The war disrupted life at school.
Education
• Government
concentrated on
shortage and poor
condition of
schools due to baby
boom and war
damage
Detail of classroom,
Ardoch Street,
Possilpark, 1957
Education
• Education Act
inherited from
coalition government in
1947 put into
operation
• Age at which children
could leave was raised
to 15 at a time when
there was a shortage
of workers (not 16
until 1971)
Education
• Led to dual system of secondary and grammar
schools children to be allocated as a result of ’11
plus’ exam
• Planned an increase in opportunities in higher
education
• System of grants to be put in place
• Government planned to build new schools
• By 1950,1176 new schools built
• 1948 further intervention in care of children as
local authorities required to appoint children’s
officers
Education:turned out to be socially
divisive, why did Labour allow this?
• Assessment:compared to provision being carried
out in social security and health, Labour did little
for the educational welfare of the working class
• Due to a lack of Grammar schools(20%) many
children were classified as non academic
• Secondary modern schools were looked upon as
inferior
• It was not until 1964 that the idea of
comprehensive schools for all abilities and social
backgrounds became a reality
Assessment:
• Marwick: ‘hands were tied’
by the fact that a major
act had just been passed
therefore could not bring
in another one
• RJ Cootes “ the forces of
education once let loose,
could not be contained”
• However surprising, no
attempt made to integrate
public schools into state
system