La educación en Inglaterra (breve comparativa con España) del siglo XIX hasta mediados del XX

Abstract

In England, until 1833, educational establishments were organised on a purely voluntary basis. Their whole range - from dame and charity schools at primary level, owned and run by private individuals, through endowed and public schools, founded, financed and regulated by individual bequests, to the university colleges, originating in foundations and continually asserting their independence -was outside state intervention or control. Reforms or expansion occurring in each sector were, until the passage of the First Reform Bill, fully dependent upon private initiative and voluntary subscription. Thus the creation of the British and Foreign School Society and of the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, at primary level, the opening of mechanics institutes for adult education, that of denominational or experimental private schools at secondary level, and finally the foundation of London University ¿all represented private enterprise. Significantly, the first state grant in aid of primary education confirmed this trend which was then expanded into "the voluntary principle". Treasury grants were to be distributed through the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society without comprehensive governmental directives concerning the utilisation of such funds, the educational standards to be maintained or the subjects to be taught. The control of the schools remained the prerogative of the subscribers, both to the original two societies and to those which developed subsequently. State intervention was limited to the appointment of inspectors, after 1839, and even then the societies could veto any particular inspector. The fact that the church of England at the peak of its Tractarian revival combated governmental interference in educational matters, in defence of the traditional supremacy of Anglicanism, strengthened voluntarism. The dissenters were equally opposed to state intervention which they felt to be antagonistic to religious liberty because of the existence of the established church. This "religious difficulty" prolonged the voluntary system in primary education, while secondary and higher remained wholly private.