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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7502340.stm

Was there ever a golden age?

By Mike Baker

Like oil price rises, changes in education come so fast and furious these days that it is hard to get a true perspective on the bigger picture.

This week, though, marked a milestone for an invaluable study that does offer a long-term view of what has been happening in school and college education in Britain over the last 50 years.

For the past half century, this vast study has been following the lives of 17,000 people born in one week in 1958.

The National Child Development Study, from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, is the academic equivalent of that fascinating TV series 'Seven Up'.

To mark its significant birthday it has just published a report called 'Now We Are 50'.

It provides an unparalleled analysis of the long-term effects of early childhood, family circumstances, and education on the life chances of a whole generation.

Through comparisons with other groups, born in 1946 and 1970 respectively, it also offers a fascinating picture of social change in the past half century.

Although those born in 1958 are still relatively young, the world has changed enormously since their birth.

This generation was taught in very large classes

For example, 50 years ago only one household in 10 had a fridge and only one in three had a car.

At their 11th birthday, over half of the children born in 1958 were living in rented accommodation. 42% were in council houses.

The 1958 cohort spent their school lives without computers. Instead they had slide rules and protractors.

These 50-year-olds were born just as the first experiments with comprehensive schooling were starting. Yet by the time they transferred to secondary school, the 11-plus was still widespread and only a small minority of pupils were in comprehensive schools.

Indeed in 1965, a year after a Labour government had promised to abolish selection, fewer than 5% of schools were comprehensives.

They turned 14 just as the school-leaving age was raised to 16.

And by the time they were old enough to go to university they had the benefit of the huge expansion in higher education with the 'new' universities of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Unlike most of their children, or for that matter their parents, this generation received free university tuition and grants towards their livings costs.

However, before we get too dewy-eyed about any golden age of grammar schools and free university education, let's look at some facts from the study.

For a start, this generation was taught in very large classes. In 1965, when they were seven, their average class size was 37. Four out of five of them were taught in classes above 30.

Only 12% of them moved on from primary schools, via the 11-plus, to a grammar school.

Most of the rest attended schools that lacked pupils in the top end of the ability range.

A similarly small proportion went on to university. By the age of 33, just 14% of men and 11% of women in this cohort had achieved a degree.

'Earning power'

These were the winners from the education system they grew up in. They would earn on average £332,000 more over their lifetime than their peers who left school with no qualifications.

The study certainly underlines the monetary value of getting qualifications: those with O-levels were £116,000 better off, while those who stayed on to take A-levels were £123,000 to the good compared to those without qualifications.

But what of the rest? Well, nearly two-thirds of those born in 1958 left school as soon as they could at age 16.

By the time they were 33, around 15% still had no educational qualifications and a further 10% were only qualified to a level below O-Levels.

A further one-third had O-Levels but no qualifications higher than that.

In other words, the school system did not do particularly well by the great majority of those born in 1958, leaving them with few qualifications and putting them at a considerable disadvantage in earning power.

Today, by contrast, the great majority of young people stay on in education to 18. Some 40% go on to university.

Of course, there are those who argue that we send too many young people to university and we should be offering more of them better work-based preparation. They often look back to another supposed golden period: the age of apprenticeships.

Nostalgia

There was much to be said for the old-style apprenticeship: on-the-job learning, alongside a mentor, preparing young people for not only the skills but also the discipline needed for employment.

Yet, most of the 85% or so who did not go to university simply went into a job. Only 15% of the 1958 cohort entered an apprenticeship.

Moreover, there was a huge gender gap: males took nearly all the apprenticeships.

For those who did start an apprenticeship it was a long haul: five to seven years. One-third failed to complete.

The 1958 generation also had poor basic skills. When they were aged 37, a sample was tested for basic numeracy and literacy: almost half had 'very poor' numeracy skills and 6% had difficulty with reading.

Those with poor numeracy and literacy were, not surprisingly, much more likely to be unemployed.

So, as we contemplate the almost daily bad news about class sizes, school drop-outs, and the poor basic skills of school-leavers, we should perhaps pause to remember that - while there is certainly still plenty of room for improvement - the answer does not seem to lie in a nostalgic return to a past system which served the few very well and the majority poorly.

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Above report is based on a sample of people born in 1958.

I was born in 1947 but can still relate to most of what has been written.

The 1950s in Co. Durham were, on reflection, quite austere.
But, being brought up in a pit village had its 'compensations'.
Everyone was in the same boat so to speak and there was a great sense of Community.

My infant and junnior schools in Consett concentrated on the 3 R's and that still benefits me today, compared to some.

In hindsight I was fortunate to pass the eleven plus as statistically not many did - well, not where I lived anyway.
But I didn't progress to Uni, very few did in those days.

My first office job entailed working Monday til Friday from 8.00 am to 5.30 pm with 30mins lunch break, and 9.00am to 12 noon on a Saturday.
Annual holiday was 2 weeks!
Times have changed for the better in that respect thank goodness.

But, I look back with great fondness on the 1950s and 1960s.
Very Happy

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It's good to have a sense of humour ....

A really interesting topic, silvers. Just some random thoughts about a life that I sometimes look back on with great nostalgia ---------

The 1930's were poverty years. I was brought up in a house with no hot water, no electricity and no inside loo. Needless to say, there was no bathroom! But we were lucky ----- we had cold water tapped into the house! Further down the road in Shottstown they had to collect their water from a stand pipe next to the communal drying green.

Oh, and talking about communal, we had a shared lavatory about 100 yards away. A bucket was kept in a cupboard off the living room in case you were caught short or for use during the night. Lighting a newspaper, extinguishing the flame and allowing the smoke to fill the room was the accepted way of eliminating smell.

Scarlet Fever and diphtheria were rife as were many other diseases but these were the only two I contracted and the latter damned near killed me.

I'll have to stop now. I can hardly see to type because of tears of longing for those good old days!
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..and a tupenny pie cost fourpence eh?
Smile

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It's good to have a sense of humour ....

I don't know about burning newspapers (sounds a trifle dangerous!) but a box of matches in the loo is still the best deodorant. Strike one, let it burn for a few seconds and then extinguish it thoroughly (under the tap will do, for safety).

Works wonders!

Anona.Mouse wrote:

Sorry, gave me the giggles... lighting a match surrounded by methane ... Mr. Green

I'm surprised you don't have a smiley to demonstrate it ... Very Happy

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It's good to have a sense of humour ....

That's the beauty of it! The match burns off the methane, niffs and all.

Smells are very evocative things, though. One whiff of some smell from the past will take you back across the decades in a moment.

Paraffin does it for me. When I was about three we lived in a house with no mains services at all, so we had paraffin lamps for lighting, and cooked on a primus stove. Many, many years later a camping lantern was enough to take me back there, across the years and the continents.

P.S. Silvers - is this the other one you wanted?

Code:

:O9o

Got it thanks. Very Happy

I agree with the sight sound smell associations.
It must be an age thing as I find myself 'goin' back' quite a lot !
(as Dusty S used to sing about..)

If we happen to go out for a pub meal, and there happens to be a coal or log fire, then I get transported back to the days of yore ! LOL..
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It's good to have a sense of humour ....

Spry wrote:

Scarlet Fever and diphtheria were rife as were many other diseases but these were the only two I contracted and the latter damned near killed me.

Spry wrote:

I'll have to stop now. I can hardly see to type because of tears of longing for those good old days!

You long for the days of Diphtheria and Scarlet fever (yes I know you can still get them but they are not commonplace anymore)?

Jings I cannae wait till the bairns (well they are not really bairns anymore) get rickets, won't that be guid?
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'S riogal mo dhream
Ciamar À Thà Sibh

www.cheesesoup.myby.co.uk

Well, at least it stops them growing taller than their old parents!

Or you can try tying a brick to their heads when they get into a growth spurt. That can be quite effective, too.

Anona.Mouse wrote:

Well, at least it stops them growing taller than their old parents!

Eldest son is ¼" short of six foot; youngest son is Five foot nine; their dad is only five three (army says five four). Mmm, we had a tall coalman will have to have a word with Mrs soup.
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'S riogal mo dhream
Ciamar À Thà Sibh

www.cheesesoup.myby.co.uk

I was brought up in a house without gas , electric or water. We did have a range , a well in the garden, parrafin lamps , a shed with an earth box out the back and a chaise longue! At school there was always 40 plus in the class, which did me no harm at all. My apprenticeship seemed like a prison sentence, six years 8.30 am till 5.30 pm Monday to Friday and 8,30 am till 1pm on Saturdays. My wages for the first 2 years were £2 . 10 s 0d less tax and national insurance. Oh and I forgot the night school, three nights a week 7 till 9. That was pure sadism. No day release then.
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Forum Expert (esoteric musical instrument division)

soup wrote:

Spry wrote:

Scarlet Fever and diphtheria were rife as were many other diseases but these were the only two I contracted and the latter damned near killed me.

Spry wrote:

I'll have to stop now. I can hardly see to type because of tears of longing for those good old days!

What's the expression when you say something but mean the opposite?
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I think it's "Now, where's the ironic smilie . . . "

it's an oxymoron I think .... Confused

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It's good to have a sense of humour ....

Ah "oxymoron" is that not synonymous for school teacher
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Forum Expert (esoteric musical instrument division)

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