ABSTRACT
In the early years of the inter-war period there were few comments about the curriculum of the elementary schools attended by most working-class pupils and none at all about secondary schools which were outside the experience of the vast majority of trade unionists. There was a general feeling that the standard of education offered had improved following the raising of the school leaving age for all to 14 as a result of the 1918 Education Act and this was expressed at the 1927 Congress. Trade unionists were aware that a different syllabus was on offer to those attending secondary schools and that success in these schools enhanced opportunities in respect of career, income and all the associated life chances such as better accommodation, nutrition and general health. This was the reason they pushed consistently at the door to secondary schools through the demand for more free places to be made available and later for all children to be given access to secondary schooling, not necessarily of the grammar school type.
