Education (Scotland) Act 1872

{{Infobox UK legislation

|short_title = Education (Scotland) Act 1872This short title was conferred on this Act by [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQRVAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA401 section 80] of this Act.

|type = Act

|parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom

|long_title = An Act to amend and extend the provisions of the Law of Scotland on the subject of Education.

|year = 1872

|citation = 35 & 36 Vict. c. 62

|introduced_by =

|territorial_extent = Scotland

|si_made_date =

|si_laid_date =

|royal_assent = 6 August 1872

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|replaces =

|primary_legislation =

|eu_directives =

|amendments = Statute Law Revision Act 1883

|related_legislation = Elementary Education Act 1870 (E&W)

|repealing_legislation=

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|legislation_history =

|use_new_UK-LEG = yes

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The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 62) made elementary education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 mandatory in Scotland.{{cite book |last1=Corr |first1=Helen |title=People and Society in Scotland, II, 1830-1914, "An Exploration into Scottish Education" |date=1990 |publisher=John Donald |location=Edinburgh |isbn=0-859762114 |pages=291–298}}

The Act achieved a more thorough transfer of existing schools to a public system than the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75) in England. It created popularly elected school boards which undertook a significant building programme.{{cite book |last1=McCaffrey |first1=John |title=Scotland in the Nineteenth Century |date=1998 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=0333587537 |pages=65–66}} The Scottish Act remains controversial because it caused substantial harm to the Scottish Gaelic language.{{cite news |title=1872 Education Act's impact on Gaelic to be explored |work=BBC News |date=August 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-19076304 |access-date=13 January 2017 }}{{cite book |last=Robertson |first=Boyd |year=2001 |title=Gaelic: the Gaelic language in education in the UK |publisher=Mercator-Education |location=Leeuwarden |url=https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/3233/ }} At the time it was criticised because it did not deal with secondary education and because it did too little to safeguard the tradition of the parish schools in Scotland.{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=R. D. |title=Education and Opportunity in Victorian Scotland |date=1983 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=085224617X |pages=107–111}}

Background

In 1866 the government established the Argyll Commission, under Whig grandee George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, to look into the schooling system. It found that of 500,000 children in need of education 200,000 were receiving it under efficient conditions, 200,000 in schools of doubtful merit, without any inspection and 90,000 were receiving no education at all. Although this compared favourably with the situation in England, with 14% more children in education and with relatively low illiteracy rates of between 10 and 20%, similar to those in the best-educated nations such as those in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Scandinavia, the report was used as support for widespread reform. The result was the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act, based on that passed for England and Wales as the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), but providing a more comprehensive solution.

The Act

Under the act approximately 1,000 regional school boards were established{{cite book |first=L. |last=Patterson |chapter=Schools and schooling: 3. Mass education 1872–present |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Lynch |title=The Oxford Companion to Scottish History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-211696-7 |pages=566–9 }} and, unlike in England where they merely attempted to fill gaps in provision, immediately took over the schools of the old and new kirks and were able to begin to enforce attendance, rather than after the decade necessary in England. Some ragged and industrial schools requested to be taken over by the boards, while others continued as Sunday schools.{{cite book |first=Graeme |last=Morton |title=Ourselves and Others: Scotland 1832–1914 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0748620494 |page=181 }} All children aged from 5 to 13 years were to attend. Poverty was not accepted as an excuse and some help was supplied under the Poor laws. This was enforced by the School Attendance Committee, while the boards busied themselves with building to fill the gaps in provision. This resulted in a major programme that created large numbers of grand, purpose-built schools.{{cite book |author1-first=Olive |author1-last=Checkland |author2-first=Sydney |author2-last=Checkland |title=Industry and Ethos: Scotland, 1832–1914 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0748601023 |pages=112–13 }} Overall administration was in the hands of the Scotch (later Scottish) Education Department in London.{{Citation |title=Education records |journal=National Archives of Scotland |year=2006 |url=http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/education.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831123604/http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/education.asp |archive-date=31 August 2011 |url-status=dead }} Demand for places was high and for a generation after the act there was overcrowding in many classrooms, with up to 70 children being taught in one room. The emphasis on a set number of passes at exams also led to much learning by rote and the system of inspection led to even the weakest children being drilled with certain facts.

Effect on Gaelic

The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 effectively put an end to non-English medium education and repressed Scottish Gaelic medium education, with pupils being punished for speaking the language.{{cite web |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/18678/Language%20shift%20on%20Skye%20-%20printed%20version.pdf?sequence=2 |title=Gaelic Language Erosion and Revitalization on the Isle of Skye, Scotland |first1=Dick |last1=Smakman |first2=Cassandra |last2=Smith-Christmas |publisher=University of Leiden }} Pupils were physically punished if caught speaking in Gaelic and beaten again if they did not reveal the names of other students speaking Gaelic. The effect of the education act upon the Gaelic language has been described as "disastrous"{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ldowI6VgeMC&pg=PA568 |title=The Edinburgh history of the Scots language |first=Charles |last=Jones |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |date=1997 |page=568 |isbn=9780748607549 |access-date=22 November 2011 }} and by denying the value of Gaelic culture and language, contributed to destroying the self-respect of Gaelic communities. It was a continuation of a general policy (by both Scottish and, after 1707, British governments) which aimed at Anglicisation.

As a result of facing punishment and humiliation for speaking Gaelic, many parents decided not to pass on the language to their children, resulting in language shift.{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Dunbar |editor-first1=Deirdre |editor-last1=Fottrell |editor-first2=Bill |editor-last2=Bowring |chapter=The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages: Some Reflections from a Scottish Gaelic Perspective |title=Minority and Group Rights in the New Millennium |date=27 October 1999 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |page=117 |isbn=9041110135 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sI_S_FoMfIC&pg=PA117 |access-date=13 January 2017 }} Scottish Gaelic medium education was not established until the 1980s, and the impact of the Act is still being felt in Gaelic communities today.{{cite book |last1=Hunter |first1=James |title=On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands |date=3 July 2014 |publisher=Birlinn |isbn=9780857908346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZy8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT66 |access-date=15 January 2017 }}