Raising Of School Leaving Age
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The Raising Of School Leaving Age (often shortened to ROSLA), is an act which is brought info force when the legal age a child is allowed to leave compulsory education increases. In most countries, the school leaving age often reflects when young people are seen to be mature enough within their society, but not necessarily when they are old enough to be regarded as an Adult.
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[edit] School leaving age acts in England and Wales
In England and Wales, this age has been raised numerous times over the years. The most recent Raising Of School Leaving Age act came into effect starting 1 September 1972, after preparation which began in 1964.[1] This increased the legal leaving age from 15 to 16, and meant that after the previous leavers left a few months prior, there would be a gap year as the following year group would have to continue their education for an additional year.
[edit] Act 1870
The Elementary Education Act 1870 (applying to England and Wales) created the concept of compulsory education for children under thirteen. In areas where education was considered a problem, elected school boards could be set up. These boards could, at their discretion, create local by-laws, confirmed by Parliament, to require attendance and fine the parents of children who did not attend. There were exemptions for illness, living more than a certain distance (typically one mile) from a school, or certification of having reached the required standard (which varied by board) which were made mandatory across England and Wales by the 1880 Act.
[edit] Act 1880
The Elementary Education Act 1880 insisted on compulsory attendance from 5-10 years. For poorer families, ensuring their children attended school proved difficult, as it was more tempting to send them working if the opportunity to earn an extra income was available. Attendance Officers often visited the homes of children who failed to attend school, which often proved to be ineffective. Children under the age of 13 who were employed were required to have a certificate to show they had reached the educational standard. Employers of these children who weren't able to show this were penalised. [1]
[edit] Act 1893
The Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act stated a minimum leaving age raised to 11. Later the same year, the act was also extended for blind and deaf children, who previously had no means of an official education.
[edit] Act 1899
Minimum leaving age raised to 13.
[edit] Act 1918 (Fisher Act)
Compulsory education act enforcing education from 5-14 years, with plans also for expansion in tertiary education. It is often known as the Fisher Act, as it was devised by Herbert Fisher.
[edit] Act 1944
Act to raise school leaving age to 15. Should have came in to effect as from September 1939, but was not implemented because of World War II. Act was eventually enforced from April 1947 under the Education Act 1944. This act introduced the concept of the famous 11+ examination, which determined whether a child would be entitled to schooling in a grammar school, secondary modern or technical college, under the Tripartite System. The act was devised by Rab Butler. [2]
[edit] Act 1972
[edit] Overview
Act to raise the school leaving age to 16, as effect from September 1st, following preparations which began in 1964. In some places around the country, these changes led to the introductions of Middle schools, where pupils were kept at primary or junior schools for one year longer, meaning that the number of pupils in secondary schools within these areas remained virtually constant through the change.
[edit] ROSLA Buildings
For many secondary schools around England and Wales in areas without a Middle School, they were unable to accommodate for 5th year students. The decision was made to construct a new building for each school (often referred to as ROSLA Buildings, ROSLA Blocks or more uncommonly, Trent Buildings), so that the school would have the capacity to cope with this new generation of ROSLA students.
The ROSLA Buildings were delivered to schools in self assembly packs, and were rapidly assembled by a team often in a matter of days, regardless of weather conditions. Consequentally, they were not intended to stand long-term, though some have proven to have served much longer than was initially planned. Many ROSLA Buildings shared similar exterior attributes such as their design, with the only difference being the separation of rooms within the building. The room separation within the building was decided upon by senior school management, hence many walls are false from being added in after construction.
Although the majority of schools around England and Wales have since replaced the ROSLA Building at their site, there are still numerous schools around the country which are still actively using their ROSLA Building. Many ROSLA Buildings still standing which aren't in active use by the school, serve for youth centres or are simply derelict.[3] The majority have since been demolished or extensively refurbished.
[edit] Act 2013 (Proposed)
[edit] Reasons
Reports published in November 2006 shown that the England's Education Secretary Alan Johnson was exploring ways to raise the school leaving age in England and Wales to 18, just over 40 years later than the last raise back in 1972. Figures were published in June 2006 showing that 76.2% of all young people aged 16-18 are already in further education or training, meaning that the raise might only affect around 25% of young people who may have otherwise seeked employment immediately upon finishing compulsory education. This did not specifically state that young people would remain in secondary school, but rather by law be required to continue their education full or part time, whether that be in sixth form, college or work based training.[4][5] In a survey of 859 people, 9/10 supported the plans for the age increase.[6]
These plans were confirmed in January 2007 by the Department for Education and Skills, with the change to be implemented by 2013. [7] The Government believes that the changes are needed because of the collapse in unskilled jobs in the economy, which means that young school leavers at 16 years of age are finding it increasingly more difficult to find employment, and consequentally in a lot of cases are unemployable. Within the last 40 years, the number of unskilled jobs available have more than halved, from 8 million in the 1960s to 3.5 in the present day, making it increasingly difficult for young school leavers to find work if they were not able to stay on at school and complete further education.
[edit] Effects
The trend in the decrease of unskilled jobs available around the country is continually falling, and therefore the Government believes by making education compulsory until the age of 18 will mean many more young people will leave education being in a much better position to find skilled employment. Speaking in March 2007, Chancellor Gordon Brown stated that around 50,000 teenages would be paid a training allowance to sign up to college-based courses, with estimates on the available number of apprenticeships available to double to around 500,000.[8]
The Government is hopeful that the changes will also have an effect on preventing the increase in crime levels, as currently a substantial percentage of young people leaving school are turning to a life of crime.[6]
[edit] School leaving age worldwide
While many countries around the world have achieved making the leaving age equal the the minimum legal working age, the majority of countries still fail at synchronising their school leaving age with the minimum age of legal employment. Whilst there are a significant number of countries which have appeared to achieve this, which allows transition into employment much easier and smoother, a minority have the age set very low, an example being the Syrian Arab Republic.
Very few countries still have no minimum age for both the end of compulsory education and minimum age of employment. In some cases the gap between these two ages can be up to four years (for example, Iran), which may sound alarm bells at a risk of exploitation of those children "in limbo", who are beyond the age of compulsory education, yet are still too young to be legally employed. [9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/faq/#faq18
- ^ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ED1944.htm
- ^ http://www.nightingalehighschool.co.uk/rosla.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6135516.stm
- ^ http://education.guardian.co.uk/policy/story/0,,1945070,00.html
- ^ a b http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/07/nschool107.xml
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6254833.stm
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/22/nedu22.xml
- ^ http://www.right-to-education.org/content/age/index.html
