Education Acts

1872 Education Act

The 1872 Education Act created state schools which were designated non-denominational. The Act also made education compulsory for all children aged 5-13. Before this time it had not been compulsory for children to be educated though the state had legislated to establish schools, provided funds for them, inspected them and required that their teachers be trained to certain standards. Prior to 1872 charities, faith groups and private tutors had provided education. In 1872, the dominant agencies which the state had chosen to run the school system, namely the Presbyterian religious institutions were changed. The state now set up school boards as it deemed the board system was more efficient than the old parish system but essentially the public goals of state provision remained the same. This made the 1872 Act fundamentally different in significance from the Education Act of 1870 in England and Wales, which marked the true beginning of public schooling.

Some saw the 1872 Act as the beginning of the secularisation of the Scottish education system. However, many Presbyterian churches assumed that after the Act, schools would continue to be, in reality, Presbyterian schools.

Before the 1872 Act the Catholic community set up their own schools. Catholic schools were set up as a response to the discrimination against the Irish and Irish Catholic communities. It was a way in which the Church could provide education for people in poverty who were largely excluded from the mainstream of the communities in which they were living. However, the Argyll Commission of the 1860's did find examples of Catholic children being educated in the parish schools. The Catholic schools chose not to join the state system established in 1872, despite encouragement to do so. The Episcopal Church also had concerns about the secularisation aspects of the Act. Both Catholic and Episcopalian denominational schools therefore remained outwith the state system.

1918 Education (Scotland) Act

After the First World War, the British Government embarked on a programme to raise the standards of education for all.

It also became clear that the attainment gap between Catholic and state schools had widened significantly, with children in Catholic Schools performing less well than those in state schools.

State support for Catholic schools was therefore seen by the government as a necessity in order to achieve equality of provision for all pupils in Scotland. Catholic schools had been unable to afford the level or range of education required to ensure that their pupils achieve parity with state school pupils.

The Government therefore proposed to bring Catholic schools into the state sector within the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act, and to provide them with full state funding. As part of the move to bring Catholic schools into the state education system the Education (Scotland) Act 1918 guaranteed the following rights for the Catholic community:

• Catholic schools were to be fully funded by the state. They would be open to inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectors;
• As public schools, Catholic schools were to be open to all, but provided primarily to serve the needs of the Catholic community;
• The Church was expected to approve all teachers in Catholic schools as to their 'religious belief and character'; the local education authority was to appoint, with the approval of the church, a supervisor for religious education in Catholic schools.

This move enabled Catholic schools to have financial security whilst retaining their individual identity. Catholic schools themselves saw state support as extremely helpful because it removed the burden of self-financing and maintenance. The Education Act of 1918 was however largely acknowledged by all quarters to be pluralistic in intent and nature. It was on the whole amicably implemented locally but it was entirely uncontroversial. Eventually, those that resisted the Act succumbed only because they could not afford to build a proper secondary system without the funding that came only with full education authority control.

It should be noted that in 1918 the Catholic schools were not offered the option of being voluntary providers sanctioned and financed by the state as in England and Wales and Ireland. They had to accept transfer to the education authorities if they were to continue to receive public money.

The Education (Scotland) Act 1980

The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 requires education authorities and schools to make provision for religious education (RE) and religious observance (RO) with opportunities for parents to withdraw their children if they wish.

National advice on the provision of RME and RO was provided in the Scottish Office Education Department Circular 6/91. For primary schools this stated that a minimum of 10% of curriculum time be spent on religious and moral education and that religious observance be held not less than once a week. For secondary schools, the Circular stated that a minimum of 5% of curricular time in S1/S2 and 80 hours over S3/S4 be spent on RME, and that it should be a continuing element in the curriculum of S5/S6 pupils. On RO in secondary schools it stated that this should be held at least once a month, preferably with greater frequency.

Guidance on RME is also provided in the National Guidelines on RME 5-14 (1992), that outline the aims of RME, designed to help pupils to develop a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other world religions. It also states the need to recognise religion as an important expression of human experience; to appreciate moral values such as honesty, liberty, justice, fairness and concern for others; to investigate and understand the questions and answers that religions can offer about the nature and meaning of life and develop their own beliefs, attitudes, moral values and practices through a process of personal search, discovery and critical evaluation. A separate document (Religious Education 5-14 Roman Catholic Schools) was issued in 1994 in recognition of the right of church authorities to determine the religious education curriculum in Catholic schools. While this document also aims to encourage an understanding of other world religions and other Christian traditions its main purpose is to 'help Catholic pupils to develop a knowledge and understanding of their own faith and to support their faith formation.'