education provision

1918

Pre-1918:

• 1880 compulsory attendance for all 5-10 as an attempt to end child labour

• Over 50 class size

• Less than 80% of children attending primary school as families needed their labour

1918 education act:

• Creation of ‘technical schools’ (taught boys manual skills and girls home economics

• Local authorities given central gov funding that improved teacher salaries/pensions (believed to improve school standards) but there was still variation in quality between schools

1918-59

1918-43:

• Hadow report 1926 — recommended dividing elementary schools into primary and secondary schools and raising leaving age to 15

  • Not enforced due to cost and the responsibility being put on local authorities

• Fabian society was a group that pressured gov to get involved with healthcare and education, ‘socialism without revolution’, Attlee was a member

Butler act 1944:

• Inspired by Beveridge report ‘ignorance giant’ and reports that divisions of the armed forces were having to teach basic literacy and numeracy to troops

• LEAs came under ministry of education control and to be paid by general tax

• Tripartite system using 11+ exam results

  • Grammar (academic)

  • Secondary modern (general learning)

  • Secondary technical (science based)

Comprehensive schools 1944-54:

• 1944 Butler act disappointed labour members who had hoped for comprehensive schools that meant all class backgrounds attended the same schools, felt it didn’t tackle class divide or elitism

• Comprehensive schools seen as best fit, had more sources and meant children had equal opportunities, 11+ exam found to be inaccurate in predicting future potential

• 1965 Crosland circular introduced changes towards comprehensive

  • Already started as early as 1954 in places like London

  • First comprehensive was opened in Kidbrooke, controversial

1959-79

2 education commissions under Macmillan:

• Crowther report 1959 — recommended changes to 15-19 education

  • Changing leaving age to 16

  • Creating county and technical colleges

  • Improving sixth form with more courses and teachers

  • Preparing students for uni and helping others

• Newsom report 1963 — recommended changes for 13-16 education, for low ability students

  • High turnover of teachers disadvantaged pupils further

  • More research needed on teaching methods

  • More attention on teaching deprived children personal/social development and sex ed

  • More practical subjects for lower ability

  • Examining links between attainment and deprivation by parliament

These plans were not put into place because there were only 195 comprehensives in 1970 (compared to 4,000 secondary modern) so LEA were not forced to change systems but labour hoped they’d gradually change towards it.

When 1970 election lost by Wilson to Heath, full comprehensive policy was stopped.

• Education secretary Maggie denied requests from LEAs for mergers to create comprehensives and increased direct grant school funding.

• However, she authorised more comprehensive mergers than any other education secretary

• Comprehensive went from 30% of the amount of secondary schools to 60% in 1974

• Wilson’s 1976 education act removed funding for direct grant schools but meant that intelligent wc pupils could no longer attend as schools had to become fully private and fee-charging

progressive education

• New methods of ‘child-centred’ teaching in comprehensive schools attracted controversy

• 1967 Plowden paper

  • Banning corporal punishment

  • Giving children more freedom than sitting for long periods

  • Teachers should help and advise students

• Believed that friendlier, less strict schools would improve deprived attainment

• National union teachers Rank and file group saw it as an opportunity to undermine the class system, a minority of teachers thought progressive teaching was introducing political ideas into the classroom

• 1969 Cox and dyson black papers criticised decline in teachers’ authority

• 1976 yellow book ordered by Callaghan

  • Stated school discipline has declined

  • Schools’ curriculum didn’t prepare for productive roles in economy

  • Gov and public didn’t have enough say in school affairs

• Ruskin speech

  • Progressive education had merits with skilled teachers but failed when not applied correctly

  • Need for a national curriculum

  • Teachers should be inspected

• Great debate on education called for skilled needed in technological world as well as control over curriculum and teaching methods

university reform

1918-45:

• Oxbridge dominated by upper class men

  • 1918: 10% women, 1% wc

• 25% of all students attended Oxbridge in 1939, dominated uni education

• 16 unis in 1918, 22 by 1963

• Ancient unis vs red brick unis (Liverpool, bristol, reading)

• 20,000 uni students in 1900, 113,000 by 1963

• ‘Teacher training’ degree course was common route for wc (gov funded)

• Gov funding grants and bursaries increased $1 mil in 1919 to over $80 mil by 1963

1945-63:

• WW2 — need for STEM students for radar, code-breaking, missile development

• Attlee believed skilled generation needed to overcome economic struggles after the war

• Percy report 1945

  • Science and engineering should be prioritised over liberal arts

  • Unis should cater to large numbers of students

• Barlow report 1946

  • Need more scientists and engineers

• Robbins report 1963

  • While a huge growth in uni applicants, only 15% got in

  • University of Kent (plate-glass uni) that offered grants for tuition fees 1965

  • Universities should educate on greater ‘social role’ and ‘common standards of citizenship’

1963-79:

• Open university

  • Founded under Wilson’s gov

  • Home-learning

  • Liberated women who were expected to stay at home and look after children

  • Thatcher advised Heath against abolishing it and to invest in uni sector

• ‘Working class’ professionals

  • Wilson, heath and thatcher were wc or lower mc that graduated Oxford

  • Maggie invested in unis, but stopped growth of comprehensives

• Continuation of elitism

  • Upper class (pupils from private schools like Eton and Harrows) still majority of students

  • More equality but elitism still prevalent

  • Polytechnic colleges taught practical engineering and technology subjects

    • Viewed as lesser than ancient or red brick unis