Life in a Victorian School

Bob Mealing

• Publisher: Pitkin
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781841654157
• eBook ISBN:
  9780750956192
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Modern History
• Index: History

Education in Britain can be traced back to Roman times, but it was not until Victorian times that provision was made in England and Wales for every child to have an elementary school place, whatever their background.

After new buildings were constructed and changes made in educational administration, British schooling saw a revolution. Literacy rates soared, taking over from the limited success of Sunday Schools previously. This colourful and entertaining guide traces the development of schools in Britain in the 19th century, from the initial religious intervention in education to state intervention later on.

What was a pupil's day like in a Victorian school? How did teachers discipline children? Was schooling different for girls? Learn all about the school day, public schools and even the buildings children attended in this guide filled with contemporary photographs of students, teachers and their lives.

Look out for more Pitking guides on social history and heritage, and the 'Life in' series this title is a part of.

STATE INTERVENTION

In the early Victorian years the State played little part in elementary education. From 1833 a school building grant of £20,000 (the equivalent of around £1.5 million today) was divided between the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society, and was subsequently increased. In 1839 the first of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools (HMIs) were appointed, and from 1846 the State also gave financial support towards teacher training.

GOVERNMENT GRANTS

Until 1870 elementary schools were mainly provided by the voluntary organizations, supported by government grants, rising from £20,000 in 1833 to £669,000 by 1858 and leading to the appointment of a Royal Commission on Popular Education to investigate the effectiveness of the schools. From this came the 1862 Revised Code, which introduced a ‘payment by results’ system, making government grants to elementary schools dependent on the pupils’ attendance levels and their success in annual examinations conducted by the HMIs in reading, writing and arithmetic, plus needlework for the girls. These subjects were arranged in six standards, later seven, linking the child’s age to the anticipated level of attainment. For the first time, an academic ‘norm’ was established for elementary pupils related to age and based upon a national curriculum. In 1867 new grants were offered for history, grammar and geography, and over the years other subjects, ranging from elementary science to singing, drawing and object lessons, were added. But they did not replace the three Rs as the core grant-earning subjects until ‘payment by results’ ended in the 1890s.

From 1862 head teachers also had to maintain a logbook to record the daily and weekly happenings at the school. The aim was to achieve accountability and ‘value for money’ in elementary education. However, many pupils’ irregular attendance and the deficiencies in teaching and equipment frustrated the anticipated progress of the children.

HALF-TIME SCHOOLING

The 1833 Factory Act prohibited children under 9 years old from working in cotton and woollen mills; a system of half-time education was introduced, initially for children aged 9 to13, limiting their working day to 7 hours and stating that they were to attend school for 2 hours a day. From 1844, children under the age of 8 could not work in textile mills, and from ages 8 to 13 they could work for 6½ or 7 hours a day and attend school for 3 hours, either in the morning or in the afternoon. Unless that happened the child could not work. Later the legislation was extended to other factories and workshops, and the 1867 Factory and Workshops Regulation Acts allowed no child under 8 to be employed in a handicraft.

A NEED FOR MORE SCHOOLS

Nonetheless, by the late 1860s many voluntary schools had been opened and most working-class youngsters attended for at least part of their childhood. Only a minority, living in urban slums or remote country districts, were still slipping through the net. Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester were three towns where provision lagged behind need, while in London in the early 1870s it was estimated that about a quarter of a million extra school places were required. To meet these shortfalls and to create a national network of efficient elementary schools the 1870 Elementary Education Act was passed. ‘Had the state not intervened at this point,’ wrote one commentator, ‘… the progress of literacy would have been considerably slowed … simply because illiteracy was by that time concentrated in those classes and regions that were hardest to provide for under the voluntary system of education.’

   The Revised Code of 1862 laid down the school curriculum to be followed in all state-aided elementary schools. It was introduced by the Vice President of the Education Department, Robert Lowe.

48.	Standard I.	Standard II.	Standard III.	Standard IV.	Standard V.	Standard VI.
Reading –	Narrative in monosyllables.	One of the narratives next in order after monosyllables in an elememtary reading book used in the school.	A short paragraph from an elementary reading book used in the school.	A short paragraph from a more advanced reading book used in the school.	A few lines of poetry from a reading book used in the first class of the school.	A short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative.
Writing –	Form on black-board or slate, from dictation, letters, capital and small, manuscript.	Copy in manuscript character a line of print.	A sentence from the same paragraph, slowly read once, and then dictated in single words.	A sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from the same book, but not from the paragraph read.	A sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from a reading book used in the first class of the school.	Another short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative, slowly dictated once by a few words at a time.
Arithmetic –	Form on a blackboard or slate, from dictation, figures up to 20; name at sight figures up to 20; add and subtract figures up to 10, orally, from examples on blackboard.	A sum in simple addition or subtraction, and the multiplication table.	A sum in any simple rule as far as short division (inclusive).	A sum in compound rules (money).	A sum in compound rules (common weights and measures).	A sum in practice or bills of parcels.

SCHOOL BOARDS

Under the 1870 Act every child was to be provided with a school place in a building of reasonable quality and with a qualified head teacher. The voluntary bodies were allowed six months to agree to meet any deficiency reported after a national survey of school facilities was completed. Only if they were unable or unwilling to ‘fill the gaps’ were new rate-aided, non-sectarian schools to be established, under the aegis of a board elected by ratepayers. The boards could impose compulsory attendance for children aged between 5 and 10 within their area, and thereafter to 12 or 13 according to local bye-laws, unless the youngsters could gain exemption or were working as halftimers. In addition, a ‘conscience clause’ allowed parents to withdraw their children from religious instruction in both board and voluntary schools.

Many voluntary school supporters, particularly those connected with Anglican schools, resisted the creation of school boards. Nonconformists, though, often favoured them since they did not want their children to attend a church school. The Bishop of Lincoln, a typical opponent, declared that every effort should be made to preserve denominational schooling: ‘If the system of School Board teaching was spread widely he trembled for our civil and political institutions.’

Even when boards were elected time was needed to provide the extra school places required. In London, 98 temporary buildings were in use by July 1873 but more were still wanted. Many large towns resorted to rented accommodation.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Many early school buildings consisted of one big schoo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Important Dates
• An Elementary Education
• Schools for the Masses
• State Intervention
• School Buildings
• Teachers
• Pupils
• The School Day
• Suffer the Little Children
• Post-Elementary Schools
• The Public Schools
• Different For Girls
• Education’s Evolution
• Places to Visit
• Glossary