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Education Act
Commonly known as "The Butler Act" after Conservative politician R.A. Butler. Established three stages of education: primary, secondary and further education. This act outlined a free compulsory schooling system for children from the age of 5 to 15 (changed to 16 in 1973). Free education to 18 for all who want it, with some employed young people accessing it on a part-time or day-release basis. -
The Crowther Report
A report on the education of 15-19 year-olds recommended raising the school leaving age to 16 years. The introduction of comprehensive schooling for all, a new exam below level to cater for a wider ability range, and a range of sixth form courses other than ‘A’ level. -
Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE)
Introduced for the next 40%, still leaving 40% without accreditation. This provided an alternative qualification to the more challenging GCE qualifications. -
Newsom Report
The report entitled ‘Half Our Future’ provided statistical data showing the variation in pupils’ reading test scores by school and by region, with schools ‘failing’ many pupils aged 13-16 of average and below average ability. Many secondary modern schools were seriously deficient, with proportionally more funding being channelled into the grammar schools. -
Circular 10/65
This marked the end of the 11 plus and the tripartite system. -
Plowden Report
A three year investigation into "primary education in all its aspects and the transition to secondary education". Every child is an individual, and develops at his/her own rate in three areas: physical; intellectual; emotional. Open plan primary schools were built in many areas. Free from the constraints of mental arithmetic, and verbal reasoning tests, many schools abandoned the formal teaching of spelling, times tables, etc. -
Circular 10/70
Withdrew the requirement for LEAs to become comprehensive. An attempt by Margaret Thatcher to reverse the events of Circular 10/65. -
School leaving age raised
School leaving age was raised to 16 from 15 and this left a number of school leavers who had left at the age of 15 to complete a further year of education by law. -
Sex Discrimination Act
Discrimination on the grounds of gender became illegal and this was being reflected in the curriculum. -
Race Relations Act
Discrimination on the grounds of race became illegal and this was being reflected in the curriculum. -
Special Education Act
This act followed the Warnock Report and it involved identifying special educational needs. It replaced the category of 'handicap' with 'special educational need' and it aimed to provide additional care to meet those needs. -
National Council for Vocational Qualification (NCVQ)
The NCVQ tried to promote national vocational qualifications by introducing a range of initiatives such as Technical & Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI), Youth OpportDirected Taskies Programmes (YOPs), etc. -
City Technology Colleges
These schools were introduced for 11 - 18 year olds and were partially funded by industry. They were allowed to select pupils based on their attitudes and if businesses didn't invest then they were directly funded by central government. -
Replacement of CSE and GCE
GCSE replaced the CSE and GCE qualifications. -
Education Reform Act
A National Curricululm was established stating the core subjects (Maths, English and Science) must be taught from age 5-16, and stipulating the other subjects (foundation subjects) to be taught. National testing (SATs) at 5, 7 and 11 in the core subjects, with published results to be used as one means of measuring school quality. -
OFSTED
The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) was established to monitor and report on quality in schools. This included school inspections and research into wider issues such as equality, teaching and learning in specific subjects. If schools were not providing 'value for money', they would be identified as ‘failing’ or ‘giving cause of concern' and put under ‘special measures’ and given targets for improvement. -
Department for Education (DFE)
Department of Education & Science (DES) became the Department for Education (DfE). -
I started primary school
I attended Wilkes Green Junior School. -
Teacher Training Agency (TTA)
Established to take control of the funding and quality of teacher training. -
Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Identified the need for a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) in every school and set up the SEN Tribunal for parental appeals. -
Disability Discrimination Act
Discrimination on the grounds of disability became illegal and this was being reflected in the curriculum. -
Start secondary school
I started my secondary school at Holyhead School. This was where I grew a passion for IT and this carried on throughout the rest of my academic career. -
Education Maintenence Allowance (EMA)
This was a government legislation introduced during the Blair decade. Pilot schemes of the Education Maintenence Allowance aimed at greater take-up of and achievement in post-16 education. Students could receive up to £30 a week for attending all of their lessons and receive bonus payments at the end of the term for consistent levels of attendance and for acheiving good results in the subjects. -
I started college
I attended Josiah Mason College and studied AS Levels in Maths, Physics, Computing and Business Studies. I received the Education Maintenence Allowance which was a bonus. -
I started my A2 Levels
I dropped Business Studies and carried on with Maths, Physics and Computing A2 levels at JMC. -
I started University
I attended Aston University and studied my undergraduate degree in Computing Science. I found it difficult at first getting used to lecture theatres full of over a hundred students because the course was very popular. -
The Children Act: Every Child Matters
The purpose of this act is to give children all the support that they need to stay safe and healthy, to provide children with out of school activities and to make a positive contribution and achieve good results. -
National Strategy for Secondary Education
This replaced the Key Stage 3 Strategy and it aimed to get the most out the children. This was achieved by one-to-one tuition for those that needed it, whole class teaching and Innovative use of ICT both in the classroom and at home. -
Graduation
I graduated from Aston University with a 2:1 in BSc (Honours) Computing Science. -
I started my PGCE course
I am attending the University of Wolverhampton to study the Secondary PGCE in Computer Science.
