Due to the industrial revolution which was more prevalent during the Victorian era, a lot of children missed school for they used to be employed in the factories and in the mines. Consequently, very few children were able to obtain primary school education because, by 1940 only 20 of children had had any schooling in London. This situation lasted until the government intervened and made primary school mandatory for all the primary school aged children in the year 1880. With the above in mind, this research will focus on the reasons why the British government wanted their primary school-aged children to attend school during the Victorian Period in Great Britain.
Background Information
Although the Victorian period was characterized by child labor which prevented children from attending school, children from the upper and middle class could still attend school. This is because their families were well up. Children from the poor families were necessitated to work in order to supplement the familys income. Children from the rich families used to be taught at home by a governess until they were ten years. Afterwards, they were sent to public schools after attaining ten years. However, this was only applicable to boys since there were very few schools which could take girls and most of them used to be taught from home.
The government and other citizens soon realized that it was important for children to go to school to enable them gain some level of literacy. In the year 1844, a law was passed by the government to ensure that children who were working at the factories could be given six and an half days to attend schools every week. To enhance this, schools for the very poor and the orphans were established in order to provide free primary education. These schools were referred to as the Ragged Schools. The government was very determined to make sure that children obtained the basic education and always looked up for ways and means to make their dream come true. In the year 1870, the parliament passed the Fosters Education Act which required the entire country to provide education to all children aged from five to ten years. Nevertheless, since most of the schools were not free, many poor children were not attending school and instead they continued to work so that they can help their families. In the year 1880, schooling was made mandatory such that all children were required to attend school until the age of ten years. Nine years latter, the school leaving age was increased to twelve years and a year later all schools became free because the school pence fee was completely abolished. Studies of Rosen reveal that the primary school education became absolutely available to every one in the year 1899.
During the Victorian period, most schools were run by charity organizations and the churches. Some of these schools were known as the Dame schools and they were operated by women to help the working class primary school aged children. The Church of England was also at the frontline in ensuring that children from poor families obtained some education. They achieved this by establishing Sunday Schools where the primary aged children were taught bible stories as well as the basic literacy that included reading and writing lessons.
Teaching children the basic literacy was very important because it helped to make children feel as though they were part of the country. Teaching them how to read, write and some arithmetic boosted their self esteem. Some subjects like geography and history were very important although they were not taught regularly. Children were also taught some music and girls were taught how to sew. In addition, school was very important because it prevented them from starting to work at an early age which was a common phenomenon during that particular time.
Child Labor by the Primary School Aged Children
The famous child labor during the Victorian era which used to keep a lot of children out of school was an endangering experience because children used to work as soon as they were old enough to do any kind of a job. Some could begin to work as early as soon as they attained three years and some five years. Most of these children used to do the jobs that could not be done by adults, mostly due to the nature of the job. Such jobs included crawling under the machinery which was practically difficult for the adults. They used to help a lot in coal mines for they used to sit at the entrance so as to close and open the ventilation doors. Sweeping the chimney was yet another job which the small boys were being forced to do. Although it was abolished by the law, boys were still being forced to do it especially because it was a bit difficult for adults to do so.
The primary school aged children did a lot of dangerous jobs especially in the manufacturing factories. For instance, in the factories that were manufacturing matches, they were employed so as to dip the matches in phosphorous, which was quite dangerous for them. This is because some of them were affected by the same and some cases ended up being fatal. These children could also work in the coal mines while some worked on the streets, polishing shoes, selling fast moving goods like the flowers among other types of the odd jobs. However, a few were privileged to be apprenticed in trade activities and farms but the majority worked in factories. Despite working for very long hours, they used to be paid small amount of money but they actually had no choice.
Why Did the Government Strive to Keep the Children in School
Formation of various laws by the government showed that the government was determined to keep the children in school at all costs. One reason why the government was so determined to keep the children in school was to protect them from child labor. Various laws had been put in place to end the child labor but since there was no much progress, the government decided to make it mandatory for children to attend primary school. This ensured that they spent most of the time in school thereby reducing the time which they could be forced to work. Moreover, most of the children who were involved in the child labor were the primary school aged children.
The government wanted to ensure that these children became literate so as to be in a position to leap the benefits of the same. Although it was possible to obtain other skills from else where, it was only in a school set up that the children could be taught how to read and write. In schools, the children were taught the three Rs which included reading, writing and dictation, and arithmetic. These subjects were very necessary because they were the very basics. Although other subjects like music, geography and history were taught once a week as highlighted earlier, the basics were the arithmetic, reading and writing.
Ensuring that all children remained at school was very necessary because it helped children feel as though they were part of the nation. This is more so because even before the school was made mandatory, children from the rich families used to attend school. Such a situation could easily make children from poor backgrounds feel left out. Moreover, making sure that all children attend school helps to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich as well as empowering children so that they can take part effectively in nation building.
At this particular time, industrial revolution was taking place. This called for qualified workers to work in technical positions. Due to poor school attendants, a shortage of technical workers was being experienced in these industries. To solve the problem, the government made sure that all children attended the primary education which was the foundation for any technical training. The demand for technical and trained workers continued to increase since more developments were taking place as the years progressed. To support this, the government could not do much but ensure that all people were being educated in order to meet the increasing demand.
The Victorian period was characterized by a lot of problems. The presence of the working primary school aged children made things worse. After the days work, the children used to idle and this got them into crimes and drug abuse as well as alcohol abuse. The development of slums where the poor and the primary school aged working children used to live posed a lot of dangers to the ruling class. The level of insecurity increased as well as sanitation problems which caused serious diseases. As an intervention, the government decided to make sure that the working class primary school children remained in school.
Measures Taken to Ensure that the Primary School Aged Children Remained in School
Since the government was determined to make sure that all the working primary school aged children remained in school, it established laws which ensured that this was happened. As mentioned earlier in this research, some laws required children to be given six and a half days schooling in a week.
Although such laws were not very successful, they were still part of the governments effort to help the primary school aged working children to remain in school. The government also established yet another law in the year 1890 which made education mandatory for the primary school aged working children.
To ensure that lack of school fees would not make children miss school, the government went a step up a head and abolished the school fees. With the free education, it was possible for all children to attend school despite their background since they were not required to pay anything for the service. Moreover, even before that, there were special schools which were established for the very poor and the orphans. Although the quality of education offered in these institutions was poor compared to the education that was being offered in private institutions, it was still of much help to the poor. Since some of the children who left school still went back to the child labor, the government raised the school leaving age to twelve years unlike the previous ten years and later to fifteen years.
Since a lot of primary school aged children were kept from school by child labor, the government put a lot of measures to prevent the same. Some forms of child labor especially where children were endangered were illegal. In 1842, a law which prohibited women and children under the age of thirteen to be employed underground was established. The working hours were also reduced to allow children to have more time for schooling. However, this did not help much until the mandatory free primary education was introduced towards the end of the Victorian period. Of all the government measures that were being put forth to ensure that the working primary school aged children were kept in school, free and mandatory primary education was the most effective.
However, it was not only the government that tried to solve the problem of the working primary school aged children, but the churches and the charity organizations as well. The churches established Sunday schools where these children were taught religious issues as well as basic literacy. Teachers volunteered to teach the working primary school aged children especially on Sunday as that was the only day which they were free. The Dame schools as highlighted earlier in this research were small private schools which used to offer education to working class primary school aged children before they became old enough to work. They were operated by charitable organizations, mostly women organizations and children were taught basic literacy as well as some sewing.
Conclusion
As highlighted earlier in this research, the Victorian period was characterized by industrial revolution which resulted to a lot of development in Britain. This is because many industries as well as manufacturing factories were established. However, this caused a lot of problems that result from any form of industrial revolution. Many people moved from rural areas and became concentrated in towns or in localities where these industries and factories were located. Child labor also emanated from the same. Instead of attending school, children from poor backgrounds used to work in these factories. High illiteracy levels and dangerous child labor during the Victorian period made the government to establish laws that ensured that the children remained in school. After the introduction of free and mandatory primary education, most of the primary school aged children stopped working and started schooling. They were taught basic literacy which was very helpful because it not only made them feel as though they were part of the nation but this helped them to escape the child labor.
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