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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
CHAPTER TWO The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement
on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England
(1870-1902)
The rise of the industrial spirit among people brought about new
ways of thinking, a new ideology of living and a new system of
education. Children of the nineteenth-century working class in England
had rare prospects of acquiring more than a few scraps of education. The
early nineteenth century offered no organized educational system. The
government provided no support and volunteer efforts were ineffective at
best. As social problems arose and educational desires grew, the
government of England slowly developed a free educational system for
all children. Most working class children in the 19 th century, however,
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
were subject to a poor quality education that plagued England for
generations.1 So, what did the nineteenth century add to the evolution of
Education in England? What type of education was offered to the
industrial working class? And what were the most important reasons
that pushed the English Parliament to accept the idea of the
establishment of a national system of education in England?
I. Socio-Economic and Political Changes, 1870-1902
The Industrial Revolution refers to the changes in methods of
production and the resulting tremendous increase in the production of
goods which took place in Great Britain at the end of the 18 th century
and the beginning of the 19th century. The improved production methods
made a greater range of products available to the people at cheaper
prices. The population of industrial cities grew, and this created more
communication of ideas. The important reforms made in education,
health, and working conditions in factories were, in fact, a result of the
Industrial Revolution. These reforms helped to improve the living
standards of a large number of people. It is certain that the impact of the
changes on people differed from one social class to the other. As a
whole, the benefits outweighed the problems of the Industrial
Revolution. So, what problems and what benefits did the Industrial
Revolution bring to the British society? Were the people better or worse
off with the changes it brought about?
1 G, West, Education and the Industrial Revolution, New York, Harper Company, 1975. p.10.
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, labour abuse was
prevalent. The abuses included child labour, unsafe conditions,
overworking, and underpayment. Child labour was one of the harrowing
aspects of 19th century history.2 Reformers highlighted stories of the
horrific treatment of children in mills and down the mines to get
employment reform acts passed. Were all children receiving any
education? Were all children treated badly? Were all working children
unhappy and unhealthy? Another question that needs to be addressed is
how many children actually worked in these industries.
During the Industrial Revolution, the social structure of English
society changed drastically. Before the Industrial Revolution, most
people lived in small villages, working either in agriculture or as skilled
craftsmen and received no education. They lived and often worked as a
family, doing everything by hand. In fact, three quarters of Great
Britain's population lived in the countryside, and farming was the
predominant occupation.3 With the advent of industrialization, however,
everything changed.
The new enclosure laws from 1845 to 1882 which required that all
grazing grounds be fenced in at the owner's expense had left many poor
farmers bankrupt and unemployed, and machines capable of huge
outputs made small hand weavers redundant. As a result, there were
2 N. J. Richards, “Religious Controversy and the School Boards 1870-1902”, British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2 , 1970, pp. 180-196 3 G. M, Trevelyan, A Shortened History of England, London, Penguin, 1987. p. 446
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
many people who were forced to work at the new factories. This required
them to move to towns and cities so that they could be close to their new
jobs.
As a result, women and children were sent out to work. Families
were forced to do this since they desperately needed money, while
factory owners were happy to employ women and children for a number
of reasons. First of all, women and children could be paid very little, and
children could be controlled more easily than adults, generally through
violent beating.4 Children also had smaller hands, which were often
needed to reach in among the parts of a machine. Furthermore,
employers found that children were more malleable and adapted to the
new methods much better than adults. Children were also sent to work in
mines. They could also be forced to work as long as eighteen hours each
day. For these reasons, children as young as eight years old were sent to
factories not to school, usually those which manufactured textiles, where
they became part of a growing and profitable business. These social,
political and economic transformations served to reveal the complete
inadequacy of England's educational provision.5
Some working activities attracted the attention of reformers more
than others. The working conditions in the cotton mills were extremely
bad. Nevertheless, before the Factory Acts began to take effect, there
4 Patrick K. O’Brien and R. Quinault, The Industrial Revolution and British Society, London, Cambridge University Press, 1993. p. 229 5 Ibid., p. 156
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
were only 26,000 children employed in the textile mills. The welfare of
children in factories and workshops depended, to a large extent, on the
employer. Some mill owners, such as Robert Owen,6 were enlightened
and made good provision for the needs of the employees.7
Owen, for example, provided shops, schools, and housing. Other
owners were less inclined to consider the health and welfare of the
workers. In 1842, Henry Morton,8 Agent for the Countess of Durham's
Collieries believed that the work of children in factories was more
beneficial, and all the working conditions were not dangerous for their
health. In this context, he said:
I believe that employing children in coal mines is perfectly consistent with good health. They earn good wages. Working on the night shift does no harm, the air and ventilation are the same at one period as at another. I have never heard of boys injuring themselves down pits from the nature of work, only by accidents. I do not think any change in the hours of work is necessary for children. I would not object to a law preventing children from working before ten years old but would rather leave it to the manager to accept or
6 Robert Owen was born on 14 May 1771. He was a Welsh socialist and social reformer. He was considered as the father of the cooperative movement. After serving in a draper's shop for some years, he settled in Manchester. He died at his native town on 17 November 1858. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Robert Owen.
7 E. G, West, Education and the Industrial Revolution, op. cit., p. 458 Sir Henry Morton Stanley was born on January 28, 1841 and died on May 10, 1904). Stanley was an American journalist and explorer, famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Sir Henry Morton Stanley.
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
refuse them. Any such law would be unfair on parents with large families.9
Another deeply abhorrent and dangerous occupation for very
young or small boys was climbing. Chimney sweeps often employed
climbing boys to climb up into chimneys to clean them out. Breathing
the soot caused cancer and the boys life expectancy was severely
diminished. Even though it is thought that no more than about 4,000
boys were employed as chimney sweepers at any time. The job was so
horrific that already in 1778 attempts were made to have a law passed
banning the use of boys for climbing.10 The laissez-faire approach taken
by the government and advocated by Adam Smith11 allowed capitalism
to flourish. There were few or no government regulations imposed upon
factory policies, and this allowed the wealthy, middle-class owners to
pursue whichever path was most profitable, regardless of the safety and
well being of their workers. This relentless pursuit of money caused
9 Eric Midwinter, Nineteenth Century Education, Great Britain, Longman, 1970. p. 3010 Anne, Digby and Peter Searby, Children, School and Society in Nineteenth Century England, London, Macmillan, 1981. p. 28. 11 Adam Smith was born on 5 June 1723. He was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneering political economist. He was one of the key figures of the intellectual movement known as the Scottish Enlightenment. He is known primarily as the author of two treatises: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter was one of the earliest attempts to systematically study the historical development of industry and commerce in Europe, as well as a sustained attack on the doctrines of mercantilism. Smith's work helped to create the modern academic discipline of economics and provided one of the best-known intellectual rationales for free trade, capitalism, and libertarianism. He died at on 17 July 1790. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, the entry: Adam Smith .
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
another important social change, which was the breakdown of the family
unit.12
Since workers, especially women and children, were labouring
for up to eighteen hours each day, there was very little family contact,
and the only time that one was at home was spent sleeping. People also
had to share housing with other families, which further contributed to
the breakdown of the family unit. As a result, children received very
little education, had stunted growth, and were sickly. They also grew
up quite maladjusted, having never been taught how to behave
properly.13 The living conditions were indeed horrible; working
families often lived in slums with little sanitation, and infant mortality
skyrocketed.
The fast-growing populations in cities such as London gave rise
to many problems. The table below on the next page shows that the
population rose to about three to four million inhabitants every decade.
Table Three : Population in England and Wales, 1801-1901
Years Population
1801 8 872 980
12 Maurice Bruce, The Coming of the Welfare State, Great Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965, p. 3213 Ibid., p. 35
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
1811 10 150 037
1821 11 978 875
1831 13 897 187
1841 15 906 741
1851 17 927 609
1861 20 066 224
1871 22 712 266
1881 25 974 439
1891 29 002 525
1901 32 527 843
Source: www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/office_for_national_statistics . 13/04/2013
The social conditions, which were brought about by the
Industrial Revolution, were improved by reforms. Factory and public
health reforms were made. Under the Public Health Act of 1848, cities
were to build sewers, keep streets cleaned, install lighting, and build
houses with drains and connect them to water supplies. The great
changes that happened as part of the Industrial Revolution had many
positive effects on the lives of the British people. They received many
opportunities and freedoms that they previously could not have, and
Great Britain was better off after these changes.14
The wages and conditions of many workers improved with the
reforms. More people were allowed to vote after the 1867 Reform Act.
It was not until 1875 that Parliament passed an act which stated that all
14 Ibid., p. 44
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
chimney sweeps had to be licensed and licenses were only issued to
sweeps not using climbing boys.
During the Industrial Revolution, the availability of food,
clothing and shelter, opportunities for education, access to health care,
fair wages and more political, economic and religious freedoms made
living conditions in Great Britain better than it was. The impacts of the
Industrial Revolution were not seen only at the social level, but also at
the political one in relation to education.
As industrial strength grew along with a more forcible middle
class, electoral reform was a necessity to balance the new society's
power structure.15 Before 1832, only 6% of the male population could
vote, represented by aristocrats who owned large plots of land in the
countryside and other property.16 By 1832, the middle class factory
owners wanted political power to match their new-found economic
punch. This resulted in the Reform Bill of 1832 which enfranchised
20% of the male population. The Reform Bill also redistributed
electoral districts to better reflect the large populations of city
centres.17
The dissent and insubordination of the English workingmen
reached their peak in the mid-nineteenth century with the rise of
15 Anne, Digby and Peter Searby, op. cit., p. 25 16 Maurice Bruce, The Coming of the Welfare State, op. cit., p. 5917 Ibid., p. 312
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
Chartism,18 an ideology that called for political reform in the country.
Its name was based on the People's Charter, a document written in
1838 by William Lovett19 and other radicals of the London Working
Men's Association, and adopted at a national convention of
workingmen's organizations in August of that year. The Charter called
for several changes in the Parliamentary system: Universal male
suffrage, annual parliaments, vote by ballot, abolition of the property
qualification for MPs, payment of MPs, and equal electoral
constituencies. Chartism rapidly gained support among the poorer
classes and in Northern England where economic depression was
common and the people were upset about the new Poor Law
Amendment Act of 1834.20 William Lovett died in 1877, having spent
his life since the years of the Chartist Movement promoting working-
class education.
18 Chartism was a movement for social and political reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement. It was possibly the first mass working class movement in the world. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Chartism. 19 William Lovett was born in 1800 and died in 1877. He was a British activist and the leader of the political movement Chartism, derived from Radicalism. Lovett was a leading radical and was amongst those who urged arming in self-defense in anticipation of expected attack. Ibid., the entry: William Lovett. 20 The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey that reformed the country's poverty relief system. Ibid., the entry: The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
The public opinion was largely heard thanks to Feargus
O'Connor,21 a fervent radical with excellent oratory skills. However,
the movement soon lost its force when its leaders became divided over
the methods. A petition to Parliament was rejected in July 1839, and
most of the movement's leaders were arrested by the end of the year
after the November clash between Chartists and the military at
Newport, Wales.
O'Connor attempted to revive Chartism in 1840 by founding the
National Charter Association, but the people had generally lost
interest. The unsuccessful demonstration and procession planned for
London during the economic crisis of 1848 weakened the Chartist
movement. Decades later, in 1884, the majority of males were finally
granted the right to vote. In general, Chartism was a powerful assertion
of the rights of working people, creating in them a long-term self-
confidence and self-reliance. After the end of the movement, most of
the Chartist demands were passed into law, and undoubtedly the
Chartist issues of democratic inclusion and the rights of citizenship
remain highly relevant. This, in fact, paved the way to the spread of
education.
21 Feargus Edward O'Connor (1794 – August 30, 1855) was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan. He was born into a Protestant family, the son of Irish Nationalist Politician Roger O'Connor (1762-1834) and nephew of Arthur O'Connor (1753-1852), the agent in France for Robert Emmet's rebellion; both of whom famous for belonging to the United Irishmen. Ibid., the entry: Feargus Edward O'Connor.
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
The introduction of liberalism22 in the 18th century was also an
important fact that participated in the development of education in
England. It meant a new age to the British political scene, which
continued through the Industrial Revolution. The old Tory and Whig
parties became the Conservative and Liberal parties respectively,
reflecting the new era in Great Britain. The liberal party emphasized
rationalism and gave importance to the happiness of the individual.
Under the policy of the Liberal party, the role of State was to protect
the freedom and rights of the individual, and they believed that human
rights would be lost if government intervened. In fact , this party
reflected views of the middle class. In contrast, the Conservative party
believed in the value of traditional life, and according to them,
government is necessary to control society and preserve general order.
This party had a less optimistic view of human nature than liberals.
This party reflected views of the landed upper class.23 Gladstone
(a Liberal) and Disraeli (a Conservative) were two of the most
influential political leaders of the late Industrial Revolution era. Both
of them were strongly associated with the Prime Minister Sir Robert
22 Liberalism refers to a broad array of related doctrines, ideologies, philosophical views, and political traditions which hold that individual liberty is the primary political value. Liberalism has its roots in the Western Age of Enlightenment, but the term has taken on different meanings in different time periods. Ibid., the entry: Liberalism 23 G. M, Trevelyan, A Shortened History of England, op. cit., p. 398
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
Peel24 before the split in the Tory party in the 1830s. Both advocated
the reform of social structure.31 The political spectrum was also closely
linked to the idea of Joseph Lancaster25 and Andrew Bell26 who asked
for educating the masses; this in fact, was an ideological phenomenon
that grew during the Industrial Revolution and a tool for gaining more
voters. The application of this ideology was not an easy task for the
State. Several legislative changes in the domain of education paved the
way for the improvements which were seen after 1870.
After the intervention of the State and through the political
changes that came after 1870, the social conditions of the poor children
in Great Britain were improved.27 Thus, it is essential to understand the
factors that participated in making this change possible, by analysing
24 Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was born on February 5, 1788. He was a British Conservative statesman, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December, 1834 to 8 April, 1835, and also from 30 August, 1841 to 29 June, 1846. Peel created the modern concept of the police force, leading to a new type of officer known as "bobbies" (in England) and "peelers" (in Ireland). As prime minister, Peel issued the Tamworth Manifesto in 1834. During his brief first period in office, he led the formation of the Conservative Party out of the shattered Tory Party; in his second administration he repealed the Corn Laws. He died on July 2, 1850. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Sir Robert Peel.25 Joseph Lancaster was born in Southwark, south London on November 25, 1778. He was an English Quaker and public education innovator. In 1798, he founded a free elementary school in Borough Road, Southwark, using a variant of the monitorial system. His ideas were developed simultaneously with those of Dr. Andrew Bell in Madras whose system was referred to as the "Madras System of Education". He died on October 25, 1838. Ibid, the entry: Joseph Lancaster.26 Andrew Bell was born in 1753. He was a Scottish Episcopalian priest and educationalist who pioneered the Madras System of Education (also known as "mutual instruction or the monitorial system") in schools and was the founder of Madras College, a secondary school in St. Andrews. He died in 1832. Ibid, the entry: Andrew Bell.
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the development of
education in Great Britain.
II. The Need for Industrial Education
The Church and the Industrial Revolution created pressures that
began the push for free education for working-class children. In
Industrial cities large groups of working families settled near their jobs.
This created problems and concerns for many. The Church's neglect of
this poorer class of citizens became more and more obvious. As the
working class began to move closer in location and status to the ruling
class, their differences in attitudes and behaviours were viewed as
uncivilized and immoral.28
However, the Industrial Revolution brought about its own
logistical problems including large concentrations of unattended children
and difficulty to fill technical positions. The new industrial cities
swarmed with children who had finished their day's work and were not
needed at home. Working-class parents could not afford babysitters even
if any had been available. When children were not working, they went
exploring or just played - a luxury not afforded to ruling class children.
Another educational dilemma created by the Industrial Revolution
was a growing number of technical positions that could not be filled
27 Brigs Asa, Victorian People, A Reassessment of Persons and Themes 1851-67, London, Penguin Books, 1990. p. 27228 H.C. Dent, British Education, London, Green and Co, Ltd, 1946. p. 12
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
because working-class people lacked the education to perform them. The
success of the Industrial Revolution depended on finding a place for its
roving children and finding a way to satisfy its more technical positions.
Education again filled the need.29
Broadly speaking, during the Industrial Revolution, England had
made marked progress in both political and religious liberty. It also saw
the beginnings of democratic liberty, popular enlightenment, freedom of
the press, religious toleration, social reform, and scientific and industrial
progress. All these influences awakened in England, earlier than in any
other European nation, a rather general desire to be able to read, and by
the opening of the eighteenth century there were the beginnings of a
charitable and philanthropic30 movement on the part of the churches and
the upper classes to extend a knowledge of the elements of learning to
the poorer classes of the population. As a result, the eighteenth century
in England was characterized by a new attitude toward the educational
problem and by a marked extension of educational opportunity.
Workhouse schools and "schools of industry" were also used to
provide for orphans and the children of paupers. The term "Industrial
29 J.H, Plumb., England in the Eighteenth Century, London, Penguin, 1990. p. 8430 Philanthropy is the voluntary act of donating money or goods or providing some other support to a charitable cause, usually over an extended period of time. In a more fundamental sense, philanthropy may encompass any activity which is intended to enhance the common good or improve human well being. Although such individuals are often very wealthy people they may nevertheless perform philanthropic acts without possessing great wealth. Encyclopedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Philanthropy
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
School" or "School of Industry" is one that, confusingly, was used at
different times for somewhat different institutions. Early examples, such
as the one at Farringdon in Berkshire, predate the 1834 Poor Law Act.
Such establishments, run by the parish (or, in cases such as Farringdon,
by a Gilbert Union),31 provided pauper children with training, mostly in
domestic and agricultural skills.
Some workhouse and district schools were also referred to as
industrial schools, for example, the Hackney Union's Industrial Schools
at Brentwood and the St Pancras Industrial Schools at Leavesden.
However, after the passing of the 1857 Industrial Schools Act, the term
Industrial School was primarily used for establishment’s schools for
destitute and disorderly children, who were considered in danger of
becoming criminals or who were in contact with prostitutes.
There were 30 such Industrial Schools in England by the end of
1865. The Education Act led, after 1876, to the founding of Industrial
Day Schools and Truant schools. For children who had committed
criminal acts, Reformatory schools were established. Perhaps
surprisingly, the great majority of Industrial and Reformatory schools
were privately operated.
31 A Gilbert Union was a group of several parishes within a 10 mile radius of a workhouse site. The Gilbert Act was passed in 1782 and by 1834 sixty-five Unions existed. It enabled the parishes to monitor their poor by putting them within a common workhouse. Ibid., entry: A Gilbert Union
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
Voluntary reformatories for young people had been opened by the
Philanthropic Society and by private founders in the early 19 th century.
However, juvenile delinquency was viewed with such increasing concern
that in the 1840s, a Select Committee of the House of Lords was set up,
and this resulted in the Youth Offenders’ Act of 1854. The Act required
the Home Office to certify certain recognised institutions, which came to
be known as Certified Reformatories and Certified Industrial Schools.
Boys and girls aged under 16 who had spent time in prison could
be transferred to the industrial schools. Uncertified Industrial Schools for
neglected or destitute children were also opened. These specifically
juvenile institutions replaced prison terms for many young offenders,
and gave boys and girls a basic education plus a trade. The 1857
Industrial Schools Act aimed at making better provision for the care and
education of vagrant, destitute and disorderly children, who were in
danger of becoming criminals. 32
There were 30 Industrial Schools in England by December 1865.
Denominational (Non-Church of England) Industrial Schools also
existed after 1866, including some for Catholic children supported by
local rates. The Education Act led after 1876 to the founding of
industrial day schools and truant schools.
III. National Education Legislations, 1870-1902
32 Eric Midwinter, Nineteenth Century Education, op. cit., p. 25
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
Before 1870, England had no State education system and the only
possible form of education for those who could not afford entering
public schools was voluntary education. The institutions were religiously
influenced and very few working class children attended them. However,
after the elementary Educational Act of 1870,33 elementary education
became State controlled and, changed from being non-compulsory and
disorganised to being compulsory and more efficient over the period
1870-1902.
To study the impacts of the legislative process on the development
of education in England, it is convenient to study the reasons that led to
the State intervention in the domain of education, by dealing with all the
educational Acts, especially the Forster’s Act of 1870, as well as the
other Acts which cared about the intervention of the State in the domain
of education until 1902.
III. 1. The Educational Acts, 1870-1902
Several acts were passed during the 19 th century to limit the
amount and nature of child labour. Yet it is questionable how effective
some of this legislation was. It was quite common for the employment
laws to be flouted as there were not enough inspectors and the fines they
were allowed to impose were too low to have any real impact on the
factory owners. Although exact figures for the numbers of children
33 Elementary Education Act of 1870, See Appendix N° : 0 2, p. 192
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
employed in the different sectors were not available, it is fair to say that
by far the largest number was employed in agriculture.34
It is quite clear that State’s help in education was quite minimal.
In 1870, Forster35 managed to get his Education Act passed through
Parliament. The Act was met with mixed feelings. It was argued that it
had been originally delayed because of the fear that an educated working
class would become a revolutionary working class.
The 1876 Sandon’s Act stated that no children under 10 could be
employed and children under 13 could only be employed if they had a
certificate stating they could read. This encouraged more people to send
their children to school but many still could not afford, especially if they
were responsible for families.
The Mundella’s Act of 1880 made education compulsory up to the
age of 10 although again many families would have found it hard to
afford to put all their children through school. Another real change in
education happened in 1891, when elementary education became
compulsory and free. This meant that all children were entitled to
education until they were 10. Acts passed in 1893 and 1899 raised the
34 Leslie Hunter, The Scottish Educational System, London, Pergamon Press, 1972. p. 0735 Forster, William Edward was born in 1818. He was a British statesman. He entered Parliament as a Liberal in 1861. As vice president of the council in William Gladstone's first ministry (1868–74), he introduced the Elementary Education Act (1870). He was the founder for the English system of national compulsory education. He resigned in 1882 and died in 1886. Encyclopedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the
entry: Forster, William Edward
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
compulsory age to 11 and 12. In 1897, the payment by results system
was abolished because it was not popular with teachers or with many
education experts. A meeting of teachers in 1863 argued that the system
was fundamentally unfair. The government only had control of
elementary education and this remained the case until Balfour’s Act of
1902 which replaced the school boards36 with Local Education
Authorities (L.E.A’s).37
The elementary Act of 1870 was one of the most important Acts
that were passed during the 19th century under the supervision of the
State. Thus, it is convenient to understand and analyses its contents.
III. 1.1. The Elementary Education Act, 1870
The elementary Education Act of 1870 or Forster's Education Act
was introduced on February 17 th 1870. It established guidelines, which
granted the right to schooling to any male between the ages of 5 and 13.
This rule was not always respected and was more firmly enforced
through later reforms. A driving force behind the Act was a perceived
need for Great Britain to remain competitive in the world by being at the
forefront of manufacture and improvement. The Act was not taken up in
all areas and was more firmly enforced through later reforms. There
36 School Boards were elementary schools under the management of a Boarding school, established in Britain by the Educational Act of 1870. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: School Boards37 A Local Education Authority (L.E.A.) is the part of a council in England or Wales that is responsible for education within that council's jurisdiction. L.E.A.s are in charge of all state schools in their area. Ibid., the entry: A Local Education Authority
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
were objections to the concept of universal education. One was because
many people remained hostile to the idea of mass education.38
The Forster Education Act of 1870 laid the foundations of English
elementary education.39 The State became increasingly involved and
attendance was made compulsory for children until they were twelve
years old. In fact, the Act was passed partly in response to political
factors such as the need to educate people as citizens in the recently
democratised Great Britain. It also resulted from demands for reform
from industrialists who feared Great Britain’s part in world trade was
being threatened by the lack of an effective education system. As David
Thomson pointed out “there was little progress towards a system of
public education before 1867. There were plenty of schools, but no
general system”.40
In introducing the bill, Forster explained that the object of the
government was to complete the voluntary system and to fill up gaps,
not to supplant it. To this end, the Education Department was charged
with the duty of ascertaining whether or not there was in every parish a
deficiency of public school accommodation, and provision was made for
the formation of school boards in every school district (i.e. parish or
municipal borough) requiring further public school accommodation.
38J. Stocks, Church and State in Britain: The Legacy of 1870’s, London, Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 211 39 Forster Speech 17th, 1870. See appendix N° 03. p. 19740 Ibid., p. 95
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The term public school referred to a certain elite or private
secondary schools. In many English-speaking nations, a public school
was financed and run by the government and did not charge tuition fees
to allow children to attend them. This was in contrast to a private school
(also known as an "independent school"). In this sense, the word
"public" is used as "public library", i.e. provided to the public at public
expense. These public schools range from kindergarten classes to four
years of high school or secondary school, normally lasting until one was
17-18 years of age.41
The 1870 Education Act had mostly been remembered for these
following principles: 1) School Boards could be set up in districts where
school places were inadequate. 2) These schools were to provide
elementary education. 3) Pupils were to pay fees, and the Boards paid
fees for children who were poor. 4) Religious teaching in board schools
was restricted to simple Bible instruction. As the Church had mostly run
schools before 1870, enthusiastic supporters looked with disfavour on
the creation of the new Board Schools, which were often outside the
influence of the ‘national’ Church. 5) Parents had the right to withdraw
their children from religious education. This applied even to church
schools. 6) All board schools would be inspected.42
Religious instruction or observance in public schools had to be
either at the beginning or at the end of the school meeting. The schools
41 Ibid., p. 10042 J. Stocks, Church and State in Britain: The Legacy of 1870’s, op. cit., p. 214
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had also to be open at all times to the government inspectors and had to
be conducted in accordance with the conditions required to be fulfilled in
order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant.
In the same connection, an important change was made in the
conditions of inspection by declaring that it should be no part of the
duties of the inspector to inquire into religious instruction, while a later
section of the Act provided that no parliamentary grant should be made
in respect of any religious instruction.43
Three important changes were made in the measure during the
passage of the elementary education Act of 1870 through Parliament.
First, as at first proposed, the school boards were not to be directly
elected by the ratepayers, but were to be appointed by the town council
or the vestry. These nominated boards were empowered either to provide
schools themselves or to assist existing public elementary schools,
provided that such assistance was granted on equal terms to all such
schools, upon conditions to be approved by the Education Department.
With regard to its own schools, the school board was to settle the
form of religious instruction. The latter, in fact, raised serious opposition
in the country. Two fundamental changes were made after the attainment
of committee stage of the bill. In the first place, as the Prime Minister
43 Ibid., p. 219
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Gladstone44 put it, the government decided to sever altogether the tie
between the local board and the voluntary schools. In lieu of the
suggested rate-aid, an increased grant from the Treasury was proposed,
that is to say, the voluntary schools were left standing as state-aided
schools under private management, side by side with the new rate
supported schools.
Second, the character of the religious instruction in the board
schools was determined upon an undenominational basis by a provision,
which has become known to historians by the Cowper-Temple. 45 The
Clause 14 of the Act directed that no religious catechism, which referred
to any particular denomination, should be taught in school. The clause
was, in fact, a compromise not merely between absolute secularism46 and
denominationalism,47 but also between denominationalism and the view
of those who read the Bible without note or comment.48
44 William Ewart Gladstone was born on December 29, 1809. He was a British Liberal politician. He served as Prime Minister four separate times, more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: William Ewart Gladstone 45 William Francis Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple was born on December 13, 1811. He was a British Liberal politician and statesman. He died on October 16, 1888. Ibid., the entry: William Francis Cowper-Temple46 Secularism is the principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. Ibid., the entry: Secularism47 Denominationalism is the division of one religion into separate groups, sects, schools of thought. Ibid., the entry: Denominationalism48 Rowland Hamiltonf, “Popular Education in England and Wales before and after the Elementary Education Act of 1870”, History of Education Quarterly, No. 2 , 1883, pp. 283-349
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The Apostles Creed49 as a symbol common to all chairmen
denominations was not excluded under the Cowper-Temple clause. It is
important to observe that the Act of 1870 left religious instruction either
in voluntary schools or in board schools. In practice, it was only in
Wales that school boards availed themselves to any extent of the liberty
to abstain from giving religious instruction.
Third, the boards were elected by the system of cumulative voting
under which each elector had as many votes as there were candidates to
be elected, with liberty to give all his or her votes to one candidate or to
distribute them amongst the candidates as he thought fit. This system
was much criticized as being unduly favourable to minorities. It
continued, however, until the suppression of the ad hoc authorities by
committees of the county and urban councils under the Act of 1902. 50
There was alarm about the costs of schooling. Poor families could
not pay the fees to make their children benefit from schooling. For that
reason, the fees were kept to a minimum. In spite of this reduction, still
not everyone could afford education and for those who desperately
wanted their children to enter schools, it caused problems, because they
did not have money to pay for it. The Act threatened to take away
49 The Apostles' Creed is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol." It is widely used by a number of Christian denominations for both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical Churches of Western tradition, including the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion, and Western Orthodoxy. Ibid., the entry: The Apostles' Creed50 E. G., West, Education and the State, New York, Harper, 1971. p. 111
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children’s ability to earn money at a young age. However, with the
simple mathematics and English subjects they were acquiring, factory
owners had workers who could read and make measurements.
School boards were empowered not only to acquire sites for
schools under powers of compulsory purchase, but also to take transfers
of existing voluntary schools from their managers. The section, which
enabled managers to transfer schools to the school board or local
education authority for the purpose of board or council schools freed
from religious trusts unquestionably, marked an important inroad by the
State upon the sanctity of trusts.
The Act of 1870 introduced neither direct compulsory attendance
nor free education, but it took a distinct step forward in each direction by
enabling school boards to frame by-laws rendering attendance
compulsory, and to pay the school fees in the case of poverty of the
parent.51
The policy of compromise between the two systems of voluntary
and board schools was carried out in the provisions relating to the future
supply of schools. On the one hand, building grants were continued
temporarily for the benefit of those who applied (as voluntary managers
alone could apply) before 3 December 1870. On the other hand, the
Education Department was authorized to refuse parliamentary grants to
51 E. G., West, The Role of Education in Nineteenth-Century Doctrines of Political Science, New York, Harper, 1964. pp. 161/72.
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schools established in school board districts after the passing of the Act
if they thought such schools unnecessary.
The following figures are of interest as showing the progress made
under the Act of 1870. In the year 1870, there was a progress in
inspected day schools for about 2,000,000 children; the average
attendance was 1,168,000. It was computed, however, that there were,
exclusive of the well-to-do classes, at least 1,500,000 children who
attended no school at all or schools not under inspection.52
After the Act of 1870, the most important legislative event that
need to be discussed was the Act of 1876. So, what did this Act bring to
the development of education in England?
III. 1.2. The Elementary Education Act, 1876
The Elementary Education Act of 1876 or Sandon’s Act was
considered as a notable and valuable enlargement of the Act of 1870. 53
The fourth section declares that each parent of every child had the duty
to give his child efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, and in default of performing, or reasonably endeavouring to
perform such duty. The Act imposed upon the parent the charge of five
shillings and took other measures for securing the education of the child.
52 Stuart, Maclure, One Hundred Years of London Education, 1870-1970, London, Penguin, 1970. p. 7553 The Elementary Education Act, 1876. See appendix N° 04. p. 204
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During the Industrial Revolution, parents were more attracted to
gaining money more than sending their children to school. Thus, the Act,
enacted parental responsibility for sending children to school, under a
maximum penalty of five shillings and forty shillings. Employers were
forbidden to employ children under ten at all and those between ten and
fourteen years for more than half–time under a forty shillings penalty.
With respect to this question of employment, it must be remembered,
moreover, that the operation of bye-laws under the Act of 1870 (section
74) as amended by later Acts of 1893 and 1899 had raised the lower
limit of age for employment to twelve, and that this lower limit had been
very generally raised by bye-laws to fourteen years.54
The Act of 1876 had also provisions as to non-attendance that
would, of course, apply in areas where no suitable bye-laws had been
framed. For the first time, the Act made compulsion universal, and not
dependent on the policy of a particular School Board.
The Act of 1876 also dealt with the question of industrial and
reformatory schools. Reformatory schools possessed a lengthy history.
They were founded by voluntary effort in the eighteenth century, and in
the earlier years of the nineteenth were recognized by the State as proper
places for the reception of youths sentenced to transportation, but
pardoned with the condition of education in such a school. A State
54 De Montmorency, State Intervention in English Education, A Short History from the Earliest Times down to 1833, Cambridge, University Press, 1902, p. 170
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school of this class was sanctioned by Parliament in 1838, and in part
supported by the Treasury.55
What was brought by the Act of 1876 was not enough. In 1880,
another act in the domain of education was enacted for improving
education. So, what did the Act of 1880 bring to the development of
education in England?
III. 1.3. The Elementary Education Act, 1880
The Elementary education Act of 1880 or the Mundella Act made
Elementary education compulsory although still not free. It was not until
1891, that Free State education was provided, but the compulsory
attendance element was not rigorously enforced. The 1893 Half-Time
Act56 also illustrates the tension between education, family and work.
This system attempted to resolve the problem of young children being
forced by their family to work full-time by allowing 10 and 11 year old
children to spend half the week in school and the other half at work. 57
Compulsion was craftily used to accelerate the movement from
private to State schools. From 1880 onwards, with the introduction of
55 Ibid., p. 153
56 The 1893 “Half-Time” Act illustrates the tension between education, family and work. This system attempted to resolve the problem of young children being forced by their family to work full-time by allowing 10 and 11 year old to spend half the week in school and the other half in work. http://www.sociology.org.uk. 13/03/201357 S. J., Curtis, History of Education in Great Britain, London, University Tutorial Press, 1963. p. 123
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compulsion, it was argued that it was wrong for the government to force
parents to do something they could not afford; therefore, education
should be made ‘free’.
Free schooling meant full subsidisation and it was then argued that
only the new government-sponsored Board schools should receive this
treatment. It was said that private schools that were run for profit should
not be given aid because this would be subsidising profit makers. It was
a common attitude of legislators that profit seeking was rather
distasteful. The next argument was that these should not receive the
same degree of aid accorded to the Board schools because this would
amount to using Protestants’ taxes to support Catholic schools and vice-
versa.58
The result was that the Board schools supposedly set up to
complement the private schools eventually pushed them out of the
market. Some historians, presenting figures to prove their case, said that
compulsion increased attendance significantly in the two or three
decades after Mundella’s Act. Nevertheless, their arguments were
vitiated by at least four factors:
The first is that there was a firm reduction in fees, which
would obviously increase demand for schooling.
58 E. G, West, Education and the State, op.cit., p. 65
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Second, incomes were rising and, since education was
considered as a ‘normal good’, it would be purchased by
peoples with higher incomes.
The third reason was that, the population was expanding
and there were more children of school age.
Fourth, many writers gave figures showing increased
attendance at state schools but this was the result of
switching from private schools which could not compete
with board schools.59
By accelerating the decline of competitive private schools, and by
pushing poor families to pay taxes to support the children of other
families, compulsion reduced the quality of education. Some of the poor
families believed that keeping their children at work would be better
than allowing them to go to school. The policy of compulsion was
supported by teachers and the Education Bureau Officials.60
What happened after the Act of 1880 was not sufficient for the
development of education in England. Thus, other legislations in the
domain of education emerged. One of these legislations was the Act of
1897. So, why was the Act of 1897 enacted? And what did it bring to the
development of education in England?
59 Ibid., p. 6960 W. Hearn, Payments by Results in Primary Education, London, George Robertson, 1872. p. 123
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Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
III. 1.4. The Elementary Education Act, 1897
In 1897, the general problem of national education was again
presenting in an urgent form, a particular case for solution. When
dealing with the period 1835 to 1870, the rural schools offered
difficulties that neither the ingenuity of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Robert Lowe,61 nor the earnestness of the Chief Secretary for Ireland
William Edward Forster, could meet. It was these schools, indeed, that
rendered the Act of 1870 necessary.
It is conceivable that special Legislation might have dealt
separately with the great cities, but the parlous condition of the rural
schools called for general intervention. The three penny rate of which
Forster spoke was the rate that was expected to the rural districts.
Section 97 of the Act of 1870 had provided that if this rate for any
school district produced less than £20 per child in average attendance,
the School Board should be entitled to a Parliamentary grant that would
make the rate up to £ 20, per child, as the case might be.
In 1897, the Education Department discovered the well-known
fact that necessitous School Boards and Voluntary Schools abounded in
61 Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, was born on December 4, 1811. He was a British and Australian statesman. He held office under William Ewart Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1868 and 1873 and as Home Secretary between 1873 and 1874. Lowe is remembered for his work in education policy, his opposition to electoral reform and his contribution to modern Company Law. He died on July 27, 1892. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Robert Lowe
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the rural districts. In entire rural districts, the School Boards were even
more necessitous, starved, and inefficient than the Voluntary Schools.
The Elementary Education Act of 1897 provided that the sum of £ 20,
per child should be increased. It was supposed that this would meet the
case of the starved Board schools.62
62 Ibid., p. 161
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Map Two: Administrative Rural Districts of England, 1897
Source : http://www.mapsofworld.com/maps/ administrativedistrictsofEngland . 24/07/2014
The case of the voluntary schools was met in a different fashion.
The Voluntary Schools Act of 1897, repealed the "seventeen and six
penny limit," (seventeen shillings and sixpence which could have been
written as “17/6” or “17s 6d”), and refers to the British pre-decimal
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monetary system of pounds, shillings and pence) and thus abolished the
relation of the Parliamentary grant to the income of the school. The grant
was to be made on the merits of the case, and not on the philanthropic
merits of the subscribers. The policy of bribed philanthropy was thus
abandoned, and the doctrine of utilitarianism63 finally consigned to the
criticism of history. The doctrine of utilitarianism in education was,
indeed, at last abandoned.
The Voluntary schools were, moreover, exempted from rates, thus
reintroducing the principle that Queen Elizabeth I had established; and
an aid grant of £ 53. per pupil was added to the previous aids. Thus a
real attempt was made to place both the rural Board schools and
Voluntary schools upon a sound financial basis.64
Broadly speaking, all the educational acts were turning around the
same purpose. The aim of these acts was educating the children of the
poor. Thus, it is convenient to study the results of these acts on the
development of education in England.
IV. Educational Results, 1870-1902
It was important, during the period 1870 to 1900, to look at the results and improvements of the new educational system. The following
63 Utilitarianism refers to the doctrine that the morally correct course of action consists in the greatest good for the greatest number, that is, in maximizing the total benefit resulting, without regard to the distribution of benefits and burdens. www.thefreedictionary.com/utilitarianism . 22/03/201364 Ibid., p. 161
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table quoted from R. E. Hughes's useful book, "The Making of Citizens: A Study in Comparative Education" (1902), is a valuable summary of the most important improvements in education from 1870 to 1902.
Table Four: The Results and Improvements of the New Educational System, 19021870 1876 1891 1902
In 1870, there were 8,281 schools, all voluntary.
/ /
In 1902, there were 20,100 schools. In the same year, there was accommodation for 1,878,584 pupils.
In 1870, the children enrolled constituted 66 per cent, of the estimated population. / /
In 1902, the children enrolled constituted 177 per cent of the established population.
/In 1876, there were over 200, 000 half timers
/In 1902, there were only 89,036 half timers.
In 1870, only 12,467 of the teachers were certificated. / /
In 1902, there were 64, 038 certificated.
In 1870, there were only 1,262 assistant teachers.
/ /In 1902, there were 32,436 assistant teachers.
/ /In 1891, the number of school banks was 2,629, and of libraries 4,967.
In 1902, the respective numbers of school banks were 7,133 and of libraries 8,114.
Source: www.forgottenbooks.com/theprogressofeducationinEngland / .24/03/2013
The most remarkable educational results that need to be discussed,
especially during this period, were the influence of the legislative
changes on the teachers, and the efficiency of certain educational means
such as the payment by results system.
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IV.1. Teachers’ Training
There had been progress in every direction, especially in the
increasing number of unqualified teachers who were entering the
schools. For example, in 1876, there were about 543 unqualified
teachers; however, this number decreased to 17,512 unqualified teachers
in 190065. Thus, the percentage of pupil teachers decreased, and the
disappearance of this class was witnessed by many educationalists with
satisfaction.
The pupil teachers were neither efficient nor cheap, and qualified
assistant teachers were in every way more satisfactory. A child was
stamped for life with the character of its earliest training. The difficulty
of the position was the temptation to employ 18 years old young girl
teachers who were approved by the Government inspectors, but without
any standard of training. Such teachers might be very good, but rarely
were, and formed a distinct blot on the elementary system, though
probably the blot was not more harmful than the very general
employment of untrained teachers in the best secondary schools.
The employment of uncertificated adults had rapidly increased in
the last ten years, 1880/1900. Want of funds had been the cause of this
increase, and it was sincerely hoped that the extension of the rating
system to all schools would remedy this. Fortunately, the employment of
certificated teachers had also rapidly increased in the same decade,
65 W. Hearn, Payments by Results in Primary Education, op,
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1880/1900 and the time would probably soon be reached when there
would be no uncertificated teachers in the national elementary schools.
The same hope could hardly yet extend to the higher secondary
schools.66
In this context, the master of Cambridge A. C. Benson67, in his
volume the Schoolmaster, referred to the weakness of the learning
process in the English public schools. According to him, the English
public schools were not at the status factory level and needed a change;
thus, he said: "It must be frankly admitted, that the intellectual standard
maintained at the English public schools is low;…. I do not see any
evidence that it is tending to become higher.68" The reason was perhaps
not far to seek. Those who controlled the curriculum and the teaching in
these schools were, like the master of Cambridge A. C. Benson,
somewhat skeptical about the training of teachers. The fact is, he said,
"that the boys who have been through a public school themselves have
practically been trained as teachers as far as training can be given. They
66 Ibid., p. 16567 Arthur Christopher Benson was born on April 24, 1862. He was an English essayist, poet, and author and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Despite his illness, Benson was a distinguished academic and a most prolific author. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. From 1885 to 1903, he taught at Eton, returning to Cambridge to lecture in English literature for Magdalene College. From 1915 to 1925, he was Master of Magdalene. From 1906, he was a governor of Gresham's School. He died on June 17, 1925. Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, Great Britain, 2008, the entry: Arthur Christopher Benson 68 Ibid., p. 166
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have seen in numerable lessons given, and they can to a certain extent
discriminate methods69".
It is this position that was at the root of bad teaching and bad
results in the elementary schools, and it was at the root of the alleged
low intellectual standard of the public schools; though many might be
inclined to think that the standard was higher than Benson's interesting
volume would lead to believe. The middle class endowed schools
employed highly-trained teachers. Moreover, recent legislation had
aimed at procuring a higher standard in all secondary schools.
One of these recent legislations was the Board of Education Act in
1899, which provided for the establishment of a Consultative Committee
by Order in Council in 1900. By the Order in Council of 7 August, 1900
(which came into operation on October 1st, 1900), a Consultative
Committee of eighteen educationalists, including two women, was
appointed, and this Committee at once framed the regulations for a
register of teachers. This Order represented the views of Universities and
other bodies interested in education for the purpose of :
a) Framing, with the approval of the Board of Education,
regulations for a register of teachers to be formed and kept in
the manner provided by Order in Council;
Provided that the register so formed shall contain the names of
the registered teachers, arranged in alphabetical order, with an
69 Ibid., p. 167
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entry in respect to each teacher showing the date of his
registration, and giving a brief record of his qualifications and
experience; and for the purpose of:
b) Advising the Board of Education on any matter referred to the
Committee by the Board.70
By a further Order in Council of 6 March, 1902, it was provided
that for the purpose of forming and keeping such register of teachers,
there should be established a registration authority, called the teachers'
Registration Council. This teachers' Registration Council had to consist
(provisionally) of twelve members, six to be appointed by the President
of the Board of Education, and one each by the Conference of
Headmasters, the Incorporated Association of Headmasters, the
Association of Headmistresses, the College of Preceptors, the Teachers'
Guild of Great Britain and Ireland, and the National Union of Teachers.
The duty of this Council was to establish and keep a register of
teachers in accordance with the regulations, framed by the Consultative
Committee and approved by the Board of Education. These regulations
provided, in addition to the statutory alphabetical list of teachers, two
columns or classes, known as Column A and Column B.
Column A contained the names of all persons for the time being
recognized by the Board as certificated teachers under the Code of
Regulations for Elementary Day Schools.
70 Ibid., p. 168
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Column B contained the names of all persons who had satisfied
certain conditions of registration; namely:
1. That he or she had obtained a degree granted by some
University of the United Kingdom, or one of certain diplomas or
certificates, or had attained some other approved standard of
general education; and
2. That he or she had undergone a course of training for secondary
teaching, and could show other evidence of a knowledge of the
theory and practice of secondary teaching, or had been engaged
for the three years preceding the application as a teacher at a
"recognized" secondary School. Special provision was made for
the registration of existing secondary teachers between 1900 and
6 March, 1906.71
The changes and improvements in education in England were not
only seen in the teacher’s status and in the curriculum. One of the
remarkable improvements that needs to be analyzed was the abolition of
the Payment by Results system of 1897.
IV.2. The Abolition of the Payment by Results System, 1897
The regulations set out in 1862 by no means remained unaltered
over the thirty-five year history of payment by results. Changes were
frequently made in details of the annual Codes and periodically new
71 Ibid., 170
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Codes were issued. Revised instructions to inspectors were also issued at
intervals. However, the underlying principle of the system persevered;
with governmental grants continuing to be viewed essentially, as a
reward for results attained.72 Presumably as a reaction to criticism of the
dominance of the three Rs, the Minute of 20 February 1867 provided that
schools under certain conditions could be eligible for extra grants if
pupils in Standards IV-VI passed an examination in "specific subjects". 73
In 1871, every day pupil in Standards IV-VI who passed an
examination in not more than two such subjects could earn a grant of 3
shillings per subject. Quite a variety of subjects were proposed,
particular prominence being placed on geography, history, algebra,
English grammar or literature, elements of Latin, French or German,
physical geography, and animal physiology.74
Four years later, in 1875, "class subjects" were introduced for
Standards II-VI whereby 4 shillings could be earned by each pupil,
"according to the average number of children, above 7 years of age, in
attendance throughout the year," if the class as a whole passed any two
subjects from Grammar, History, Elementary Geography, and Simple
Needlework.75
72 Annual Reports of the Committee of Council on Education, 1866-1867, London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. pp. 98-103. 73 Annual Reports, 1871-1872. pp. 62/9974 Annual Reports, 1874-1875. pp. 166/16875 H. C. Dent, ‘The Centenary of Payment by Results’, British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1963, pp. 185-188
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Another change was the grant provided for each pupil, according
to the average number of pupils who succeeded in yearly attendance, of
one shilling if singing was included in the curriculum, and of another
one shilling if the discipline and organization of the school were
"satisfactory" in the opinion of the inspector. As a minor attempt to
provide for more advanced pupils, a pupil who had already passed
Standard VI could be examined in up to three "specific subjects" for a
grant of four shillings per subject. In general, these changes were for the
sake of motivating the pupils and creating a high level of education.
An important addition to the 1875 Code was the demand that no
pupil who had made the prescribed number of attendances may be
withheld from examination without a reasonable excuse. Other major
changes to the system of payment by results were those contained in the
Code of 1882. The most important was the "merit grant," which was
primarily introduced to reward good results76. These changes were made
to motivate both teachers and pupils.77
Changes were also made in the 1882 Code in the method of
assessing the basic grant in the elementary subjects. The principal
change was that the grant was to be determined by the percentage of
passes in the examination. This latter was determined by the relative
76 Annual Reports, 1881-1882. p. 12477 H. S. Kirkaldy, ‘Payment by Results’, The Economic Journal, Vol. 62, No. 246, 1952, pp. 402-404
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amount of the passes made to those who were absent or withheld from
examination without reasonable excuses.78
Taking heed of diverse criticism in the 1888 Cross Commission,
especially of payment by results, the Education Department drew up
another new Code in 1890. There were numerous specific changes in the
method of awarding grants, the most significant of which was the
substitution of one principal grant for the three individual grants in the
elementary subjects. The new grant for these subjects was to be fourteen
shillings or twelve shillings, it being left to the discretion of the
inspector to decide which.
Moreover, the teacher was no longer required to examine each
pupil individually. Testing as a way of evaluation was introduced and the
only stipulation was that at least one third of the pupils were to be
examined individually. However, individual testing was retained for the
"specific subjects" only. Another change was the substitution for the
merit grant of a one-shilling grant for discipline and organization 79.
By now not much remained of the system of payment by results as
introduced by Lowe in 1862. Further alterations were laid out in the Day
School Code (1895), which heralded the end of the formal annual
examination by Her Majesty’s School Inspectorate94. Two years later, in
1897, Lowe's payment by results was abolished.
78 Annual Reports, 1890-1891. pp. 131-13379 Annual Reports, 1894-1895. p. 11
98
Chapter Two: The Opening of Parliamentary Agreement on a National Organization of Secondary Education in England (1870-1902)
These education reforms were caused by the Industrial Revolution
and trade, which demanded mass literacy for workers and better
education for the managerial class. Through this legislative growth, new
improvements were seen at the level of the curriculum and at the
teachers’ status. These improvements and other changes in the domain of
education in England, especially before the First World War, will be
discussed and analysed in the third chapter. The latter will attempt to
analyse the reinforcement of the public system of education and the
influence of the extension of a national system of education on the
progress of university in England from 1902 to 1918.
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