Elementary Education Act 1870
Encyclopedia
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between ages 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It was drafted by William Forster
, a Liberal
MP
, and it was introduced on 17 February 1870 after campaigning by the National Education League
, although not entirely to their requirements.
The Act was not taken up in all areas and would be more firmly enforced through later reforms. There were objections to the concept of universal education. One was because many people remained hostile to the idea of mass education
. They claimed it would make labouring classes 'think' and that these classes would think of their lives as dissatisfying and possibly encourage them to revolt. Others feared that handing children to a central authority could lead to indoctrination. Another reason was the vested interests of the Church and other social groups. The churches were funded by the state with public money to provide education for the poor and these churches did not want to lose that influence on youth.
The Act established the foundations of English elementary education. The state (Gladstonian Liberalism
) became increasingly involved and after 1880 attendance was made compulsory for children until they were 12 years old.
The Act was passed partly in response to political factors (such as the need to educate the citizens recently enfranchised by the Reform Act 1867
to vote wisely). It also came about due to demands for reform from industrialists, who feared Britain's status in world trade was being threatened by the lack of an effective education system. The spectacular military successes of the Prussian army prompted Gladstone to consider the military benefits of an Education Act; as he remarked: 'Undoubtedly, the conduct of the campaign, on the German side, has given a marked triumph to the cause of systematic popular education'.
The ratepayers of each Poor Law Union
(in the country districts) or borough
could petition the Board of Education
to investigate educational provision in their area. This was done by comparing the results of a census of existing school places with the number of children of school age recorded in the Census
. If there was a substantial shortfall, a school board
would be created.
These Boards were to provide elementary education for children aged 5–12 (inclusive).
Board Members were elected by the ratepayers under a system of cumulative voting
. (The number of Board Members was determined by
the size of the population of the district.) Each voter could choose three (or more) Board Members from a list of candidates, and those with the highest number of votes were chosen for the existing number of seats available. A voter could cast all their votes for one person. This was known as 'plumping' and ensured that religious (and, later, political) minorities could ensure some representation on the Board. The franchise was different from national elections, since female householders could vote and stand for office.
The Boards financed themselves by a precept (a requisition) added to either the local poor
rate or the municipal rate
. They were also eligible to apply for capital funding in the form of a government loan.
Parents still had to pay fees for their children to attend schools.
Boards would pay the fees of children who were poor, even if they attended Church schools.
The Boards could make grants to existing Church Schools and erect their own board schools
or elementary schools.
Boards could, if they deemed it necessary, create a by-law and table it
before Parliament
, to make attendance compulsory (unless
there was an excuse, for example, sickness, or living more than one mile from a school, or
unless they had been certified as reaching a certain standard of education – see below).
In 1873, 40% of the population lived in compulsory attendance districts.
Religious teaching in board schools was restricted to non-denominational instruction, or none
at all.
Parents had the right to withdraw their children from religious education. This applied even
to church schools. Rate-supported schools were prohibited from using distinctive religious formularies.
All schools would be inspected, making use of the existing regime. The individual
schools continued to be eligible for an annual government grant calculated on the basis of the
inspection ('payment by results').
There were ongoing political clashes between the vested interests of Church, private schools and the National Education League followers. In some districts the creation of boards was delayed by local vote. In others, church leaders managed to be voted onto boards and restrict the building of board schools, or divert the school rate funds into church schools.
Education was not made compulsory immediately (not until 1880) since many factory owners feared the removal of children as a source of cheap labour. However, with the simple mathematics and English they were acquiring, factory owners now had workers who could read and make measurements.
Following continued campaigning by the National Education League, in 1880, attendance to age 10 became compulsory everywhere in England and Wales. In 1891, elementary schooling became free in both board and voluntary (church) schools.
, which replaced them with around 300 Local Education Authorities, by which time there were 5700 board schools (2.6m pupils) and 14000 voluntary schools (3m pupils). The LEAs remit included secondary education for the first time.
The 1872 Education Act brought in compulsory education for all children between 5 and 13, although fees still had to be paid until 1890. Teacher shortages continued and problems arose in areas where teachers who spoke no Gaelic
attempted to teach children who had no English. Pupil-teachers could later qualify after attending Teacher Training College.
Local school boards made sure sufficient schools were built and that children attended them. After 1918, this became a county responsibility. State control increased the number of school inspectors after 1872. Medical and dental inspections
were introduced after 1908, though reaching remote schools proved difficult. The leaving age was raised to 14 in 1883.
The new system was co-ordinated nationally by the Scotch Education Department with the curriculum emphasising the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic (the three ‘Rs’). The churches made a crucial contribution to the new system by handing over their schools without charge to the School Boards. At this time, the Free Church supported 548 schools across Scotland together with 584 teachers.
William Edward Forster
William Edward Forster PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman.-Early life:...
, a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, and it was introduced on 17 February 1870 after campaigning by the National Education League
National Education League
The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children, free from religious control....
, although not entirely to their requirements.
Need
A driving force behind the Act was a perceived need for 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 would be more firmly enforced through later reforms. There were objections to the concept of universal education. One was because many people remained hostile to the idea of mass education
Mass education
Mass education refers to a massive educational system funded and run by the state to educate people on the state's interest....
. They claimed it would make labouring classes 'think' and that these classes would think of their lives as dissatisfying and possibly encourage them to revolt. Others feared that handing children to a central authority could lead to indoctrination. Another reason was the vested interests of the Church and other social groups. The churches were funded by the state with public money to provide education for the poor and these churches did not want to lose that influence on youth.
The Act established the foundations of English elementary education. The state (Gladstonian Liberalism
Gladstonian Liberalism
Gladstonian Liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstonian Liberalism consisted of limited government expenditure and low taxation whilst making sure government had balanced budgets...
) became increasingly involved and after 1880 attendance was made compulsory for children until they were 12 years old.
The Act was passed partly in response to political factors (such as the need to educate the citizens recently enfranchised by the Reform Act 1867
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
to vote wisely). It also came about due to demands for reform from industrialists, who feared Britain's status in world trade was being threatened by the lack of an effective education system. The spectacular military successes of the Prussian army prompted Gladstone to consider the military benefits of an Education Act; as he remarked: 'Undoubtedly, the conduct of the campaign, on the German side, has given a marked triumph to the cause of systematic popular education'.
Principles
The 1870 Education Act declared that:The ratepayers of each Poor Law Union
Poor Law Union
A Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. The administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of parishes, which varied wildly in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements...
(in the country districts) or borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
could petition the Board of Education
Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)
The administration of education policy in the United Kingdom began in the 19th century. Official mandation of education began with the Elementary Education Act 1870 for England and Wales, and the Education Act 1872 for Scotland...
to investigate educational provision in their area. This was done by comparing the results of a census of existing school places with the number of children of school age recorded in the Census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. If there was a substantial shortfall, a school board
School board (England & Wales)
School boards were public bodies in England and Wales between 1870 and 1902, which established and administered elementary schools.School boards were created in boroughs and parishes under the Elementary Education Act 1870 following campaigning by George Dixon, Joseph Chamberlain and the National...
would be created.
These Boards were to provide elementary education for children aged 5–12 (inclusive).
Board Members were elected by the ratepayers under a system of cumulative voting
Cumulative voting
Cumulative voting is a multiple-winner voting system intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections.- History :...
. (The number of Board Members was determined by
the size of the population of the district.) Each voter could choose three (or more) Board Members from a list of candidates, and those with the highest number of votes were chosen for the existing number of seats available. A voter could cast all their votes for one person. This was known as 'plumping' and ensured that religious (and, later, political) minorities could ensure some representation on the Board. The franchise was different from national elections, since female householders could vote and stand for office.
The Boards financed themselves by a precept (a requisition) added to either the local poor
rate or the municipal rate
Rates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
. They were also eligible to apply for capital funding in the form of a government loan.
Parents still had to pay fees for their children to attend schools.
Boards would pay the fees of children who were poor, even if they attended Church schools.
The Boards could make grants to existing Church Schools and erect their own board schools
or elementary schools.
Boards could, if they deemed it necessary, create a by-law and table it
before Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, to make attendance compulsory (unless
there was an excuse, for example, sickness, or living more than one mile from a school, or
unless they had been certified as reaching a certain standard of education – see below).
In 1873, 40% of the population lived in compulsory attendance districts.
Religious teaching in board schools was restricted to non-denominational instruction, or none
at all.
Parents had the right to withdraw their children from religious education. This applied even
to church schools. Rate-supported schools were prohibited from using distinctive religious formularies.
All schools would be inspected, making use of the existing regime. The individual
schools continued to be eligible for an annual government grant calculated on the basis of the
inspection ('payment by results').
Effects of the Act
Between 1870 and 1880, 3000–4000 schools were started or taken over by school boards. Rural boards, run by parishes, had only one or two schools to manage, but industrial town and city boards had many. Rural boards favoured economy and the release of children for agricultural labour. Town boards tended to be more rigorous in their provisions, and by 1890 some had special facilities for gymnastics, art and crafts, and domestic science.There were ongoing political clashes between the vested interests of Church, private schools and the National Education League followers. In some districts the creation of boards was delayed by local vote. In others, church leaders managed to be voted onto boards and restrict the building of board schools, or divert the school rate funds into church schools.
Education was not made compulsory immediately (not until 1880) since many factory owners feared the removal of children as a source of cheap labour. However, with the simple mathematics and English they were acquiring, factory owners now had workers who could read and make measurements.
Following continued campaigning by the National Education League, in 1880, attendance to age 10 became compulsory everywhere in England and Wales. In 1891, elementary schooling became free in both board and voluntary (church) schools.
End of school boards
The school boards were abolished by the Balfour Education Act 1902Education Act 1902
The Education Act 1902 , also known as Balfour's Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting education in England and Wales. At the time of passage of the Act, the Conservative Party was in power...
, which replaced them with around 300 Local Education Authorities, by which time there were 5700 board schools (2.6m pupils) and 14000 voluntary schools (3m pupils). The LEAs remit included secondary education for the first time.
Standards of education
In areas served by school boards that had implemented by-laws requiring attendance, compulsory attendance until age 13 was exempted if a child (being over age 10) had been certified by the inspector as satisfying the required standard for that board. The standards required varied between 4th Standard (example: Birmingham) and 6th Standard (example: Bolton).| STANDARD I | |
|---|---|
| Reading | One of the narratives next in order after monosyllables in an elementary reading book used in the school. |
| Writing | Copy in manuscript character a line of print, and write from dictation a few common words. |
| Arithmetic | Simple addition and subtraction of numbers of not more than four figures, and the multiplication table to multiplication by six. |
| STANDARD II | |
| Reading | A short paragraph from an elementary reading book. |
| Writing | A sentence from the same book, slowly read once, and then dictated in single words. |
| Arithmetic | The multiplication table, and any simple rule as far as short division (inclusive). |
| STANDARD III | |
| Reading | A short paragraph from a more advanced reading book. |
| Writing | A sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from the same book. |
| Arithmetic | Long division and compound rules (money). |
| STANDARD IV | |
| Reading | A few lines of poetry or prose, at the choice of the inspector. |
| Writing | A sentence slowly dictated once, by a few words at a time, from a reading book, such as is used in the first class of the school. |
| Arithmetic | Compound rules (common weights and measures). |
| STANDARD V | |
| Reading | A short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative. |
| Writing | Another short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative, slowly dictated once by a few words at a time. |
| Arithmetic | Practice and bills of parcels. |
| STANDARD VI | |
| Reading | To read with fluency and expression. |
| Writing | A short theme or letter, or an easy paraphrase. |
| Arithmetic | Proportion and fractions (vulgar and decimal). |
Scotland
A similar act was passed in 1872 for Scotland, the Education (Scotland) Act 1872. It required compulsory attendance from the start. It allowed post-elementary schools, but not public funding of them. There were around 1,000 boards in Scotland at the time they were eventually abolished.The 1872 Education Act brought in compulsory education for all children between 5 and 13, although fees still had to be paid until 1890. Teacher shortages continued and problems arose in areas where teachers who spoke no Gaelic
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
attempted to teach children who had no English. Pupil-teachers could later qualify after attending Teacher Training College.
Local school boards made sure sufficient schools were built and that children attended them. After 1918, this became a county responsibility. State control increased the number of school inspectors after 1872. Medical and dental inspections
School health services
School health services are services from medical, teaching and other professionals applied in or out of school to improve the health and well-being of children and in some cases whole families...
were introduced after 1908, though reaching remote schools proved difficult. The leaving age was raised to 14 in 1883.
The new system was co-ordinated nationally by the Scotch Education Department with the curriculum emphasising the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic (the three ‘Rs’). The churches made a crucial contribution to the new system by handing over their schools without charge to the School Boards. At this time, the Free Church supported 548 schools across Scotland together with 584 teachers.
Sources
- Education in Britain 1750–1914, W B Stephens, 1998, ISBN 0-333-60512-8
- Educational Documents, England and Wales 1816 to the present day, J Stuart MacLure, 1965, 1979, ISBN 0-416-72810-3
370.942 - Collected reports and publications of the National Education League, Birmingham Central Library, A370.8, z1103222