The origins of full‐time compulsory education at five

Starting school at four

“…But, as explained by Szreter (1964), the proposal to set five as the minimum age for schooling did not go uncontested. Indeed, when Forster's Bill was being debated, school starting age was the subject of some contention and an amendment was proposed to raise the minimum age from five to six years.…”

Early years: Then, now and next

“…Disraeli, leader of the Opposition, rose and urged the House 'to hasten on with the whole Bill... the time consuming amendment was withdrawn, the discussion of the point was concluded and the age of 5 went forward to reach the Statute Book'. Far from considering children's needs as the basis for the current age of admission, it appears that the decision was reached more as a consequence of Parliamentary expediency (Szreter, 1964). The government commitment to expansion is truly heartening.…”

Education Administration Sharpened by the Eyes of Janus: An Historical Approach to Educational Decision Making

“…In fact, this has been shown to be far from the truth: in England universal elementary education was provided reluctantly and late and the purposes of the early starting age were less laudable than might be supposed. 19 The age of commencing schooling was specified as five in the Elementary Education Act of 1870 after very brief debate in an almost empty House of Commons and it was rather the clauses which had religious and denominational significance that filled the House and prolonged the debates. A starting age of six had been specified in the Bill but this was amended to five so as to satisfy the demand for child labour in the mills and factories by advancing the total span of elementary education -and hence the leaving age -by one year.…”