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Department of Education and Science
Department of Education and Science replaced the Ministry of Education which was created by the Education Act 1944 and based on the Board of Education, which had originated in 1899. In 1964 it was merged with the Ministry of Science. -
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Schools Council
Its aim, it said, was to
'secure a happier marriage than in the past between the actual work of the schools - which must constantly develop in response to new needs and new insights into the learning process - and the examinations which, in the process of assessing that work, can all too easily stand in the way of necessary innovation' (Schools Council 1965:21). -
Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE)
The GCE O level was aimed at the top 20% of ability range. The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), introduced in 1965, was aimed at the next twenty per cent. -
National Advisory Council report on the Training and Supply of Teachers
Antony Crosland, Secretary of State for Education and Science, launched ambitious emergency programme to expand the teacher training system. The aim was to reduce class sizes to 30 in secondary schools and 40 in primary schools: two million children, said Crosland, were in oversize classes. -
Plowden Report 'Children and their Primary Schools'
The essence of the report is summed up in Chapter 2: 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child' (Plowden 1967:7). Not just the child, but the individual child: Individual differences between children of the same age are so great that any class, however homogeneous it seems, must always be treated as a body of children needing individual and different attention (Plowden 1967:25). http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/plowden/ -
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Primary education in England
The Plowden Report advocated the abandonment of streaming in primary schools. During the period from the publication of the Report to when the HMI conducted its major national survey Primary education in England in 1978, only 4 per cent of nine-year-olds were in streamed classes. -
Mastery learning
Mastery learning is an instructional strategy & educational philosophy, first formally proposed by B.Bloom in 1968. Mastery maintains that students must achieve a level of mastery (e.g., 90% on a knowledge test) in prerequisite knowledge before moving forward to learn subsequent information. A student that does not achieve mastery is given additional support in learning until they have and can move onto the next stage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastery_learning -
Schools Council's Curriculum Bulletin No. 1 Mathematics in Primary Schools 3rd Edition
There was 'an explosion of curriculum reform', in the 1960's notably in the teaching of maths. The driving force behind the success of the 'new maths' was the HMI, Edith Biggs (1911-2002). She taught at Primary schools and school teachers alike. The Schools Council's Curriculum Bulletin No.1 Mathematics in Primary Schools, published 1965, had sold 165,000 copies by its 3rd edition in 1969. Biggs, a teacher of 'immense energy and skill', toured the country, leading workshops for young teachers. -
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Margaret Thatcher
M.Thatcher held the post of Secretary of State for Education for four years even though she showed little or no concern for education or children's welfare - even voting in 1961 (against official party policy) for the restoration of birching as a judicial corporal punishment. -
The organisation of secondary education supporting Grammar schools and halting further expansion of Comprehensives
M.Thatcher, Education Secretary issued a Circular 10/70 which argued that it was 'wrong to impose a uniform pattern of secondary organisation on local education authorities by legislation or other means' and that therefore local authorities would now be 'freer to determine the shape of secondary provision in their areas'. Where a particular pattern was working well, the Secretary of State did not wish 'to cause further change without good reason' (DES 1970b:1). -
National Union of Teachers annual conference
The conference voted overwhelmingly to support a campaign to bring all selective schools within the comprehensive system; and in June, the National Association of Head Teachers called for a fully comprehensive system of secondary education. -
Decimal Day
Decimalisation allowed less time to be spent on numerical calculations at school.In mathematics it meant discarding the teaching of mixed unit arithmetic(1), a topic that took up a significant part of the time allocated in primary schools to arithmetic/mathematics and 7% of total time allocated to all subjects.(2)
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_radix
(2)"Notes and Comments: The inevitable changes to decimal systems". New Scientist (223): 456. 23 February 1961. Retrieved 20 March 2011. -
Maidstone Road Infants School
Started at school -
School leaving age raised from 15 to 16
Staying on for another year resulted in students leaving school with better qualifications and were less likely to leave with none. Researches from the universities of Bath and Bristol found that the children of parents who had higher levels of schooling provided a better childhood experience and home environment and consequently their children did better in school. -
Metrication in the United Kingdom
The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC). Upon joining this obliged the UK to incorporate into domestic law all EEC directives, including the use of a prescribed International System (SI) - based set of units for many purposes within five years. SI is the modern form of the metric system, and is the most widely used system of measurement. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement built on seven base units that are ampere, kelvin, second, metre, kilogram, candela, mole. -
Causton school
Started at junior school -
Assessment of Performance Unit (APU)
The Department of Education and Science (DES) established the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) 'To promote the development of methods of assessing and monitoring the achievement of children at school, and to seek to identify the incidence of under-achievement' -
Yellow Book
School Education in England: problems and initiatives (known as the 'Yellow Book' because of the colour of its cover). Three topics stand out:the need to establish generally accepted principles for the composition of a 'core curriculum' for the secondary school; the need to make suitable provision for vocational elements within the curriculum; and the need to challenge the view that 'no one except teachers has any right to any say in what goes on in our schools' -
Education Act 1976
'Local education authorities shall, in the exercise & performance of their powers & duties relating to secondary education, have regard to the general principle that such education is to be provided only in schools where the arrangements for the admission of pupils are not based (wholly or partly) on selection by reference to ability or aptitude'. So clearly no selection but the Act has so many conditions and loopholes its effect was negligible. There was no legal requirement to end selection. -
Green Paper (Education in Schools: A Consultative Document)
'There is a wide gap between the world of education and the world of work...........In some schools the curriculum has been overloaded, so that the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, the building blocks of education, have been neglected'. The document listed five subjects that should be considered core for in the curriculum: English, mathematics, science, a modern language, and religious education http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/des1977/index.html -
Orwell High School
Started at Secondary school -
Education Act 1979
The 1979 Education Act contained just one provision: it repealed Labour's 1976 Act and gave back to local education authorities the right to select pupils for secondary education at the age of eleven. It thus marked the end of comprehensivisation as government policy. -
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'O' levels
Sat my 'O' levels including Maths and English. The General Certificate of Education (GCE) was aimed at the top twenty per cent of the ability range and had been introduced in 1951. -
Cockcroft Report
Report states teachers should:- enable pupils to develop 'the mathematical skills and understanding required for adult life, for employment and for further study and training';
- provide pupils with such mathematics as may be needed for the study of other subjects;
- help pupils to develop an 'appreciation and enjoyment of mathematics itself';
- make pupils aware that maths provides 'a powerful means of communication'
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'A' levels
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Green Paper
The 1984 Green Paper 'Parental Influence at School', described as 'A new framework for school government in England and Wales' LEA' (DES 1984:4). To achieve this, it proposed that the majority of governors of a school should normally be formed of parents elected by and from the parents of children attending the school in question (DES 1984:4). It set out government proposals regarding the distribution of powers and responsibilities between the LEA, the governing body and the head teacher. -
Education (No. 2) Act
This act was very important and introduced some profound changes. It diminished the powers of local education authorities and gave governing bodies much greater responsibility for the curriculum, discipline and staffing. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/61/contents -
Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Baker informs the House of Commons Education Select Committee that the Tory government would legislate to ensure that all children were taught mathematics and English, science, a foreign language, history, geography and technology; and that there would be tests, based on attainment targets, at ages seven, eleven and fourteen -
General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)
GCSE replaced O-Level (GCE Ordinary Level) and CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) qualifications. -
Education Reform Act
The Act was the most important since 1944. It included establishing a National Curriculum along with curriculum and assessment councils. It defined 3 'core subjects' (mathematics, English and science); 6 foundation subjects (history, geography, technology, music, art and physical education); plus a modern foreign language. It defined key stage 1: ages 5-7, key stage 2: ages 8-11, key stage 3: 12-14, and key stage 4: 15-16.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/40/contents. -
Standard Assessment Tasks (SATS)
Implementation of the National Curriculum testing. Key Stage 1 tests for 7 year olds. A year later in 1992, the second round of Key Stage 1 tests went ahead, and the first league tables were produced. -
Ofsted
School inspections to be conducted by privatised inspection teams overseen by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Inspectors would be required to report on
(a) the quality of the education provided by the school;
(b) the educational standards achieved in the school;
(c) whether the financial resources made available to the school were being managed efficiently; and
(d) the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school. -
Dearing Review
Key Stages 1-3,content of the curriculum should allow 20% of teaching to be 'for use at the discretion of the school'. Priority should be to support work in the basics of literacy, oracy & numeracy.
Key Stage 4,curriculum should meet the talents & aspirations of students. Mandatory subjects English,maths,science,PE,a foreign language, DT, & IT.There should 3 educational pathways in post-16 education & training: occupational (NVQs); vocational (academic & occupational); and, academic (A/AS). -
Department of Education created
The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of Her Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. The DfE is also responsible for women and equalities policy. -
New Rules about English and Maths GCSE
Students in England who fail to get a Grade C or above in GCSE maths and English will have to carry on studying the subjects at school or in higher education until they are 18. If you're doing an apprenticeship or another form of training, those classes will be scheduled into your timetable. However, resitting the exams is not required but is recommended as many employers require these as a minimum.
