The organisation of public elementary education in York 1870 - 1902

Abstract

The period under review is divided into two halves, the dividing line being the year 1889, when the first York School Board was elected. Thus, the first part (1870 - 1888) is concerned purely with how Voluntary Schools provided elementary education in the city. It begins by showing how the provision of schools in 1870 was such that a School Board was not thought necessary, and how the Denominations increased the supply up to 1888. Much attention is given to the way in which these schools were financed, and to the difficulties which they met in raising sufficient funds. Chapter 3 deals with the problem of school attendance, describing in detail the measures taken by the School Attendance Committee, and the effect they had. The second part (1888 - 1902) opens by showing how a deficiency arose in accommodation, necessitating the formation of a School Board; the composition of that Board and subsequent ones is then summarised. In the next Chapter, details are given of how schools were provided, by both the School Board and Voluntary bodies, with some mention of alleged competition. Then follows a comparison of the way in which both types of school were financed, again underlining the difficulties of the Voluntary bodies and showing the advantage that lay with the School Board. Attention is then given to the continued activities of the School Attendance Committee, and the resulting success, to the gradual abolition of fees and to the raising of the school leaving age. The filial chapters deal more specifically with the activities of the School Board designed to widen the scope of education in York, including the introduction of scientific and practical subjects, evening schools, education of pupil-teachers and the beginning of recreational and educational visits. How some of these were affected by the Cockerton Judgment is also described. The dissertation concludes with an assessment of the work of the School Board and the Voluntary bodies, and notes the transfer of the whole system in 1903 to the new Education Committee,