A Short History Of Education In England
In history, the first cathedral schools were established in 597 and 604 to teach Latin and prepare students to sing in a choir. For this reason, two types of schools were established: grammar schools for priests who needed Latin instruction and song schools for “sons of gentlefolk” who wanted to sing in cathedral choirs.
Even after the establishment of charity schools and free grammar schools, which were accessible to pupils of any religion, in the early modern era, education in England continued to be intimately tied to religious organizations. Though the education sector has been evolved to a great extent (helpwithdissertation, 2021) that students are able to find British dissertation help in no time but the education was a lot different then.
Early Modern Period
The early modern period was a lot different from now’s education dissertation topics. The Statute of Artificers and Apprentices, which forbade anybody from exercising a trade or craft without first completing a 7-year apprenticeship to a master, was passed in 1562 to govern and defend the apprenticeship system. Many trades were governed by guilds, which employed apprenticeships to limit admission.
Religious dissenters-built academies after the Act of Uniformity in 1662 to educate students from dissenting families who did not want to abide by the creeds of the recognized Church of England. The earliest of these so-called “dissenting institutions” is Bristol Baptist College. This movement also produced other Oxford colleges, including Harris Manchester, Mansfield, and Regent’s Park.
Beginning in 1692, “parish” apprenticeships under the Elizabethan Destitute Law were employed to supplement the regular system of skilled apprentices, which tended to benefit boys from slightly more affluent homes to provide for poor, illegitimate, and orphaned children of both sexes. These parish apprenticeships, which could be established with the approval of two Justices of the Peace, provided trainees with lower-status jobs, including farm labor, brickmaking, and menial housework.
The Forster Act
For the first time, the government required that kids between the ages of 5 and 13 have an elementary education. Boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 10 were required to attend until they met the “educational standard.”
The curriculum was restricted to the 3Rs (reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic), as required by Taunton (1868). Except for those who qualified as “poor,” all institutions required payment of fees.
Where the current provision by churches and private schools was insufficient, board schools were to be created. Board schools were secular, state-funded institutions overseen by locally elected school boards. By 1900, 50% of all elementary schools were Board Schools.
The Balfour Act
By the turn of the century, one-third of elementary-aged children were taught in churches. The schools were “pigsty schools,” “appallingly old and out of date,” and short on funds. The Balfour Act, which traded money for power, authority, and “efficiency,” was immensely contentious.
The Act dissolved school boards and created Local Education Authorities (LEAs), which have the authority to levy local taxes to support public education. One of the 328 LEAs now has control over the church, board, and endowed grammar schools.
The Butler Act
The Butler Act shaped the educational environment in a way that is still identifiable today in the spirit of the post-war consensus and the drive for social transformation. All youngsters could now attend public schools for free.
Separate primary schools (5–11) and secondary schools were established by the Act (11-15). In addition, LEAs were required to oversee boarding, disability services, and nursery provision. 15 became the first year of compulsory education, followed by 16 in 1973.
The Taunton Report’s (1868) stratification of secondary education into grammar schools, secondary modern schools, and secondary technical schools was institutionalized into the Tripartite system. The Scholarship Exam (later 11+) served as the basis for grammar school admissions selection. The General Certificate of Education “O” and “A” Levels were first offered in 1951.
Another deal involving church schools traded financing for authority over admissions and the RE curriculum, resulting in the creation of voluntary controlled and voluntary aided schools.
Some independent schools, particularly those in the North of England, converted to Direct Grant status, receiving funding directly from the federal government to offer many students free admission while continuing to charge others. They developed into grammar schools with the best academic records.
Comprehensive Schools
The Tripartite system caused great social division and was extremely unpopular. Some LEAs gave it up in favor of comprehensive education in mixed-ability schools. A 1965 government directive encouraged others to follow suit rather than forcibly ordering them to. The outcome was a confusing implementation. While some LEAs continued to offer 11+ and grammar schools, the majority went completely comprehensive and stopped offering 11+ and streaming.
The Plowden Report
The Plowden Report was significant because it provided a state-of-the-nation assessment of English education. It was upbeat and contributed significantly to the advancement of progressivism in education. It promoted humanism and child-centered methodologies, contending that “the child lies at the center of the educational process.” To put it another way, personalized instruction and learning with teachers in charge of the curriculum.
The Baker Act
The Act established a 14-subject mandatory National Curriculum. Teachers no longer decided on the curriculum. But the implementation of mandated tests (SATS) at ages 7, 11, 14, and 16 made them answerable for it (GCSE). League tables started to show whether or not a teacher was effective. These tables became dominated by independent grammar schools, which raised concerns and discontent.
Education (Schools) Act of 1992
In 1992, the 1992 Act created Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education). Through a six-year cycle of school inspections, Ofsted was tasked with ensuring compliance. It has the authority to name and condemn underperforming schools publicly and would publish its reports. The National Curriculum’s implementation, testing requirements, and league tables all contribute to the gradual decline in teacher morale, sped up by the bureaucratic load of inspections (Gillard, 2018).
Conclusion
Throughout the 20th century, the educational system was enlarged and reorganized numerous times. In the 1940s, the Tripartite System was implemented, which divided secondary education into grammar schools, secondary technical schools, and secondary modern schools. This started to be phased away in favor of comprehensive schools in the 1960s. Additional changes in the 1980s included the National Curriculum and the option for parents to select the school their children would attend. Academies were first developed in the 2000s, and by the 2010s, they had mostly replaced other secondary school models.
References
Gillard, D. (2018). Education in England: a history. Scotland: Queen’s Printer For Scotland.
HWD, (2021). Artificial Intelligence. Online Available at <https://www.helpwithdissertation.co.uk/blog/artificial-intelligence/> [Accessed on 2nd September 2022]