The Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict c 40) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

Background

Elementary education had been compulsory in Wales, as in the rest of the United Kingdom, since the introduction of the Education Act in 1870. The Act required that all children attended school until the age of ten. As a result of that Act,

school boards A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

had been created to provide primary level education for all children. Following the success of the 1870 Act, reformers and educationists in Wales turned their attention to the next level of education.

Conception

The UK's 1880 Gladstone government appointed

Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare, (16 April 1815 – 25 February 1895), was a British Liberal Party politician, who served in government most notably as Home Secretary (1868–1873) and as Lord President of the Council. Background and ...

to chair a committee to study the state of intermediate and higher education in Wales. The committee recommendations were published in the Aberdare Report of 1881. The committee's two recommendations relating to intermediate education were: that existing grammar schools should be extended; and that new government-funded schools should be established where needed. These recommendations were the catalyst for the passage through

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of the ''Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889''. The Act received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on 12 August 1889. In the Act, its purpose is described thus: "The purpose of this Act is to make further provision for the intermediate and technical education of the inhabitants of Wales and the county of Monmouth".

Effect

The Act required the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and

county boroughs County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

of Wales and the county of Monmouth to provide

intermediate schools A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

and provide technical education. To this end, the school boards were abolished and in each county a joint education committee was put in place. The initial duty of these committees was to prepare plans for intermediate and technical education to be provided in their areas. By 1902 Wales had 95 intermediate schools, and over 10,000 pupils. However there was hardly anything specifically Welsh about the education they provided. According to the historian John Davies, 'they slavishly imitated the ethos and the curriculum of the English grammar schools.' They also ignored the intentions of the act by neglecting subjects relevant to the community and the local economy.John Davies, ''A History of Wales'', Penguin, 1994, , p 458

Replacement

The Act was repealed on the commencement of the Education Act 1944.

References

{{UK legislation 1889 in Wales Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Wales History of education in Wales Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament Secondary education in Wales United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1889 Welsh culture

Background

Conception

Effect

Replacement

See also

References