Date of birth, family background, and the 11 plus exam: short- and long-term consequences of the 1944 secondary education reforms in England and Wales

Abstract

Research into socio-economic impacts of the 1944 Education Act in England and Wales has been considerable. We concentrate on its two most fundamental innovations. First, it provided free universal secondary education. Second, state-funded pupils were placed into grammar schools or technical schools or secondary modern schools depending on IQ tests at age 11. The secondary modern school pupils experienced relatively poor educational opportunities. This tripartite system dominated secondary education from 1947 to 1964. For this period, we use the British Household Panel Survey to investigate the influences of date of birth and family background on (a) the probability of attending grammar or technical schools, (b) the attainment of post-school qualifications, (c) the longer-term labour market outcomes as represented by job status and earnings. We link results to research into the effects of increasing the school minimum leaving age from 14 to 15, also introduced under the 1944 Act.