The History of Grammar School Education in England - Essay Example

? THE HISTORY OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ENGLAND College: The History of Grammar School Education in England The medieval grammar schools in England have undergone a historical transformation that has seen it to the current established system of education. For the last three centuries, the educational system has been subject of social, cultural and political forces that have seen its structure change to accommodate the demands of the modern culture. In the 19th century, the educational system was constrained and only a few people could access the system. Currently, the modern education system has developed to become a public facility that is accessible to every person in the society. When religious bodies started education forum, they intended to form a training ground for Latin language that was the traditional language that linked people in religion. The purpose of this essay is to review the historical background of the grammar schools in England and the forces that led to the changes that have transformed this system. In the 19th century, education experienced numerous changes that are regarded as critical turning points in the history of education. This period began with the leadership of the Lord Chancellor who came with the motive of abolishing the traditional school system that only paid attention to the study of Greek and Latin. His feeling was that the system was unprogressive and immodest for a world that was quickly changing and experiencing forces that demanded an expansion of the education culture. In 1840, the Grammar School Act was put in place to allow the traditional school to teach other languages such as French other than the traditional languages (Miner, 2010, P.12). This wave of change was suppressed by other forces that were foreseen in the Grammar School Act. In this act, the head of the school had to approve a change in the educational structure within the institution and hence those who did not feel the necessity to revise their learning subjects were left at liberty to retain their old system. This freedom of the educational heads to decide the kind of curriculum to teach in their schools inhibited institutional transformation. By the year 1968, the number of grammar school in England was at a figure of 782, and an increase in these figures was anticipated. In this year, the Public Schools Act came into existence and formed a new era when regulation policies for institutions became evident (Miner, 2010, P. 32). This act was enacted by the British parliament that as a reformation strategy that would see the leading English boys’ schools that had been previously grown out of some traditional charity school. After this act, these schools were placed under the direct care of the government as public schools apart from a few schools such as St Pauls’ and Merchant Taylor schools that were able to prove their authenticity as private schools. This was a critical point in the history when the educational system became divided into public and private, which is a characteristic of the modern education system. Another markable transition came into place after the formulation of the Endowed Schools act in 1869 that sought to change the social aspect of the traditional school system. After the Public schools act launched a policy to control the nine leading boys' school, the Taunton commission was given the mandate to investigate the affairs of the 782 grammar schools that existed by that time. In their investigation, the commission gave a feedback report that noted the gender imbalance that existed in these schools and the low quality of education that was offered (Miner, 2010, P. 32). The two issues were identified as a weakness of the educational system and that these conditions did not match the demands of the current population. In this regard, the government sought to reform educational structures by imposing an act that would enhance quality and gender balance in these grammar schools. Consequently, the Endowed schools act was put in place and declared that some boys’ schools be converted into girls' schools to bridge the gender gap that existed in these institutions. This transformation marked a new era when the girl child would have access to formal education and engage in language learning. In essence, the theme of female empowerment and gender equality that is still evident in the modern education sector started way back in the 19th century. However, the Endowed schools act transformed the grammar schools from a male dominated system to a gender balanced institution. In the history of grammar schools, the 19th century is referred to as the period of the Victorian grammar schools, in which the education system experienced a series of social and political transformations (Miner, 2010, P. 40). One notable change in this period is the introduction of the paid school system that required that students who were admitted to the nine prominent schools pay a fee. At the same time, boys’ schools that were converted into girls' schools became known as high schools, which is the same term that is used to refer to secondary schools today. Notably, the parents became more sensitive to the quality of education and demanded a standardized formal education that could provide other courses other than the traditional languages, Greek and Latin. Although the schools remained traditional at the core, this demand for a modest education forced the government to introduce other languages such as French in an effort to improve the education system. The changes in the education sector seem to have emanated from numerous pressures within the social and economic systems the characterized this period. The industrial revolution was one of the elements of this period that demanded new education structures and pushed for mass education. At this time, various forms of money were evident and the economic structure had already started to take shape. Therefore, a drift was created between the people who were economically capable and others who were incapable or poor in the society, hence creating a difference in the power that each citizen possessed to fund their children for education. This led to the establishment of the industrial act that required that employees have some form of education to facilitate their working abilities (Miner, 2010, P. 51). To comply with this act, industries started to provide education for their employees in an effort to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. This period was characterized by varying forms of educational systems that were founded on different circumstances. One form of education that was common during this time was religious education that was mostly funded by missionaries and religious bodies in England. The Church of England regarded education a basic need for every child and was enthusiastic to take up the responsibility of extending educational systems to the disadvantaged in the society. Consequently, the church laid a plan to establish religious schools within each parish, where both religious teaching and formal education would be delivered to the students (Miner, 2010, P. 58). For instance, children from poor families were taught how to read the bible in the church and were included in Sunday schools which were some form of educational institutions. Resultantly, the children learnt to read in these institutions and sometimes ended up joining the formal education schools within these parishes. The monitorial schools were other form of schools that characterized the 19th century educational revolution. In this system of education, the students learnt how to read, write and work out arithmetic computations, which were characteristic of this century. One problem of these institutions was the enormous number of students who had to learn yet the educational resources was limited and inadequate for such populations. However, a modest method of teaching that was called the bell model of learning was established that allowed a single teacher to train hundreds of students at the same time (Miner, 2010, Pp. 62-64). Although these systems were inferior to the grammar education schools, there were considered superior especially in resolving the educational crises that had risen up during this period of industrialization. In addition, this system came to include practical courses such as tailoring and gardening for boys and cooking and baking for girls. In this perspective, this education system provided the students with both theoretical and practical aspects, and gender sensitivity was taken care of. Just like any other forms, the changes in the educational system were confronted with a lot of opposition. One person who came out in public to oppose changes in the educational system was Lord Eldon in the court of Chancery when he rejected institutional change that was happening in Leeds Grammar schools. He argued that, as Dr Johnson had defined, that grammar schools were only meant to teach learned languages and that endowments could not be utilized in these institutions to teach the new subjects that were emerging that time (Miner, 2010, P. 112). This kind of mentality prevailed until the year 1840 when the grammar schools liberated these institutions to teach modern curriculums. In public schools, the learning of other subjects such as geography and science were discouraged by fee-payment while grammar subjects such as French were taught for free in these institutions. These forces of opposition slowed down the process of educational change and suppressed any efforts that were geared towards a modern structure of education. More changes in the Grammar school in England were witnessed in the advent of the 20th century, a time when the demands of education had grown to another level. The first revolution came in 1907 after the Education (Administrative provisions) Act was founded and came with new implications for the grant-aided secondary schools. Through this law, the parliament required that all grant-aided institutions to remit at least 25% of student positions for free scholarship for students in public secondary schools (Miner, 2010, P. 131). The essence of this law was to provide ample spaces for the growing student population in public institutions and to put these institutions with a public liability policy. However, this was a beginning of a century that was meant to witness more academic transformation and yet more government regulations. The 20th century is referred to as the tripartite system of the grammar schools, a period that grammar school experienced a paradigm shift. In the tripartite system, two categories of schools of education exited; 1,200 state-funded grammar schools that either originated from the Victorian era or were created during the 20th century and 179 grammar schools that received direct grants and comprised of old schools only (Miner, 2010, P. 137). The latter system was governed by the headmasters conference which comprised of strong supporter of this new system of education that was seen as a quality driven system by many of its supporters. In the history of education in England, this is the period that is regarded as the period of the modern education structure. Various institutional changes were evidenced in this era and their essence was to define the organizational structure of these institutions. One institutional changed that occurred this time is the transition of the examination system from the school certificate and higher school certificate to the general certificate education. This marked the beginning of the ordinary (O-level) and advanced level (A-level) systems that were examined with the corresponding general certificate examination. At this time, only a few students from the secondary modern schools were allowed to take this exam and it was not until the year 1960 when all students could take the GCE exam (Miner, 2010, Pp. 123-150). These transitional changes in the institutional framework are regarded as the foundations of the university education that is comparable to the advance level exams that existed that time. Grammar schools received a preferential treatment in the tripartite era as compared to other institutions. In these institutions, the quality of education was maintained high and the system was adaptive and allowed students to advance after their basic level education. This empowerment of these institutions was seen as excising and partiality among students and a system that was unfair for a modest educational system. In fact, the students from public institutions and grammar schools dominated in the university and the student from the so called private schools could not attain this level of education. In 1965, this system that was seen as partial and ineffective was abolished to pave way for a new system that would accommodate all the students in universities (Miner, 2010, P. 193). Consequently, the education took a new shape and institutions were provided with equal chances of taking their students at the university level of education. The modern education systems in England have taken a new shape with the establishment of the white paper act in 2009, that stated was characterized by the slogan “Your children, your schools and our future” (Miner, 2010, P. 320). The implication of this slogan was that all schools, either public or private, adopt the best curriculum that would meet the academic, social and health needs of its students. Like Tony Blair had advocated, quality education was essential for the future of the national populations and that the fight against the traditional grammar schools was no longer relevant. Tony Blair perceived educational system as a tool that would help to shape the future of England and hence quality and not the institutional structure was crucial. However some dominant characteristics of the traditional educational system are still evident in the modern structure of education. For instance, catholic religious schools are allowed to impart knowledge that is relevant to the denomination, however much they may fall out of the idea of the education system. In short, the modern structure of education is a result of long historical revolution that has come along with a new idea of education, yet some concepts of the traditional system are still evident today. In conclusion, the grammar schools of education have been transformed by various waves of change that have emerged since the beginning of the 19th century. Initially, the educational structure was formed with the goal of teaching basic religious education and only two languages, Latin and Greek, were taught in these schools. These institutions were privately owned by the religious bodies and the government had no control over them. By the end of the 19th century, the institution came under government control after a series of parliamentary acts that aimed at modernizing the education system. In the same sequence of acts, the social aspect of these education systems was changed as the girl child was empowered to attend these institutions that were previously dominated by boys. In addition, tertiary education systems came into existence and were more common in the 20th century, when students from all institutions were accorded equal chances of accessing this advanced level of education. Up to date, contemporary grammar schools continue to thrive as the only full stated-funded schools in England. Bibliography Miner, N., 2010. The Grammar Schools of Medieval England: A.F Leach in Historiographical Perspective. London: Sage Publications. Read More