Education Act 1944
 United Kingdom Parliament | |
| Long title | An Act to reform the law relating to education in England and Wales. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 7 and 8 Geo 6 c. 31 |
| Introduced by | R. A. Butler |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 3 August 1944 |
| Repealed | 1 November 1996 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Education Reform Act 1988 |
| Repealed by | Education Act 1996 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Education Act 1944 (7 and 8 Geo 6 c. 31) made numerous major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the "Butler Act" after the Conservative politician R. A. Butler, who wrote the legislation after consultation with all parties. Historians consider it a "triumph for progressive reform," and it became a core element of the Post-war consensus supported by all major parties.[1]
The Act was repealed in steps with the last parts repealed in 1996.[2]
Contents
1 Background
2 New policies
3 School meals and milk
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Background
The Education Act of 1944 was an answer to surging social and educational demands created by the war and the widespread demands for social reform. It passed after Butler consulted with spokesmen for all major positions by sending around a detailed proposal drawn up by his predecessor, 'Education After the War' ("the Green Book"), in 1941. He worked out compromises with local authorities, and cut spending goals to assuage the Treasury. The bill reflected Butler's priorities, and incorporated proposals developed by leading specialists in the 1920s and 1930s such as R. H. Tawney and William Henry Hadow.[3] The Green Book text was drafted by his staff: Griffiths G. Williams, William Cleary, H. B. Wallis, S. H. Wood, Robert S. Wood, and Maurice Holmes.[4]
Butler wanted to keep the churches involved in education but they could not on their own afford to modernize. He achieved his objective through skillful negotiation with Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple (1881-1944) and other religious leaders. A majority of the Anglican church schools became voluntary controlled, and were effectively absorbed into the state system in return for funding. The Act also encouraged nonsectarian religious teaching in secular schools. A third of the Anglican church schools became voluntary aided, with enhanced state subsidies but retaining more autonomy over admissions, curriculum and teacher appointments; Roman Catholic schools also chose this option.[5]
The bill was enacted in 1944, but its changes were designed to take effect after the war, thus allowing for additional pressure groups to have their influence.[6][7]Paul Addison argues that in the end, the act was widely praised by Conservatives because it honoured religion and social hierarchy, by Labour because it opened new opportunities for working class children, and by the general public because it ended the fees they had to pay for secondary education.[8][9]
New policies
Butler designed the Act as an expression of "One Nation Conservatism" in the tradition of Disraeli, which called for paternalism by the upper class towards the working class.[10]
The Act sharply distinguished between primary and secondary education at age 11 and ended the traditional all-age (5-14) elementary sector, enforcing the division between primary (5–11 years old) and secondary (11–15 years old) education that many local authorities had already introduced. It abolished fees on parents for state secondary schools. It brought a more equitable funding system to localities and to different school sectors. The Act renamed the Board of Education as the Ministry of Education, giving it greater powers and a bigger budget. While defining the school leaving age as 15, it granted the government the power to raise the age to 16 "as soon as the Minister is satisfied that it has become practicable",[11] though the change was not implemented until 1973. It also brought in a new system for setting teacher salaries.
One of the results of the Act was to increase the openness of secondary schools to girls and the working class, educating and mobilising them. Another result was that the percentage of children attending higher education tripled from 1% to 3%.
The Act provided both for nursery schools and Further Education programs through community colleges, offering education for both children and adults, a measure that was only followed through by a few LEAs such as the Cambridgeshire Village Colleges, Leicestershire Community Colleges and Coventry, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire community schools.
Anglican schools were continued, but brought under increased state funding and control. Every state-funded school was required to begin the day with a nondenominational religious prayer.[12] This clause was amended by the Education Reform Act 1988, which specified that the act of worship should be of a 'broadly Christian nature' unless such a message was deemed to be inappropriate for a particular school or group of children. The amendment also specified that the act of worship could now take place in classes, rather than the previous system of conducting worship in assemblies.
The Act was supported by HORSA (Hutting Operation for the Raising of the School-Leaving Age) a building programme to provide 'hut'-style accommodation to meet the additional educational demand.[13]
School meals and milk
Five children enjoy their morning milk in a classroom in 1942.
The Education Act 1944 made it a duty of local education authorities to provide school meals and milk. The authority could remit the charge for the meal in cases of hardship.[14] The separate School Milk Act 1946 provided free milk (a third of a pint a day) in schools to all children under the age of 18.
In 1968 Edward Short, the Labour Secretary of State for Education and Science, withdrew free milk from secondary schools. His successor, Conservative Margaret Thatcher withdrew free school milk from children over seven in 1971, earning her (among her enemies) the nickname 'Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher'.[15][16][17]Shirley Williams abolished school milk for children under seven in 1977.[18][19]
Below are the three Secretaries of State responsible for the withdrawal of milk for schoolchildren, between 1968 and 1977:
| Minister | Tenure | Ages | Year | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edward Short | 1968–1970 | 11–18 | 1968 | Labour | ||
Margaret Thatcher | 1970–1974 | 7–11 | 1971 | Conservative | ||
Shirley Williams | 1976–1979 | 5–7 | 1977 | Labour | ||
See also
- United Kingdom home front during World War II
References
^ Kevin Jeffereys, "R. A. Butler, the Board of Education and the 1944 Education Act," History (1984) 69#227 pp 415–431.
^ Peter Gordon and Denis Lawton (2004). Dictionary of British Education. Routledge. pp. 74–76. ISBN 9781135783112..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ Brian Simon, The Politics of Educational Reform 1920-1940 (1974) ch 7 online
^ Ron G. Wallace, "The origins and authorship of the 1944 Education Act." History of education 10#.4 (1981): 283-290.
^ S. J. D. Green, "The 1944 Education Act: A Church-State Perspective." Parliamentary History 19#1 (2000): 148-164.
^ Peter Gosden, "Putting the Act together." History of Education 24#3 (1995): 195-207. online
^ Gary McCulloch, Educational reconstruction: The 1944 education act and the twenty-first century (Routledge, 2013).
^ State primary education had been free since the 1891 Education Act; even after 1944 certain older grammar schools - the Direct grant grammar schools - continued to charge fees but also admitted state pupils on scholarships
^ Paul Addison, The Road to 1945: British politics and the Second World War (1975). pp 237-38.
^ Brian Simon, "The 1944 Education Act: A Conservative Measure?," History of Education. (1986) 15#1 pp 31–43
^ Education Act 1944, Section 35
^ Secularists and rationalists opposed this and other provisions. See for example Brown (n.d.)
^ "Charley Junior's School Days". Nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
^ Hendrick, Harry (4 Oct 2003). Child Welfare: England 1872-1989. Taylor & Francis. p. 185. ISBN 9780203401965.
^ Smith, Rebecca (2010-08-08). "How Margaret Thatcher became known as 'Milk Snatcher'". Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
^ "Free nursery milk to stay, but costs set to be cut. 18 June 2012". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
^ Williams, Shirley (8 April 2013). "Shirley Williams: How Margaret Thatcher changed Britain". The Independent. Retrieved 16 February 2017.She was a fall guy for the Treasury’s expenditure cuts, for it was Anthony Barber, not Margaret Thatcher, who abolished free milk for school children; yet it was Margaret Thatcher who took the blame for it and was nicknamed Thatcher the Milk-Snatcher.
^ Redwood, John (8 August 2010). "Name the milk snatchers". John Redwood's Diary. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
[self-published source]
^ Whiteside, Chris (12 August 2010). "Milking an issue ..." Chris Whiteside's Blog. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
[self-published source]
Further reading
- Aldrich, Richard, Dennis Dean, and Peter Gordon. Education and policy in England in the twentieth century. (1991).
- Batteson, C. H. "The 1944 Education Act reconsidered." Educational Review 51.1 (1999): 5-15. DOI:10.1080/00131919997632
- Dunford, John, Paul Sharp, The Education System in England and Wales, London: Longman, 1990, 17–24.
- Gosden, Peter. "Putting the Act together." History of Education 24#3 (1995): 195-207. online
- Goldin, Claudia, "The Human Capital Century and American Leadership: Virtues of the Past," The Journal of Economic History, 2001, Volume 61, Number 2.
- Green, S. J. D. "The 1944 Education Act: A Church‐State Perspective." Parliamentary History 19#1 (2000): 148-164.
- Griggs, Clive. The TUC and Education Reform, 1926-1970 (Routledge, 2013).
- Hillman, Nicholas. "Public schools and the Fleming report of 1944: shunting the first-class carriage on to an immense siding?." History of Education 41#2 (2012): 235-255.
- Howard, Anthony. RAB: The Life of R.A. Butler (2013) ch 10. (originally published 1987)
- Jago, Michael. Rab Butler: The Best Prime Minister We Never Had? (2015) ch 9.
- Jeffereys, Kevin. "R. A. Butler, the Board of Education and the 1944 Education Act," History (1984) 69#227 pp 415–431.
- Ku, Hsiao-Yuh. "Fighting for social democracy: RH Tawney and educational reconstruction in the Second World War." Paedagogica Historica 52#3 (2016): 266-285.
- Ku, Hsiao-Yuh. "Education for liberal democracy: Fred Clarke and the 1944 Education Act." History of Education 42#5 (2013): 578-597.
- McCulloch, Gary. Educational reconstruction: The 1944 education act and the twenty-first century (Routledge, 2013).
- McCulloch, Gary. "British Labour Party education policy and comprehensive education: from Learning to Live to Circular 10/65." History of Education 45#2 (2016): 225-245. online
- Middleton, Nigel. "Lord Butler and the Education Act of 1944," British Journal of Educational Studies (1972) 20#2 pp 178–191
- Simon, Brian. "The 1944 Education Act: A Conservative Measure?," History of Education. (1986) 15#1 pp 31–43
- Wallace, Ron G. "The origins and authorship of the 1944 Education Act." History of Education 10.4 (1981): 283-290. DOI:10.1080/0046760810100405
External links
Change and continuity: reflections on the Butler act Speech to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1944 Education Act, given by the chief inspector of schools, David Bell
