Scottish Council for Research in Education, 1928-1993

• Main Author: Morris, John Gamble
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1994
• Subjects: 370.942
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.659610

Generations of teachers had striven to find a way of participating in educational development. They saw an opportunity through the Education Act of 1918 authorising national and local advisory councils and directors of education. The councils did not meet their expectations and after years of frustration the main teacher union (EIS) made common cause with the Association of Directors of Education to found a new body which would be independent, the Scottish Council for Research in Education. The Council composed predominantly of volunteers from schools, colleges, universities and the directorate was rebuffed by the Scottish Education Department, but was financed by its founders until it found favour and additional finance in international circles, especially America. It created a reputation for quality research and its core finance came wholly from the EIS and the local authorities. At the end of the war it sought to rehabilitate itself, but found that it had to seek some financial support from the Department, although still guarding its independence. This, together with the new finance it received from the population investigations and from international evaluations on curriculum, enabled it to function successfully until 1972. In that year the Department wished to support the Council because the climate of opinion in favour of research had built up through the 1960s in the United Kingdom. An accommodation was reached, satisfactory for most people but considered by a few to herald the end of independence. The move to full time research workers which began in the 1960s became the norm. After some ten years of valuable research, especially in curricular and assessment matters, a new government administration led to a sustained drive on management and organisational reviews.