The Elementary Education Act 1870 commonly known as Forster's Education Act set the framework for schooling of all children over the age of 5 and under 13 in England and Wales. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Ordinances and Acts of the Parliament of England from 1642 to 1660, during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament to 1707 is a list of Acts of Parliament of the Parliament of Scotland. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years up to 1700. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years 1701 to 1800. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1707-1719 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1720-1739 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1740-1759 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1760-1779 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1780-1800 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1801-1819 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1820-1839 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1840-1859 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1860-1879 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1880-1899 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1900-1919 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1920-1939 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1940-1959 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1960-1979 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1980-1999 This is a list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 2000 to the present "Acts of the Scottish Parliament" redirects here For pre-Union acts see List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament to 1707. This is a list of Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, from its first session in 1921 to suspension in 1972. This is a list of Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly passed by that body from its establishment in 2000 until its suspension in 2002 and from its re-establishment in |align=left| Contemporary Welsh Law English Law Courts of England and Wales ---- National Assembly The is a list of Orders in Council for Northern Ireland which are Primary legislation for the province when it is being directly ruled from London and also for A Statutory Instrument ( SI) is the principal form in which delegated or Secondary legislation is made in Great Britain. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland It was drafted by William Forster, a Liberal MP and it was introduced on February 17 1870 after campaigning by the National Education League, although not entirely to their requirements. William Edward Forster, FRS ( July 11, 1818 &ndash April 6, 1886) was a British Industrialist, Philanthropist The Liberal Unionists were a British political party that split away from the Liberals in 1886 and had effectively merged with the Conservatives by the A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children free from religious control
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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 refers to a State -run Educational system usually free that aims to ensure that all children in society have at least a basic 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, through public money, to provide education for the poor and these churches did not want to lose that power.
The Act laid 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 twelve years old. Gladstonian Liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, William
The Act was passed partly in response to political factors (such as the need to educate the citizens recently enfranchised by the Reform Act of 1867 to vote wisely). The Reform Act 1867 (also known as the Second Reform Act, and formally titled the Representation of the People Act 1867) 30 & 31 Vict 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.
Principles
The 1870 Education Act declared that:
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. A Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century A borough is an Administrative division of various countries In principle the term borough designates a self-governing Township although in practice A board of education or a school Board or school committee is the title of the Board of directors of a school local School district 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. A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population If there was a substantial shortfall, a school board would be created. School boards were set up in England and Wales under the Elementary Education Act 1870 following campaigning by George Dixon, Joseph Chamberlain
These Boards were to provide elementary education for children aged 5-12 (inclusive)
Board Members were elected by the ratepayers. (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. It should be noted that 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 are a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one 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. See also Primary education An elementary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of Compulsory education known as elementary
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). A bylaw (sometimes also spelled by-law or byelaw) most commonly refers to a city or municipal law or ordinance passed under the authority of a Charter Table as a verb has two contradictory meanings one in use in the United States and the other in the remainder of the English-speaking world The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories 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.
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 very 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 ten became compulsory everywhere in England and Wales. In 1891 elementary schooling became free in both board and voluntary (church) schools.
Charles Dickens helped the process of the education act coming to power.
End of school boards
The school boards were abolished by the Balfour Education Act 1902 which replaced them with around 300 Local Education Authorities, by which time there were 5700 board schools (2. Education Act 1902 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting education in England and Wales. 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 which had implemented by-laws requiring attendance, compulsory attendance until the thirteenth birthday was exempted if a child (being over ten) 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. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. This required compulsory attendance from the start. It allowed post-elementary schools, but not public funding of them. There were around 1000 boards in Scotland.
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
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