1148
Death of Robert de Bethune, Bishop of Hereford, pioneer in education. At this
time parish priests were expected to teach reading and writing, often holding
classes in their churches.
1187
Oxford University founded.
1223
Cambridge University established. See 1318.
1318
Cambridge University (established 1223) given the right to confer degrees.
1385
English to be taught in the grammar schools in place of French.
1515
First free grammar school founded at Manchester
1535
Royal Injunctions made important changes in the universities. The study of
canon law was suppressed and of classical Greek, Latin and Hebrew, and
mathematics and medicine encouraged.
1560
Thomas Becon advocated establishing schools for girls in his “Catechism”,
a manual for teaching religion at home.
1570
Between 1550 and 1570 many of today's famous schools and colleges were
founded.
1583
University of Edinburgh founded (see 1562). See 1726
1657
A College established in Durham “for the better advancement of learning and
religion in those parts”.
1698
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge established, having originated from
parochial libraries introduced by Thomas Bray (1656-1730, clergyman); it
encouraged charity schools for children aged 7 to 11 (occasionally 14) for
their education based on the Bible and emphasising moral discipline and social
subordination so as to fit a man or woman for the station in life into which
he or she had been born.
1780
Re-awakening of interest and concern for the Charity and Sunday schools (see
1698), where, in addition to religious instruction, literacy and numeracy were
taught. See 1808.
1785
Sunday School Union founded. See 1811.
1789
First Sunday School opened by Hannah More (1754-1833, religious writer).
1811
National
Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the
Established Church set up by the Church of England to provide schools.
1814
the British and Foreign Schools Society was set up by non-conformists. See
1833.
1833
For the first time the Government allocated a grant of £20,000 towards
erecting Church of England schools (later extended to Catholic and
Non-Conformist schools), provided that at least half of the cost of the
building had been raised by private subscription.
1838
A Committee of the Privy Council established to oversee elementary education
and grant aid to voluntary schools. Dr James Kay was appointed secretary and
the first two school inspectors were appointed.
1840
Grammar School Act gave the Chancery Court power to alter the original
statutes of grammar schools to meet new needs.
1844
Ragged School Union and London School Mission formed to provide schooling for
those unable to pay the “school pence” demanded by voluntary schools.
1846
The Government took on most of the costs of training school teachers, although
the training colleges remained denominational. A pupil-teacher system was
adopted whereby, in schools approved by an inspector, children aged 13 years
could be apprenticed to a teacher for 5 years and, after passing an
examination, could attend a training college for three years.
1850
Public Libraries Act enabled town councils to establish public libraries and
stated that access to the libraries and museums should be free of all charge.
Extended to
Scotland and Ireland in 1853
1852
Manchester City opened the first free library (see 1850).
Report of the Royal Commission on Oxford University found
that the Colleges did not
provide properly for poor students, and that their fellows did not effectively
live a common life or devote themselves to learning and research. They did not
recommend relaxing the rule of celibacy for fellows.
University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne founded.
1861
Royal Commission (chairman, the Duke of Newcastle, 1811-64) on the Present
State of Popular Education in England reported that many elementary subjects
were badly taught; that attendance in the rural schools was extremely
irregular, many children not attending at all; most boys left school at the
age of ten or eleven; and there were insufficient places for all children in
the country. The Commission recommended the creation of local boards of
education with power to collect a school rate and to build schools. One result
of its recommendations was the establishment in 1862 of a system of payment
"by results" in which the amount of the grant paid by the government
to each school was decided by the attendance records of all children and the
number passing an annual examination in reading, writing and arithmetic
conducted by a school inspector. The system was modified in 1867 and abolished
in 1904.
1862
The Senate of London University decided by a single majority vote that its
powers to confer degrees on "all classes and denominations ... without
any distinction whatsoever" did not extend to females. Consequently
Elizabeth Garrett (1836-1917) was debarred from entering the University’s
examinations.
1864
Public Schools Act set out
conditions for the governance of such schools.
1868
Public Schools Act concerned with the governance of Eton, Winchester,
Charterhouse, Harrow, Rugby and Shrewsbury schools; and provided for the
adaptation of their original charters to meet new circumstances. See 1869.
The Taunton Commission on secondary education, recognising
the lack of grammar schools in many towns, recommended the establishment of
rate-aided secondary schools, and the need for secondary education for girls
State Medicine became one of the four subjects accepted for
the MD degree by Cambridge University.
1869
Girton College for women founded at Cambridge, first students entered in 1870.
1870
Education
Act (Forsters Act) attempted to
provide elementary education for all children; permitted school boards to be
set up where voluntary school places were insufficient; the boards could build
schools and compel attendance, but many boards did not use this power; fees of
a few pennies per week were charged, with exemption for poorer parents. This
was the first major education act See 1876.
London School Board set up to provide elementary schools in
London.
1872
Scottish Education Act, a major act, created the Scottish Board of Education
and local school boards; and made school attendance compulsory for children
aged between 5 and 13 years. See 1897.
1874
Endowed Schools Act transferred schools vested in the Endowed Schools
Commission to the Charity Commission.
Report of the Royal Commission on the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, (chairman, the Duke of Cleveland) recommended the
provision of more professors and lecturers and more and better equipped
laboratories in order to promote research and improve teaching. These
developments to be paid for from a Common University Fund maintained by
contributions from the colleges in proportion to their wealth. Fellows should
be allowed to marry.
London School of Medicine for Women founded
1876
Elementary
Education Act (Sandon’s Act) placed a duty on parents to ensure that their
children received elementary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic;
created school attendance committees, which could compel attendance, for
districts where there were no school boards; and the poor law guardians were
given permission to help with the payment of school fees. See 1880.
1876
Medical Act enabled every university or other body entitled to grant
qualifications for registration to grant such qualifications to all persons
without distinction of sex.
1878
London University accepted women for graduation in all faculties; shortly to
be followed by the Scottish and then the English provincial universities.
Oxford opened its degrees to women in 1920 and Cambridge in 1948. The first
four women to graduate in London were awarded their degrees in 1880. At
University College, London, co-educational teaching was available in all
faculties except medicine.
1880
Elementary
Education Act (Mundella’s Act)
extended the provisions of the 1876 act regarding compulsory school attendance
for children aged five to ten years.
1889
Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act provided for the
education to be paid for by the school board of blind and deaf-mute children
in approved voluntary institutions
1891
Elementary Education Act made grants available to all schools to enable them
to cease charging for basic elementary education.
1893
Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act raised the school leaving age to
11 years.
Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act enabled
the provision of special schools for blind and deaf children.
1895
The Royal Commission on Secondary Education,
(chairman, Lord Bryce, 1838-1922, jurist and statesman) laid the
foundations of the future administrative structure of secondary schools.
1898
University of London Act established a teaching university with a federal
constitution. The original schools were University College, King’s College,
Bedford College, Royal Holloway College, Royal College of Science, South
Eastern Agricultural College at Wye, the Central Technical College, the London
School of Economics and Political Science, and the ten London medical schools.
The university had eight faculties - Arts, Law, Medicine, Science, Theology,
Engineering, Music and Economics with Political Science. The university
retained its external work and examining role. Candidates from constituent
schools obtained “Internal” degrees and those studying elsewhere
“External” degrees.
1899
Board of Education Act set up the Board of Education in 1900 to co-ordinate
the work of higher grade elementary schools, county technical schools and
endowed grammar schools, taking over these responsibilities from the Privy
Council; and to provide for a register of teachers to be set up.
Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act (1893)
Amendment Act raised school leaving age to 12 years.
Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act
empowered local authorities to set up special schools and classes for these
children.
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