1917 Exam council set up for secondaries: beginning of School Certificate examination.

Conscription causes teacher shortage.

1918 Fisher Education Act raises school leaving age from 12 to 14, ends all fees for elementary education, provides playing fields and swimming baths.

Women over 30 gain vote.

Roman Catholic schools in Scotland put on same financial footing as non-denominational ones.

1919 The Burnham Committee introduces national pay scales for elementary teachers.

Bradford first to use intelligence tests in secondary selection.

1920 State scholarships to universities introduced: 200 initially; 360 by 1936.

Women admitted to degree courses at Oxford.

Board of Education urges full practical workshop facilities in all schools.

National Committee for the Training of Teachers set up in Scotland.

1921 Geddes report on national expenditure leads to pound;6.5 million cut in education estimates for 1922.

Free milk provided for all children in need.

Bursary system for pupil-teachers ends.

1922 Crisis hits economy. Teachers forced to accept 5 per cent pay cut and to contribute 5 per cent salary to superannuation: strikes follow.

System of half-timers abolished (12 to 14-year-old pupils had been allowed to work in factories for half a day).

1923 Pay for certificated teachers in England and Wales averages pound;310 for men, pound;254 for woman.

Association of Preparatory Schools incorporated.

First Northern Ireland Education Act.

First photographs appear in The TES.

Jean Piaget publishes “Language and thought of the child” (English version 1927.) 1924 Ramsay Macdonald’s Labour government. Many Geddes economies ended.

Forty new secondary schools approved.

More than 16,000 classrooms in England and Wales still accommodate two or more classes.

Graduate entry rule introduced in Scotland for all male teachers.

AS Neill founds Summerhill.

1925 National Association of Boys’ Clubs set up.

Educational broadcasting begins.

1926 Hadow Report on the Education of the Adolescent recommends separation of primary and secondary education at age 11. “Modern” as well as grammar schools to be established.

General Strike lasts eight days in May.

Direct Grant Schools begin.

John Logie Baird, right, demonstrates television.

1927 “The Jazz Singer”, the first talking film, is released.

Bertrand Russell starts to run Beacon Hill School with his wife, Dora.

Cyril Burt publishes “The Measurement of Mental Capacities”.

1928 Board of Education reports 21 LEAs are using IQ tests for secondary selection: suggests use may be premature. First Cambridgeshire village college opens at Sawston.

Education taking 2.2 per cent of national income (1.1 per cent pre-war).

D H Lawrence, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”.

First Mickey Mouse film released by Walt Disney.

1929 Open-air schools popular; 170 classes held in London parks all year round - these were thought to combat tuberculosis and other childhood infections.

Wall Street Crash.

1930 Undergraduate population reaches 30,000.

Youth Hostel Association founded.