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                          PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE 
                    RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 80
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           RECORDS RELATING TO TECHNICAL AND FURTHER EDUCATION
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SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT

During the nineteenth century the development of technical education
occurred largely at the instigation of the Science and Art Department of
the Board of Trade, formed in 1853 as an expanded version of the Department
of Practical Art. Three years later the Science and Art Department was
transferred to the Education Department but continued to function
independently. It was not fully absorbed until the formation of the Board
of Education in 1899.

The Science and Art Department was responsible for administering grant-aid
to art schools (from 1856) and to schools of design and technical schools
(from 1868). This system of 'South Kensington grants' encouraged the
teaching of science, initially through evening classes. From 1859 the
department examined science teachers but took no part in their training.
Until 1865 art school staff were required, in order to earn government
recognition, to teach elementary school children. Surviving correspondence
between the Board of Trade and schools of design is in BT 1. Minutes of
meetings of the Science and Art Department between 1852 and 1876, when they
were discontinued, are in ED 28. The more important files relating to the
Royal College of Art are with the establishment files of the Education
Departments in ED 23; ED 83 contains other art school files, with later
material (post 1944) in ED 167. ED 29 contains the Building Grant Files
(see below). Correspondence and papers relating to art and science
buildings are in WORK 17, with plans in WORK 33.

Technical education was considered by several Royal Commissions in the
latter part of last century. The Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction
and the Advancement of Science (Devonshire Commission), appointed in 1870
and producing 8 reports, examined the work of existing institutions giving
scientific instruction.  (HC 1871 xxiv; 1872 xxvi; 1873 xxviii; 1874 xxii,
xxviii).   A further Royal Commission on Technical Instruction (Samuelson
Commission) reported in 1884.  (HC 1882 xxvii; 1884 xxix, xxx, xxxi). This
investigative activity led in part to the Technical Instruction Act 1889,
which permitted local authorities to levy rates to aid technical or manual
instruction. The distribution of aid was controlled by technical
instruction committees of the recently formed county or county borough
councils. The new councils began to provide technical instruction both by
day and evening classes. Additional financial aid was provided by the Local
Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act 1890, which diverted 'whisky money' from
publicans to local authorities for assisting technical education or
relieving rates. It was administered through the Science and Art
Department. The bulk of the papers relating to the provisions stemming from
this Act has been destroyed; surviving files are in ED 46.


EDUCATION ACT 1902

By the end of the nineteenth century a variety of forms of continuative
education was available, whether technical, part-time, adult or further
education, provided by a variety of bodies. It included day-release,
evening schools, mechanics institutes, schools of art, polytechnics,
university extension lectures, tutorial classes and various forms of
working men's colleges and courses. With the passing of the Education Act
1902 changes were made in the conditions governing the award of
parliamentary grant to encourage the expansion of technical education.
Technical and continuative education became associated as Local Education
Authorities (LEAs) took over most of the evening continuation schools,
whether previously run by school boards, technical instruction committees
or private bodies. Codes of Regulations governing the recognition of
various forms of continuative, technical and further education were issued
by the Board of Education for grant purposes.

Payment of a special grant for practical instruction in domestic subjects
was first authorised under the Code of Regulations for Elementary Schools
in 1875 and foreshadowed similar arrangements for other practical subjects.
New provisions were introduced in 1906 awarding grants for each course of
instruction. Papers relating to the provision of these courses in both
elementary and secondary schools are in ED 70, with the LEA complementary
series of files in ED 96.


TRADE SCHOOLS AND VOCATIONAL COURSES

The need for preliminary technical education for young persons in
preparation for employment in particular trades had been accepted from the
end of the nineteenth century. These 'Trade Schools', which provided
courses for boys and girls for 2 or 3 years after leaving public elementary
schools, were recognised by the Board of Education in 1913 with the
promulgation of Regulations for Junior Technical Schools. These Regulations
were subsequently incorporated in the Regulations for Technical Schools,
Schools of Art and other forms of provision for Further Education in 1914
and succeeding Regulations until the Education Act 1944 established the
schools as an integral part of secondary education. Files on these schools
are in ED 98.

The provision of technical education by means of day or evening classes or
part-time or full-time vocational courses was regarded, for the purposes
of the Regulations for Technical Schools 1905 and subsequent Regulations
for Further Education 1926, as constituting a 'school' (until the term was
redefined by the 1944 Act).  111 such 'schools' existed by 1912 and files
on them are in ED 82. Some subsequently sought recognition as Junior
Technical Schools (ED 98).


TECHNICAL COLLEGES

Higher technical education involving prolonged courses of study was
encouraged by the provision of a fixed annual grant to technical
institutions. The work and organisation of those institutes, subsequently
described as Technical Colleges (i.e. Colleges for Further Education as
defined in the Regulations for Further Education 1926 and 1934), are
reflected in the Technical College Files (ED 90). These papers also contain
information on Grouped Course Certificates, a scheme initiated in 1907-8,
and on applications for approval of National Certificate courses, which
replaced the earlier scheme after the First World War. ED 182 contains the
records of Joint Committees which administered National Certificate and
National Diploma courses until the 1980s.

EVENING INSTITUTES

The merging of evening continuation and evening technical school provision
after 1902 resulted in LEAs and other managing bodies providing, within the
terms of the Regulations, part-time day and evening courses, including day
continuation classes and courses at works schools and elsewhere in a
variety of vocational, domestic, art and general subjects. The files on
these Evening Institutes, as they became known after 1926, are in ED 41;
few papers survive prior to 1918.


DAY CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

The Education Act 1918 (Fisher Act) and the Education Act 1921 provided for
compulsory part-time attendance at Day Continuation schools by school
leavers between 14 and 18. The system only ever came into partial operation
and attendance reverted to the voluntary system as practised before 1918.
Information on the provision, organisation and curriculum of the schools,
together with correspondence and minutes on various local arrangements, is
on the Day Continuation Schools Files (ED 75).


TUTORIAL CLASSES

Tutorial classes evolved from the fusion of interests of the Workers'
Educational Association and the University of Oxford in a movement to
expand facilities for adult liberal education. The classes were recognised
by the Board of Education in Regulations of 1908/9 and grant-aided. Papers
relating to such recognition before 1924 have been destroyed; ED 73
contains the subsequent files, including material on university extension
courses and lectures- Files on vacation courses, designed as short
residential courses of one or two weeks' duration, provided by 'Responsible
Bodies' and subject to the same regulations and conditions as tutorial
classes, are in ED 76.

Part of this same university extension movement led to the establishment
of residential facilities. The first such college to provide a one year
course of liberal adult education was Ruskin College, Oxford, founded in
1899 to promote higher education among working men and women. Direct grants
to these colleges began after the First World War, and were subsequently
embodied in the Adult Education Regulations 1924 and Further Education
Grant Regulations 1946. Surviving files are in ED 68, though few are extant
prior to 1930.


INSPECTORS' REPORTS

Some of Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) reports on various technical
schools, further education classes and colleges appear on the files of the
individual institutions, but in general inspectors' reports for further
educational establishments are in ED 114.


DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 1944

Major changes occurred in the organisation of technical education after the
Second World War. Junior technical schools, commercial schools and schools
of art were fully integrated into the revised system of secondary
education. At the further education level, ED 155 and ED 46 contain papers
on local authority schemes for the establishment of county colleges.


The need for greater collaboration between the universities and local
authorities was acknowledged by the Percy Committee on Higher Technological
Education (papers ED 46/295-6) and resulted in the establishment of
national colleges providing training in specialised fields, developed from
within existing institutions, with support from particular industries. ED
165 contains files on the policy decisions leading to the establishment of
these colleges and recording their development and progress.

Until 1956 colleges offering further education were organised on a three
tier system of regional, area and local colleges, with titles varying
according to local preference and tradition. The white paper of that year
on technical education (Cmd 9703) proposed a four tier system, with
colleges of advanced technology. In 1963 after the report of the Robbins
Committee on Higher Education (papers in ED 116, ED 117 and ED 118; HC
1962-3 xi-xiv) these colleges, already removed from LEA control and
financed by direct grant, were upgraded to technological universities, with
degree-awarding status. ED 168 contains the files on Major Establishments.
Papers of other categories of college in the technical field are arranged
as follows ED 166 Major Direct Grant Establishments; ED 167 Major Art
Establishments; ED 174 Agricultural Education Files. Exceptionally, the
papers of the National Training College of Domestic Subjects (ED
164) have been presented to the Public Record Office. The College was
founded in 1873 to promote the diffusion of a knowledge of cookery, became
a limited company in 1888, extended its range of domestic subjects in 1902
and closed through lack of funds in 1961.

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APPENDIX: LIST OF CLASSES

I   [<Records Relating to Particular Schools or Colleges>]

<Technical Institutions and Classes>

1.  Science and Art Department: Building Grant Files,  1860-1904  (ED  29)
     - building grant applications; works; plans

2.  Practical Instruction Centre Files, 1906-1957 (ED 70)
     - provision of courses in domestic economy, cookery, handicraft etc.
       in elementary and secondary schools; acquisition of land and
       buildings; inspectors' reports; approval of courses

3.   Day  Continuation School Files, 1919-1947 (ED 75)
      - provision of schools; organisation; curricula; part-time courses 
        for young workers

4.   Technical School Files, 1912-1947 (ED 82)
      - provision of technical courses; inspectors' reports

5.   Technical College Files, 1907-1951 (ED 90)
      - approval of courses; inspectors' reports; syllabuses; prospectuses;
        premises

6.   Junior Technical School Files, 1913-1946 (ED 98)
      - applications for recognition; inspectors' reports

<Art Colleges and Classes>

1.   Board of Trade: In-letters and Files, General (BT 1)
      - includes correspondence on schools of design

2.   Science and Art Department: Building Grant Files, 1860-1904  (ED  29)
      - building grant applications; works; plans

3.   Art School Files, 1897-1949 (ED 83)
      - provision of schools and classes; inspectors' reports; acquisition
        of sites and buildings; classification of schools

4.   Major Art Establishments, 1931-1974 (ED 167)
      - premises; changes of title; supplies of materials; approval of
        courses

<Further and Adult Education Institutions>

1.   Evening Institute Files, 1901-1954 (ED 41)
      - provision of evening institutes, day continuation classes, evening
        courses and works schools; applications for recognition of
        institutions and courses; prospectuses and syllabuses; staffing;
        inspection reports; accounts; premises

2.  Day Continuation School Files, 1919-1947 (ED 75)
      - provision of day continuation schools; organisation; curricula;
        part-time courses for young workers

3.   Adult Education: Tutorial Classes Files, 1921-1969 (ED 73)
      - recognition of courses provided by universities and voluntary
        bodies

4.   Adult  Education: Vacation Course Files, 1928-1955  (ED 76)
      - recognition of courses; grants; particulars of students

5.   Inspectorate Reports on Further Education Institutions, 1909-1963
     (ED 114) (closed for 50 years)
      - staffing; curricula; organisation; area surveys

6.   Inspectorate Reports on Youth Welfare, 1946-1957 (ED 149) (closed for
     50 years)

7.   Further Education: Major Establishments, 1923-1979 (ED 168)
      - approval of institutions titles and courses; premises

8.   Further Education: National Colleges, 1944-1970 (ED 165)
      - schemes for establishment of colleges

9.   Further Education: Major Direct Grant Establishments, 1930-1967
     (ED 166)
      - organisation; syllabuses; annual reports; premises; extra-grant
        applications; minutes of governing bodies

10.  Further Education: Building Programme Files, 1936-1966 (ED 160)
      - land acquisition; buildings; loan sanction

11.  Further Education: Endowment Files, 1854-1944 (ED 37)
      - administration of endowments; schemes and orders

12.  Further Education: Private Educational Institution Files, 1915-1955
     (ED  74)
      - recognition of institutions as efficient


II   [<Records of dealings with Local Education Authorities>]

<General>

     Education Acts 1918 and 1921: Scheme Files, 1917-1932 (ED 120)
      - development schemes for progressive education; schemes for
        compulsory attendance at day continuation schools

<Technical Education>

     Practical Instruction Files, 1899-1944 (ED 96)
      - establishment of centres; lists of premises; inspector's reports;
        courses

<Further and Adult Education>

1.   Further Education Files, 1920-1968 (ED 51)
      - local facilities; inspectors' reports; annual estimates

2.   Further Education: Fees and Scholarship Files, 1931-1955 (ED    55)
      - local schemes; inspectors' reports; annual accounts

3.   Further Education: Physical Training and Recreation Files, 1935-1940
     (ED  56)
      - local facilities for pupils and other community members

4.   Classes for Unemployed Adults Files, 1931-1939 (ED 58)
      - supplementary educational facilities; inspectors' reports

5.   Juvenile Unemployment Centres, 1918-1946 (ED 45)
      - provision of centres; organisation; grants to authorities

6.   Youth Welfare Files, 1939-1945 (ED 126)
      - proposals for constitution of youth committees and administration
        of youth service; reports; projects involving acquisition of land
        or property

7.   Schemes for Further Education, 1946-1967 (ED 155)
      - plans and schemes for county colleges and further education;
        department's observations on proposals, modifications and final
        approval

<Teacher Training>

     Teachers' Short Courses, 1934-1954 (ED 61)
      - provision of courses at further education colleges, art schools,
        evening institutes, etc.; inspectors' reports

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