Free Education
Early on, Collings had shown an interest in education by helping to found the Devon and Exeter Boys Industrial School in 1862. He visited America to study its education system and published An Outline of the American School System in 1868. This pamphlet recommended that a similar free and non-sectarian (non-denominational) form of school education to that of the USA should be set up in England and Wales. Collings' pamphlet led directly to the formation of the National Education League by Birmingham Liberals in 1869, with George Dixon as President and Jesse Collings as Secretary. The League became a major campaigning organisation, but Forster's Education Act retained the dominance of Church Schools in providing education for the young in England, Wales and Ireland. Collings called for Local Authorities to be obliged to set up sufficient schools to enable all children to attend; these schools should be inspected by the state and managed by local government; they should be free; and attendance should be compulsory.
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