Blog 7 The end of an
era. Education changes direction.
The
period around the end of the second World War marked a change in
education as far as the working class was concerned. In our
discussions so far we have considered education as a single aspect.
The change came with a widening of issues connected with education. A
significant feature was the Report of the Committee on Public Schools
appointed by the President of the Board of Education. The Fleming
Report i
. We have not considered Public Schools so far in our discussions.
Rightly termed Private Schools, these along with the Universities
were the means by which the Senior Ruling Class educated, trained their
successor and maintain the dominant culture which pervaded society.
These were the young people who would take the leading positions in
society, in Government, in the Courts of Law, in the Administration
and Foreign Services and in the Professions. In this way they
maintained their control over society. The Commission came about as a
result of their request for such a commission. No major changes came
about as a result of the Commission. This request does indicate that
the Senior Ruling Class were aware that significant changes were
coming about.
The
McNair Report ii
rejected the view, expressed by those arguing for University Schools
of Education, that there is a distinction between Training and
Education. They defined training to be that part of the education of
a student which emphasises that he is preparing himself for a
particular profession. The studies that reveal that he is to be a
teacher rather than an engineer; or that he is to be an engineer
rather than a teacher. The argument was about whether there should be
University schools of education responsible for all students who were
seeking to be recognised as qualified teachers, or should there be a
joint board under which the University Training Departments and the
Training Colleges retained their own identities. The Report called
for reciprocality between the two systems to provide a unified
service. Another report iii
, the Percy Report, called for the development of higher
technological education. Lord Percy stated that the granting of
degrees was a distinguishing mark of Universities. This in relation
to the formation of newer bodies providing for higher education, thus
reflecting the type of arguments being made around the education and
training of teachers.
The
1944 Education Act iv
introduced important provisions. The Minister of Education was to be
responsible for the education of the people of England and Wales.
Local Education Committees were required to carry out their duties
under his control and direction. There was to be a three stage
process of continuous education with primary, secondary and further
education. Local Education Authorities (LEAs) were to be responsible also for nursery and special
schools. Tuition fees at maintained schools were forbidden and
arrangement were made for Church schools. The leaving age was set at
15, to be raised later, when circumstances warranted it, to 16. Also
referred to the future was the provision of part time education to
18. The Burnham committee, which fixed teachers salaries became
statutory. A duty was laid upon LEAs to contribute to the spiritual,
moral and physical development of the community by ensuring the
availability of efficient education throughout these stages to meet
these needs. Consideration was given to parents in that they had the
right to decide their children should not attend at religious
requirements, but they were given the duty of ensuring that every
child of compulsory school age should receive an education
appropriate to his/her age, ability and aptitude by regular attendance
at the school according to the wishes of the parent.
In
our review of Educational Documents from 1816 until 1944, we have
seen a gradual development as regards the education of the working
Class. Initially little regard was given to the needs of the children
of the working class to receive education. Where a need was
recognised it was in terms of the behavior and moral attitude of
these young people. The education that was proposed was in order to
benefit society by removing a source of irritation or worse. We have
seen that, over the years, this changed as the champions of industry
realised that there was a need, within industry, for a better
educated workforce. Again, the basis for educating the working class
was the needs of industry. This applied at all levels within
industry, managers, foremen and workers. Whilst the Ruling Class,
with its Public Schools and Grammar Schools leading to its
Universities, made provision for their own cultural development,
little was done regarding the cultural development of the whole
community. This does not mean that the working class was without
culture. They had there own culture which was often denigrated and
despised by the ruling class but was in fact of much greater social
value for the communities it served than was true of the ruling class
culture, based as it was on the competitive demands of the economic
system.
As
implied by the title of this blog, change was coming. Education was
beginning to widen out covering more aspects. As stated at the start
of my blogs, I am interested in ‘The purpose of Education’ and
the question of ‘Why do we teach?’, especially in reference to
the working class. I am also interested in these matters in terms of
education as it exists today. However, to fully investigate the
present, we need to follow through to see how education has
developed. In future blogs we will see that education has been a bit
of a football knocked too and fro as competing ideologies have sought
to fashion education according to their beliefs. At the centre of my
thinking is the belief that all our young people deserve respect and
have the right to be able to develop their own personalities,
abilities and aptitudes to the full. Education is about developing
the individual not fitting them for a role in an economic system. We
will examine to what extent that has been a consideration in
Education Policy in the periods following the end of World war Two.
Scribart 20.10.2020
iReport
of the Committee on Public Schools appointed by the President of the
Board of Education (Fleming Report) 1944 in Maclure Educational
Documents p 210 - 215
iiReport
of a committee appointed by the President of the Board of Education
to consider the Supply, Recruitment and Training of Teachers and
Youth Leader (McNair Report) in 1944 Maclure p 216 – 221
iiiReport
of the Special Committee on Higher Technological Education appointed
by the Minister of Education (The Percy Report) 1945 in Maclure p
226 - 229
ivEducation
Act 1944 in Maclure p 222 - 225
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