Abstract
The complicated nature of the current education system has its rules in school history.
Until the end of the XIXth century, most children went to school intended church schools or private school established by rich benefactors. But such schools were largely confined to the sons of rich aristocratic and influential. On the whole, education remained the privilege of children with families wealthy enough to pay the fees and didn't need the wages of the children to survive. The majority of children received no adequate education. State involvements in education was late and the first attempt to establish a national system of state-funded elementary school came only in 1870 for England and Wales in 1872 to Scotland and only in 1923 to Northern Island.
The 1870 Elementary Education Act (Forster Act) created school boards (conseils d'éducation) in England and Wales which provided schools in the area. States Elementary schools now supply non-denominational (non professional) training and existing religious voluntary schools served denominational needs. The schools remained fee paying. In 1880, primary education became free and compulsory up to the age of 10. (12 in 1899). In 1902, the Balfour Act made local governments responsible for state education by creating Local Education Authorities (LEA).The act also gave funding to voluntary schools. Adequate secondary education remained largely the field of the independent sector. State secondary school education in the early XXth was only marginally extended to children whose parents couldn't afford school fees. Scholarships for clever poor children and some schools were created but this state help didn't greatly expand secondary education. In 1920, only 9. 2% of 13 years old children in England and Wales entered secondary schools on a non-fee-paying basis. The school system in the early XXth century was inadequate for the demands of the society. Working class and lower middle-class children lacked extensive education. Until 1944, successive governments avoided any further significant involvement.
