  Timetables varied from place to place. There was no national curriculum so schools and local education authorities followed the directions of their own professional advisers and established practice. There was a core of basic English, maths, geography, History, one modern language, PE and Religious Studies, plus a version of Science dominated by Biology.
It goes without saying, there were no computers. While the grammar schools, which mostly had ancient foundations and remained single-sex, secondary moderns, with their new buildings and equipment, were largely co-educational. Woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing were seen as important subjects for the boys. The girls, meanwhile, did needlework or cookery and, in many cases, typing.
Creating a class divide
This division between secondary modern and grammar schools started to disappear in July 1965, when the then education secretary Anthony Crosland issued a circular requesting local authorities to abolish the 11-plus exam and start creating a comprehensive, all-ability system of secondary schools. This was put into practice throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
There were many reasons for the change, not least the demand for a better, more academic education than the secondary moderns were able to offer. Fairness was a particular priority. Secondary moderns had become second-class institutions. They had less money than grammar schools, the teachers were less-well qualified and were paid less.
Although the 11-plus should have ensured that children from ordinary backgrounds had a fair share of grammar school places, in practice the grammars were dominated by middle-class offspring, who had books at home or were coached for the exams. Secondary moderns were overwhelmingly working-class. While in theory it was possible to move from one type of school to another, in practice it rarely happened.
Top of page |
