The Development of Secondary Education in County Durham, 1944-1974, with Special Reference to Ferryhill and Chilton
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Durham E-Theses The development of secondary education in county Durham, 1944-1974, with special reference to Ferryhill and Chilton Richardson, Martin Howard How to cite: Richardson, Martin Howard (1998) The development of secondary education in county Durham, 1944-1974, with special reference to Ferryhill and Chilton, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4693/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN COUNTY DURHAM, 1944-1974, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FERRYHILL AND CHILTON MARTIN HOWARD RICHARDSON This thesis grew out of a single question: why should a staunch Labour Party stronghold like County Durham open a grammar school in 1964 when the national Party was so firmly committed to comprehensivization? The answer was less easy to find than the question was to pose. The Labour Party was less committed to comprehensivization than is commonly believed. The commitment was to equality of opportunity. For many the ideal was, as Gaitskell said, "a grammar school education for all." In County Durham, the grammar school was the way out of the pit and the pride invested in "the grammar" ran very deep, then so too did a pride in the local modern schools, many of which, as in the case of Ferryhill and Chilton, replaced the all-age schools that grew out of the 1902 Education Act. The way round the moral dilemma of providing selective grammar schools was a unique and relatively cheap compromise, which sought to link grammar and modern schools together under one umbrella: the multilateral unit. The key element of the scheme, which emerged out of the 1944 Education Act, was the ease of transfer of pupils within the multilateral unit, so that every child could have an education suitable to his age, aptitude and ability. By a very close analysis of the local government records, this thesis investigates the ways in which County Durham coped with the requirements of the 1944 Act and in so doing set up the multilateral units. The grammar school at Ferryhill was planned in 1946: the fact that it took nearly twenty years to open is a direct result of the relatively low priority given to education in the County after the Second World War and the distressed state of the North-East economy. Alas, for many in Ferryhill and Chilton, communities about which very little of value has been written, the experiment in multilateral units lasted only ten years, when the national movement for comprehensivization proved too strong to resist. When more records are opened to public scrutiny, a more detailed analysis can be made of the complex relationships between the Labour Party and its members in County Durham and the three-way relationship between the Local Education Authority, the divisional executives and central government. 1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN COUNTY DURHAM, 1944-1974, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FERRY HILL AND CHILTON Martin Howard Richardson The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of die author and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Presented for submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Durham School of Education May 1998 I m 1999 2 CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction 6 1. Ferryhill and Chilton: The Communities in Context Chapter Two Early National Developments in Secondary Education 40 1. From Balfour to Fisher 2. Hadow, Spens and Norwood Chapter Three The Rise of the Multilateral Unit in County Durham 87 1. The Response to the Butler Act 2. The Fourth Alternative: the Multilateral Unit Triumphant Chapter Four The Challenge of the Comprehensives 222 1. Comparative Studies and Forces for Change 2. Comprehensives Triumphant Chapter Five Ethos and Organization 263 1. The Broom, Chilton and The Grammar 2. Three Schools as One Chapter Six Conclusion 328 1. Power, Policies and Prestige 3 Appendices 1. District Organizations Prior to the 1944 Education Act 339 2. Divisional Organizations Following the 1944 Education Act 3. Estimated Number of School Children in Age Groups 1946-1955 4. West Central Division Reorganisation Area No. 1; West Central Division Reorganisation Area No. 2 5. 1946 Draft Development Plan: Spennymoor Area 6. 1946 Draft Development Plan: Ferryhill Area 7. 1946 Draft Development Plan: Coxhoe Area 8. 1949 County Development Plan: Proposed New Primary and Secondary Schools to be Maintained by the Authority 9. Estimated Cost of the County Development Plan 1950- 1972 10. Comparison of the Number of Secondary Schools 1965- 1976 (England and Wales) 11. Comprehensive Schools in the Northern Region as a Percentage of All Secondary Schools 12. Comprehensive Schools: General Lines of Development 13. Proposed Comprehensive Schools in County Durham 14. Letters and Questions to Ex-Pupils 15. Teaching and Learning Styles 1943-1973 16. Learning and Teaching Styles Comparison 17. Grammar Schools Teaching and Learning Comparison Bibliography 368 4 COPYRIGHT AND DECLARATION The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. No part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree at this University. The work presented in this thesis is entirely that of the author, except where reference is made to previous published or unpublished works. M.H.Richardson University of Durham School of Education 5 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. FERRYHILL AND CHILTON: THE COMMUNITIES IN CONTEXT To the casual observer Ferryhill and its neighbouring settlement Chilton appear commonplace. There seems little to distinguish them from innumerable former coal mining towns and villages throughout County Durham. Both settlements suggest the typical straggling ribbon developments associated with pit villages. Indeed, without some knowledge of local building materials one might be in any of England's great coalfields; Northumberland, Yorkshire or Nottinghamshire. Approaching Ferryhill from Durham six miles to the north along the old Great North Road, which linked London to Edinburgh, the town appears along the top of a lofty ridge which runs roughly from east to west 500 feet above sea level.1 There are no obvious distinguishing features to catch the eye apart from a large grassy mound below and to the right of the ridge, covered on its northern slope by young conifers. 1 For Ferryhill and Chilton's location within the County see Appendix Two. 6 Opposite this hill a small road leads up to the town centre, though the locals still refer to it as "the village". The old North Road then goes through "the cut", an impressive narrow gorge carved in 1923 out of the magnesium limestone on which the town is built, at a cost of £49,000.2 From here the road continues, past the football ground and open fields until Chilton is reached one and a half miles to the south. Smaller and less impressive, Chilton is cut unequally in two by the road from which rows of terraced houses, built on a grid pattern, can be seen to the left and right. Thirty years ago the journey would have been almost identical, except that both settlements would have been dominated by the giant twin wheels of pit winding gear and pit head buildings. The grassy slope with its young trees, for which County Durham won international acclaim,3 was a spoil heap for the coal waste from just one of the three coal mines still in operation. In a country so diverse as England to find any settlement which contains all the characteristics of its region would be very difficult if not virtually impossible. Yet despite this both communities do, to a limited extent, mirror the changes which have taken place within the County, with one notable exception: the City of Durham itself. A combination of mainly geographical and historical circumstances has set Durham City apart in many ways from the County it administers. 2 E. Johnson, et al., S. Luke's Parish Ferrvhill 1853-1953. Ch. 5. 3 The most prestigious of the numerous awards the County has received is the Europa Nostra Diploma of Merit. For a concise summary of its achievements see Brian Page, Brushing off the Coal Dust, The Northern Echo. 3 December 1988. 7 Ironically, Ferryhill almost provides the best position from which to view County Durham; that honour goes to the church tower at Kirk Merrington, a quarter of a mile to the south west of Ferryhill Comprehensive School. The County is flanked on three sides by water. Its eastern limit is set by the North Sea and the former County of Cleveland; to the north the River Tyne used to form the natural boundary, now the limit is set by Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County. The southern and western boundaries remain relatively unaffected by recent legislation; to the south lies the River Tees and beyond it North Yorkshire; whilst to the east the Pennines separate County Durham from Cumbria.