Catalogue description Records of the Technical Branch, the Further Education Branch, and the Youth Service

During the nineteenth century, the development of post-primary education had taken place largely under the auspices of the Science and Art Department, although some schemes had been encouraged locally by the Education Department. Following the Education Act 1902 changes were introduced in the conditions governing the award of parliamentary grant to encourage the expansion of technical education. The Technical Branch handled this work and administered the various codes of regulations governing the local provision of a variety of classes, courses and institutions. Responsibility in a number of fields was subsequently transferred to the University Branch and the Secondary Branch.

The Technical Branch's main responsibility was for other aspects of post-elementary education and included technical schools, schools of art, day release and evening classes, continuation schools, Workers' Educational Association tutorial classes and university vacation courses. It was also made responsible for juvenile unemployment centres set up under the Education (Choice of Employment) Act 1910; responsibility for these was transferred to the Employment Department of the Ministry of Labour in 1927. The Branch organised classes for unemployed adults and short courses for teachers during the 1920s. From 1919 it also became responsible for the supervision of public libraries and local provision of physical recreation facilities.

During the Second World War the Branch administered special regulations for institutions under its care, including the 1943 regulations covering junior technical schools. Under the Education Act 1944, secondary education was redefined and reorganised and supervision of the junior technical schools passed to the Schools Branch. Within the newly formed Ministry of Education, the Technical Branch was replaced by the Further Education Branch which took over its remaining functions and responsibilities.

Following its formation, the Further Education Branch superintended all forms of post-school education, including social and recreational training and had special responsibility for youth welfare. The Youth Service was originally established in 1939 in order to meet and counteract the deleterious effects of the Second World War upon young people. In the long term it also laid foundations for the development of an organised youth welfare service after the war.

Voluntary youth organisations (such as the YMCA, the YWCA, the Scout and Guide movements and numerous others) had existed for many years. The growth of state youth movements in Europe in the years immediately before the Second World War provoked both favourable and unfavourable reaction and produced considerable agitation for a 'physical fitness' campaign in Britain. The Physical Training and Recreation Act 1937 allowed local education authorities to make provision for physical training and recreational facilities for young people aged 14-20 and a National Fitness Council was established. Following the outbreak of war, the National Fitness Council was disbanded and the Board of Education took over responsibility for youth welfare in October 1939. A National Youth Committee was set up to advise on the welfare of young people who had ceased full-time education. In August 1940 a Directorate of Physical Recreation was established to secure an expansion of facilities. Deferment and release from war service were arranged for physical training instructors and organisers to enable them to take part in the training of young people. The Directorate ceased operations in November 1941 as the military authorities found it necessary, because of the military demands of the War, to withdraw co-operation.

In December 1941 the government decided that all young people aged 16-19 should be required to register with local authorities and give details of any youth organisation to which they belonged. Although registration was compulsory, membership of youth organisations remained voluntary. Registration was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and National Service which then passed the registration cards to the local education authorities who arranged for interviews to be held by their youth committees. Registration ceased in August 1945.

In the summer of 1942 the National Youth Committee was replaced by the Youth Advisory Council, which produced two reports: The Youth Service After the War in September 1943, and The Purpose and Content of the Youth Service in July 1945. The Board (and later the Ministry) of Education was determined that the expansion of the youth service that had taken place during the War should be maintained and strengthened. The 1944 Education Act provided for the establishment of a Central Advisory Council to advise on all aspects of education, and consequently the Youth Advisory Council was disbanded. In the immediate post-war period, the youth service continued to expand and much attention was given to it in reports including Fifteen to Eighteen (the Crowther Report, 1959), and The Youth Service in England and Wales (the Albemarle Report, 1960).

After the Second World War a number of national colleges were established to provide training in specialised fields for which provision was not or could not be made locally. These included national colleges for agricultural engineering, aeronautics, horology and instrument technology and rubber technology, while institutions were proposed for the automobile industry, ceramics, woollen and worsted technology and the sea.

The enormous expansion of further and university education since 1945 led to the splitting of the Further Education Branch at different times into two, three or four sections which at various times dealt with the development and planning of higher education in the non-university sector, with further education related to industrial training and for the sixteen to nineteen age group and the youth and community service, and with university education and student awards.

During the 1960s, a number of committees were set up to encourage various aspects of vocational training and to advise on the required syllabuses and required standards of courses and qualifications offered.