Education Act 1944

The Education Act 1944 (7 and 8 Geo 6 c. 31) changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. Called the "Butler Act" after the Conservative politician R. A. Butler, it introduced the Tripartite System of secondary education and made all schooling—especially secondary education, free for all pupils. It raised the school leaving age to 15 (though the stated intention that it should be 16 was not effected until 1972), but kept age 11 as the decision point for sending children to higher levels. Every school was required to begin the day with a nondenominational religious activity, and Anglican schools were continued. Historians consider it a "triumph for progressive reform," even though the principal sponsor was the Conservative minister and president of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. He expressed the "One Nation Conservatism" in the tradition of Disraeli, which called for paternalism by the upper class towards the working class.