Catalogue description Ministry of Education: Schools Branch: Precedent Folders

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Details of ED 190
Reference: ED 190
Title: Ministry of Education: Schools Branch: Precedent Folders
Description:

Precedent folders of the Ministry of Education Schools Branch containing extracts and copies of correspondence, with associated notes, relating to the implementation of the Education Act 1944, its subsequent amending acts, and various regulations introduced under this legislation.

The folders were compiled between 1944 and the mid-1960s, and continued in use until the passing of the Education Reform Act 1988.

Date: 1944-1966
Arrangement:

The majority of these precedent folders contain papers arranged according to the relevant section of the 1944 Act, or to the other legislation or regulations to which they refer. There are also a number of folders containing memoranda on specific subjects, arranged alphabetically: these constitute ED 190/6-10.

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Department of Education and Science, Schools Branch, 1964-1973

Ministry of Education, Schools Branch, 1944-1964

Physical description: 13 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure
Administrative / biographical background:

The nature and scope of the changes brought about by the 1944 Act were such that, in the years following the date of its implementation (1 April 1945), there arose many questions of interpretation and practice which were not adequately covered by the available guidance.

A record was therefore kept within Schools Branch of these matters of doubt or difficulty and the decisions taken on them (either by that branch or, perhaps, by Legal Branch), in order that such cases could be referred to again if and when similar questions were raised at a later date. A body of information was thus collected to serve as 'precedents' for the future. It is believed that, to qualify as a true 'precedent', the subject case had to be referred up to at least Assistant Secretary level.

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