Education in England:
a brief history

Introduction
1 600-1800 Beginnings
2 1800-1900 Towards a state system of education
3 1900-1944 The state system takes shape
4 1945-1978 Rise and fall of a public service
5 1979-1997 Thatcherism: the marketisation of education
6 1997-2007 The Blair decade: selection, privatisation and faith
Updates
Bibliography
Timeline
Glossary

first published June 1998
revised and updated May 2004
new version - completely rewritten and updated - April 2007

© copyright Derek Gillard 2007
Education in England: a brief history is my copyright. You are welcome to download it and print it for your own personal use, or for use in a school or other educational establishment, provided my name as the author is attached. But you may not publish it, upload it onto any other website, or sell it, without my permission.

Citations
You are welcome to cite this piece. If you do so, please acknowledge it thus:
Gillard D (2007) Education in England: a brief history www.dg.dial.pipex.com/history/

Comments or questions?
If you have any comments or questions about Education in England: a brief history, send me an email. I'd also be pleased to know if you spot any errors.

Pictures (except where otherwise indicated): ITN

Introduction

Education in England: a brief history explores the development of education in England from the earliest schools in the sixth century, through the establishment of the state education system in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to current concerns about government policies. It aims to set out clearly and concisely how we got where we are now.

As its name indicates, it covers England rather than the whole of the UK, though I have included occasional references, where relevant, to educational policy and provision in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Similarly, while it deals mainly with education in schools, some information about higher education is given where it is relevant to the development of education generally.

In addition to the six chapters there's also an updates page; a bibliography; a timeline of major education acts, reports and other key events; and a glossary of commonly used abbreviations and terms which I hope will be especially useful for non-UK readers.

Each web page includes chapter links (as in the left hand column on this page) and at the end of each page there are links to the previous and next chapters.

Where the title of a report, white paper or education act is shown as a link, the full text is available online.

Contents

1 600-1800 Beginnings

600-1100 Grammar schools and song schools
1100-1500 Institutional expansion and curriculum development
1500-1600 Reformation and Renaissance
1600-1800 Comenius and the concept of universal education

2 1800-1900 Towards a state system of education

1800-1860 Industrialisation: the need for mass education
1860-1900 A class-based system
The purposes of education

3 1900-1944 The state system takes shape

1900-1918 Laying the foundations
1918-1944 Between the wars
The 1944 Education Act

4 1945-1979 Rise and fall of a public service

1945-1963 Post-war reconstruction
1964-1970 Progressivism and expansion
1971-1979 Retrenchment

5 1979-1997 Thatcherism: the marketisation of education

1979-1988 Preparing to take control
The 1988 Education 'Reform' Act
1989-1997 John Major: more of the same

6 1997-2007 The Blair decade: selection, privatisation and faith

1997-2001 Destroying the comprehensive ideal
2001-2005 Diversity and faith
2005-2007 Third term extremism

Updates

A monthly list of developments from April 2007.

Bibliography

References to sources quoted.

Timeline

A chronological list of education acts, reports and other key developments.

Glossary

Alphabetical lists of commonly used abbreviations and terms, especially useful for non-UK readers.

Word count

The word count for Education in England is as follows:

See also my articles:

Never mind the evidence: Blair's obsession with faith schools
(May 2007) The Blair governments have sought to increase the number of schools controlled by churches and other religious groups despite a mass of evidence about the dangers of faith-based education and in the face of widespread professional, political and public concerns.

Axes to grind: the first five years of Blair's academies
(April 2007) Beset by problems and mired in criticism, Blair's academies programme is, to say the least, a very controversial experiment. This is the story so far.

Tricks of the trade: whatever happened to teacher professionalism?
(May 2005) In this history of teaching in England, I argue that teacher professionalism was a short-lived phenomenon which has been in decline for thirty years.

Food for thought: child nutrition, the school dinner and the food industry
(July 2003) The history of school meals from Manchester's free school dinners of 1879 to the debate about current government policy.

Glass in their snowballs: the faith schools debate
(December 2001) I survey the history of faith schools, assess the arguments for and against, and conclude that England needs more of them like a hole in the head.

King's Manor School: an experiment in privatisation?
(June 1999) The story of King's Manor School in Guildford, Surrey, which was the first state school in the UK to be handed over to a private company.

And finally ...

Don't forget that the full texts of some important education documents - including all six Hadow Reports, Plowden, Bullock, Elton and more - are freely available on this website in the Documents section.