Catalogue description Board of Education and predecessor: Elementary Education, Local Education Authority Attendance Files

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Details of ED 18
Reference: ED 18
Title: Board of Education and predecessor: Elementary Education, Local Education Authority Attendance Files
Description:

Local Education Authority attendance files that include papers concerning bye-laws authorised under the Elementary Education Act, 1870; exemption certificates; 'half-time scholars'; the Factory Acts; the restrictions of the 1918 Education Act on the employment of children; the duty expressed in the 1921 Education Act to cause every child to receive education between the ages of 5 and 14 years; and subsequent proposals by Local Education Authorities to raise the school leaving age to 15.

Recognition of periods of religious instruction during school hours as attendance, appears as a major problem.

Correspondence with school boards of boroughs, and (where no school board existed) with school attendance committees, and, after 1903, with Local Education Authorities concerning the enforcement and other aspects of school attendance.

Papers from 1939 are concerned with the war-time problems of evacuation of children, education of those who remained, the difficulties of school accommodation and the instruction of children in schools without adequate air raid shelter accomodation.

The papers also contain comparative percentages and statistics of attendance for the years 1941, 1942 and 1943.
Date: 1871-1945
Arrangement:

The files prior to 1927 are arranged in county order for England and Wales and subsequent files are in county and county borough order.
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Board of Education, 1899-1944

Education Department, 1856-1899

Ministry of Education, 1944-1964
Physical description: 747 file(s)
Selection and destruction information: No papers have been retained for a number of minor authorities.
Administrative / biographical background:

The Education Act, 1936, made provision for the raising of the age of compulsory school attendance from 14 to 15 years as from 1st September, 1939 with provision for exemption between those ages for beneficial employment. There were some Local Education Authorities which already had in force bye-laws allowing school attendance beyond the compulsory age of 14 years. The outbreak of hostilities in 1939 nullified these provisions of the Act. Concern was felt by many authorities on the increase of juvenile delinquency and its relationship with non-attendance at school.

The necessity of increased food production during the war resulted in the employment of school children in agriculture. Board of Education circular 1541 (1941) asked authorities where possible to arrange school holidays during periods when seasonal agricultural labour needs were greatest and local education authorities were empowered to exempt children of 12 years of age and over from school for limited periods.

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