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Elementary Education Act 1870
The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities with defined powers, authorized public money to improve existing schools, and tried to frame conditions attached to this aid so as to earn the goodwill of managers. It has long been seen as a milestone in educational development, but recent commentators have stressed that it brought neither free nor compulsory education, and its importance has thus tended to be diminished rather than increased.
The law was drafted by William Forster, a Liberal MP, and it was introduced on 17 February 1870 after campaigning by the National Education League, although not entirely to their requirements. In Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain, not yet a Member of Parliament, was a prominent campaigner on the issue. However, like many grassroots Liberals, he opposed the bill because it was open to the possibility of subsidising Church of England schools with local ratepayers' money.
It was one of the Elementary Education Acts 1870 to 1893.
The act was passed partly in response to political factors, such as the need to educate the citizens who were recently enfranchised by the Reform Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 102) to vote "wisely". It also came about due to demands for reform from industrialists, who feared that Britain's competitive status in world trade, manufacture and improvement was being threatened by the lack of an effective education system.[citation needed]
There were objections to the concept of universal education. One was that many people remained hostile to the idea of mass education. They claimed it would make labouring classes 'think' and thus attain class consciousness, possibly encouraging them to revolt. Others feared that handing children to a central authority could lead to indoctrination. Some poor people feared that mass education would equip people to defraud or mislead those without an education.[citation needed] Another reason was the vested interests of the church and other social groups. The churches were funded by the state with public money to provide education for the poor and did not want to lose that influence on youth.[citation needed]
It had been deduced from the United Kingdom Census 1861 that out of 4.3 million children of primary school age in England and Wales, 1 million were in purely voluntary (church) schools and 1.3 million were in state aided voluntary schools but 2 million had no schooling.
Lord Ripon (Lord President of the Council) and William Forster (Vice-President of the Council) were responsible for education in the Gladstone government of 1868–1874 and were keen to introduce a bill, as was Henry Bruce (Home Secretary). Although Gladstone was sympathetic to the argument that better education had helped the Prussians to their unexpected victory in the Austro-Prussian War (as he remarked, "Undoubtedly, the conduct of the campaign, on the German side, has given a marked triumph to the cause of systematic popular education"), he was a devout Anglican and did not want to see the existing Church of England schools absorbed into any kind of National Education system. Education was not a legislative priority after Irish Disestablishment and the First Irish Land Act. A bill was eventually introduced in the 1870 session although Gladstone was at least as concerned about the abolition of University Tests at the same time.
Local authorities were required to make returns of the number of children in their area and existing educational provision. That was done by comparing the results of a census of existing school places with the number of children of school age recorded in the census. If there was a shortfall, a school board for the district would be created.
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Elementary Education Act 1870
The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities with defined powers, authorized public money to improve existing schools, and tried to frame conditions attached to this aid so as to earn the goodwill of managers. It has long been seen as a milestone in educational development, but recent commentators have stressed that it brought neither free nor compulsory education, and its importance has thus tended to be diminished rather than increased.
The law was drafted by William Forster, a Liberal MP, and it was introduced on 17 February 1870 after campaigning by the National Education League, although not entirely to their requirements. In Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain, not yet a Member of Parliament, was a prominent campaigner on the issue. However, like many grassroots Liberals, he opposed the bill because it was open to the possibility of subsidising Church of England schools with local ratepayers' money.
It was one of the Elementary Education Acts 1870 to 1893.
The act was passed partly in response to political factors, such as the need to educate the citizens who were recently enfranchised by the Reform Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 102) to vote "wisely". It also came about due to demands for reform from industrialists, who feared that Britain's competitive status in world trade, manufacture and improvement was being threatened by the lack of an effective education system.[citation needed]
There were objections to the concept of universal education. One was that many people remained hostile to the idea of mass education. They claimed it would make labouring classes 'think' and thus attain class consciousness, possibly encouraging them to revolt. Others feared that handing children to a central authority could lead to indoctrination. Some poor people feared that mass education would equip people to defraud or mislead those without an education.[citation needed] Another reason was the vested interests of the church and other social groups. The churches were funded by the state with public money to provide education for the poor and did not want to lose that influence on youth.[citation needed]
It had been deduced from the United Kingdom Census 1861 that out of 4.3 million children of primary school age in England and Wales, 1 million were in purely voluntary (church) schools and 1.3 million were in state aided voluntary schools but 2 million had no schooling.
Lord Ripon (Lord President of the Council) and William Forster (Vice-President of the Council) were responsible for education in the Gladstone government of 1868–1874 and were keen to introduce a bill, as was Henry Bruce (Home Secretary). Although Gladstone was sympathetic to the argument that better education had helped the Prussians to their unexpected victory in the Austro-Prussian War (as he remarked, "Undoubtedly, the conduct of the campaign, on the German side, has given a marked triumph to the cause of systematic popular education"), he was a devout Anglican and did not want to see the existing Church of England schools absorbed into any kind of National Education system. Education was not a legislative priority after Irish Disestablishment and the First Irish Land Act. A bill was eventually introduced in the 1870 session although Gladstone was at least as concerned about the abolition of University Tests at the same time.
Local authorities were required to make returns of the number of children in their area and existing educational provision. That was done by comparing the results of a census of existing school places with the number of children of school age recorded in the census. If there was a shortfall, a school board for the district would be created.