The Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 laid the basis for the modern education system. The most immediate thing it did was to take control of education out of the hands of the churches, with the exception of the Catholic and Episcopalian churches, and place it in the hands of popularly elected school boards.
A nonsectarian system of public schooling was established and subject to the general control of the Scotch Education Department (SED), based in Whitehall, London. It was not until the Scottish Office was created in 1885 that the SED had a measure of independence from the English Department. A second consequence of the Act was to make schooling compulsory for children in the age group 5-13, although exemption was made for children ten and over who could prove that they had achieved proficiency in grade five of the
curriculum.
The leaving age was raised to fourteen in 1883 and education was free. By 1908 the system of exemptions was abandoned and precise entry and leaving dates were introduced.
The 1872 Act was successful in providing a broad framework for a national system of education. Within thirty years of its passing illiteracy had been eliminated in both the Highlands and the Lowlands, and much was done to improve attendance rates. In Glasgow, prior to the 1872 Act, only 60% of children ever attended school, and of these 10,000 were regular absentees; however, by the end of the 19th century schooling was universal with places for all children.
From the outset an urgent task for Glasgow School Board was to provide places for around an extra 35,000 children of compulsory school age – around 40% of the school-aged population – who at that time received no schooling.
Between 1873 and 1918, Glasgow School Board built over 75 schools, each accommodating 800 to 1000 children for reasons of efficiency and economy.
The SED provided loans for their construction and imposed strict regulations pertaining to design: for example, separate entrances and stairs for girls and boys, the provision of a hall, the location of toilets, or ‘offices’, outwith the main building, space per pupil, etc.
While the SED regulations, a tight budget and a frequently confined site did not offer a great deal of scope for architectural originality, unlike other Boards, Glasgow appointed a range of architects thus bringing a variety of character to the three-storey utilitarian school buildings. Developments in classroom layout and desk design were led by teachers’ experience. The last school built by Glasgow School Board opened in 1916.
Adjacent School Boards included:
Levern School Board
Maryhill School Board
Mearns School Board
Old Kilpatrick School Board
Old Monkland School Board
Renfrew Landward School Board
Shettleston School Board
Springburn School Board