BRITISH EDUCATION

i. INTRODUCTION

educational systems of England and Wales may conveniently
X be dealt with together, since the Acts of Parliament which have
regulated the development of popular education in England apply
also to Wales, and the Board of Education in London deals with
education in Wales as well as in England. The Scottish system,
however, differs in important respects from the English, and is regulated
by separate Education Acts for Scotland. In this pamphlet it will
only be possible to deal with the national system of England and
Wales, adding a brief reference to education in Scotland and Northern
Ireland.

British Education looks, at first sight, chaotic But on examina-
tion it is seen to be complicated bat not chaotic. It i$ complicated
because it has grown out of so many different originating causes and
tries to satisfy so many requirements. But the State provision and the
various forms of voluntary provision do, when taken together, form
a national system which, at the present time, is full of life and growth,

British Education has developed gradually, in accordance with
national characteristics, of which it affords a striking illustration* Of
these the most important are an innate dislike of compulsion and a
reliance on voluntary effort, a practical capacity for mending rather
than ending existing institutions, strength of denominational feeling
in religion, and a dismdinatioti to take long views, Right up to the
present time State interventioE has been hampered by religious
differences. Yet there has been no breaking with the past; only a
series of modifications and developments due to increased clearness of
vision and sense of social responsibility,

A brief reference to the past is necessary if the present situation is
to be understood* Looking backwards we find that, though cathedral
and monastic schools appear as early as the seventh century, the real
starting-point of the British system of education is not the establish-
ment of schools but the rise of the Universities of Oxford and Cam*

ii