ABSTRACT
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and when the Anglo-French ultimatum ran out on 3 September, war was declared. When war began the Conservative government under Chamberlain had a very comfortable majority: 432 seats against 154 Labour and only 20 Liberals. The Advisory Committee on Education of the Labour Party began discussions on post-war education policies in mid-1941. During World War II, three aspects of Labour education policy should have been clarified and developed: first, raising the school leaving age to 16; second, the question of how to deal with Public/Independent Schools; and, third, the meaning of 'secondary education for all'. The Labour Party was generally supportive of the proposals in the White Paper, regarding secondary education for all and the abolition of fees in secondary schools as considerable victories.
