Secondary Modern School

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Wetherby High School, a typical former secondary modern school in Wetherby , West Yorkshire

The Secondary Modern School (Modern School ) was a type of school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the early 1970s. It was part of a tripartite school system and was intended to accommodate the majority of students. In most of the UK these schools have been replaced by comprehensive schools .

Origins

The Butler Education Act of 1944 created a system in which children were tested at the age of 11 and divided into the various types of school. Those who were seen as less gifted for academic or science-technical education entered the Secondary Modern School . There they received a wide-ranging, practice-oriented training. It focused on basic skills such as arithmetic, and manual and domestic skills such as carpentry and cooking. The Education Reform Act of 1988 gave all schools a uniform curriculum . Previously, the teaching program was a matter for each individual school.

The first of these schools arose through the conversion of around three thousand senior elementary schools that previously had to provide schooling up to the age of 14. Many more were built from the end of World War II through 1965 to provide universal secondary education.

Tripartite system

The 11-year-old exam, called Eleven Plus , was used to divide children into Grammar Schools and Secondary Modern Schools. In some regions there were also technical schools . The thesis that the test benefited middle-class children is controversial. However, there is strong evidence that grammar schools were attended predominantly by middle-class children and secondary modern schools were attended predominantly by lower-class children.

The baby boomer generation born between 1957 and 1970 was particularly hard hit because the grammar schools had not expanded their capacity in line with the growing number of students. This increased the requirements of the exam. Students who would have been admitted to the Grammar School in previous years have now been placed in the Secondary Modern School.

The Butler Education Act provided equal esteem for schools. Nevertheless, the Secondary Modern School was seen as a school for the unsuccessful. It prepared students for the Certificate of Secondary Education , but not for the more prestigious O level . Preparatory courses for this were set up in later years, but less than 10% of students attended. Secondary modern schools did not offer preparation for the A Level exam, which is a requirement for higher education. In 1963 only 318 graduates of the Secondary Modern School passed the A Level . None of them went to university.

Grammar schools generally had a higher budget per student than secondary modern schools. This applied to both material and teaching staff. The 1963 Newsom report reported that in some schools in poor areas of London, 15-year-old students were sitting in chairs designed for elementary school students. Staff turnover was high, and teaching continuity was minimal. Not all secondary modern schools were that bad, but in general this branch of school suffered from the lack of appreciation by the administration.

criticism

The most capable among the students of the Secondary Modern School were particularly disadvantaged by their equipment. The opportunities to offer them the best possible training were limited:

  • Unlike grammar schools, secondary modern schools were not designed to give students access to an academic education. According to their original concept, they should spare their students the degrading effects of external exams. Therefore, the students initially did not get access to the O-Level and A-Level exams. During the 1950s, some schools added O Level preparation to their programs. In general, however, the academic education at the Secondary Modern continued to enjoy less prestige than at the Grammar School.
  • Students who did well on the O level had difficulty qualifying for the A level . In the 1950s and early 1960s, grammar schools generally did not accept students who had passed a good O level and now wanted to study for the A level. Such pupils had to leave the school system and go to evening schools, for example.

In the 1960s, criticism of the limitations of the Secondary Modern School grew from parents of children of the baby boomer generation. The system became more permeable, and the students in the secondary modern schools who passed their O level achieved comparable results as the students in the grammar schools.

Replacement by community schools

The criticism led to calls for reforms. In the 1950s, attempts at community schools began. Several counties, including Leicestershire , abolished the Secondary Modern School entirely. In 1965, the Labor government at the time decreed the system of community schools with decree 10/65. In 1976, the Secondary Modern Schools were formally abolished - with the exception of a few regions and municipalities, including Kent , Dorset , Buckinghamshire , Stoke-on-Trent , Slough , the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Ripon .

Secondary Modern Schools Today

Some counties still use the selective system and have schools similar to the previous secondary modern schools. Colloquially, but not officially, these schools are referred to as high schools (in Medway and Trafford ), upper schools (in Buckinghamshire), or all-ability schools . They still exist in Northern Ireland, where they are called Secondary Schools . In Lincolnshire , Wirral , Kent , and Buckinghamshire , they are also known as Community Schools .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e R. A. Hart, M. Moro, JE Roberts: Date of birth, family background, and the 11 plus exam: short- and long-term consequences of the 1944 secondary education reforms in England and Wales. May 2012, pp. 6–25. ( Stirling Economics Discussion Paper. Retrieved October 19, 2013)
  2. ↑ C. Sumner: 1945-1965: The Long Road to Circular 10/65. Reflecting Education Volume 6, No. 1, April 2010, p. 97.
  3. ^ A b A. Sampson: Anatomy of Britain Today. Hodder and Stoughton, 1965, pp. 194-195.
  4. ^ A b J. Ford and Kegan Paul: Social Class and the Comprehensive School. Volume 233, Routeledge 2006, ISBN 0-415-17772-3 , pp. 4-16.
  5. ^ Val Brooks: The Role of External Examinations in the Making of Secondary Modern Schools in England 1945-65. In: History of Education. 37, 2008, pp. 447-467, doi: 10.1080 / 00467600600909892 .
  6. ^ J. Newsom: Half our future . Central Advisory Council for Education report . HM Stationery Office, London 1963.
  7. ^ Ministry of Education, New Secondary Education, 4, p. 46.
  8. ↑ D. Gillard: 1945-1960: Doubts and concerns. In: Us and Them: a history of pupil grouping policies in England's schools. 2008, accessed October 19, 2013.