The 1830s saw the first elementary schools established with public money, as a way of supporting the basic education of working class children. In 1833, Parliament had initiated an annual grant of £20,000 for education to be administered through two great religious societies, the Anglican National Society and the Dissenting British and Foreign Society. However, by the end of the decade, the government was under pressure to modify this haphazard arrangement. They therefore proposed establishing a Privy Council Committee, which would distribute a larger grant, but also run inspections of these elementary schools, to ensure that public money was being well spent. Funding was now conditional on acceptance of this inspection, and conformity …

117 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Appointment of first school inspectors in the UK". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4797, accessed 23 November 2024.]