Public money for schools

The biggest problem about schooling for the poor was money - the cost of teachers, books, etc. Soon after 1800, Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster found what seemed to be an answer. They used monitors, and this was cheap - one person could teach a very large class.

Bell's and Lancaster's schools were run by societies which were linked to the Churches. And it was to these Church schools that the first grants of public money were made. In 1833, Parliament gave £ 20,000 to help with schooling for the poor. (Even in 1833, this was quite a small amount.)

The government gave more and more money to the Church schools during the next thirty years. By 1860, some people said that it was giving too much. So new rules, brought out in 1862, said that only schools which were doing a good job would get support. Inspectors went round, testing the pupils. Schools got so much for each pupil who passed the test. This was called 'payment by results'.

By 1860, about half the children in England and Wales were getting some kind of schooling. But most of them left school before the age of twelve. Schools in Scotland were much better. And in many parts of Europe, education was compulsory.

People began to say that the state should take charge of schools in England and Wales as well. It should force parents to make their children attend. And state schools should be free. Some said that if the workers were not educated, British industry would fall behind its rivals. Others said that now that working men had the right to vote, they needed to be able to read and write.

Walter Robson: Britain 1750 – 1900; Oxford University Press, 1993/2002, page 80 f.