still were not as good as they could have been. It was still a big improvement that was successful in what it attempted to achieve.

Previously the grammar school was known as the National School Certificate and the exam at the end of sixth form was known as the Higher Certificate. In 1951 these exams were replaced by GCEs. There were O-levels, A-levels and S-levels. O-level (Ordinary level) examinations were taken at the end of Grammar school and A-level (Advanced level) examinations were taken at the end of the sixth form. S-levels (Special levels) were introduced for really intelligent children

These improvements in testing were all good but were only applied to grammar schools. Secondary Modern schools did not get any benefit from the GCEs at all. This meant that grammar schools; which were already better quality than Secondary Moderns were getting further and further ahead whilst Secondary Moderns were left behind. This brought the idea of equality further away from being a reality and the Secondary Modern schools were still in great need of improvement.

It wasn't until 1965 that CSEs were created to give exams that counted to Secondary Modern children. These were lower level than GCEs and gave Secondary Modern children more opportunities that included coursework aspects as well as examinations. This exam was intended to create exam equality and they would overlap with GCE O-level. This meant that Secondary Modern pupils had a chance to achieve a grade similar to an O-level which meant that they could get to decent jobs without great difficulty.

The CSE did give Secondary Modern children more of a chance and did bring about a more equal society in terms of exams but it also had its problems. It was looked upon as inferior to a GCE O-level by employers and universities. This meant that even though the CSE brought Secondary Moderns closer to Grammar Schools in terms of examinations they still ere by no means equal. The coursework aspects added were a successful idea that made people who weren't good at coping with the pressure of tests have a better chance of getting a decent grade if they put the effort in.

This exam did not make things equal but it certainly made things better. It showed that somebody was actually taking into account that Secondary Modern schools were in need of improvement as well as the Grammar Schools. This exam equality that they were trying to reach led on to other attempts to allow all children the access to good futures. One of these changes was already being thought about a few years before and involved a completely new system for schools.

In the 1960s many people came to a decision that the 1944 Education Act's idea of having different schools for different abilities wasn't working. It was extremely unfair to Secondary Modern children who had lost out on their lives at the age of 11. Secondary Modern pupils felt like they had failed in life and the schools they went to didn't have the facilities of the grammar schools. This meant that the intentions of the 1944 Education Act were not fulfilled and meant for a big change to come about.

That change was the switch to comprehensive schools. These schools would teach children of all abilities under one roof which meant that all pupils would get equal opportunities and facilities. This was a major step forward in terms of equality and greatly improved on the ways of the 11+. Now instead of being labelled at 11 pupils now had the chance to succeed and get complete education no matter how well they performed. This idea of everybody being equal was always going to be a great thing but it would also have some disadvantages.

The parents of children who went to Grammar school weren't happy with the change as you would expect. The thing they thought was why change something that works for something clearly worse. This meant that the children who previously went to Grammar school would not get as good teaching as they did before. There would be much more people in each school meaning that the teachers wouldn't be able to concentrate on individual pupils in the way they did before. Comprehensives may bring Grammar school children's results down but it would certainly provide more of a chance for Secondary Modern children.

These Comprehensive schools would allow the Secondary Modern children to have equal opportunities to those who would go to Grammar school meaning that results for them would most likely improve. They were proven a successful improvement for Secondary Moderns but on the other end of the scale had worse results than Grammar Schools.

Comprehensives made a big break through in terms of equality but were not necessarily better than the previous methods in terms of actual results. Even now Comprehensives are not accepted by everyone and in certain parts of the country people still take the 11+. So Comprehensives were successful in many ways but also put the smarter children under harder working conditions and so was by no means perfect.

Universities were also face with problems that were corrected around 1969. The fact is not many people were getting into universities unless they were male and were middle class. Attempts were made to try and make universities more accessible and in 1969 the Open University method was created. This extended educational opportunity making higher education accessible to anybody despite any personal circumstances.

This made the imbalance between the two sexes much more equal for higher education. It gave females the chance to go on to the same education levels as men could. This made a more equal society and brought women that bit closer to having the same rights as men. More and more working class people were also let in due to it not bothering about personal circumstances which meant that there was more of a chance between the classes

This Open University hosted some new ideas for teaching methods including the likes of summer schools, correspondence, group discussion and radio broadcasts. The greatest impact made by the university though was due to the introduction of television to learning and it has been extremely successful. The Open University has been a great success with no real bad side to it. It provided more equal opportunities for higher education without having to sacrifice anything.

Another problem that was caused in Britain was due to the multi-cultural society of the country. Many immigrants had come over into the country and they were not getting good education. An attempt at fixing this was made by the Plowden Report of 1967. The report suggested that the government should create Educational Priority Areas which give extra help to areas with large minority populations. The report help bring about reduced class size, more nursery equipment was provided, more cash was available for extra books and equipment; and teachers were given a pay increase due to the extra skills needed.

In 1967 Dr A. H. Hasley researched into the schemes and worked with parents and teachers to achieve new methods to improve the performance of ethnic-minority pupils. Some successful ideas were summer schools and language programmes. The 1968 Race Relations Act prohibited racial discrimination meaning that schools would be in a friendlier environment. A year later the Rose Report suggested that all educational institutions provide courses in the cultures of minorities in Britain. This meant that other cultures would have the chance to mix with the typical English culture in education if it was successful.

In 1971 the Conservative government tried to help the situation by providing playgroup and day-nursery centres, language training centres and adventure playgrounds in areas with ethnic minorities. Recently some teachers have trained for courses in multicultural studies to try and improve things as well as they can. Anti-racist teaching programmes have been set up to prevent the children being attacked due to the colour of their skin. There have even been schools supporting multicultural education in nearly all-white areas to try and provide good education for everyone.

Although the attempts to teach multiple cultures have improved the situation slightly things are far from perfect. There are still in many areas places where the children will not understand their teacher. Racism is also not completely eliminated and also still now. The government have tried but it is doubtful that they will succeed in making multi-cultural education be equal as it is too difficult a task. Improvements have been made on before however and so there is still a positive side to it. The attempts at improving were all successful in doing what they set out to do even though they haven't equalled the society between different races much at all.

In 1972 the school leaving age was raised once again by one year making it up to 16. This meant that it gave all children the chance to complete their education course no matter what ability they were. The rise in the leaving age was a big success in making the classes more equal and finally brought full education availability to anyone who wanted it. This now meant that people from the working class could acquire good exam results and better jobs than before. The one thing remaining though was the fact that the GCE O-level grade was better than a CSE grade but things were about to change.

Since the early 1970s exams were being tested for the whole ability range. Later on the Schools' Council decided on making a common 16-plus examination in History, and in Science and the examining boards issued most able clients with duel certificates. In 1986-1988 the GCE and the CSE were united to form an exam that covered all abilities: The GCSE. This exam was to be taken by all secondary school students at the age of 16 and everybody was given the chance to succeed in it if they put the effort in.

The GCSE created complete exam equality as now everybody did the same exam for every subject meaning that you didn't take a different exam depending on your class, race, gender or anything else like that. This exam was taken by everybody at the age of 16 meaning that exams had finally reached true equality. The GCSE was a great success and has now made a significant impact on the equality of the classes. Every grade a person gets is treated as its actual grade by employers and universities now rather then the type of exam it is. This exam has created a lot of opportunity for young people and is still being used to this very day.