Gathering up the Dreams:The making of the 1944 Education Act
in eight quotations
Sir Michael Barber
Department of Education
London
18 November 2014
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1
R.A. Butler
“ I should not object if you could introducea note of patriotism to the schools . . . tell
the children that Wolfe won Quebec.”
Churchill to ButlerJuly 1941
12
“So, stiff with cold and hungryfrom a fast of more than 12 hours,
I addressed the meeting.”
52Ronald Gould
President of NUT 1940
3
“ I find that some of my colleagues . . . have beenconsidering whether we should not . . . be bendingour minds to a study of the educational problems
which will arrive when the war is over.”
Maurice HolmesPermanent Secretary
November 1940 34
“Churchill began aggressivelyby claiming that the cat did more
for the war effort than I did.”
5
4R.A. ButlerMarch 1943
“I should start by congratulating the President of the Board of Education
on . . . this comprehensive measure which gathers up the dreams of all
educational reformists.”
5Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare
19 January 1944
6
5
“If this were the last vote I ever gave in my life,
I would give it in favourof this amendment.”
Nancy Astor28 March 1944
7
6
Quoted by Butlerin January 1944
Blessings BlessingsB
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“Ye fearful saints fresh courage takeThe clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall breakIn blessings on your head.”
7
The 1944 Education Act
. Secondary education for all
. Grammar schools and secondary moderns
. Settlement with the churches
. A national system, locally administered
. Curriculum left to the teachers
. 11-plus, O-Levels and A-Levels determine
9
progression and content
Flaws in the Act
. Independent schools
. School leaving age
. Technical schools
. Assumptions about intelligence
. Inputs alone
10
8
“Pray accept my congratulations.
You have . . . won a lasting place in the
history of British education.”
8
Churchill to Butler
July 1944
11
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