Improvement of education

• 1889 - Welsh Intermediate Education Act

  Required local education boards to provide for technical (secondary) education for pupils between primary and further education. It predates what happens in England by 13 years!
• 1902 - Education Act

  School boards abolished and local authorities (councils) were given the powers to establish secondary education and provide voluntary schools
• 1906 - Education Act

  Provided free school meals for needy children.
• 1907 - Education (Administrative Provisions) Act

  Introduced medical inspections for pupils at schools.
• 1918 - Education Act (a.k.a. Fisher Education Act)

  Compulsory attendance at school until the age of 14. Also abolished fees for elementary schools where they were still demanded. Planned to provide part-time education up to 18 but this part was abandoned due to cuts (i.e. the Geddes Axe).
• 1936 - Education Act

  Raised the school leaving age to 15 but his did not happen until 1944.
• 1944 - Education Act

  Tri-partite education system introduced. Primary and secondary school was divided by the 11-plus exam. Pupils would attend either a grammar, technical, or secondary modern school.
• 1963 - Crowther Report

  Recommends raising the school leaving age to 16.
• 1963 - Robbins Report

  Called for the expansion of the number of universities and the conversion of colleges of higher education into polytechnics.
• 1965 - Certificate of Secondary Education

  Introduced to give qualifications to those pupils deemed unfit for the ordinary level or ‘O’ level exam at sixteen years.
• 1965 - Circular 10/65

  Asks local authorities to plan for the amalgamation of secondary schools into comprehen- sive schools (July) in a bid to abolish grammar schools.
• 1969 - Open University (OU)

  Degrees offered to all adults who could study at home receiving course materials through the post and via television (BBC2). By 2000, the OU had over 180,000 registered students.
• 1972 - Nursery provision

  Provision of nursery education announced for 90% of four year olds and 50% of three year olds within ten years.
• 1973 - School leaving age

  Raised to 16.
• 1980 - Education Act

  Provided financial support for some pupils in independent (private) schools.
• 1988 - Education Reform Act

  Established the National Curriculum fir schools. Schools were also given greater autonomy over their budgets.