Education
Education
Prior to 1872 public education in Scotland was administered by the heritors and kirk session of a parish and the town councils of burghs.[1] Additional schools were set up by churches and charitable organisations while many families, who could afford to do so, paid for the services of private tutors. Industrial schools for homeless children and reformatory schools for children considered to be offenders were also established in the 19th century.[2] Churches, charitable institutions and others also sometimes provided education and training within their children’s homes.
The Education (Scotland) Act, 1872 set up a system of elected school boards to administer local schools.[3] School boards were usually set up for each parish and each royal and parliamentary burgh. The Act also established the Scotch Education Department (renamed Scottish Education Department in 1918 and based in London until 1939) as a central government authority which issued instructions to local school boards via circulars and the Scotch Code of Education.
From 1872, parents had a duty to ensure their children had elementary education from ages 5-13 (extended to age 14 in 1883).[4] While attendance at state school was the norm, this was not (and still is not) mandatory as long as parents provided the education to the required standard through other means. From 1878 until 1901 children aged 10-13 could be exempted from this requirement if they had a certificate attesting a minimum level of education.[5] In 1918 there was provision for the school leaving age to be raised to 15 but this was not implemented until 1936 and quickly repealed in 1939 before being raised to 15 in 1945.[6] The school leaving age was raised to 16 in 1972.[7]
Schools in 1872 were funded partly by local rates and partly by pupil fees. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established free elementary education but continued to permit fees to be charged for some or all classes in a limited number of schools.[8] The ability to charge fees in this limited way was repeated in subsequent legislation and has been used for classes such as individual instrumental tuition.[9]
The next major administrative change was the Education (Scotland) Act 1918 which abolished elected school boards and replaced them with elected education authorities in every county and five named burghs.[10] These education authorities were required to set up school management committees for the management of individual schools or groups of schools. The Act also enabled denominational schools to become part of the state educational system.[11]
Under the Local Authority (Scotland) Act, 1929, the responsibilities of the education authority were transferred to the four counties of cities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and to the county councils which became responsible for education in all burghs, large or small.[12] The Education (Scotland) Act 1945 placed a duty on education authorities to provide primary, secondary and further education and required the appointment of a Director of Education.[13] School management committees were replaced with education sub-committees or local education sub-committees by the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947.[14]
The Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1973, transferred the duties of county councils for education to regional and island councils in 1975.[15] The Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 transferred education to the new unitary councils and removed the obligation to appoint a Director of Education (ie: a single named chief officer).[16]
School records should be held in the local authority archives service which covers the area that the school was located within. Education authority records are likely to be in the successor local authority archives service which holds regional council or county council records for the geographic area, but copies may be held in other successor local authority archives services. National Records of Scotland holds the records of the Scottish Education Department (reference codes ED) which include inspection reports of schools (ED16-ED18, ED32, ED41), school statistical returns (ED21), leaving examination results (ED36), Departmental Circulars which advised and instructed schools (ED44), training of teachers (ED51) and other education matters.
Compilers: SCAN contributors (2000). Editor: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Education authorities (1918-1930)
Industrial Schools, Borstals and Young Offenders Institutions
Young offenders and children in the justice system
Care of children, young people and families
Bibliography
Anderson, R. D., Education and the Scottish people, 1750-1918 (Clarendon Press, 1995)
Anderson, Robert, Mark Freeman and Lindsay Paterson, The Edinburgh History of Education in Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 2015)
Bain, Andrew, Education in Stirlingshire from the Reformation to the Act of 1872 (University of London Press, 1965)
Craigie, James, A Bibliography of Scottish Education before 1872 (University of London Press/Scottish Council for Research in Education, 1970)
Haythornthwaite, J. A., N. C. Wilson and V. A. Batho, Scotland in the Nineteenth Century: an analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary Papers, 1800-1900 (Scolar Press, 1993)
Lindsay, Alison, ‘Sources for the Study of Education in the Scottish Record Office’ Scottish Archives 3 (1997), pp. 61-68
Marker, Willis B., ‘Sources for the history of Scottish teacher education in the twentieth century’, Scottish Archives 3 (1997), pp. 69-76
Moore, Lindy, ‘Researching the Education of Middle-Class Girls’ Scottish Archives, 3 (1997), pp. 77-86
Sinclair, Cecil, Tracing Scottish Local History (HMSO, 1994)
Watson, Gilbert ‘Education’ in Source book and history of administrative law in Scotland ed. by M. R. McLarty (Hodge, 1956), pp. 105-17
Withrington, Donald J., ‘Sources for Scottish Schooling before 1872: challenges and opportunities’ Scottish Archives 3 (1997), pp. 49-60
The National Records of Scotland website has information about education sources, including school inspection reports, government records and the records of educational bodies. < https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/education-records> [accessed 26 April 2024]
References
[1] Act for the Settling of Schools, 1696. The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, ed. by K.M. Brown and others (University of St Andrews, 2007-2021), 1696/9/144 <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1696/9/144> [accessed 6 August 2021]; Act to reform schools, 1803 (43 Geo. III c.54).
[2] Reformatory and Industrial Schools (Scotland) Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c.74).
[3] Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c.62).
[4] Education (Scotland) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c.56).
[5] Education (Scotland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c.78).
[6] Education (Scotland) Act, 1918 (8 Edw. VII c.63) s.14; Education (Scotland) Act 1936 (26 Geo. V & 1 Edw. VIII c.42); Education (Emergency) Scotland Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. VI c.112); Education (Scotland) Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. VI c.37) s.23.
[7] The Raising of the School Leaving Age (Scotland) Regulations 1972 (SI 1972 No 59 (S.6)).
[8] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c.50) s.88.
[9] Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.44) s.2.
[10] Education (Scotland) Act 1918 (8 Edw. VII c.63).
[11] Education (Scotland) Act 1918 (8 Edw. VII c.63) s.18.
[12] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo. V c.25).
[13] Education (Scotland) Act 1945 (8 &9 Geo. VI c.37).
[14] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1949 (10 & 11 Geo. VI c.43) s.106.
[15] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c.65) s.123.
[16] Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39) Sch.13 s.92 (17) (a).