The Failure of the Amending Bill: No National Consensus for Religious Education in England, 1920-1923”

Between 1870 and 1944 a dual system of education existed in England wherein both the government and the various denominations provided elementary and secondary education. The dual system had been created because, during the nineteenth century, the English were divided over the issue of religious instruction in the schools. The state system consisted of provided, or Council, schools that received financial assistance from the government and the denominational component consisted of non-provided, or voluntary, schools that did not receive governmental funding. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Church of England still maintained thousands of schools within the country, but the strong role within national education was weakening as the calls for educational expansion increased.