Education and Nationhood in Wales: An Historiographical Analysis

Throughout the centuries, a sense of national identity in Wales has manifested itself in a variety of ways – aspirations to statehood, a unique language, cultural distinctiveness, religious affiliation, sporting achievement and, most recently, political devolution. Educational institutions in myriad forms have reflected aspects of these manifestations and themselves shed some light on their nature. In turn, the historiography of education in Wales is itself a product of national, educational, social and scholarly preoccupations which both reflect the ideas and priorities of the time and shed some light on their nature and significance. It is the purpose of this article to make a preliminary exploration into some of these interactions and, in so doing, provide an introduction to some of the major secondary sources of information on Welsh education. To this end, the article outlines in very general terms outstanding landmarks in those elements of Welsh education since the early modern period which might be claimed to be distinctive and the way in which the historiography reflects and reinforces such claims. Although the article sketches the picture in the centuries from the Tudors to industrialisation, its main thrust, reflecting the historiography, is on the period since the nineteenth century when the England/Wales state took over the financing of the education of its citizens to an ever increasing extent. Within this period, there is particular emphasis on such episodes as the ‘Treason of the Blue Books’ in 1847, the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889, the ‘Welsh Revolt’ following the Education Act of 1902 and the more subtle but steady devolutionary episodes evident in the twentieth century, culminating in the creation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. All have generated a range of secondary works which itself reflects the priorities of historians in a scholarly environment which, since the 1960s, has seen changes in approach to the study of history which have allowed historians of Welsh education to take their place in the mainstream of historical studies.     

Local Education Authorities and the Organisation of Secondary Education, 1943-1950

This article explores the attitudes adopted by local education authorities in England and Wales towards the reorganisation of secondary education in the new era of secondary education for all that was introduced through the Education Act of 1944. In general the Ministry of Education and the post-war Labour government actively encouraged Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to introduce a tripartite system of grammar, technical and modern schools in their areas. However, in many cases it is difficult to attribute LEA support for a bipartite or tripartite system to supine acquiescence; the LEAs involved were also making a principled choice to define the nature of educational provision in their own areas. The article discusses in particular depth the views of LEAs that preferred a bipartite arrangement, and those that promoted tripartism, in order to identify the character of the issues as they appeared to LEAs in this period.     

Local Authorities and Comprehensivisation in England and Wales, 1944-1974

Drawing extensively upon local authority records and private papers, this article argues that the post-Second World War drive for comprehensive education was a grass roots initiative. A diverse group of English and Welsh local education authorities (LEAs) challenged the orthodoxies of tripartism or bipartism in the late 1940s, paving the way for officially sanctioned non-selective experiments during the following decade and the 1960s 'breakout' (after Simon, 1991) of comprehensive-minded LEAs. The article focuses upon the experience of going comprehensive at the local level and discusses some of the variables that influenced the type and timing of secondary reorganisation. It demonstrates that political and personnel factors were crucial to the success or failure of a particular scheme. Some LEAs became embroiled in bitter controversies relating to their proposed reorganisation scheme, but it is argued that this was the exception, rather than the rule. The vigorous debates of this period gave comprehensive reorganisation a democratic flavour, but they also regularly brought local government into conflict with the centre. By 1974, it is contended, the post-War 'partnership' was all but dead.     

Changing policy,legislation and its effects on inclusive and special education: a perspective from Wales

This article, by Jean Ware of Bangor University School of Education, examines policy developments in education in Wales since devolution, and their implications for inclusive and special education. This is set in the context of the demographics of Wales, which, it is argued, have a significant influence on policy and on the nature of educational provision as a whole. The discussion initially focuses on issues related to the Welsh language. The article then discusses four policy initiatives (the Foundation Phase, the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, the Masters in Educational Practice and the proposed reform of initial teacher education and training), intended to respond to Wales's poor performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment, and their potential impact, as well as the White Paper on reforming the special educational needs system in Wales. It is too soon to discuss the impact of these special educational needs‐specific reforms, but the differences from the English special educational needs reforms highlight the inherent tensions in special educational needs systems. It is argued that the Tabberer Report's critique of the teacher education system in Wales, which emphasises the need for teacher education to be strongly connected to relevant research, provides an opportunity to improve the quality of education in Wales for all children; but that considerable investment, and a willingness to address the potential tensions between the different initiatives, is necessary to achieve such an outcome.     

Education Statistics for the United Kingdom

Introduction: Statistics for the education systems in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are collected and processed separately in accordance with the particular needs of the responsible Departments. Each Education Department—the Department of Education and Science, the Welsh Office Education Department, the Scottish Education Department and the Department of Education Northern Ireland—publishes a selection of statistics concerning education within the separate countries. More detailed statistics on universities can be found in the University Grants Committee's own publications.     

Technical Education,the Performance of South Wales Industrialists and the Haldane Commission

The article begins with a brief introduction to the development of Welsh society and industry between 1870 and 1914. This is followed by a review of Welsh education, especially technical education, in that period, highlighting its backwardness and the factors accounting for that backwardness. The report of the Haldane Commission is then examined against a background of a brief statement of the ‘revisionist’ case. Against the British Retardation theory, the performance of south Wales' industrialists is assessed. This reveals that in contradiction to the ‘revisionist’ view that British industrialists did as well as could have been expected, such was not the case in south Wales.     

Grant‐maintained Heads’ Reflections on Opting Out

This article summarises the views of 222 grant‐maintained (GM) school's head teachers’ experience of, and reasons for, their schools opting out of local authority control. The survey was conducted on the first 499 secondary schools to go GM. The article investigates issues such as admissions, finances and also the effects of GM status (GMS) on the relationships with, and roles of, local education authorities, the Department for Education, parents and governors. The article provides an overview of moves to GMS and highlights prior aims and reflections.     

History in the National Curriculum: a lesson in curriculum devolution

This article will focus on an event in the educational history of Wales in the 1980s which still impacts both on school practice and on thinking about concepts of Welsh identity. That event was the creation of the History Committee for Wales which was charged with devising a history curriculum for Welsh schools in the wake of the 1988 Education Act. The story will be told largely by using evidence gleaned in elite interviews with the ministers, senior inspectors and civil servants most closely associated with the decision to support or accept the creation of this committee.

The significance of the decision will be assessed by charting the progress of curriculum devolution in Wales from the beginnings of state education and the implications of this for ideas of Welshness. This background will be briefly sketched, as will the background to the 1988 Education Act on a wider canvas. General reaction to that act in the Welsh Office will be discussed before the detailed implications for the subject of history will be explored in detail.

It will then be argued that wider discussions as to how schools should approach and reflect the history and culture of nations not only shed important light on devolutionary processes which were gathering pace at the time but also reflect the nature of Welshness as perceived by senior figures in the world of education policy-making.     

Education policy and the development of the school organisation committee

This article investigates some of the administrative processes involved in setting up the School Organisation Committee (SOC) in one Shire County in England. Labour central government wants SOCs inter alia to make decisions on the planning and provision of school places 'more local and to speed up the process' that previously involved often lengthy periods of consideration of cases by the Secretary of State for Education. Local politicians' views on the SOC and the implications for local-central power relations are reported in this article.     

Contextual Preconditions of ‘Open Schooling’: the English case in historical and comparative perspectives

It is sometimes claimed that primary education in England and Wales is uniquely open to ‘progressive’ techniques and innovations. Much of the writing about this relies heavily on the impact of ideas and strong personalities to effect and disseminate change. Drawing upon historical analyses of England and Wales and upon primary education in France, Germany and Scotland as counter examples, this article attempts to move away from this model of change to identify a range of contextual or structural features of the English and Welsh system which have facilitated the spread of progressive ideas and the influence of individual pioneers on the state sector of education. These include historical continuity, devolution of decision making to middle‐sized local units, substantial school autonomy, a high level of urbanisation, loose central control over curriculum and certain features of the structure of schooling.     

Developing and Piloting a Baselining Tool for Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) in Welsh Higher Education

Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development in higher education is vital if graduates are to possess the abilities, skills, and knowledge needed to tackle the sustainability issues of the future. In this article we explain the development and piloting of a baselining tool, the Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Development Framework, developed with support from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. We draw comparisons with the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System Program, developed by the North American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The resulting framework offers consistency with existing Welsh Government strategic documentation, builds on increasing momentum, and has relevance across the higher education sector globally.     

Reform Decisions of 1985: Basic Education

The power for the administration of elementary education belongs to local authorities. Except for major policies and principles and general plans that are to be determined by the central authorities, all other responsibilities and powers are to be delegated to local authorities for drawing up and implementing specific policies, rules and regulations, and plans, as well as for guiding, administering, and monitoring the work of the schools. The authorities of the provinces will define the functions and powers for administrative departments at the provincial, municipal (prefectural), county, and township levels. In addition to state appropriations, all local authorities are required to allocate a proper percentage of their respective funds for educational purposes so as to promote education in all places. Most of township revenues should be used for education. The local authorities may levy an extra tax for education, which shall be used exclusively to improve teaching facilities for elementary education. They should encourage state-owned enterprises, public organizations, and individuals to run schools and provide them with guidance. Also, they can encourage units, collective undertakings, and individuals to make financial donations to help develop education, but of their own accord, not by exaction. To ease the schools' economic burdens, fees charged to schools by various quarters must be strictly controlled.     

Recent trends in religious education in England: a survey of the reactions of Standing Advisory Committees for Religious Education towards increasing centralising influences since 1988

This article is based upon data deriving from a questionnaire circulated to all local education authorities in England in Spring 2003. The questionnaire was sent to the chairperson of every Standing Advisory Committee for Religious Education, the statutory body responsible for religious education at a local level. During the past decade there has been increasing pressure from government‐appointed agencies such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Agency to assume increasing responsibility for religious education in relation to its content and delivery. This survey attempts to discern the reactions engendered for those with the statutory responsibility for religious education who found their roles and functions being consistently challenged by this exercise of centralising influences.     

Summary

I. In the broad view, the English school reform measures undertaken by local education authorities and the Department of Education and Science over the past twenty years have two major aspects, as far as the purposes of this study are concerned. On the one hand, attempts have been made to reorganizee the school structure and, on the other, actual planning and implementation of curricular reforms have been carried out in the secondary sector.     

Tackling behaviour and attendance issues in schools in Wales: implications for training and professional development

In 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government published its Report on the review of behaviour and attendance in schools in Wales. The National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) in Wales was chaired by the author of this paper. Both the Review and the Welsh Assembly Government’s response contained recommendations related to the training and professional development needs of staff in schools and local authorities (LAs). A paper on the professional development needs of staff on behaviour and attendance based on the NBAR recommendations is published in the same edition of this journal. This follow‐up paper focuses upon the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to these recommendations and its implementation plan on which the author acted as the professional adviser. The Welsh Assembly Government accepted with cross‐party support that the training and professional development needs of teachers and LA staff in behavioural management and school attendance had been neglected over many years. For the first time, coordinated new training and continuing professional development programmes on behavioural management and school attendance will be introduced in Wales soon. The next stage will be to evaluate the effectiveness of these programmes.     

Educating citizens for participatory democracy: A case study of local government education policy in Pelotas,Brazil

A case study was undertaken of Pelotas, a large town in southern Brazil, where a recent government of the Workers’ Party (PT) implemented a range of social policy reforms. The study draws on interviews with key members of the Municipal Secretariat of Education and policy documents, analyzing them in relation to theoretical literature on citizenship and education. The Pelotas approach is seen to be distinctive for its emphasis on active political participation as a citizen's right and as a means to social justice for all. The local government also places a higher value on critical and autonomous attitudes towards the authorities than on cultivating allegiance to the municipality or nation-state.     

Playing for position: education policy,Physical Education and nationalism in Wales

This paper explores the connections between Physical Education, nationalism and citizenship in England and Wales focusing upon how education legislation, in particular the National Curriculum (NC) and Local Management of Schools (LMS), are implicated in the cultural production of ideational differences between and amongst the peoples of England and Wales. As our previous research has centred heavily on the making and implementation of education policy and PE in England, we take this opportunity to adjust our gaze and focus squarely on issues of cultural production in Wales, particularly relationships between the construction of images of Welsh identity and education policy and practice relating to PE and sport in schools. The analysis highlights that tendencies towards a narrow, conservative, cultural restoration are as evident in Wales as they are in England and obstruct progression towards more innovative and progressive ideals.     

Learning in the outdoor environment: a missed opportunity?

In 2001, the Welsh Assembly Government announced proposals for a Foundation Phase for children aged three to seven years. The Foundation Phase framework promotes a play‐based approach to children's learning in both indoor and outdoor contexts and places children's well‐being and their personal and social development at its core. While the framework is currently being piloted across Wales, full implementation will not take place until 2010; for many schools, then, this is a time of transition. This paper discusses the findings of a research project that aimed to document the current use of the outdoors by a group of early years teachers working in South Wales. Drawing on data from interviews and observations conducted in four schools, it is suggested that the teachers missed many of the opportunities afforded by the outdoor environment to enhance children's learning. The paper considers the reasons why this might be the case and comments on the distinction, apparent in two schools, between what was seen as ‘normal’ and ‘special’ outdoor activity.     

The Politics of Catholic Education in Zambia: 1964-2001

In colonial Zambia, the school served as a key means of Christian conversion and Church growth. During this period, the provision of education was almost the total preserve of the missionaries. Even by the time of Zambia's Independence in 1964, sixty-six per cent of the primary schools were operated by missionaries and about thirty per cent were run by Catholics. After Zambia gained its national Independence, this changed. As in other African countries, the state desired to control the educational system, which in Zambia's case it achieved not by a direct take-over but through legislation. As a result of the 1966 Education Act, the system became so centralized and bureaucratic while restrictions were so numerous that the autonomy of Church-run institutions became very restricted. At first, Catholic authorities continued to work within the system by even retaining their primary schools, but after about six years during which government tended to marginalize the Catholic agents more and more, like many Protestant groups before them, they handed over their primary schools to central government in 1973. At the same time, however, they continued to open and operate a number of secondary schools and two teachers' colleges. Nonetheless, even here, regulations created difficulties for promoting and maintaining an acceptable post-Vatican II Catholic and Christian ethos because, in accord with the Education Act, they no longer controlled intake of students, employment of staff, or direction of the curriculum. Frequently, Catholic institutions had a preponderance of non-Catholic students and sometimes of non-Catholic staff. With attempts by government to impose what it termed "scientific socialism" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes by appointment of staff who had been to Soviet bloc countries and were trained in political education, even the maintenance of a religious ethos was threatened. This continued until a change in government came in 1991. One of the first actions of the new Movement for Multiparty Democracy government was to revise the regulations affecting Church-run schools to enable them to become more autonomous and to encourage them to extend their commitment even by taking back some of the primary schools that had been given over in 1973. It thus introduced a new Education Act in 1993 which allowed Church-sponsored institutions significantly greater freedom in terms of financing, student enrolment, appointment of staff, and curriculum development. This article traces the history of Catholic institutions in Zambia between 1964 and 1991, illustrating some of the difficulties which they encountered while operating in accord with their ideals, especially the promotion of justice which became more explicit and central to Catholic education after Vatican II. It argues that the Catholic Church cooperated closely with government in a state-controlled system in the years immediately after Independence, especially in its attempts to provide an educated labor force which was so much a priority for Zambia at that time. It also supported the government's efforts to create an egalitarian society through the educational system even if it may have produced a more relevant curriculum for school drop-outs if it had greater autonomy. Catholic secondary schools never numbered more than thirty, in a country that currently has 256, and with the rise of basic schools have become even less significant statistically. Yet, Catholic institutions' academic programs merited repeated acclaim from government, while they became much sought after by parents and students, both Catholic and non-Catholic. Even when government grants from the 1980s onward became less and less adequate, Catholic institutions maintained high academic and infrastructural standards. They had books and equipment which were frequently the envy of government institutions. What they have perhaps lost in terms of proportionate quantity, they greatly gained in quality. Even within a tightly government-regulated system they made a distinctive contribution. While the Church did not entirely endorse much of the Marxist approach of the early educational reform movement, it was in accord with the ideal of equity which the movement propounded. However, when government leaned too heavily on what it termed "Scientific Socialism" in the late 1970s, the Catholic and other Church authorities resisted not because of its egalitarian direction but because of its suspected atheism. When attempts were made to replace religious education with political education and when the government introduced atheistic literature into their schools, Church authorities made frequent protests with only moderate success. Nonetheless, religious education remained a core subject in the basic curriculum while political education continued to feature. In more recent times since the change of government in 1991, the ideal of equity has become more difficult for the government to pursue because of its debt servicing and Structural Adjustment Program. Fewer funds are available for social services like health and education and so the government had to adopt a policy of cost-sharing which has made education less available to the poor. At the same time, the society is becoming more clearly divided between haves and have-nots while the educational system itself is becoming more clearly a preserve of those who have means. The Catholic Church is thus confronted more than before with a choice because of the autonomy which has been granted through the 1993 Education Act. It can remain closely integrated within the system which is not only of poor quality but, because of the government's policy of cost-sharing, tends to exclude larger and larger numbers of the poor. Alternatively, it can step out and present a model of school that continues to maintain the highest academic standards but which at the same time ensures that an acceptable Catholic, though ecumenical, ethos is recreated where the promotion of justice is pivotal. Thus, not only those who have means, but the poorest of the poor, will be accorded a fair opportunity to benefit from the educational system which has been at the heart of the Catholic endeavour in Zambia, certainly since 1964 but probably from the outset.