Education Act 1918
Act of Parliament | |
![]() 8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 39 | |
Territorial extent | England and Wales |
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Dates | |
Royal assent | 8 August 1918 |
Other legislation | |
Amends | |
Repeals/revokes |
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Amended by | |
Relates to | Education (Scotland) Act 1918 |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Education Act 1918 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
Education (Scotland) Act 1918 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
![]() 8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 48 | |
Territorial extent | Scotland |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 21 November 1918 |
Other legislation | |
Relates to | Education Act 1918 |
The Education Act 1918 (
, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, also played a key role in drawing up the Act. The Act applied only to England and Wales; a separate "Education (Scotland) Act 1918" applied for Scotland.This
Industrialists, landowners, and the Church of England resisted the Act, which raised the school leaving age from 12 to 14, made it much harder to employ children under 12, and put in place scholarships to fee-paying grammar schools.[1] The Act promised compulsory part-time education from 14 to 18, but this was never implemented because of the Geddes Axe (spending cuts) of 1921. Teachers’ pay was also cut at that time and again in the May Committee cuts of 1931.[1][2]
By the 1920s, the education of young children was of growing interest and concern to
These reports led to major changes in the structure of primary (known as "elementary" at the time) education. In particular, they resulted in separate and distinctive educational practice for children aged 5–7 (infants) and those aged 7–11 (juniors).
The reports recommended child-centred approaches and class sizes of no more than thirty. These recommendations marked a triumph of 'progressive' educational thought and practice over the more 'traditional' ideas and proved to be popular with many policy makers and teachers alike.
References
Further reading
- Barber, Michael The Making of the 1944 Education Act, Cassell 1994 ISBN 0-304-32661-5
- Jago, Michael Rab Butler: The Best Prime Minister We Never Had?, Biteback Publishing 2015 ISBN 978-1849549202
External links
- Text of the Education Act 1918 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- Digital Reproduction of the Original Act on the Parliamentary Archives catalogue