Education An Historical Perspective

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EducationAn Historical Perspective
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Education Historical Perspective
Education Reform Act - 1988

• basis of the current structure
• subject to hostility - National Curriculum
  considered by some as amateurish
• put on the statute books against a background of
• political hostility between local authorities and
  the government
• teachers pay disputes

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Education Historical Perspective
Education Reform Act - 1988

• Distribution of power was to change
• WHY?

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Education Historical Perspective

• The need for reform is urgent. All the evidence
  shows this - international comparisons, the
  reports from HMI and, most recently, the
  depressing findings of adult literacy..people
  who have problems in such simple communication
  skills are more likely to be unemployed, and
  alas, likely to remain unemployed for longer than
  those who have the skills.
• Kenneth Baker House of Commons Dec 1987

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Education Historical Perspective

• Not the first occasion that it had been implied
  that the education service was a fault, at least
  in part, for the state of unemployment due to
  lack of skills

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Education Historical Perspective

• .there is no virtue in producing socially well
  adjusted members of society who are unemployed
  because they do not have the skills. Nor at the
  extreme must they be technically efficient
  robots. Both of the basic purposes of education
  require the same essential tools. These are to
  be basically literate, to be basically numerate,
  to understand how to live and work together.
• James Callaghan Ruskin College Speech 1976

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Education Historical Perspective
Doubts about the standards of education and that
standards were falling

• Evidence?

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Education Historical Perspective

• To the teachers I would say that you must
  satisfy the parents and industry that what you
  are doing meets requirements and the needs of
  their children. For if the public is not
  convinced then the profession will be laying up
  trouble for itself in the future
• James Callaghan Ruskin College Speech 1976

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Education Historical Perspective

• A partnership
• whether deliberately or fortuitously, the 1944
  Education Act, and the legislative arrangements
  made within its framework up to 1988, established
  a balance of control in educational institutions.
  When it was working successfully this balance
  could be referred to as a partnership
• Bash Coulby 1989

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Education Historical Perspective
1944 Education Act

• specified the duties of the Minister of Education
  - to promote the education of the people for
  England and Wales (creative rather that
  controlling)
• LEAs were to have most of the direct influence -
  pupils, curriculum, staffing policies, welfare
  and transport

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Education Historical Perspective
1944 Education Act

• the war years had given under-privileged families
  the opportunity to compare lifestyles with the
  more advantaged
• they considered that secondary education would
  give them the opportunity to become more equal.

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Education Historical Perspective
1944 Education Act

• 5-14 elementary education to be abolished
• full-time primary education (5-11)
• secondary education (11-18)
• further education for those who wanted it
• free compulsory schooling from 5-15

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Education Historical Perspective
1944 Education Act

• LEAs required to provide separate schools for
  primary and secondary
• raise school compulsory leaving age to 15 and
  when practicable to 16
• idea of nursery education established
• physical welfare of children part of the reforms

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Education Historical Perspective

• The 1944 Education Act did not specify the form
  of secondary education but influences from report
  such as The Hadow Report (1926), The Spens Report
  1938 and The Norwood Report (1943) led to a
  tripartite system.
• Pupils were selected through the 11 examination
  and placed in either a Secondary Modern,
  Technical or Grammar School

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Education Historical Perspective

• Grammar School for pupils interested in learning
  for its own sake
• Technical Schools for those whose interest lies
  in the field of applied science or art
• Secondary Modern School for pupils who deal more
  easily in concrete things than ideas
• Each school was supposed to have Parity of
  Esteem - equal status but cater for different
  aptitudes

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Education Historical Perspective

• By mid 1950s the tripartite system was
  discredited as Parity of Esteem was never
  achieved
• Secondary Modern Schools were perceived as
  preparing the child for lower positions in
  society
• You passed the 11 to go to a grammar school
  failure meant you went to a Secondary Modern
  School

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Education Historical Perspective

• Initially Secondary Modern Schools were not
  allowed to enter pupils for public examinations
  such as the General Certificate of Education (GCE
  - O levels)
• Most children in Secondary Modern Schools were
  expected to leave at the minimum school leaving
  age, which was the term in which they reached 15
• Geographical location could prevent a child from
  winning a place at a grammar school

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Education Historical Perspective

• Girls often had to achieve higher marks than boys
  to maintain a balance between the sexes
• The Certificate of Secondary Education was
  introduced in the 1960s to try and appease the
  disquiet concerning public examinations
• Issues of Equality

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Education Historical Perspective

• The comprehensive system developed in response to
  the concerns surrounding the 11 and the lack of
  Parity of Esteem through the tripartite system
• Bi-lateral was a description used by some schools
  which often housed a grammar and secondary modern
  schools
• Complex streaming methods blurred the boundaries
  between the two groups leading to a comprehensive
  school model

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Education Historical Perspective

• In circular 10/64 the Labour government requested
  for all local authorities to submit plans to
  change all secondary education provision to a
  Comprehensive system
• Circular 10/65 gave notice that education by
  selection should be ended
• Primary schools now had more flexibility
  Plowden Report (1967)

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Education Historical Perspective

• Throughout the 60s and 70s concepts of
  progressive education were at the fore
• A subject centred curriculum was being exchanged
  for an integrated curriculum based on
• Topics/projects
• Student interest and relevance
• Choice
• Freer classrooms
• Teachers in control of the curriculum

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Education Historical Perspective

• Primary schools now had more flexibility
  Plowden Report (1967)
• William Tyndale School, Summerhill school bad
  press
• Raising Of the School Leaving Age
• Education Act of 1976 tried to abolish the 11
  and further promote Comprehensive schools
• Act repealed in 1979 growth in Comp. Ed.

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Education Historical Perspective

• During the 1970s the Government attempted to
  prove that some LEAs had abused their powers
• At this time the government had little or no say
  in the running of schools
• Much criticism against the education system media
  and industrialists hostile
• James Callaghan The Great Education Debate