Three Important Changes In The History Of Education
Butler Act 1944
The Butler Act was one of the most important education acts to be put in place throughout the whole history of education. The 1944 Butler Act replaced almost all previous education legislation and set some strong foundations for the post war education system.
One of the main driving forces behind this act was the ideology that education should be about more opportunity and equal opportunities. Giving every child a more equal chance to succeed in the future, and to try to make the most of the individual’s talents.
The 1944 Act was undoubtedly an enormous achievement. In its 116 pages it effectively created an entire education system. It was all the more remarkable in view …show more content…
This took away the power of what and how the curriculum was taught from the teachers and allowed the government total control. This curriculum was made up of three core subjects and seven foundation subjects. Primary schools also had to teach religious education; the local authority determined the syllabus for this.
Written by a government ‘quango’ of subject specialists and with a substantial content base, teachers were hardly involved in the development of the national curriculum and felt they were deliverers of a curriculum rather than designers and pacesetters. The national curriculum had three main aims: the school curriculum had to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and to achieve; pupils across the country were entitled to the same broad curriculum; and the curriculum should aim to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life (DES 1988). Also introduced were compulsory national standard attainment tests (SATS) these were taken at the ages seven, eleven and fourteen. The results had to be published annually in league tables. This allowed the schools to be directly compared by the
Butler Act 1944
The Butler Act was one of the most important education acts to be put in place throughout the whole history of education. The 1944 Butler Act replaced almost all previous education legislation and set some strong foundations for the post war education system.
One of the main driving forces behind this act was the ideology that education should be about more opportunity and equal opportunities. Giving every child a more equal chance to succeed in the future, and to try to make the most of the individual’s talents.
The 1944 Act was undoubtedly an enormous achievement. In its 116 pages it effectively created an entire education system. It was all the more remarkable in view …show more content…
This took away the power of what and how the curriculum was taught from the teachers and allowed the government total control. This curriculum was made up of three core subjects and seven foundation subjects. Primary schools also had to teach religious education; the local authority determined the syllabus for this.
Written by a government ‘quango’ of subject specialists and with a substantial content base, teachers were hardly involved in the development of the national curriculum and felt they were deliverers of a curriculum rather than designers and pacesetters. The national curriculum had three main aims: the school curriculum had to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and to achieve; pupils across the country were entitled to the same broad curriculum; and the curriculum should aim to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life (DES 1988). Also introduced were compulsory national standard attainment tests (SATS) these were taken at the ages seven, eleven and fourteen. The results had to be published annually in league tables. This allowed the schools to be directly compared by the