Acland (1908)

1908 Acland Report (text)

Appendices (image-only pdf file)


The Acland Report (1908)
Consultative Committee Report Upon the School Attendance of Children Below the Age of Five

London: HM Stationery Office


Background notes

The 1899 Board of Education Act established the Board of Education 'charged with the superintendence of matters relating to education in England and Wales' (section 1). It provided for the establishment of a Consultative Committee to keep a register of teachers and to advise the Board 'on any matter referred to the committee by the Board' (section 4).

The Consultative Committee produced many reports - including this one - during its lifetime, including the six Hadow Reports of the 1920s and 30s and the 1938 Spens Report. It was replaced following the 1944 Education Act by the Central Advisory Council for Education (CACE).

The Chair of the Committee for this report, the Right Hon. Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland (1847-1926), had been MP for Rotherham between 1885 and 1889 and Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education from 1892 to 1895.

Other documents dealing with early years education include:

1933 Hadow Report Infant and Nursery Schools
1967 Plowden Report Children and their Primary Schools (chapters 9 and 10)
1982 HMI Survey Education 5 to 9
1990 Rumbold Report Starting with Quality
2011 Tickell Report The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning
2017 Ofsted Bold beginnings: report on the Reception curriculum in a sample of good and outstanding schools.

Summary of the report's main recommendations

  • The proper place for a child between three and five is at home with its mother, provided that the home conditions are satisfactory;
  • large numbers of children come from homes which are not satisfactory in this sense, and the best place for them is a Nursery School;
  • where children under five are admitted to school, they should not be subjected to mental pressure or undue physical discipline, and the premises should be roomy, and well lighted, warmed, and ventilated;
  • formal lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic should be excluded from the curriculum of younger infants - freedom of movement, constant change of occupation, frequent visits to the playground, and opportunities for sleep, are essential;
  • Local Authorities should estimate the number of children for whom nursery school accommodation ought to be provided, and see that the required provision is made;
  • in towns most children should be eligible for admission to nursery schools when they are three - this may be impracticable in rural areas;
  • teachers for younger infants should be selected with scrupulous care - they should study the physical and mental development of childhood, have a sympathetic and motherly instinct and a bright and vigorous personality;
  • if possible, nurse-attendants or school-helps should be provided to attend to the general physical needs of the children but they must be in addition to, and not in place of, the teachers;
  • the maximum class size for younger infants should be 30;
  • all teachers should be reminded of the necessity for dealing with very young children appropriately - Local Authorities should arrange classes for teachers, and the Board's Certificate Examination should require knowledge of young children's educational and physical needs;
  • as soon as finances allow, new nursery schools should be built and existing ones improved;
  • the system of grants should be modified to make it easier for Local Authorities to provide nursery schools;
  • there should be no change in the existing lower age limit either of voluntary or compulsory attendance at school;
  • the Board of Education should appoint a body of experts to inquire into the question of the impurity of the air in public Elementary Schools, and the best methods of heating and ventilation.

The report online

The text of the report (pages 1-248) is presented in a single web page.

I have simplified some of the punctuation and corrected a dozen or so printing errors. Otherwise, the text presented here is as printed in the report. Anything added by way of explanation is shown [in square brackets]. Blank pages have been omitted.

The tables are presented as images and are embedded in the text where they were in the printed version.

The Appendices (pages 249-350) are presented as an image-only pdf file. This means you can download them and read them, but the text cannot be copied or searched.

There was no alphabetical subject index.

The above notes were prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 9 July 2012.