ABSTRACT
Education beyond the elementary level envisaged by the 1870 Act became a live, and highly controversial, issue in this period. Certain school boards had begun to offer courses of more than an elementary nature in ‘Higher Grade Schools’. In addition, technical education was provided by some county councils under the Technical Instruction Act of 1889. The Royal Commission which met under the chairmanship of the Oxford jurist James Bryce (1838–1922) wished to expand opportunities in secondary and technical education, since greater specialist skills were necessary to meet the economic challenge of the United States and Germany. Alarmed by the patchwork nature of secondary education provision, the Commission recommended centralized supervision (20a).
