Tripartite System (1944)

• Main Aims


  Selective education

  • students would receive a different education dependant on their ability
  • all students would sit a test at 11 years old (11+) to determine their ability and sift them into the right type of school
• Main Aims


  Equality of opportunity

  • All students in England and Wales got the opportunity to sit the 11+
  • Previous to 1944, the only students who could get a good academic education were those who could afford it.
• Details of the act

  Students took an IQ test at 11, the result of which determined which of the 3 types of schools they would attend:

  1. Grammar School
  2. Secondary Modern
  3. Technical School
• Grammar School


  • The top 20% went to grammar schools
  • received an academic education
  • got to sit exams
• Secondary Modern


  • The bottom 80% attended
  • Provided more basic education
  • Initially students didn't sit exams
• Technical Schools

  • Provided vocational education
  • Died out quickly
• Evaluation

  There were class inequalities: Grammar schools were mainly taken up by the middle class and secondary modern by the lower classes
• Evaluation


  The IQ test determined pupils futures at a very young age: There was no room for those who developed later in life
• Evaluation


  Some secondary modern schools had very low standards and lablled 80% of their students as failures
• Evaluation

  Gender Inequalities: In the early days of the IQ test girls had to get a higher score to pass than boys because it was thought that they matured earlier than boys