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In Britain, there were several milestone Education Acts.
The 1870 Act made the provision of "elementary" education compulsory and fee-free. Where voluntary bodies (which usually meant churches and charities) were not forthcoming, the local town/village councils were expected to build schools and make provision (from the rates). Thus many "Board Schools" were erected for young children.
This situation continued for some time, and although elementary education was free, schooling for older children (above 12) was not compulsory, and schools could charge fees.
The 1902 'Balfour' Act changed this, and made it a requirement for local authorities to provide "post-elementary" education - what we would now call secondary education. School-leaving age was 14-15. Voluntary bodies could still participate, and draw on public funds, depending on how they were constituted and governed. Fees could still be charged by these schools.
The 1944 'Butler' Act was conceived during wartime, and intended to set a blueprint for postwar education in England & Wales. It finally abolished fees in the voluntary and state schools, and made post-elementary (secondary) education compulsory up to an age of 15. (At the same time, and under the now questionable influence of psychologist Cyril Burt, children were to be selected at age 11+ by a Test, which would allocate them to a school suitable to their "age, ability and aptitude". Thus the Eleven Plus and selective education was born.)
Post-war, there was a chronic shortage of suitably trained and qualified school teachers; many still working in schools were advanced in age, and classes were over-large. Just at a time when numbers were needed, to facilitate the new education plans, emergency training plans had to be launched.
There were now many surplus wartime camps and facilities across the country, and many of these were re-purposed as Teacher Training establishments. My own college, Padgate (outside Warrington) was one of these, having previously been a centre for troop training, and also for the entertainment of the huge numbers of munitions workers based in and around Risley.
↓Padgate College campus, 1960
Many of the old RAF buildings can still be seen, along with the wartime Theatre building - later the Drama Studio theatre, and today the North West Media Centre of the University of Chester, fully equipped for radio, tv and media production. And in 2015