By 1947 compulsory education for children aged 5 to 13 had been in place since 1872. In 1947 the leaving age was raised to 15.1 During this post-war time period there was no equivalent of modern nursery or preschool education and pupils began primary school at age 5. This remained true throughout the 1950s.
Primary school continued until age 11 at which point a qualifying exam, commonly known as the eleven plus, was administered. The eleven plus included tests of verbal and mathematical skills as well as reasoning ability.2 These tests had enormous personal and social significance because they determined whether individual pupils would go on to junior or senior secondary schools. Junior secondary schools curricula focused more on the skills required for entry into trades, while senior secondary schools pursued a more academic program.
In addition to city-run public schools there also existed private schools, which were usually fee-paying. Some high schools, such as Allan Glen’s, were fee-paying but operated by the city. Entry was by competitive exam and some places were reserved for students from families with lower incomes who received bursaries (scholarships) that paid for books and tuition. Some of these schools were coeducational with boys and girls but others, like Allan Glen’s, were boys only.
Following the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act, Episcopalian and Roman Catholic schools were assimilated in the state system.3 In the post-war period Catholic schools retained a separate identity. Regardless of faith, religion played a role in school education. Religious instruction and church services were part of the educational experience of pupils.
Many school building were decades old. As Glasgow dealt with its housing issues in the postwar period by creating housing schemes on its periphery new schools were built to accommodate the local need.
School life then would likely appear regimented to current thinking. The school day was delineated by the ringing of bells. Students lined up outside the school before being marched to their classes. At Temple Primary in Anniesland, this was accompanied by the music of American composer John Philip Sousa. Class sizes were often large, and discipline was strict. The strap, a long length of thick leather, was used to enforce order whenever the teacher thought it necessary. The offending student would be required to extend their arms and overlap their hands palm upon which the teacher would administer one or more strikes with the strap. Primary and secondary schools were similar with regard to discipline.
School life then would likely appear regimented to current thinking. The school day was delineated by the ringing of bells. Students lined up outside the school before being marched to their classes. At Temple Primary in Anniesland, this was accompanied by the music of American composer John Philip Sousa. Class sizes were often large, and discipline was strict. The strap, a long length of thick leather, was used to enforce order whenever the teacher thought it necessary. The offending student would be required to extend their arms and overlap their hands palm upon which the teacher would administer one or more strikes with the strap. Primary and secondary schools were similar with regard to discipline.
The school day typically ran from 9am to 4pm with a break for lunch. Some students went home while others received lunch at school. Meals were available at modest cost while some students were eligible for free lunches. In 1953 the cost of a school lunch increased from 7 pence to nine pence, increasing again to one shilling in 1957. Free milk had been introduced to schools starting in 1946 and continued throughout this time period.4 Poverty was a continuing reality in many Glasgow neighborhoods.
Rote learning was common in primary schools of the period. Classes would recite times tables and Glasgow schools used notebooks, commonly known as jotters, on the back of which were often printed times tables or unit conversion charts. The front covers, like the example shown, might provide cautionary advice.
In a pre-metric society students had to deal with units such as pounds, shillings and pence for money and pounds, stones, hundredweights and tons for weight. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division of these units involved a lot of work, and it is easy to see why metric ultimately won out. A typical notebook page from 1960 shows typical problems given to pupils. Memorization of poetry was popular, and students would be required to recite poems in front of the class. Gym and music were also part of the curriculum.
Technological aids were rudimentary. Blackboards and chalk were the main teaching tools. Some blackboards had painted lines for teaching handwriting or music and were built into the front of the classroom or sometimes in freestanding frames that allowed them to be rotated. Teaching films, usually in 16mm format were available and film rolls, advanced manually a slide at a time. Record players and educational programs on the radio might also be included.
In high schools the subjects taught would depend on the type of secondary school attended. However, even at a school like Allan Glens, primarily considered a science high school, some technical drawing, woodworking and metalwork was included in the curriculum. Other subjects taught included geography, history, English, languages, art, and music. Socially there was a division drawn between subjects that were oriented towards male or female students. Technical subjects were male-oriented, socalled domestic-science subjects were female-oriented. Education reflected the social attitudes of the time.
Bullying was also an issue, although much of it probably escaped the attention of teachers, happening outside the classroom or on the way to or from school. Much of this may have been driven by the economic and family situations many young people experienced. Regardless, bullying and intimidation were activities that affected the school experience in those times.
Education in the post-war period in Glasgow offered the advantage of a basic education to all children up to the age of 15. However, it also reflected the social attitudes of its time. Determining a child’s abilities with tests at such a young age had important consequences for his or her future. Poverty, home situation and a number of other factors might place a child at a disadvantage. A growing realization of the role of such inequities would eventually reshape future approaches to education.
