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Oct 1, 600
600-1800 Beginnings
597 St Augustine arrived in England.
598 First grammar school established at Canterbury.
600s More grammar schools established at Dorchester, Winchester, Hexham, Malmesbury, Lichfield, Hereford and Worcester.
700s Venerable Bede: Ecclesiastical History.
776 Alcuin established school at York.
866 Viking invasions began.
871 Alfred became king of Wessex and showed 'concern for education'.
1016 Canute became king of England: concerned about education of poor boys. -
Jan 1, 1382
Developments
1382 Winchester founded: independent school. 1440 Eton founded: independent school. 1486 Renaissance: Pico della Mirandola's De hominis dignitate. 1509 Henry VIII became king. 1515 Roger Ascham born (d. 1568): called for greater care and respect for education. 1517 Reformation: Luther's protest. 1535 Tyndale's English Bible placed in churches. 1540 Dissolution of the monasteries. 1541 Canterbury grammar school refounded. 1562 Elizabethan Statute of Artificers. 1632 Comenius: Didactica -
1811: Church schools
1811 National Society: CE organisation aimed to provide a school in every parish. -
1833 Government grantsbegan making annual grants to church schools
1833 Government began making annual grants to church schools. -
Five school acts passed
1841 Five School Sites Acts passed between 1841 and 1852 facilitated the purchase of land for school buildings and allowed for 'Parliamentary Grants for the Education of the Poor':
• School Sites Act 1841 (pdf 324kb)
• School Sites Act 1844 (pdf 136kb)
• School Sites Act 1849 (pdf 128kb)
• School Sites Act 1851 (pdf 60kb)
• School Sites Act 1852 (pdf 72kb) -
More grants
1846 Government began making annual grants to Baptist and Congregationalist schools.
1846 College of Preceptors.
1847 Government began making annual grants to Wesleyan Methodists and the Catholic Poor School Committee. -
1870 Elementary Education Act
1870 Elementary Education Act 1870: the 'Forster Act' introduced compulsory universal education for children aged 5-13 but left enforcement of attendance to school boards. -
School leaving age raised to 11.
1893 School leaving age raised to 11. -
School leaving age raised to 12
1899 School leaving age raised to 12. -
Mother's mother born
Mother's mother born. Started work in "the mill"( in Stockport ) as a child, finished school aged 12. Used to work in mill from 6am until 12 midday, the attend school from 1 to 4 ( 3 hours ) in the afternoon. -
1907 Education Act
1906 Dyke Report Questions Affecting Higher Elementary Schools(Board of Education Consultative Committee): made recommendations regarding the role, staffing and curriculum of Higher Elementary Schools.
1907 Elementary Code: improved quality and aims of elementary education.
1907 Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907: among other things, this Act introduced a scholarship/free place system for secondary education and required LEAs to provide medical inspections of elementary school childr -
School leaving age increased to age 14
1917 Lewis Report: proposed school leaving age of 14 with no exemptions, followed by attendance for at least 8 hours a week or 320 hours a year at day continuation classes up to age 18. -
1921: school leaving age officially raised to 14
1921 Education Act 1921: consolidated all previous laws relating to education and raised school leaving age to 14. -
Leaving age raised to 15
1936 Education Act 1936: raised school leaving age to 15 -
Prep for the 1944 Education Act
1943 White Paper Educational Reconstruction: formed the basis of the 1944 Education Act. -
Technical Schools ; a great missed opportunity in English Education
State funded secondary education was to be arranged into a structure containing three types of school, namely: grammar school, secondary technical school (sometimes described as "Technical Grammar" schools) and secondary modern school. Not all education authorities implemented the tripartite system. Many authorities maintained only two types of secondary school, the grammar and the secondary modern. -
1944 Education Act
1944 Education Act 1944 (pdf 1.8mb) the 'Butler Act' set the structure of the post-war system of state education.
1945 Education (Scotland) Act 1945 (pdf 1.5mb) the Scottish version of the 1944 Act. -
Suggestion for comprehensive schools
1945 Scotland's Advisory Council on Education recommended a comprehensive system for all secondary pupils aged 12 to 16 with a common core curriculum and a common leaving exam. -
Trade unions (socialism ) largely to blame
Trade Unions felt that technical education was their responsibility, mainly through the apprentice system. It is argued that they tried to undermine the technical school from the outset to preserve their own position. -
Uk's need
Secondary technical schools were designed to train children adept in mechanical and scientific subjects. The focus of the schools was on providing high academic standards in demanding subjects such as physics, chemistry, advanced mathematics, biology to create pupils that could become scientists, engineers and technicians. -
Technical Schools
In 1944 these schools existed only on paper, and had not yet been built. But whereas the other two branches of the tripartite system would be built over the next decade, the technical schools barely materialised. At their peak, only 2-3% of children attended one. As a result, in most LEA areas, pupils were not selected from the eleven plus as originally proposed, but from a separate, voluntary set of examinations taken at the age of 12 or 13. -
Reasons for failure
Technical schools were a modest success, given their limited resources and lack of government attention. Their curriculum was well shaped for dealing with real world employment, and had a solid practical edge. The schools had good links with industry and commerce.
Other than a simple lack of resources, three reasons have been proposed for the failure of the technical school. Trade Unions felt that technical -
School leaving age raised to 15
1947 School leaving age raised to 15. -
Recognition of Commonwealth Citizens
1948 British Nationality Act: gave Commonwealth citizens recognition as British subjects. -
Mother passed 11+
Mother passed 11+ but due to financial difficulties and mother being a widow could not afford to go to grammar school. Like many others, the problem of having to pay for uniform, books , sports kit, etc, was beyond the means of many poor families. -
GCE introduced
1951 General Certificate of Education (GCE) introduced. -
Mother passed 13+ and entrance to Art School.
Mother passed 13+, ( aged 13 ) a second opportunity to go to grammar school, but again financial constraints made it impossible.
Also gained admission to Art School, but the necessity to go to work to help her mother meant she couldn't go there either. Left school a year later at 14. -
Technology Colleges set up
1956 Colleges of Advanced Technology: selected technical and FE colleges were upgraded to this status. In the mid-1960s most of these became the 'new universities'. -
Opposition to vocational instruction
1958 Carr Report: employers overwhelmingly opposed to vocational instruction provided by schools. -
Crowther Report
1959 Crowther Report 15-18: recommended raising the school leaving age to 16 and the provision of further education for 15-18 year olds, questioned the value of day release provision for apprenticeships. -
Founding of Marple Hall School
The co-educational comprehensive school was originally Marple Hall County Grammar School, a grammar school, which was built in 1960 by Cheshire Education Committee on the demolished remains of Marple Hall, a manor house once owned by John Bradshaw who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England, and Charles Isherwood whose family also owned the house. The ruins of the house are still visible just outside the grounds of the school. These two figures give their names to the two main buildings -
Development of the CSE exam
1960 Beloe Report Secondary School Examinations other than the GCE: the report of a Committee appointed by the Secondary School Examinations Council which led to the introduction of the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) in 1965. -
1962 Education Act
1962 Education Act 1962 (pdf 240kb): required LEAs to provide students with grants for living costs and tuition fees; placed legal obligation on parents to ensure that children received a suitable education at school or otherwise - failure to comply could result in prosecution; made LEAs legally responsible for ensuring that pupils attended school. -
Department of Education and Science formed
1964 DES: The Ministry of Education was renamed the Department of Education and Science and the Minister became the Secretary of State. -
Middle Schools
1964 Education Act 1964 (pdf 64kb) the 'Boyle Act' allowed the creation of middle schools. -
Proposals for Comprehensivisation
1965 Circular 10/65: requested LEAs to submit proposals for comprehensivisation. (Withdrawn later by Circular 10/70). -
CSE exam introduced
1965 Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) introduced in England and Wales (see the 1960 Beloe Report). -
1966 Polytechnics established.
1966 Polytechnics established. -
Controversial Plowden Report
1967 Plowden Report Children and their Primary Schools: arguably the best known of all education reports, it promoted child-centred education and was much maligned by traditionalists. -
Newsom Report
1968 Newsom Report The Public Schools Commission: First Report: like Fleming in 1944, made recommendations about integrating private boarding schools into the state education system. -
Science students reducing in number
1968 Dainton Report Science and technology in higher education: prompted by reduction in numbers of science students. -
Middle schools / Technical Education
1968 Middle schools: the first opened in Bradford and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
1969 Haslegrave Report: promoted technical and business education. -
Comprehensivisation meant levelling out standards, rather than raising them
The promise of grammars for all rang increasingly hollow, as it became apparent that Comprehensivisation meant levelling out standards, rather than raising them. Opposition developed, mainly on a local level in protest of the treatment of a particular grammar school. Particularly strong opposition was noted in Bristol, after the LEA ended all grammar school education in 1964. -
1970-1979 Recession and disenchantment
1970-1979 Recession and disenchantment
June 1970 Ted Heath (Conservative)
June 1970 Margaret Thatcher
1970 Circular 10/70: Conservative government circular withdrawing Labour's circular 10/65. LEAs were no longer compelled to go comprehensive. (Withdrawn later by Circular 4/74). -
Reorganisation of the Education System
1969 Black Paper Two: The Crisis in Education edited by CB Cox and AE Dyson.
1970 Donnison Report The Public Schools Commission: Second Report: considered the part independent day schools and direct grant grammar schools might play in a state education system which was in the middle of comprehensive reorganisation. -
End of the Tripartite System
Debates over the Comprehensive system seemed about to become a major political issue, particularly with the election of a Conservative government in 1970. However many Tories were ambivalent on the issue. It is true that more grammar schools were closed under Margaret Thatcher than any other Education Secretary, but this was by now a local process, which was allowed to continue to avoid controversy. Her Circular 10/70 simply removed the compulsion of Circular 10/65, leaving it up to individual L -
Born
Born in Hyde, Manchester. -
1972 White Paper
1972 White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion: promoted diversification and rationalisation. -
1973 Education Act
1973 Education (Work Experience) Act 1973 (pdf 52kb): allowed LEAs to organise work experience for final year school students. -
1973 School leaving age raised to 16.
1973 School leaving age raised to 16. -
Changing of my comprehensive from a grammar school
The school was converted into the mixed sex Marple Hall County High School in September 1974 with a nine form entry. The joint headmaster, Derek J Saville, was appointed in September 1973. It was originally to be called Marple Hall County Comprehensive. From April 1974, the school was administered by Stockport MBC. The new school taught Russian in the sixth form and had 1900 boys and girls, with 450 in the sixth form. -
1974 Circular 4/74 reaffirmed the Labour government's intention to proceed with comprehensivisation.
1974 Circular 4/74 reaffirmed the Labour government's intention to proceed with comprehensivisation. -
1974 Swann Report
1974 Swann Report The flow into employment of scientists, engineers and technologists. -
Began school.
Began to attend Romiley Primary School, Romiley, Stockport. -
1975 Education Act
1975 Education Act 1975 amended the law relating to local education authority grants, awards to students at adult education colleges, and increased central government funding for aided and special agreement schools. -
Grammar School Grants
1975 Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations: indicated how grants for these schools were to be phased out. -
1976 Education Act
1976 Education Act 1976 (pdf 148kb) gave the Secretary of State the power to ask LEAs to plan for non-selective (ie comprehensive) secondary education (repealed by the Conservatives in 1979). -
Attack on Progressive Education
1976 Neville Bennett's paper Teaching styles and pupil progressattacked 'progressive' education. -
The Great Debate
1976 Jim Callaghan's Ruskin College speech began 'The Great Debate' about education. -
1978 Recommendation for making a GCSE exam.
1978 Waddell Report School Examinations: recommended a single exam at age 16 to replace the GCE O Level and CSE. (The first GCSE exams were taken in 1988). -
1979-1990 Thatcherism
1979-1990 Thatcherism: the marketisation of education
May 1979 Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
May 1979 Mark Carlisle
1979 Education Act 1979 (pdf 40kb) repealed Labour's 1976 Act - allowed LEAs to retain selective secondary schools. -
Plans for a YTS Scheme
1980 White Paper A new training initiative: a programme for actionset out the first plans for the Youth Training Scheme (YTS). -
Began to attend Marple Hall Comprehensive School
Began to attend Marple Hall Comprehensive School -
GCSEs began to be taught
O'levels officially finished in the summer of 1986.
I began to learn GCSE English Language, English Literature, Maths ( Compulsory Subjects )
and GCSE Physics, German, Art, History and Classical Studies. -
First teaching of the GCSE curriculum began
1986 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE): common 16+ exam system replaced GCE O Level and CSE. -
NCVQ established.
1986 National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) established.
1986 YTS extended to two years. -
1987 The National Curriculum
1987 The National Curriculum 5-16: the consultation document in which the government set out its plans for the introduction of the national curriculum and associated assessment procedures. -
First GCSE examinations took place
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GCSE exams
First GCSE exams carried out. Small coursework component in GCSE Art and Classical Studies but not in the other subjects. -
Began A Levels at North Area College Sixth Form College, Stockport
Began A Levels at North Area College Sixth Form College, Stockport
A Levels in Physics, Maths, German and General Studies, 2 years with an exam at the end, no coursework. -
Events in 1988
1988 Youth Training Guarantee: all 16 and 17 year olds were to be in education, employment or training.
1988 Black Report National Curriculum Task Group on Assessment and Testing (TGAT) (pdf 889kb): set out structure of tests and school league tables.
1988 Higginson Report Advancing A Levels: its recommendations for broadening the sixth form curriculum were rejected by the Thatcher government. -
1988 Education Reform Act
1988 Education Reform Act 1988 (pdf 45.9mb): major act establishing the National Curriculum, testing regime, Local Management of Schools (LMS) etc. -
A Level exams
A Level exams done. -
1990 Education (Student Loans) Act
1990 Education (Student Loans) Act 1990 (pdf 116kb): introduced 'top-up' loans for higher education students and so began the diminution of student grants. -
1991 Parents' Charter
1991 Parents' Charter: gave parents the right to information about schools and their performance (updated in 1994). -
Polytechnics
1991 Polytechnics: granted university status.
1991 White Paper on higher education: recommended expansion of student numbers. -
Higher National Diploma HND
Began HND in Civil Engineering, two year course at Stockport College of Further and Higher Education, Stockport. -
Creation of Ofsted
1992 Education (Schools) Act 1992 (pdf 4.2mb) new arrangements for the inspection of schools led to the creation of Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education). -
Completed HND in civil engineering.
Completed HND with distinction. -
Began B.Eng in Civil Engineering.
Began Bachelor of Engineering degree course in Civil Engineering at Salford University -
SEN
1994 Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs came into force. -
Modern Apprenticeships
1994 Modern Apprenticeships: pilot schemes announced.
1995 Modern Apprenticeships introduced. -
Graduation
Graduated from Bachelor of Engineering degree course in Civil Engineering at Salford University -
Investing in Young People
1997 Investing in Young People announced by DfEE. Its aim was to increase participation in post-16 education. -
Academies
2000 City academies: David Blunkett announced the government's intention to create a network of academies - effectively private schools paid for by the state. -
Middle Schools and Academies
2002 Education (Middle School) (England) Regulations 2002 (pdf 45kb): specified whether middle schools would be classified as either primary or secondary schools.
2002 City academies: the first 3 opened.
2002 Languages for all: languages for life: the government's strategy for the teaching of foreign languages. -
2003 White Paper
2003 White Paper The future of higher education (pdf 627kb): controversially proposed allowing universities to charge variable top-up fees and formed the basis of the 2004 Higher Education Act. -
social divisiveness
2003 Ofsted/Audit Commission Report School place planning: The influence of school place planning on school standards and social inclusion (pdf 98kb): warned of social divisiveness of parental choice. -
More Academies formed
2003 City academies: 9 more opened. -
variable top-up fees
2004 (January) MPs voted - by a small majority - to allow universities to charge variable top-up fees (see 2004 Higher Education Act). -
More Academies
2004 Academies (the 'City' had now been dropped): 5 more opened. -
15,000 fewer students
2006 University top-up fees: UCAS revealed that 15,000 fewer students had started university compared with the previous year. -
Finish school at 18?
2007 School leaving age: government announced its intention to raise the SLA to 18, possibly in 2013.
2007 Ofsted became 'The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills' (as decreed by the 2006 Education and Inspections Act). -
More calls for a later school leaving age
2007 GTC called for all national school tests for 7, 11 and 14 year olds to be scrapped.
2007 Green Paper Raising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16 (pdf 344kb): argued that all young people should stay in education or training up to the age of 18. -
Formation of Faith Schools
2007 Faith in the System: faith schools agreed to 'promote social cohesion'. -
51 more Academies
2008 Academies: 51 opened in September. -
Apprenticeships
2009 Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (pdf 1.0mb): created a statutory framework for apprenticeships. -
Planned rapid expansion of academies
2010 Academies Act 2010 (pdf 104kb): provided for massive and rapid expansion of academies.
2010 Budget cuts: government proposed cuts of up to £3.5bn in the schools budget. -
LEAS losing influence
2011 Education Act 2011 (pdf 700kb): increased schools' powers relating to pupil behaviour and exclusions, further diminished the role of local authorities, further expansion of academies etc. -
The English Baccalaureate
2011 HCEC Report The English Baccalaureate (pdf 725kb): a report by the House of Commons Education Committee. -
National Curriculum Reformulation
2013 DfE Revision of National Curriculum:
The National Curriculum in England: a framework document (pdf 1.8mb).
Reforming the national curriculum in England - equalities impact assessment (pdf 266kb).
Reforming the national curriculum in England - consultation summary (pdf 221kb).
Statutory Instrument: the draft order laid before Parliament (pdf 164kb). -
Changes in Further Education
1992 Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (pdf 1.6mb): removed FE and sixth form colleges from LEA control and established Further Education Funding Councils (FEFCs), unified the funding of higher education under the Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs), introduced competition for funding between institutions, abolished the Council for National Academic Awards. -
Many 2010 SATs boycotted
2010 SATs: a quarter of all primary schools boycotted the tests.
