Introduction to Education- The 1944 Education Act

• The 1944 Education Act and The tripartite System aka The Butler Act

The 1944 Education Act introduced the concept of Meritocracy.  It was introduced by the Conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the education secretary RA Butler.

As part of the act the school leaving age was raised to 16 and 3 different types of state schools were created, known as Technical Schools, Secondary Modern Schools and Grammar Schools, this became known as the Tripartite System.

All children were expected to take an examination at the age of 11; "the 11+", which was design to test a child's IQ and the results would determine which one of the three schools a child would go to. The decision was therefore not made by students.

The 11+ was based on the assumption that inteligence was innate, fixed and measurable and as a result sought to measure…