Grammar Schools in Northern Ireland - Grammar Schools in The Tripartite System

Grammar Schools in The Tripartite System

The 1944 Education Act created the first nationwide system of state-funded secondary education in England and Wales, echoed by the Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947. One of the three types of school forming the Tripartite System was called the grammar school, which sought to spread the academic ethos of the existing grammar schools. Grammar schools were intended to teach an academic curriculum to the most intellectually able 25 percent of the school population, selected by the eleven plus examination.

Two types of grammar schools existed under the system:

• There were more than 1,200 maintained grammar schools, which were fully state-funded. Though some were quite old, most were either newly created or built since the Victorian period, seeking to replicate the studious, aspirational atmosphere found in the older grammar schools.
• There were also 179 direct-grant grammar schools, which took between one quarter and one half of their pupils from the state system, and the rest from fee-paying parents. They also exercised far greater freedom from local authorities, and were members of the Headmasters' Conference. These schools included some very old schools encouraged to participate in the Tripartite System. The most famous example of a direct-grant grammar was Manchester Grammar School, whose headmaster, Lord James of Rusholme, was one of the most outspoken advocates of the Tripartite System.

Grammar school pupils were given the best opportunities of any schoolchildren in the state system. Initially, they studied for the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate, replaced in 1951 by General Certificate of Education examinations at O-level (Ordinary level) and A-level (Advanced level). In contrast, very few students at secondary modern schools took public examinations until the introduction of the less-academic Certificate of Secondary Education (known as the CSE) in the 1960s. Until the implementation of the Robbins Report in the 1960s, children from public and grammar schools effectively monopolised access to universities. These schools were also the only ones that offered an extra term of school to prepare pupils for the competitive entrance exams for Oxbridge.

The Tripartite System was largely abolished in England and Wales between 1965, with the issue of Circular 10/65, and the 1976 Education Act. Most maintained grammar schools were amalgamated with a number of other local schools, to form neighbourhood comprehensive schools, though a few were closed. This process proceeded quickly in Wales, with the closure of such schools as Cowbridge Grammar School. In England, implementation was more uneven, with some counties and individual schools resisting the change.

The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 forced these schools to decide whether to convert into comprehensives under local authority control or become entirely independent schools funded by fees. Fifty-one direct grant schools chose to become comprehensives, 119 opted for independence, and five were "not accepted for the maintained system and expected to become independent schools or to close". There are thus many schools with the name "grammar" that are no longer free. These schools normally select their pupils by an entrance examination and sometimes by interview.

By the end of the 1980s, all of the grammar schools in Wales and most of those in England had closed or become comprehensive. Selection also disappeared from state-funded schools in Scotland in the same period. While many former grammar schools ceased to be selective, some of them retained the word "grammar" in their name. Most of these schools remain comprehensive, while a few became partially selective or fully selective in the 1990s.