The history of education in Wales from 1939 to the present covers the various types of education available in Wales from the Second World War to the present day. This period has seen an expansion of secondary and higher education, as well as the development of a more distinctive Welsh education system.
The Second World War had a disruptive effect on the education system and created an impetus for reform. Shortly after the war, a universal split between primary and secondary schools was established at 11 years. Secondary schools were initially segregated based on children's academic performance; this practice had ended in Wales by 1980. The school-leaving age was increased to 15 in 1947 and 16 in 1972. Further and higher education also expanded overtime. Formal Welsh-medium education was established beginning in 1939 and the Welsh language became a universal school subject from 1990. The administration of education in Wales was effected by the process of Welsh devolution.
Schooling World War II and preparation for reform
During World War II around 200,000 children were moved from London, Liverpool and the West Midlands of England to Wales as part of the evacuation scheme. This led to serious overcrowding in the education system. This was heightened by a suspension of new school building and a significant shortage of staff. Local authorities reached solutions such as using village halls as schools and rotating part-time classes. Within Wales the areas badly affected by air raids were Cardiff and Swansea, leading to the loss of various school buildings. At schools, free milk was provided and at a time of food shortages, the number of children using free school meals increased significantly. School inspection reports, which continued partially during the war years, give mixed evidence of how well schools were coping with the pressures placed on them. For instance a report on Reynoldston school commented that:The average attendance has decreased from 81.8[%] in 1927–28 to 39.8[%] in 1941–42 … The average attendance of the visiting [evacuee] pupils in 1941–42 was 41.3[%]: they come mainly from the areas of the L.C.C., Ealing and Swansea Education Authorities.Education formed part of the general desire for a fresh start after the war and social reform. In June 1941 the Board of Education asked educational organisations for their proposals on establishing a new education system in England and Wales. In Wales, the Federation of Education Committees in particular made detailed proposals which fairly closely resembled the result. In July 1943 the government published a reform proposal called Education Reconstruction. This document proposed a system of universal, compulsory education from age five to eighteen. The term elementary school would be abolished and children would instead attend primary school up to the age of 11. They would then be sent to one of multiple types of secondary schools of equal status. The school leaving age would be increased to fifteen immediately and sixteen as soon as practical. Teenagers aged 15 to 18 who did not stay at school would be required to attend a young person's college part-time. Meanwhile, Cyril Norwood wrote a report endorsing a variety of school types and argued that every child was naturally suited to one of three types of schools: grammar, modern or technical. The government proposals led to the Education Act 1944 (7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31).
Legacy of the Education Act 1944
The Education Act 1944 largely put the 1943 proposal into law, but not all of it was implemented. For instance, while the school leaving age was increased to 15 in 1947, the increase to 16 was indefinitely delayed. The introduction of compulsory part-time education up to the age of 18 also did not happen, as local authorities struggled to provide sufficient colleges. The 1944 act did not say what variety of school types should be created, but most local authorities chose the types recommended by Norwood. However, very few of the technical schools were opened. They faced various difficulties which were common to both England and Wales. Additionally in Wales, where academic secondary education had been seen as an ideal since the 19th century, there was a particular lack of respect for the vocational education technical schools offered. Equal status between different school types was also not established: secondary moderns were seen as a poor alternative to grammars, and the latter group received more than twice as much money for each child.
The grammar schools followed in the traditions of the pre-war secondary schools: for instance elaborate uniforms, strict discipline, a competitive spirit and a distinctive school brand. While they often claimed to be indifferent to exam results, in reality, that was usually their main focus. Meanwhile, the secondary modern school's reputation was primarily linked to the old elementary schools. Lessons focused on English, mathematics and practical skills; particularly for lower-ability pupils. The central government was resistant to any attempt by local authorities to introduce any system that might undermine grammar schools. In rural areas, a degree of integration often had to take place between the different school types for practical reasons. Bilateral schools which provided a segregated system within a single school were sometimes used as a compromise. Local authorities were generally resistant to the creation of state secondary schools intended to cater to particular religious groups and relatively few were established in Wales.
Boys' and girls' experiences varied in all kinds of secondary schools. Some areas of Wales had fewer places for girls and boys at grammar schools; there is evidence from England of girls having to perform better at the 11-plus to gain a place than boys. Girls' grammar schools offered a broad academic curriculum which was in theory equal to that offered to boys. They often had poorer facilities to boys' schools and especially lacked scientific equipment. A greater distinction was made between the sexes in secondary modern schools. The curriculum of these schools emphasised preparing boys for work and girls to be housewives. Practical lessons for girls focused on domestic skills and many of them were not given careers advice.
Under the 1944 act, local authorities were supposed to organise nursery schools for the early education of children under the age of five. However, with the postwar baby boom to accommodate, the priority of local authorities was catering for children of school age. There were only about 40 nursery schools in Wales by 1964, and fewer children in nursery classes in larger schools than there had been in 1939. Legally, primary education began at the latest on a child's fifth birthday. They might attend separate infant and junior schools, departments or a primary school that combined the infant and junior phases. Infant schools were almost always mixed-sex, with very few exceptions. In the first year of the infant phase (reception class) children did largely the same activities as nursery children while also being introduced to letters, numbers and certain other skills. Teaching methods for older children in the infant phase varied: some teachers used explicit instruction and others took a more informal approach.
At age 7 children moved into the junior phase. Junior schools were usually mixed sex but there were some of single sex. Here a disciplined form of teaching from the front of the class was the norm in English and mathematics. In other subjects such as history, geography, art and nature study, a more varied approach might be used. Most junior schools organised children into classes based on ability. The Hadow Report of 1931, which was an influence on junior schools in the postwar years, argued that the main priority of education at this age should be children's health and happiness. That goal was undermined by the need to get as many children as possible to pass the 11-plus. There was little teaching of art, physical education and nature study at many junior schools during this period. Primary school inspection reports often criticised insufficient focus on Welsh topics in lessons.
Early Welsh-medium schools
In 1939 the first Welsh-medium primary school was established independently of the state by the Urdd Gobaith Cymru in Aberystwyth. In some areas, English children evacuated to Welsh-speaking areas of Wales during the Second World War are known to have quickly become fluent in Welsh. However, the movement of workers, soldiers and children into rural Wales during that war generally had the effect of making those areas more English-speaking. This gave an impetus to the movement for Welsh language education. While the Education Act 1944 does not mention the Welsh language, parts of the act became a legal basis for Welsh-medium schools. The first state school of this type was opened in Llanelli in 1947 and there were ten such institutions within two years.
The 1948 school inspection report on Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth, the first formally Welsh-medium primary school, was very positive, commenting that teaching included "lively and varied activities with plenty of exercise for imagination and for creative work in language, in movement and in art" which taught children "treasures of Welsh lore, song and legend" and "later... knowledge of English language, literature, song and story, and... some understanding of the ways of peoples of other lands". In 1953 the government report The Place of Welsh and English in the Schools of Wales was published. At this time there were 14 Welsh medium primary schools with just over 1,000 pupils excluding some "naturally bilingual" schools in heavily Welsh-speaking areas. The report recommended that:"The main concern of the teacher should be to establish every child securely in the control of his mother tongue, Welsh or English. At the same time it is an essential part of the work of the schools in Wales to relate all children to the two cultures that exist here side by side... Consequently … the children of the whole of Wales … should be taught Welsh and English according to their ability to profit from such instruction."The number of Welsh-medium primary schools in predominantly Welsh-speaking areas steadily expanded over the following years. By 1970 there were 41 Welsh medium primary schools with about 5,000 pupils. The first bilingual and Welsh medium secondary schools were founded in 1956 and 1962 respectively. The growth of Welsh-medium secondary education was slower than primary. Alun Morgan says this was due to a focus on gaining qualifications in English and a feeling in some areas that a heavy emphasis on Welsh matters was too narrow for secondary schools. He also suggests a "strongly Welsh-speaking and Nonconformist" school inspectorate was finding it difficult to persuade "an increasingly English-speaking and more secular Wales" to follow its advice.
Later 20th-century development