THE ORIGINS OF FULL-TIME COMPULSORY EDUCATION AT FIVE.

The article focuses on the origins of full-time compulsory education at the age of five. Its purpose is to throw some light upon the origins of a situation that is patently not discussed as often as it ought to be. An exposition of the historical roots of an apparently time-hallowed arrangement, to which some vested interest may well attach, should facilitate an informed re-examination of it. Until a few years before the passing of the Forster Act, there had been little in the educational thought and practice of the 19th-century Great Britain to suggest that the age of five would constitute the dividing line between voluntary and universal education. Although comparatively few years have passed since the Education Bill became law, it is no longer an easy matter to trace its genesis. In the end, one is left with the deduction that the Forster Act deemed the downward extension of school age a practicable way of increasing the length of school life, and sought to protect from parental exploitation at home all children whose age made this a strong possibility, even if they were unlikely to find gainful employment outside. It appears certain, however, that it attached little importance to the point, and held no strong and decided views upon it.