Education Act 1944

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Introduction to Social Policy Part One The Education Act of 1944 introduced the Tripartite system to the education system of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Initially the new education system was developed by the conservatives but was later adopted by the right wing party of Margaret Thatcher. In general terms, this meant that schools were separated into ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ and was free but compulsory until the age of 15 unlike education previous to the Act. More specifically, the Tripartite system meant that secondary schools were split into three separate types; Grammar (academic), Technical (scientific and technical) and Modern (general). Moreover, the secondary school an individual was allocated was dependent upon the results…show more content…
It saw the introduction of a National Curriculum and school inspections for example. Nevertheless, The Plowden Report of 1967, was a landmark between the 1944 and 1988 Education Acts because it both publicised and legitimised educational practitioners’ discontent with the way that the 1944 Act had been interpreted and enforced. Although the report primarily focussed on primary education, much of the report highlighted the purpose of education and its direct relation to wider society, and in particular, the need to respond appropriately to each individual pupil’s interests, needs and abilities was and is relevant to all sectors of education. It saw the abolishment of the 11+ exam which ultimately freed primary schools from the constraints of needing to get good results in the exam. Moreover, the Plowden Report meant that comprehensive and middle schools were being established. However, although both primary and secondary school teachers supported the Plowden report, it ultimately received rejection when the Education Reform Act of 1988 was introduced. Yet, the Plowden Report was successful in instigating change, influencing changing attitudes towards the education process and clearly highlighted that the original 1944 Act was not working. (AC1, AC2, AC…show more content…
In addition, social renting may have increased as individuals may have preferred it to private renting due to costs and councils for example may have had more money to invest in properties. Alternatively, private renting decreased possibly as a result of more people buying as the Conservative Government in this time frame introduced mortgage tax relief which meant that tax could be claimed back from mortgages but not from tax spent on rental properties. Similarly, between 1971 and 1991, owner occupied premises increased by 17% which could be due to the fact that mortgages were again even easier to get and for the same reasons discussed previously. In addition, the conservative party in 1980 introduced ‘Right to Buy’ policy (RBT) which enabled council tenants to buy property which could have consequently increased ownership but also decreased both private and social renting as shown by the figures in the

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