Tripartite System
Encyclopedia
The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state funded secondary education
between 1944 and the 1970s in England
and Wales
, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland
.
It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944
and the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1947.
State funded secondary education was arranged into a structure containing three types of school, namely: grammar school
, secondary technical school
and secondary modern school
. Pupils were allocated to their respective types of school according to their performance in the Eleven Plus
examination. It was the prevalent system under the Conservative
governments of the 1951 to 1964 period, but was actively discouraged by the Labour
government after 1965. It was formally abolished in England and Wales in 1976, giving way to the Comprehensive System. However, elements of similar systems persist in several English counties such as Kent which maintains the grammar school system alongside comprehensive schools. The system's merits and demerits, in particular the need and selection for grammar schools, proved to be a contentious issue at the time and still remain so.
, private charity and religious foundations. Education was often a serious drain on family resources, and subsidies for school expenses were sporadic. Secondary education was mainly the preserve of the middle classes, and in 1938 only 13% of working class 13 year olds were still in school.
Many of the schools created since the 1870s were grammar schools, which offered places based on an entrance test. Places were highly desired and seen as offering a great chance at success. These schools were widely admired, and were to become a model for the tier-structured education reforms of the 1940s.
There was also a strong belief in the value and accuracy of psychometric testing. Many in the educational establishment, particularly the psychologist Sir Cyril Burt, argued that testing students was a valid way of assessing their suitability for various types of education. Similar conclusions were drawn in a number of other countries, including France
, Italy
, Germany
and Sweden
, all of which operated a state-run system of selective schools.
The 1926 Hadow Report had recommended that the education system be formally split into separate stages at the age of eleven or twelve. Before this point there had been no formal demarcation between primary
and secondary
education as known in modern society. The novelty of this break would encourage the establishment of selection at the point when pupils were changing schools.
radically overhauled education in England and Wales. The Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947 set out a similar restructuring for Northern Ireland. For the first time, secondary education was to become a right, and was to be universally provided. It would also be free, with financial assistance for poor students. This was part of the major shake-up of government welfare in the wake of the Beveridge Report
.
In addition to promising universal secondary education, the act intended to improve the kind of education provided. Children would be provided with the type of education which most suited their needs and abilities. Calling their creation the Tripartite System, education officials envisaged a radical technocratic
system in which skill was the major factor in deciding access to education, rather than financial resources. It would meet the needs of the economy, providing intellectuals, technicians and general workers, each with the required training.
The Act was created in the abstract, making the resultant system more idealistic than practical. In particular, it assumed that adequate resources would be allocated to implement the system fully.
There were to be three categories of state-run secondary schools. Each was designed with a specific purpose in mind, aiming to impart a range of skills appropriate to the needs and future careers of their pupils.
It was intended for all three branches of the system to have a parity of esteem. The appropriate type of school for each student would be determined by their performance in an examination taken in the final year of primary school.
, and had received the full backing of Prime Minister Winston Churchill
.
Many in the Labour
party, meanwhile, were enthusiastic about the ability of the Tripartite System to enable social mobility
. A first rate education would now be available to any capable child, not simply a rich one. The tripartite system seemed an excellent tool with which to erode class barriers.
In spite of this broad approval, the resources for implementing the system were slow in coming. The logistical difficulties of building enough secondary schools for the entire country delayed the introduction of tripartite education. It was not until 1951, and the election of a Conservative government, that the system began to be widely implemented. Some Historians have argued that tripartite education was the Conservative answer to the attractions of the Welfare state
, replacing collective benefits with individual opportunities. Even so, there was still a dramatic shortfall in resources for the new education system.
Very few technical schools were opened, due to the lack of money and a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. This failure to develop the technical part of the system undermined the whole structure. The tripartite system was, in effect, a two-tier system with grammar schools for the academically gifted and secondary modern schools for the others.
Grammar schools received the lion's share of the money, reinforcing their image as the best part of the system, and places in grammar schools were highly sought after. Around 25% of children went to a grammar school, although there was a severe regional imbalance, with many more grammar school places available in the South than in the North, and with fewer places available for girls. This was partly the result of a historical neglect of education in the north of England, which the tripartite system did much to correct. Nevertheless, in 1963 there were grammar school places for 33% of the children in Wales and only 22% of children in the Eastern region.
Modern schools were correspondingly neglected, giving them the appearance of being 'sink schools'. Although explicitly not presented as such, the secondary modern was widely perceived as the bottom tier of the tripartite system. They suffered from underinvestment and poor reputations, in spite of educating around 70% of the UK's school children. The Newsom Report
of 1963, looking at the education of average and below average children, found that secondary moderns in slum areas of London left fifteen year olds sitting on primary school furniture and faced teachers changing as often as once a term.
Existing beliefs about education and the failure to develop the technical schools led to the grammar schools being perceived as superior to the alternatives. The system failed to take into account the public perception of the different tiers. Whilst officially no tier was seen as better than the other, it was a generally held belief amongst the general public that the grammar schools were the best schools available, and entry into the other two types was considered a "failure".
Alongside this system existed a number of public schools
and other fee-paying educational establishments. These organised their own intakes, and were not tied to the curricula of any of the above schools. In practice, most of these were educationally similar to grammar schools but with a full ability range amongst their pupils.
Originally, these tests were intended to decide which school would be best suited to a child's needs – officially there was no "pass" or "fail" – the result determined which of the three tiers of schools the child went to. However, because of the lack of technical schools, the eleven plus came to be seen as a pass-or-fail exam, either earning children a place at their local grammar school or consigning them to a secondary modern. As such, "passing" the eleven plus came to be seen as essential for success in later life.
The eleven plus has been accused of having a significant cultural bias. This was certainly true of early papers. "General reasoning" questions could be about classical composers, or the functions performed by domestic servants – subjects which children from working class
backgrounds would be less able to answer. This criticism was to become less valid as the years passed, and the science of IQ testing became more advanced and class biases decreased.
(GCE) O-level
s, while children at secondary moderns initially took no examinations at all. Instead, they worked for a Schools Certificate, which simply indicated they had remained at school until age 15. Then some of the secondary modern schools offered qualifications that were set, for example, by regional examination boards, such as the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes and the Northern Counties Technical Examinations Council. The latter exam was taken after four years at secondary school. Such examinations were comparable with the Certificate of Secondary Education
(CSE) which was introduced in 1965. Less demanding than GCE O-level, results in the GCE and CSE exams were graded on the same scale, with the top CSE grade, grade 1, being equivalent to a simple pass at GCE O-level.
Secondary moderns did develop O-level courses for brighter students, but in 1963 only 41,056 pupils sat them, roughly one in ten. Some of these pupils' results were very good.
Secondary modern schools continued in existence into the 1970s, and as time progressed more attention was given to the need to provide more challenging examinations, and to adopting the same approach to mixed abilities as the modern comprehensive system which existed at the same time.
Although the Butler Act
offered further education for all, including students from secondary moderns, only children who went to grammar schools had a realistic chance of getting into university. Secondary moderns did not offer training for A-levels. Although students could obtain this elsewhere, few did and in 1963 only 318 secondary modern pupils sat the exams. Only grammar schools offered facilities for students who were preparing for the entrance examinations required to go to Oxbridge
.
, and building an underclass to match. If allowed to continue, selective education would lead to renewed inequality and eventually revolution.
This reflected a growing dissatisfaction on the left with the results of the Tripartite System. Whereas the previous generation of Labour politicians had focused on the social mobility afforded to those who passed their eleven plus, now concern became focused upon those who were sent to secondary moderns. Once the Tripartite System had been implemented, the middle classes were found to be much more likely to win places at grammar schools. It was feared that society was being divided into a well-educated middle class elite and a working class trapped in the Modern schools, or "eggheads and serfs". To some on the left, such as Graham Savage
of the LCC
, it became an article of faith that the only way to bring about equality was by putting everyone through the same schools.
In July 1958 the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell
formally abandoned the Tripartite system, calling for "grammar-school education for all". The party's fiercest opponent of the Grammar school was Gaitskell's protégé, Anthony Crosland
.
Experiments with comprehensive schools
had begun in 1949, and had taken hold in a few places in the UK. Anglesey
, London
, Coventry
, the West Riding
and Leicestershire
had all abolished the Tripartite System in the 50s and early 60s, for a variety of reasons. They offered an alternative to the existing system which was seized upon by its opponents. Comprehensives were held up as less divisive, and pupils were said to benefit from the abolition of selection.
Paradoxically, at the same time as Labour was attacking the Tripartite System for its inequalities, some in the middle class were increasingly upset at the social mobility it fostered. As educational testing became more exact and subject to less class bias, an increasing proportion of middle class children were being sent to secondary moderns. The Tripartite System fell victim to its own elitism, as the traditional supporters of the grammar schools began to worry about their own children's educational future.
(LEAs) had plans to switch to comprehensive schools, and another 55 were considering it. Over the next few years this grassroots change would be reinforced by central government policy.
Labour had won the 1964 election, and Anthony Crosland became Secretary of State for Education in January 1965. He was an adamant critic of the tripartite system, and once angrily remarked, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every last fucking grammar school in England. And Wales. And Northern Ireland." Soon after he came to office he issued Circular 10/65
. This asked LEAs to begin planning the switch from the Tripartite System to the Comprehensive System, withholding funding for new school buildings from those that did not comply. This change would be reinforced by the 1968 Education Act. By 1970, 115 LEAs had had their reorganisation plans approved. Thirteen had had theirs rejected, and a further ten had defied the Labour government and refused to submit any plans at all.
Initially the move generated little opposition. It was portrayed foremost as an effort to raise standards in secondary moderns, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson
had promised that no grammar school would be closed "over my dead body". It became increasingly apparent, however, that this would not be the case. Some grammar schools were closed, and many were amalgamated with nearby secondary moderns.
The promise of grammars for all rang increasingly hollow, as it became apparent that Comprehensivisation meant levelling out standards, rather than raising them. Opposition developed, mainly on a local level in protest of the treatment of a particular grammar school. Particularly strong opposition was noted in Bristol
, after the LEA ended all grammar school education in 1964.
However, there was little nationwide organisation among the defenders of the Tripartite System. The most prominent attack on the introduction of comprehensives came in the series of Black Papers
(as opposed to White Papers
, which are issued by the government) published in the Critical Quarterly by A.E. Dyson and C. Brian Cox. Comprehensivisation was accused of using schools "directly as tools to achieve social and political objectives", rather than for the education of pupils.
Debates over the Comprehensive system seemed about to become a major political issue, particularly with the election of a Conservative government in 1970. However many Tories were ambivalent on the issue. It is true that more grammar schools were closed under Margaret Thatcher
than any other Education Secretary, but this was by now a local process, which was allowed to continue to avoid controversy. Her Circular 10/70
simply removed the compulsion of Circular 10/65, leaving it up to individual LEAs whether or not they would go comprehensive. The Tripartite System continued to slip quietly into the night across most of the UK.
The abolition of the grammar schools proved a godsend to independent schools. Free, high-quality education for the brightest pupils had dramatically reduced their students, from around 10% of the school population to 5.5%. However, now that comprehensive equality had been instituted, a large number of parents were willing to pay to extricate their children from it. Most of the direct grant grammar schools converted to fully fee-paying independent schools, retaining selection of entrants. The proportion of children opting out of the state system continued to rise until recently, standing at around 8%.
Certain counties continued to defy the government and continued to operate a form of the Tripartite System. In most cases, grammar schools exist more as a better tier of institutions, while other schools are seen as ordinary, rather than modern school-style "failures". There are still 164 state-run grammar schools in England today, schooling 141,000 pupils.
The 1976 Act proved the high-point of the Comprehensive movement. The Thatcher government allowed selection once again in 1979, and it has been used increasingly by individual schools eager to choose the best pupils. In 1984 Solihull
attempted to reintroduce grammar schools, but was stopped by middle class opposition. In 1986 the first City Technology College
s were proposed, arguably inspired by the Technical schools. Today, no formal attempts are being made to restore the Tripartite System, but the perceived failure of the Comprehensive System led the Blair
/Brown
government to propose "Beacon Schools", "Advanced Schools" and an "escalator" or "ladder" of schools.
Secondary education in the UK has not been thoroughly overhauled since 1944, and today seems to be a complex mixture of the Tripartite System and the Comprehensive.
. Original proposals for switching to the Comprehensive system were put forward in 1971, but the suspension of devolution
meant that they were never acted upon. As a result, each year around 16,000 pupils in the area take the eleven plus transfer test
. Pupils are rated between grades A and D, with preferred access to schools being given to those with higher grades.
Until 1989, around 1/3 of pupils who took the exam, or 27% of the age group, were given places in a grammar school.
Under the "open enrolment" reform of 1989, grammar schools in Northern Ireland (unlike the remaining grammar schools in England) were required to accept pupils up to their capacity, which was also increased.
Together with falling numbers of school-age children, this has led to a significant broadening of the grammar schools' intake.
By 2006, 42% of transferring children were admitted to grammar schools, and in only 7 of the 69 grammar schools was the intake limited to the top 30% of the cohort.
In 2001, following the publication of the Burns Report on Post Primary Education, the decision was taken to abolish the examination. The subsequent Costello Report went further, and advocated an end to all selection in Northern Ireland's schooling. The education minister, Martin McGuinness
of Sinn Féin
, endorsed the Burns Report, as did the Social Democratic and Labour Party
, while the Ulster Unionist Party
and Democratic Unionist Party
politicians condemned it. When devolution was suspended in 2002, the Northern Ireland Office
decided to continue the policy, although the phase-out date of the eleven plus was put back from 2004 to 2008.
Opinion is divided on the wisdom of the decision. The Burns Report itself called the eleven plus system socially divisive and argued that it placed unreasonable pressures on teachers.
Critics of the status quo in Northern Ireland say that primary education is overly focused on passing the eleven plus. Half of all students receive some kind of private tuition before going to the exam. Many pupils also say that the exam is a great source of stress.
Nevertheless, the existing system has produced good results. GCSE grades are much higher than in England and Wales. The number gaining five GCSEs at grades A-C, the standard measure of a good education, is ten percentage points higher. AS and A level results are also better. Access to universities is more equitable, with 41.3% of those from the bottom four socioeconomic groups going to university, as opposed to a national average of 28.4%.
Public opinion appears divided on the question. In a 2004 poll the people of Northern Ireland supported the abolition of the 11-plus by 55% to 41%. But they opposed the abolition of selective education 31% to 67%. There is widespread agreement that whatever the failings of the existing system, it is fair.
The last eleven plus will take place in 2008, for the intake of September 2009.
It is proposed that the replacement system have an additional transfer point at age 14, with the possibility of differentiated provision from that point.
A school might, for example, specialise in providing an academic pathway from age 14.
The choice of the appropriate type of school for each student is to be based on a range of measures, including performance in secondary school but excluding a separate test.
A consortium of 25 grammar schools have announced their intention to run a common entry test for 2009 admissions.
One Catholic grammar school, Lumen Christi College
, has also announced its intention to run its own tests.
oppose selective education, whereas the right-wing such as the Conservative Party
have traditionally supported it.
Children's views
Arguments in favour
Arguments against
Studies of remnants of the system
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
between 1944 and the 1970s in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944
Education Act 1944
The Education Act 1944 changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. This Act, commonly named after the Conservative politician R.A...
and the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1947.
State funded secondary education was arranged into a structure containing three types of school, namely: grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, secondary technical school
Secondary Technical School
A Secondary Technical School was a type of secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed in the mid-20th century under the Tripartite System of education. For various reasons few were ever built, and their main interest is on a theoretical level....
and secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
. Pupils were allocated to their respective types of school according to their performance in the Eleven Plus
Eleven plus
In the United Kingdom, the 11-plus or Eleven plus is an examination administered to some students in their last year of primary education, governing admission to various types of secondary school. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years...
examination. It was the prevalent system under the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
governments of the 1951 to 1964 period, but was actively discouraged by the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government after 1965. It was formally abolished in England and Wales in 1976, giving way to the Comprehensive System. However, elements of similar systems persist in several English counties such as Kent which maintains the grammar school system alongside comprehensive schools. The system's merits and demerits, in particular the need and selection for grammar schools, proved to be a contentious issue at the time and still remain so.
Origins
Prior to 1944 the British secondary education system was fundamentally an ad hoc creation. Access was not universally available, and varied greatly by region. Schools had been created by local governmentLocal government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
, private charity and religious foundations. Education was often a serious drain on family resources, and subsidies for school expenses were sporadic. Secondary education was mainly the preserve of the middle classes, and in 1938 only 13% of working class 13 year olds were still in school.
Many of the schools created since the 1870s were grammar schools, which offered places based on an entrance test. Places were highly desired and seen as offering a great chance at success. These schools were widely admired, and were to become a model for the tier-structured education reforms of the 1940s.
There was also a strong belief in the value and accuracy of psychometric testing. Many in the educational establishment, particularly the psychologist Sir Cyril Burt, argued that testing students was a valid way of assessing their suitability for various types of education. Similar conclusions were drawn in a number of other countries, including France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, all of which operated a state-run system of selective schools.
The 1926 Hadow Report had recommended that the education system be formally split into separate stages at the age of eleven or twelve. Before this point there had been no formal demarcation between primary
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
and secondary
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
education as known in modern society. The novelty of this break would encourage the establishment of selection at the point when pupils were changing schools.
The Butler Act
The 1944 Butler Education ActEducation Act 1944
The Education Act 1944 changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. This Act, commonly named after the Conservative politician R.A...
radically overhauled education in England and Wales. The Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947 set out a similar restructuring for Northern Ireland. For the first time, secondary education was to become a right, and was to be universally provided. It would also be free, with financial assistance for poor students. This was part of the major shake-up of government welfare in the wake of the Beveridge Report
Beveridge Report
The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as the Beveridge Report was an influential document in the founding of the Welfare State in the United Kingdom...
.
In addition to promising universal secondary education, the act intended to improve the kind of education provided. Children would be provided with the type of education which most suited their needs and abilities. Calling their creation the Tripartite System, education officials envisaged a radical technocratic
Technocracy (bureaucratic)
Technocracy is a form of government where technical experts are in control of decision making in their respective fields. Economists, engineers, scientists, health professionals, and those who have knowledge, expertise or skills would compose the governing body...
system in which skill was the major factor in deciding access to education, rather than financial resources. It would meet the needs of the economy, providing intellectuals, technicians and general workers, each with the required training.
The Act was created in the abstract, making the resultant system more idealistic than practical. In particular, it assumed that adequate resources would be allocated to implement the system fully.
Design of the system
The basic assumption of the Tripartite system was that all students, regardless of background, should be entitled to an education appropriate to their needs and abilities. It was also assumed that students with different abilities were suited to different curricula. It was believed that an IQ test was a legitimate way of determining a child's suitability to a particular tier.There were to be three categories of state-run secondary schools. Each was designed with a specific purpose in mind, aiming to impart a range of skills appropriate to the needs and future careers of their pupils.
- Grammar schools were intended to teach a highly academic curriculum, teaching students to deal with abstract concepts. There was a strong focus on intellectual subjects, such as literature, classicsClassicsClassics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and complex mathematics. In addition to wholly state-funded grammar schools, a number of schools currently receiving state grants could become direct grant grammar schoolDirect grant grammar schoolA direct grant grammar school was a selective secondary school in England and Wales between 1945 and 1976 funded partly by the state and partly through private fees....
s, with some pupils funded by the state and the rest paying fees.
- Secondary technical schoolSecondary Technical SchoolA Secondary Technical School was a type of secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed in the mid-20th century under the Tripartite System of education. For various reasons few were ever built, and their main interest is on a theoretical level....
s were designed to train children adept in mechanical and scientific subjects. The focus of the schools was on providing scientists, engineers and technicians.
- Secondary modern schoolSecondary modern schoolA secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
s (secondary intermediate schools in Northern Ireland) would train pupils in practical skills, aimed at equipping them for less skilled jobs and home management.
It was intended for all three branches of the system to have a parity of esteem. The appropriate type of school for each student would be determined by their performance in an examination taken in the final year of primary school.
Implementation
The Tripartite System was arguably the least politically controversial of the great post-war welfare reforms. It had been written by a ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, and had received the full backing of Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
Many in the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
party, meanwhile, were enthusiastic about the ability of the Tripartite System to enable social mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
. A first rate education would now be available to any capable child, not simply a rich one. The tripartite system seemed an excellent tool with which to erode class barriers.
In spite of this broad approval, the resources for implementing the system were slow in coming. The logistical difficulties of building enough secondary schools for the entire country delayed the introduction of tripartite education. It was not until 1951, and the election of a Conservative government, that the system began to be widely implemented. Some Historians have argued that tripartite education was the Conservative answer to the attractions of the Welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
, replacing collective benefits with individual opportunities. Even so, there was still a dramatic shortfall in resources for the new education system.
Very few technical schools were opened, due to the lack of money and a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. This failure to develop the technical part of the system undermined the whole structure. The tripartite system was, in effect, a two-tier system with grammar schools for the academically gifted and secondary modern schools for the others.
Grammar schools received the lion's share of the money, reinforcing their image as the best part of the system, and places in grammar schools were highly sought after. Around 25% of children went to a grammar school, although there was a severe regional imbalance, with many more grammar school places available in the South than in the North, and with fewer places available for girls. This was partly the result of a historical neglect of education in the north of England, which the tripartite system did much to correct. Nevertheless, in 1963 there were grammar school places for 33% of the children in Wales and only 22% of children in the Eastern region.
Modern schools were correspondingly neglected, giving them the appearance of being 'sink schools'. Although explicitly not presented as such, the secondary modern was widely perceived as the bottom tier of the tripartite system. They suffered from underinvestment and poor reputations, in spite of educating around 70% of the UK's school children. The Newsom Report
Newsom Report
The Newsom Report of 1963 was a United Kingdom government report , which looked at the education of average and below average children. Entitled "Half our Future" the report argued that the future of the country depended on better education for those of below average ability...
of 1963, looking at the education of average and below average children, found that secondary moderns in slum areas of London left fifteen year olds sitting on primary school furniture and faced teachers changing as often as once a term.
Existing beliefs about education and the failure to develop the technical schools led to the grammar schools being perceived as superior to the alternatives. The system failed to take into account the public perception of the different tiers. Whilst officially no tier was seen as better than the other, it was a generally held belief amongst the general public that the grammar schools were the best schools available, and entry into the other two types was considered a "failure".
Alongside this system existed a number of public schools
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
and other fee-paying educational establishments. These organised their own intakes, and were not tied to the curricula of any of the above schools. In practice, most of these were educationally similar to grammar schools but with a full ability range amongst their pupils.
The Eleven Plus
To allocate students between the three tiers, all students were given an exam at the age of 11. Three tests were given; one tested mathematical ability, one set an essay on a general topic and a third examined general reasoning.Originally, these tests were intended to decide which school would be best suited to a child's needs – officially there was no "pass" or "fail" – the result determined which of the three tiers of schools the child went to. However, because of the lack of technical schools, the eleven plus came to be seen as a pass-or-fail exam, either earning children a place at their local grammar school or consigning them to a secondary modern. As such, "passing" the eleven plus came to be seen as essential for success in later life.
The eleven plus has been accused of having a significant cultural bias. This was certainly true of early papers. "General reasoning" questions could be about classical composers, or the functions performed by domestic servants – subjects which children from working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
backgrounds would be less able to answer. This criticism was to become less valid as the years passed, and the science of IQ testing became more advanced and class biases decreased.
Examination systems and relationship to further education
Different types of schools entered their pupils for different examinations at age 16. Grammar school students would take General Certificate of EducationGeneral Certificate of Education
The General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...
(GCE) O-level
Ordinary Level
The O-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education . It was introduced as part of British educational reform in the 1950s alongside the more in-depth and academically rigorous Advanced Level in England, Wales and Northern Ireland A-level...
s, while children at secondary moderns initially took no examinations at all. Instead, they worked for a Schools Certificate, which simply indicated they had remained at school until age 15. Then some of the secondary modern schools offered qualifications that were set, for example, by regional examination boards, such as the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes and the Northern Counties Technical Examinations Council. The latter exam was taken after four years at secondary school. Such examinations were comparable with the Certificate of Secondary Education
Certificate of Secondary Education
The Certificate of Secondary Education was a school leaving qualification awarded between 1965 and 1987 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland....
(CSE) which was introduced in 1965. Less demanding than GCE O-level, results in the GCE and CSE exams were graded on the same scale, with the top CSE grade, grade 1, being equivalent to a simple pass at GCE O-level.
Secondary moderns did develop O-level courses for brighter students, but in 1963 only 41,056 pupils sat them, roughly one in ten. Some of these pupils' results were very good.
Secondary modern schools continued in existence into the 1970s, and as time progressed more attention was given to the need to provide more challenging examinations, and to adopting the same approach to mixed abilities as the modern comprehensive system which existed at the same time.
Although the Butler Act
Education Act 1944
The Education Act 1944 changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. This Act, commonly named after the Conservative politician R.A...
offered further education for all, including students from secondary moderns, only children who went to grammar schools had a realistic chance of getting into university. Secondary moderns did not offer training for A-levels. Although students could obtain this elsewhere, few did and in 1963 only 318 secondary modern pupils sat the exams. Only grammar schools offered facilities for students who were preparing for the entrance examinations required to go to Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
.
The Fall of the Meritocracy
In 1958 the sociologist Michael Young published a book entitled The Rise of the Meritocracy. A mock-historical account of British education viewed from the year 2033, it satirised the beliefs of those who supported the Tripartite System. Young argued that grammar schools were instituting a new elite, the meritocracyMeritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
, and building an underclass to match. If allowed to continue, selective education would lead to renewed inequality and eventually revolution.
This reflected a growing dissatisfaction on the left with the results of the Tripartite System. Whereas the previous generation of Labour politicians had focused on the social mobility afforded to those who passed their eleven plus, now concern became focused upon those who were sent to secondary moderns. Once the Tripartite System had been implemented, the middle classes were found to be much more likely to win places at grammar schools. It was feared that society was being divided into a well-educated middle class elite and a working class trapped in the Modern schools, or "eggheads and serfs". To some on the left, such as Graham Savage
Graham Savage
Sir Graham Savage CB was an English civil servant who largely invented the concept of comprehensive schools and originated the phrase.-Early life:...
of the LCC
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
, it became an article of faith that the only way to bring about equality was by putting everyone through the same schools.
In July 1958 the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
formally abandoned the Tripartite system, calling for "grammar-school education for all". The party's fiercest opponent of the Grammar school was Gaitskell's protégé, Anthony Crosland
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland , otherwise Tony Crosland or C.A.R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby...
.
Experiments with comprehensive schools
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
had begun in 1949, and had taken hold in a few places in the UK. Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, the West Riding
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
and Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
had all abolished the Tripartite System in the 50s and early 60s, for a variety of reasons. They offered an alternative to the existing system which was seized upon by its opponents. Comprehensives were held up as less divisive, and pupils were said to benefit from the abolition of selection.
Paradoxically, at the same time as Labour was attacking the Tripartite System for its inequalities, some in the middle class were increasingly upset at the social mobility it fostered. As educational testing became more exact and subject to less class bias, an increasing proportion of middle class children were being sent to secondary moderns. The Tripartite System fell victim to its own elitism, as the traditional supporters of the grammar schools began to worry about their own children's educational future.
Abolition in England and Wales
By 1965 the Tripartite System was on the way out. 65 Local Education AuthoritiesLocal Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
(LEAs) had plans to switch to comprehensive schools, and another 55 were considering it. Over the next few years this grassroots change would be reinforced by central government policy.
Labour had won the 1964 election, and Anthony Crosland became Secretary of State for Education in January 1965. He was an adamant critic of the tripartite system, and once angrily remarked, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every last fucking grammar school in England. And Wales. And Northern Ireland." Soon after he came to office he issued Circular 10/65
Circular 10/65
Circular 10/65 is a Government circular issued in 1965 by the Department of Education and Science requesting Local Education Authorities in England and Wales to begin converting their secondary schools to the Comprehensive System. For most of England and Wales, it marked the abolition of the old...
. This asked LEAs to begin planning the switch from the Tripartite System to the Comprehensive System, withholding funding for new school buildings from those that did not comply. This change would be reinforced by the 1968 Education Act. By 1970, 115 LEAs had had their reorganisation plans approved. Thirteen had had theirs rejected, and a further ten had defied the Labour government and refused to submit any plans at all.
Initially the move generated little opposition. It was portrayed foremost as an effort to raise standards in secondary moderns, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
had promised that no grammar school would be closed "over my dead body". It became increasingly apparent, however, that this would not be the case. Some grammar schools were closed, and many were amalgamated with nearby secondary moderns.
The promise of grammars for all rang increasingly hollow, as it became apparent that Comprehensivisation meant levelling out standards, rather than raising them. Opposition developed, mainly on a local level in protest of the treatment of a particular grammar school. Particularly strong opposition was noted in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, after the LEA ended all grammar school education in 1964.
However, there was little nationwide organisation among the defenders of the Tripartite System. The most prominent attack on the introduction of comprehensives came in the series of Black Papers
Black Papers
The Black Papers were a series of pamphlets on education, their name being a contrast to government White Papers.According to the Critical Quarterly website the Black Papers were:...
(as opposed to White Papers
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
, which are issued by the government) published in the Critical Quarterly by A.E. Dyson and C. Brian Cox. Comprehensivisation was accused of using schools "directly as tools to achieve social and political objectives", rather than for the education of pupils.
Debates over the Comprehensive system seemed about to become a major political issue, particularly with the election of a Conservative government in 1970. However many Tories were ambivalent on the issue. It is true that more grammar schools were closed under Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
than any other Education Secretary, but this was by now a local process, which was allowed to continue to avoid controversy. Her Circular 10/70
Circular 10/70
- Content :Circular 10/70 was an attempt by Margaret Thatcher as Secretary for Education in 1970 to reverse the effects of Circulars 10/65 and 10/66.Those circulars had recommended to LEA that they begin the process of conversion to full comprehensive...
simply removed the compulsion of Circular 10/65, leaving it up to individual LEAs whether or not they would go comprehensive. The Tripartite System continued to slip quietly into the night across most of the UK.
Aftermath and legacy
The end of the Tripartite System was reinforced by the new Labour government of 1974. One of its first actions on education was Circular 4/74, reiterating Labour's intention to continue with Comprehensivisation. The 1976 Education Act forbade selection of pupils by ability, officially ending the Tripartite System.The abolition of the grammar schools proved a godsend to independent schools. Free, high-quality education for the brightest pupils had dramatically reduced their students, from around 10% of the school population to 5.5%. However, now that comprehensive equality had been instituted, a large number of parents were willing to pay to extricate their children from it. Most of the direct grant grammar schools converted to fully fee-paying independent schools, retaining selection of entrants. The proportion of children opting out of the state system continued to rise until recently, standing at around 8%.
Certain counties continued to defy the government and continued to operate a form of the Tripartite System. In most cases, grammar schools exist more as a better tier of institutions, while other schools are seen as ordinary, rather than modern school-style "failures". There are still 164 state-run grammar schools in England today, schooling 141,000 pupils.
The 1976 Act proved the high-point of the Comprehensive movement. The Thatcher government allowed selection once again in 1979, and it has been used increasingly by individual schools eager to choose the best pupils. In 1984 Solihull
Solihull
Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
attempted to reintroduce grammar schools, but was stopped by middle class opposition. In 1986 the first City Technology College
City Technology College
In England, a City Technology College is a state-funded all-ability secondary school that charges no fees but is independent of local authority control, being overseen directly by the Department for Education....
s were proposed, arguably inspired by the Technical schools. Today, no formal attempts are being made to restore the Tripartite System, but the perceived failure of the Comprehensive System led the Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
/Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
government to propose "Beacon Schools", "Advanced Schools" and an "escalator" or "ladder" of schools.
Secondary education in the UK has not been thoroughly overhauled since 1944, and today seems to be a complex mixture of the Tripartite System and the Comprehensive.
Survival of the system in Northern Ireland
While vestiges of the Tripartite system persist in several English counties, the largest area where the 11-plus system remains in operation is Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Original proposals for switching to the Comprehensive system were put forward in 1971, but the suspension of devolution
Devolution
Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...
meant that they were never acted upon. As a result, each year around 16,000 pupils in the area take the eleven plus transfer test
Eleven plus
In the United Kingdom, the 11-plus or Eleven plus is an examination administered to some students in their last year of primary education, governing admission to various types of secondary school. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years...
. Pupils are rated between grades A and D, with preferred access to schools being given to those with higher grades.
Until 1989, around 1/3 of pupils who took the exam, or 27% of the age group, were given places in a grammar school.
Under the "open enrolment" reform of 1989, grammar schools in Northern Ireland (unlike the remaining grammar schools in England) were required to accept pupils up to their capacity, which was also increased.
Together with falling numbers of school-age children, this has led to a significant broadening of the grammar schools' intake.
By 2006, 42% of transferring children were admitted to grammar schools, and in only 7 of the 69 grammar schools was the intake limited to the top 30% of the cohort.
In 2001, following the publication of the Burns Report on Post Primary Education, the decision was taken to abolish the examination. The subsequent Costello Report went further, and advocated an end to all selection in Northern Ireland's schooling. The education minister, Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
, endorsed the Burns Report, as did the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
, while the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
and Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
politicians condemned it. When devolution was suspended in 2002, the Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...
decided to continue the policy, although the phase-out date of the eleven plus was put back from 2004 to 2008.
Opinion is divided on the wisdom of the decision. The Burns Report itself called the eleven plus system socially divisive and argued that it placed unreasonable pressures on teachers.
Critics of the status quo in Northern Ireland say that primary education is overly focused on passing the eleven plus. Half of all students receive some kind of private tuition before going to the exam. Many pupils also say that the exam is a great source of stress.
Nevertheless, the existing system has produced good results. GCSE grades are much higher than in England and Wales. The number gaining five GCSEs at grades A-C, the standard measure of a good education, is ten percentage points higher. AS and A level results are also better. Access to universities is more equitable, with 41.3% of those from the bottom four socioeconomic groups going to university, as opposed to a national average of 28.4%.
Public opinion appears divided on the question. In a 2004 poll the people of Northern Ireland supported the abolition of the 11-plus by 55% to 41%. But they opposed the abolition of selective education 31% to 67%. There is widespread agreement that whatever the failings of the existing system, it is fair.
The last eleven plus will take place in 2008, for the intake of September 2009.
It is proposed that the replacement system have an additional transfer point at age 14, with the possibility of differentiated provision from that point.
A school might, for example, specialise in providing an academic pathway from age 14.
The choice of the appropriate type of school for each student is to be based on a range of measures, including performance in secondary school but excluding a separate test.
A consortium of 25 grammar schools have announced their intention to run a common entry test for 2009 admissions.
One Catholic grammar school, Lumen Christi College
Lumen Christi College
Lumen Christi College is a co-educational Catholic grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland, founded in September 1997. The school is located at the site of the old St. Columb's College. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Lumen Christi topped the GCSE and A-Level results league tables in Northern Ireland,...
, has also announced its intention to run its own tests.
Debates
The debate about the tripartite system still continues years after its abolition was initiated, and has evolved into a debate about the pros and cons of selective education in general. In general, the left-wing such as the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
oppose selective education, whereas the right-wing such as the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
have traditionally supported it.
External links
- Overview of the situation
- General overview of the situation today
- An analysis of a contemporary radio programme on the subject
Children's views
Arguments in favour
Arguments against
Studies of remnants of the system