School boards
A reference in this entry in the Knowledge Base uses the formal name of an act of parliament which includes obsolete terminology.
School boards were set up in 1873 and abolished in 1918. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 created school boards in Scotland with a statutory duty to provide education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13.[1] School boards were to be elected within twelve months of the Act for every parish, royal burgh and parliamentary burgh. They were overseen by the Scotch (sic) Education Department and a Board of Education for Scotland, which was initially established for 3 years to advise the Scotch Education Department(SED) on the distribution of parliamentary grants, to determine the number of members of each local school board and decide if school boards of small parishes should be combined. The new local school boards were elected by owners and occupiers (including women) of property of the value of £4 or over.
School boards were responsible for managing the schools, including construction and maintenance of buildings, appointment of teachers and attendance of pupils. These schools could include ‘higher class public schools’ with university graduates as teachers, with 11 such burgh schools identified in the Act.[2] From 1878 they were permitted to exempt children over 8 from school for casual employment in agriculture or fisheries and given powers of compulsory purchase.[3] The school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1883 but there was provision between 1878 and 1901 for school boards to exempt children as young as 10 if they had achieved a certificate showing a minimum standard of education.[4] Provision for secondary education was not compulsory but if it was provided, school boards were required to set up secondary education committees by an SED circular of 1897.[5] From 1906 they were given powers to provide special education for children with disabilities up to age 16.[6]
School boards were given additional powers and responsibilities in 1908 including the power to incur expenses in providing facilities for school meals, providing transport for pupils or lodging where this was less expensive than transport costs, providing schoolbooks, stationery and other materials, contributing to costs for special education for children with disabilities up to age 16 and the power to prosecute parents for wilful neglect. School boards also had to provide continuation classes for those older than 14 including instruction in agriculture and domestic crafts.[7]
School boards were abolished by the Education (Scotland) Act 1918 and replaced by education authorities and school management committees.[8]
Records of school boards are held by local authority archives services.
Compilers: SCAN contributors (2000). Editor: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base entries
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)
Lindsay, Alison, ‘Sources for the Study of Education in the Scottish Record Office’ Scottish Archives 3 (1997), pp. 61-68
Watson, Gilbert ‘Education’ in Source book and history of administrative law in Scotland ed. by M. R. McLarty (Hodge, 1956), pp. 105-17
References
[1] Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c.62).
[2] Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c.62) s.62 & Sch.C.
[3] Education (Scotland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c.78) s.7(3), s.31.
[4] Education (Scotland) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c.56); Education (Scotland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c.78).
[5] National Records of Scotland GB234 ED44/1/4 Scotch Education Department circular 1897; Education (Scotland) Act 1908 (8 Edw. VII c.63) s.16(2)
[6] Education of Defective Children (Scotland) Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII c.10).
[7] Education (Scotland) Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7 c.63).
[8] Education (Scotland) Act 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. V c.48).