Circular 10/65 was a

government circular A government circular is a written statement of government policy. It will often provide information, guidance, rules, and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters. See also *List of circulars {{short description, None This ...

issued in 1965 by the

Department of Education and Science An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(DES) requesting Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

to begin converting their secondary schools to the

Comprehensive System A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. For most of England and Wales, it marked the abolition of the old

grammar schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

and secondary moderns, and the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

examination. Circular 10/65 was the initiative of recently appointed Education Secretary

Anthony Crosland Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book '' The ...

; it is sometimes called the ''Crosland Circular''. It reflected the Labour government's view that the existing

Tripartite System The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and th ...

of education was flawed, and had to be replaced with

comprehensive schools A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

, which had been increasing in number over the previous sixteen years.

Drafting

During the Circular's drafting, there was a debate in Whitehall over how strongly worded the Circular ought to be. Secondary education was not under the direct control of the DES, and all changes had to be implemented by the local authorities. Those firmly in favour of the comprehensive system believed that the Circular should convert all schools into comprehensives. Those preferring to preserve the balance of power between the DES and LEAs thought that the word should be "request".

Release

Upon release in July 1965, the Circular used the word "request", but in practice, the DES used its financial muscle to weaken opposition to the change. Local authorities relied on the central government to pay for the large number of new schools made necessary by the

post-World War II baby boom The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The term '' baby boom'' is often used to refer to this particular boom, general ...

. In Circular 10/66, the DES refused to pay for any new secondary school unless it was a comprehensive. As a result, a number of LEAs otherwise supporting the tripartite system, such as

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

and Surrey, felt forced to go comprehensive.

Withdrawal

Within days of the election of a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

government in June 1970, the new education minister,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, replaced both Circulars with Circular 10/70, which allowed each authority to decide its own policy.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Circular 10 65 Comprehensive education Education in the United Kingdom 1965 in the United Kingdom 1965 in education