I've been reading a book (Ha!)and it has stated that education (1870 act), far from being thrust upon an illiterate public, was actually used to control the education they received to stop people 'risimg above their station' and in fact they were already literate. I'm trying to follow this up, but it is proving difficult as every other book in our education section, and everywhere else I've looked at so far suggests that the 1870 act was needed because the vast majority of the population were illiterate. It is a minor point , but would be useful for my argument if I could find another reference that backed up the statement, but not being an historian I wondered if anyone on here had an idea where else I could look.

I've definitely read this as well. That state education was organised to prepare the masses for the roles they should expect - and private education was to train the leadership. This was not casual, but quite directed. If I have time - I will try and track the references down.

Hi Joyce. I'm not sure if this helps but you may want to look at the work of T.H. Green (and other British Idealists) who campaigned to make education available to the poor during this period. Green was a member of the Oxford School Board from 1874 and he stood in opposition to Oxford Conservatives by supporting free unsectarian primary education (Leighton, The Greenian Movement). But he was a supporter of educational reform from his time as a student at Oxford. This may not be directly relevant to the 1870 Act as it was only a tentative measure, but they were certainly influential in pushing for social reform. Hope this helps!

Here are some references: Leighton, D., The Greenian Moment (2004).
Ritcher, M., The Politics of Conscience: T.H. Green and his Age(1964). Vincent A. & Plant R., Philosophy Politics and Citizenship: The Life and Thought of the British Idealists (1984).

A trip to the National Archives may prove fruitful.

thanks for the information. I will look up Green, although what I am really after is information from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. For example Faraday went to school and was taught to read and write even though his family were poor, and it is quite lucky for us that he did! but I'm wondering what was actually taught and why it could have caused the government enough concern to 'take over' education. - and why there appears to be a similar pattern emerging now. Its just for a small part of a chapter, but would make a link between the past and the possible future via the present situation.

For your purpose he should be relevant. Green and the idealists (and later 'New Liberals') were linked to the broader programme of social reform. They called for state intervention in 'private' matters such as education (along with restriction of alchohol sales and employment contracts) in an effort to alleviate the misery of the poor brought on by industrialization in the 18/19c. This is a good scholarly website: http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Victorians/index.html