During most part of the nineteenth century, education was not a central part of the British society. For children who come from a non-wealthy background, education was almost non-existing, therefore in order for children to learn essential values and life skills, Church schools were created. These types of schools worked along with charities and orphanages on a strict regime to teach poor children the basic skills of reading and writing. Church schools were a voluntary contribution which was funded by religious groups. ‘Since the Middle Ages the Church had provided some form of rudimentary education to many poor children within charity schools and orphanages’ (Bartlett, S and Burton, D. 2007:60); therefore instead of receiving a very high level of education, poor children had a better understanding on religious values.
Those children who come from a privileged background received a better quality of education from places such as monasteries and other public schools, for example elementary schools. This type of system was designed to set pupils according to their abilities. Students who were more knowledgeable and experienced, than their peers became mentors; this is known as the monitorial system (Bartlett, S and Burton, D. 2007: 61). This system enabled a large scale of students to learn with one teacher, this was largely due to the fact that many of the younger and the less able students were working along with the mentors. As a result of this, students who needed help with their education were able to work together with their mentor. Within these elementary schools the job of the teacher was to simply sanction and check the students work. During the later stages of the nineteenth century schools which continued to use the monitorial system declined, yet the government and other religious groups continued to fund schools, which continued to be run by the Church. Lord Shaftsbury continued to support the voluntary funded schools as he believed education was the only way to ‘civilise’ girls who came from the mine districts. Once elementary schools became more permanent within the society, governments and other authorities started to become a lot tougher towards these schools. The Revised Code of 1862 suggested that in order for these schools to continue to gain the voluntary contribution, children who attended these schools were required to pass ‘… one of six standards in reading, writing and arithmetic.’ (Bartlett, S and Burton, D. 2007: 61).
The Elementary education Act of 1870, was more commonly known as the Forster’s Act. It was seen as a watershed in the changing nature of education within Britain. It is notable for providing the basic framework for the modern education system for children between the ages of 5 – 13 years. Victorian Britain was facing an age of increasing public dissatisfaction towards the British government’s laissez-faire policies especially towards many social factors such as health and education. For centuries the government had instilled a policy of ‘staying out’ of many public and moral problems however for perhaps the first time social reformers were able to bring much of the public on side and with this came the demand for mass education. ‘The Elementary Education Act of 1870 did not inaugurate in Britain the provision of state aid for public elementary school:’ (Murphy, J 1972: 9)
The act would mean that ratepayers of each borough could petition for the Board of Education to run investigations on education provisions in their local area. If it was deemed that schools had a shortfall between results and the number of students that were attending a school board would be set up. These boards would provide education to all children between the ages of 5 and 12; this can be seen as a massive movement towards the current system of free education, as it was not discriminative between sex and class though education was still not free at this point school boards did make concessions, the poorest children would have the school fees paid for them. However, attending these schools was not mandatory for students. On the other hand, these Acts, like many other social reforms during the period, was divided and lacked a central movement. A lot of the time terms of the act were left to the discretion of municipal governments who could make bylaws according to what they felt was necessary, for example some local boards made it so that education within their area was compulsory. Though it can be said that there was evidence that such terms were spreading through the country, by 1873 40% of the population lived under compulsory education, it can be argued that a centralised movement would have had a bigger impact to educating Britons.
Another major shortcoming of the act was that the lack of centralisation meant that there were inequalities in the quality of education; different areas had more or less access to education. An example would be that while industrial areas had many boards within one area rural areas had substantially less, a lot of the time this meant that a whole area would have only one school board. While, between the years of 1870-1880 almost 4,000 schools had either been centralised or started up yet there was no movement to centralise many of the schools within the rural areas which often led to children being released from education in favour of agricultural labour while city boards were more aggressive in their provisions and tended to encourage children to stay on. This inequality undermined the foundation of providing education to children as it meant that local boards were able to bypass the law and not provide the necessary education.
A major opposing force of the act was the Church who felt that this law would threaten their power within Britain. Church schools were given state funds to provide education for the poor; most Britons were working class, these schools were a considerable source of the Church’s influence as it meant they were able to spread their message through their teachings. The Forster’s Act would mean that now parents had the choice of whether or not to send their children to religious or state schools, even if they did decide on Church schools the act did not limit them to just one school children were still able to go to a state run school at the same time. Another major blow to the Church’s influence was the term that meant that even within church schools religious education was now not mandatory; parents had the right to pull their children out of religious education and evidently religious education had become much less of a priority, state schools paid little attention to it. Though this can be seen as a success, it is one of the only clauses not to have been changed or abolished as this right is still continued today; the term meant that the Church would remain a prominent antagonist to the Forster’s Act.
Opposition also came from, but not as fiercely from the middle and upper classes who resented the fact that the act would mean that access to education was much more available to the working class. They feared that the educating of the working class may bring them to revolt from the realisation of their poor standard of life. While others feared that this was an attempt to indoctrinate the youth. However these claims were often left alone as the majority of the population welcomed the thought of mass education.
The Forster Education Act can be seen, however as a largely positive act in the eventual creation of the education system today. The act would provide the backbone for a movement to providing mass education and the regulation of schools. Such as the inspections of schools which can be seen as the shadow of OFSTED inspection today. Though there were many shortcomings such as a failure to provide compulsory education until the late 1880s or the failure to get rid of area deficiencies, the creation of the act showed a turning of government attitude and a move to educate Britons irrespective of their background.
It is clear that education was not readily available before the Second World War; schools were mainly created by the local government. Charities and religious institutions such as the Church provided the finance to help the poor receive a certain amount of education. As education was not free unless it was donated, many students did not continue onto secondary education. However in 1944 the education system was soon to change, giving a better life chance for everyone rather than just the elite, this was largely due to the Education Act of 1944.
The Butler Education Act more commonly known as the 1944 Education Act made a historical change, this act stated that all secondary education was to become free. ‘It is a very great Act, which makes-and, in fact, has made- possible as important and substantial an advance in public education as the country has ever known.’ (H, C. Dent 1994: 1)Under this act, secondary education was seen as a right; therefore all pupils regardless of race, gender or class were entitled to this type of education. Not only did this act universalise secondary schools but it also provided a higher quality of education, children of all levels were able to study topics that were suitable for their ability, this was conducted under the tripartite system.
The Second World War saw about the creation of different types of secondary schools under the Tripartite System which meant that secondary education would be provided free to all those under 14. Secondary education under the tripartite system was divided into three areas. The first is Grammar schools, which only enrolled the most academically able students. The second is the technical schools, these schools enabled students to undergo technical training on career path areas such as technicians and finally the third is the secondary modern schools. The secondary modern schools were for students who could not fit into either of the previous two categories. Within this type of school a more general approach to education was undertaken and they were keen on preparing their students for unskilled manual occupations.
However the tripartite system was not well taken to and the coming years saw fierce competition to enter into the limited places of grammar schools. Amongst the dissatisfaction came the creation of Comprehensive schools which provided and alternative to the Tripartite System and was gradually spreading across the country. A Comprehensive school is a secondary school that does not select its pupils by academic achievements or aptitude, within Britain it remains the most popular of all the types of secondary schools educating some 90% of all British pupils. Comprehensive schools are usually filled with pupils from the local area, however parents reserve the right to choose the secondary school in which their child will be educated and therefore it is not uncommon for children to travel to get to their school. Comprehensive schools were proving successful with many areas trying to implement their own type of comprehensive schooling and were recommended by the Plowden Report. The comprehensive schools provided education that covered aspects that were taught in the grammar and technical schools. Consequently the pressure on students performing well in their 11-Plus examination was not stressed upon them. As a result of this, comprehensive schools found themselves catering for many students of different abilities and skills, and parents did not need to worry about sending their children to schools that catered for their needs. ‘…no longer encouraged to attend a school offering specialist courses to meet his needs;’ (Vigars, R 1977). This shows that comprehensive schools were providing education for students with different needs and therefore, sending them to specialists school were not a necessity.
To conclude this essay, the process of education has been of a constant change. As this essay has outlined the different Education Acts and how each Act has implemented on the teaching and learning of education, it has also understood the different types of schooling that were available from before the 1800 up until the 1944. The history of education has is always been changing within society. As society changes, the education system has changed in order to cater for each and every pupil.
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Reference List
Bartlett, S. Burton, D and Peim, N. (2001) ‘Introduction to education studies’, Paul Chapman: London
Hayes, D. (2006) Chapter 7, ‘Schools and classroom’ citied in, Sharp, J, Ward, S and Hankin, L. (editors) (2006) ‘Education Studies’ Exeter
Bartlett, S & Burton, D (2007) ‘Introduction to Education Studies’, SAGE: London
Vigars, R. (1977), cited in, Cox, C.B. & Boyson, R. (eds.) (1977) ‘Black Paper 1977’, Maurice Temple Smith Ltd: London.
Murphy, J. (1972) ‘The Education Act 1870 Text and Commentary’, David & Charles Limited: Newton Abbot.
Dent, H. C. (1944) ‘The Education Act 1944’, University of London Press: London.
