Education in England and Wales

Education in England and Wales has improved considerably over the early years of the twentieth century, but it still leaves much to be desired. The upper classes receive an excellent education in the private 'prep' and 'public' schools and at the universities, and this is also true of many wealthier middle class people. For the others, the local authority-run schools now provide free education for all up to the age of fourteen, but provision of education beyond elementary age, while improving, is still not particularly good, although the grammar schools do provide an excellent education. Education is compulsory up to the age of fourteen (this was raised from twelve by the 1918 Education Act; it was fixed at ten in 1876, eleven in 1891 and twelve in 1899).

Elementary Education: Elementary Schools are run by the local education authorities (counties and county boroughs), and financed partly by the local rates and partly by grants from central government. Most teaching in elementary schools still involves learning by rote, with the master or mistress constantly drilling his or her charges in their lessons. This is a legacy of the system, now thankfully defunct, whereby the success gained by a school's pupils in oral tests determined the amount of the grant received by the school. During the 1920s, there is a considerable drive for better handwriting, using the rounded unconnected 'script' that has generally replaced Victorian copperplate. Boys are now taught woodwork in all schools. At the age of eleven, children usually go on to secondary school.

Many elementary pupils, particularly in rural areas, are still taught in extremely primitive conditions. Many schools were built decades ago and have never been renovated, and the buildings are antiquated, overcrowded and poorly-ventilated, which leads to the rapid spread of illness. Toilet facilities are frequently appalling, and some rural schools still have only antique earth closets. The situation is not improved by the 'Geddes Axe' of 1922, which prevents any new school buildings from being constructed except under special circumstances. Medical services are, however, improving, with compulsory medical, optical and dental examinations for all pupils. Treatment is free and local authorities provide free spectacles for children who require them but whose parents cannot afford them. School nurses frequently tour schools checking the standards of cleanliness of pupils. The examinations are especially concerned with the detection of headlice and 'nits' (lice eggs). Washing with an infusion of quassia chips is often prescribed, and in extreme cases the child's head may be shaved.

Secondary Education: The best secondary schools are the Grammar Schools, which provide a traditional education based on that of the public schools. These schools are private and fee-paying (although their fees are nowhere near as high as those charged by the public schools), and many working class parents cannot afford them. However, most grammar schools are in receipt of government grants, in return for which they are required to have local education authority representatives on their boards of governors and to take at least 25 per cent scholarship pupils, who receive a free education if they can pass the entrance examination. In this way, it is now possible for intelligent but poor children to receive a good education and even go on to university. The Geddes Axe amends the scholarship system by introducing a sliding scale of payments depending on the parents' income, although the poorest children are still educated for free. Many grammar schools are single sex, but the number of mixed or co-educational schools is on the increase. Secondary schools are divided into forms, from first (eleven and twelve year-olds) to sixth. In the fifth form (sixteen), grammar school pupils take their Matriculation Examination. If they pass then they may enter the school's sixth form for an additional two years (lower sixth and upper sixth), either to prepare them for university entrance or to do a commercial course for entry into business. Many pupils who matriculate do not, however, stay into the sixth form, preferring (or being forced by their parents) to find a job.

Children whose parents are unable or unwilling to pay grammar school fees and who do not pass the scholarship examination go to local authority Central Schools, where they stay until the age of fourteen. These are a relatively new innovation and some rural districts still do not have them, the children staying at elementary school until they reach the school leaving age. The central schools provide a less academic education than the grammar schools.

Junior Technical Schools are established in some towns. They select children from elementary school and train them to enter industry. They are fee-paying, but as they are government grant-maintained there are free scholarship places available as at the grammar schools.

The Hadow Report, named after Sir Henry Hadow, Chairman of the Board of Education's Consultative Committee, is issued in 1926 and recommends sweeping changes to secondary education, although these are not instituted before the end of the decade.

Many parents still do not believe in education beyond elementary level, especially for girls, and will not pay grammar school fees even if they can afford them. This is especially true of lower middle class parents who have clawed their own way up from low-paid jobs by sheer hard work and expect their children to do the same.

Private Education: There are many private schools in England, catering for children whose families can afford to pay their often very high fees. The best-known of these are the Public Schools, large and often world-famous schools that educate the sons of the aristocracy, both British and foreign (they are particularly popular with the Indian princes), and increasingly also of the wealthier middle classes. Most of these are boarding schools, but a few, notably St Paul's and Merchant Taylors, are day schools, and some of the others also take day boys. The largest and most prestigious public schools are Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Marlborough and Westminster, whose campuses resemble universities. There are also a few girls' public schools, notably Roedean, but most daughters of aristocratic families are still educated privately at home. Many wealthy girls are sent to Finishing Schools abroad, especially in France and Switzerland, to train them to become sophisticated, cosmopolitan young ladies.

Public schools provide a good, solid education, once almost entirely classical, but now incorporating sciences and other modern subjects. As at the grammar schools, pupils matriculate at sixteen and enter the sixth form to prepare for university entrance. The vast majority of public school boys who go on to university go to Oxford and Cambridge. The public schools also place a heavy emphasis on sporting prowess, and games are taken very seriously. Many of the masters at these schools are still Anglican clergymen and religious education is an important part of the curriculum. Military training too is considered important (and many public school boys will become officers in the armed forces), and most schools have a contingent of the junior branch of the Officers' Training Corps (OTC; usually just referred to as 'the Corps'), membership of which is often compulsory. Day-to-day affairs at the schools are generally run by the prefects, sixth formers who are given the power to discipline other boys, including caning them (coporal punishment is used in all schools, private and state). 'Fagging', whereby junior boys act as servants to sixth formers, is also still widespread, and is designed to teach obedience and humility to boys who have always been used to getting their own way.

Boys are prepared for public school by Preparatory ('Prep') Schools, many of which are attached to public schools. Boys go to these when they are seven or eight years old and usually go on to public school (after passing an entrance examination) at the age of thirteen.

There are also many other smaller, cheaper and less prestigious private schools around the country, often occupying only a single small building and with a few dozen pupils and a handful of staff.

Public Examinations: The most important public examination is Matriculation (commonly known as 'matric', with the emphasis on the second syllable), taken at the age of sixteen by grammar school and private school pupils. Most pupils take six subjects (although they may take more), and must pass in five to pass the overall examination. These passes must include English, mathematics, a modern language (usually French or German), a science, and either history or geography. The pass marks are high and the exams are not easy.

If they pass Matriculation, pupils may enter the sixth form and study for their Highers, which are the examinations used for university entrance. They usually take these at the age of eighteen.

Industrial Schools and Reformatories: Troublesome youngsters are liable to be sent to government-run Industrial Schools if they are under fourteen or Reformatories if they are between fourteen and sixteen. These are secure boarding schools in which the youths are 'reformed' as well as educated. Youths can be kept in industrial schools until the age of sixteen and in reformatories until the age of nineteen.

Employment of Children: Under the 1918 Education Act, no child under fourteen may work in a mine or factory or as a street trader and no child under twelve may work at all. Children between twelve and fourteen may work for one hour before and one hour after school on weekdays, and a large number are employed by newsagents to deliver morning newspapers. In rural districts, the controversial 'half-time' system, whereby children are permitted to work on the land for half of each schoolday as long as they attend school for the other half, is permitted until July 1922 when it is finally abolished.

Teachers: Most teachers are still poorly paid, although the Burnham Committee established by the Board of Education in 1919 to look into teachers' salaries improves matters by establishing a national salary scale. Many elementary school teachers have come up by the 'pupil-teacher' route, whereby a promising pupil becomes an apprentice teacher at the age of fourteen and assists the teacher until he or she too gains enough experience to teach alone. Pupil-teachers still exist, especially in rural areas, but a number of teacher training colleges have now been founded, providing a full professional training for teachers, and increasing numbers of teachers training in them are university graduates. College-educated teachers take the examination for the teaching certificate at the end of their training. It is perfectly possible to get a teaching job without a certificate, but uncertificated teachers are paid less than certificated teachers and there is a certain amount of animosity between the two groups, as uncertificated teachers feel that they are looked down upon and discriminated against. Many teachers who have trained as pupil-teachers do take and pass the examination, however, which gives them an identical status to college-trained teachers. Almost all grammar school teachers are college-trained and certificated. Private schools may employ whomever they choose as teachers, and many are not trained teachers. Most masters in the public schools are graduates, usually of Oxford or Cambridge.

Teachers in all schools are commonly referred to as 'masters' or 'mistresses' and addressed as 'sir' or 'miss' by their pupils. The head of a school is the 'headmaster' or 'headmistress'. Headmistresses of mixed secondary schools are rare, and some masters refuse to serve under women. No education authority except for London County Council will employ married women as teachers, so more experienced female teachers still tend to fit into the 'spinster schoolmistress' stereotype. The LCC, however, even has maternity arrangements in place for its schoolmistresses, a very enlightened attitude for any employer in the 1920s. The Geddes Axe reduces teachers' salaries severely, and their salaries are reduced by another 15 per cent in 1929.

Universities: British universities are independent, self-governing bodies, but they receive substantial grants from central government to assist in their upkeep. University is expensive and few outside the upper classes can afford to go, although a variety of scholarships are available to assist poorer candidates. Conversely, most aristocratic young men who do not enter the armed forces (and even many who later do) do go to university, usually to Oxford or Cambridge, although many spend their time carousing and fail to graduate. Although theoretically one must pass an entrance examination to enter university, a titled or prominent father is usually a sure way to gain entrance however well one performs in one's Highers. Even fewer women go to university. In Britain, university is never referred to as 'college' or 'school'.

English first (Bachelor's) degrees take three years. Degrees are graded into various classes of honours and are referred to by their class (a first in classics, for example, or a third in mathematics).