ABSTRACT
The depressed condition of the education service in the years before the war was ascribed to economic difficulties. The apparently endless series of obstacles to carrying out the Hadow policy of reorganisation, the everlasting economy in school supplies and equipment, the absence of capital for school building, unemployment among teachers, the reduction in the number of recognised students in training and the closure of training colleges all served to confirm the image of education as a Cinderella. Even the Act of 1936[ 1 ] which would have raised the school-leaving age to fifteen from 1 September 1939 had included liberal provision for early leaving for ‘beneficial’ employment. From 1935 there had been a slight easing of restrictions on capital expenditure, but severe retrenchment was again enforced by the Treasury from 1938 because of the need to spend more heavily on preparations for war.
