The Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, Revisited: The Act and Its Legal Implications

McHugh, Mary

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-51370-0_9

Mary McHugh³

571 Accesses

Abstract

The purpose of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, was to make adequate provision for the organisation of national education in Scotland short of the universities. The 1918 Act would see Catholic schools transfer into the Scottish system. But how would the 1918 Act work in practice? Mechanisms had to be agreed, and some provisions of the Act defined and clarified by legal interpretation. However, a desire to maintain the religious character of the schools is the recurrent link between the pre- and post-1918 periods. The primary moral responsibility of educating children to adulthood belongs to the parents, but the Church and State must cooperate to ensure that parents are truly free to choose, according to their conscience, the schools they want for their children.

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Notes

1.
Lord Finlay introducing the Second Reading of the Education (Scotland) Bill in the House of Lords. See Hansard, www.hansard.millbanksystems.com, 30 October 1918.
2.
The Tablet, article by Bishop Brown of Pella, 21 December 1929. Brown had been the Apostolic Visitor to Scotland at the time of the Education (Scotland) Act 1918.
3.
New clause on Religious Instruction, House of Commons. See Hansard, www.hansard.millbanksystems.com, 16 October 1918.
4.
Brother Kenneth, “The Education Scotland Act in the Making”, The Innes Review, 19, 1968, 119–120.
5.
Glasgow Archdiocesan Archive (GAA)—ED11, Minute of Meeting of Catholic Education Council, Edinburgh, 28 July 1919, 3.
6.
GAA-ED11, Mgr John Ritchie to Mgr Brown, 29 July 1919.
7.
GAA-ED11, letters from John McLachlan, writer, to Mgr John Ritchie, 12–15 November 1919.
8.
GAA-MY52/18, Ad Clerum, 20 September 1923. Diocesan Education Boards were normally reconstituted every three years. Because the schools mainly belonged to parishes, a second (No. 2) Charitable Trust was later formed so that income could be apportioned between the parishes.
9.
J. H. Treble, “The Working of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act in Glasgow Archdiocese”, The Innes Review, 31, 1980, 30. See also J. H. Treble, “The Development of Roman Catholic Education in Scotland 1878–1978”, in D. McRoberts (ed.), Modern Scottish Catholicism 1878–1978 (Glasgow: J. S. Burns, 1979), 125.
10.
Treble, ‘Working of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act,’ 31.
11.
Ibid., 33.
12.
Ibid.
13.
James Scotland, The History of Scottish Education, Vol. 2 (London 1969), 44.
14.
GAA-ED11, Mgr Hugh Kelly [to unidentified Monsignor], 25 March 1920.
15.
GAA-ED1/5, undated Memorandum from Canon Hugh Kelly inserted in the Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board, 25 June 1923–3 May 1926.
16.
Memorandum, ibid.
17.
Treble, ‘Working of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act,’ 35.
18.
Ibid.
19.
GAA-ED41, copy report from Scottish Education Department (32.3883), 27 September 1920.
20.
GAA-ED41, copy report from Scottish Education Department (19/E.8061-178 H.G), undated.
21.
Treble, ‘Development of Roman Catholic Education,’ 127. Even prior to the 1918 Act, the Church in the west of Scotland had sought the services of Irish teachers to ease the staffing shortages in its schools, but such attempts were not particularly successful, with the Scottish Education Department being reluctant to recognise those with Irish qualifications.
22.
GAA-ED1/5, Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board, Teachers and Hostel Sub-Committee, 18 February 1924, 51.
23.
GAA-FR18/1, Charitable Trust, Minute Book, 12 June 1925, 23 December 1932, 12 June 1925, unpaginated.
24.
GAA-FR18/1. The normal amounts awarded to individuals in loan grants were: University Arts course, three years—£60, four years—£80, and Training College, two years—£40, three years—£60.
25.
GAA-FR18/1, ibid., 12 June 1925. Powers to award loan grants to suitable candidates were delegated by the Diocesan Education Board to its Treasurer and Secretary. Only the most doubtful cases were settled by the Board itself.
26.
Mrs. Ellen McHugh to author. In 1924 it became a requirement that all male teachers must be graduates. See Marjorie Cruickshank, A History of the Training of Teachers in Scotland, Publications of the Scottish Council for Research in Education [No. 61] (London: University of London Press, 1970), 169.
27.
GAA-ED1/3, Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board, 4 April 1921, unpaginated.
28.
Thomas A. FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education in South-West Scotland before 1972: its contribution to the change in status of the Catholic community of the area (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1986), 60.
29.
Ibid., 63.
30.
James E. Handley (Bro. Clare), History of St Mungo’s Academy 1858–1958 (place and date of publication unspecified), 157.
31.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 61.
32.
Ibid., 62.
33.
GAA-ED1/6, Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board 24 May 1926–28 October 1934: 17 January 1927, 41, quotes verbatim a letter of 3 January 1927 from Archbishop Mackintosh to the Diocesan Education Board.
34.
Treble, ‘Development of Roman Catholic Education,’ 127.
35.
GAA-ED1/6, Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board 24 May 1926–28 October 1934: 5 September 1927, 72.
36.
Ibid., 16 January 1928, 90.
37.
Ibid., 23 January 1928, 91.
38.
GAA-FR18/1, Charitable Trust Minute Book, 4 March 1931. The agreement itself was signed in February 1928. Two of the Catholic schools in the city, Sacred Heart, Bridgeton, and St Roch’s, Garngad, were the property of the RC Charitable Trust. Formal approval of the sale of these two schools is not recorded in the Minute Book of the Trust, until 4 March 1931, although the transfer itself had taken effect on 15 May 1928.
39.
Ibid., 24 September 1928, 109. Ayrshire and Lanarkshire agreed to the proposal (19 November 1928, 116); Dunbartonshire (17 December 1928, 122).
40.
Ibid., 22 October 1928, 112.
41.
Treble, ‘Working of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act,’ 29–30.
42.
GAA-ED1/6, Minute Book of the Diocesan Education Board, 24 May 1926–28 October 1934: 25 November 1929, 144.
43.
Ibid., 11 April 1930, 157–159—concerning nomination of Catholic representatives to the [County] Education Committees.
44.
GAA-ED1/7, Minute Book of the Diocesan and Provincial Education Board 26 November 1934–13 June 1955: 25 January 1937, unpaginated.
45.
Ibid., 22 October 1936.
46.
Ibid., 16 January 1939—the schools at Renton and Milngavie were excluded from these negotiations.
47.
Ibid., 23 January 1940.
48.
FitzPatrick, p. 61—there were in fact five junior secondaries, the advanced centres at St Mary’s, Calton, and St Roch’s, Garngad, having been upgraded.
49.
Handley, History of St Mungo’s, p. 178
50.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 64—St Mary’s, Lanark, was upgraded.
51.
Ibid.
52.
GAA-ED8, Religious Examination of Schools, 1934–35. By 1934–35, the number of post-primary places totalled 11,016—8013 of these in secondary and former Higher Grade schools and 3003 in Advanced Divisions. Primary places totalled 95,278 attached to missions/parishes, and a further 1442 provided by Religious Orders.
53.
Cruickshank, History of the Training of Teachers, 172; Scotland, History of Scottish Education, vol. 2, 123.
54.
GAA-ED1/7, Minute Book of the Diocesan and Provincial Education Board, 29 May 1935, unpaginated.
55.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. James R. Lyons to Archbishop Andrew MacDonald (St Andrews and Edinburgh), 28 September 1934, 1.
56.
Ibid.
57.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. Memorandum, covering the operation of the Scottish Education Act 1918 (1934), unpaginated.
58.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. R. M. Allardyce, Education Offices, Glasgow, to Mr J. W. Peck, Scottish Education Department, 10 November 1934.
59.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. Mr. Peck to Bishop Brown, 9 November 1934.
60.
Ibid.
61.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. Archbishop Macdonald to Bishop Brown, 16 January 1943.
62.
Ibid.
63.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 52.
64.
GAA-ED1/3, Minute Book of Diocesan Education Board, 3 October 1921, unpaginated.
65.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 53.
66.
Ibid.
67.
GAA-ED1/7, Minute Book of Diocesan and Provincial Education Board, 24 February 1941, unpaginated.
68.
Ibid., 8 November 1939.
69.
Ibid., 4 December 1939.
70.
Ibid., 8 November 1939.
71.
Ibid., 30 June 1941.
72.
Findlay, 29. (See note 1 above.)
73.
GAA-ED16, from Southwark. Memorandum on behalf of the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland in connection with the Education (Scotland) Bill 1944, 3.
74.
Education in Scotland 1947 (1948), 5, Report of the Secretary of State, National Records of Scotland—ED34.
75.
Findlay, 29.
76.
Cruickshank, History of the Training of Teachers, 189.
77.
GAA-ED1/7, Minute Book of Diocesan and Provincial Education Board, 3 March 1945.
78.
Ibid.
79.
Education in Scotland 1947 (1948), 6.
80.
From information in FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 126–133.
81.
Scotland, History of Scottish Education, vol. 2, 196.
82.
Findlay, 29.
83.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 129.
84.
Ibid., 131.
85.
Scotland, History of Scottish Education, vol. 2, 211.
86.
Ibid., 177.
87.
Ibid., 212
88.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 126; Treble, ‘Development of Roman Catholic Education,’ 137.
89.
Education in Scotland 1962 (1963), 21, Report of the Secretary of State, National Records of Scotland—ED34.
90.
Ibid.
91.
Scotland, History of Scottish Education, vol. 2, 205.
92.
Cruickshank, History of the Training of Teachers, 191.
93.
Ibid., 190. By comparison, the annual ‘wastage’ rate of women teachers trained between 1935 and 1938 was 4.5%.
94.
Calculated from tables in FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, Appendix II, 178–180.
95.
Cruickshank, History of the Training of Teachers, 191.
96.
Scotland, History of Scottish Education, vol. 2, 224.
97.
Cruickshank, History of the Training of Teachers, 190.
98.
Treble ‘Development of Roman Catholic Education,’ 132–133.
99.
Ibid., 133.
100.
Ibid., 134.
101.
Education in Scotland in 1971 (1972), 28, Report of the Secretary of State, National Records of Scotland—ED34
102.
Ibid.
103.
Education in Glasgow. Report by HM Inspector of Schools 1972 (1973), 7.
104.
Ibid., 19.
105.
Ibid.
106.
Education in Scotland in 1971, 28.
107.
Education in Ayrshire. Report by HM Inspector of Schools, 1974 (1976), 16. The three schools were Sacred Heart High, St Joseph’s Academy, and St Conval’s High.
108.
Education in Dunbartonshire. Report by HM Inspector of Schools, 1974 (1976), 3. The pupil-teacher ratio in non-denominational schools was 14:7, in RC schools, 18:1.
109.
Education in Renfrewshire. Report by HM Inspector of Schools 1973 (1974), 7. Renfrewshire also reported severe staff shortages in primary schools, often in the RC sector and particularly in the Greenock/Port Glasgow area. Areas with teacher-training colleges within their boundaries gained considerably in teacher recruitment (see page 9).
110.
Ibid., 7.
111.
Education in Glasgow, 19.
112.
Ibid.
113.
Jacqueline Watson, Marian de Souza and Ann Trousdale (eds.), Global Perspectives on Spirituality and Education (Routledge: New York and London, 2014), 7, quoting B. Hartshorn, from T. G. K. Bryce and W. M. Humes (eds.), Scottish Education: Beyond Devolution, 3rd edition (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), 375–380.
114.
FitzPatrick, Catholic Secondary Education, 141.
115.
Ibid.
116.
Archbishop J. Michael Miller CSB, The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools (2005). Available from the Catholic Education Resource Center at www.catholiceducation.org.
117.
Ibid.
118.
Ibid.
119.
Ibid.
120.
Ibid.
121.
GAA-ED2, Memorandum to the Scotch Education Department, April 1896.
122.
Mr Tufyal Choudhury, Professor Sir Tom Devine, Professor Ian Leigh, and Dr. Deirdre McCann, “Religious Freedom in Scotland A Legal Proposal”, 6. The text of the ‘Legal Proposal’ document can be accessed online at www.sconews.co.uk/opinion/39879/religious-freedon-in-scotland-a-legal-proposal.

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Archdiocese of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Mary McHugh

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School of Education, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Stephen J. McKinney
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Raymond McCluskey

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McHugh, M. (2019). The Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, Revisited: The Act and Its Legal Implications. In: McKinney, S., McCluskey, R. (eds) A History of Catholic Education and Schooling in Scotland. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51370-0_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51370-0_9
Published: 24 May 2019
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