In the middle of the Second World War, Britain began planning a fairer country for when the fighting stopped. Two of the biggest reforms were in schools and in health care. This lesson looks at both and asks one question: how far did they give people from every background an equal chance in life?
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Unlock This CourseBy 1944 every child had to attend school until the age of 14, but most children from working-class families left at that age after only an elementary education. Secondary schools, which taught older pupils, often charged fees. A few bright children from poorer families won free places by passing a scholarship exam, but most could not go. A child's chances depended far more on their parents' income than on their ability.
Key terms:
The Act was named after R. A. Butler, the Conservative politician who was President of the Board of Education in Churchill's wartime government. It became law in 1944, with support from all the main parties.
It made secondary education free for every child in state schools, and it raised the school leaving age to 15 (this took effect in 1947). It set up a Ministry of Education to run the system, and local councils had to provide secondary schools for all.
Children took the eleven-plus at 11. Those who passed went to a grammar school. Most of the others went to a secondary modern. Some areas also had a few technical schools. The Act did not fix this exact pattern, but most local councils chose it.
Gain: fees were gone, so a clever working-class child could now go to a grammar school without paying and without needing a special scholarship.
Limit: children were sorted at only 11. Middle-class children, who often had more books at home and more help with schoolwork, tended to do better in the exam. Many working-class children went to secondary moderns, which had fewer chances to take exams and reach university. So class differences did not disappear.
Girls had the same right as boys to free secondary schooling, which was a real step forward. But many girls' schools still pushed girls towards subjects such as cookery and typing, because most people expected women to become wives and mothers or to take certain jobs.
The National Health Service (NHS) began on 5 July 1948. The Labour government elected in 1945 set it up, and the Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan, drove it through. Before 1948, people paid doctors or hospitals directly, or relied on charity hospitals. Since 1911 the National Insurance scheme had paid for doctors' care for workers who paid into it. That mostly meant men in work, so their wives and children, and many poorer people, were left out.
Key terms:
Hospital care, doctors, dentists, opticians and nursing, free at the point of use. Hospitals were brought under national control. The money came from taxes and National Insurance payments. Charges for some things, such as prescriptions, began a few years later.
For the first time every person living in Britain, rich or poor, man or woman, adult or child, could get medical care without worrying about the bill. Doctors' leaders in the British Medical Association had opposed the plan, but the NHS went ahead.
Class: a poor family no longer had to choose between paying the doctor and paying for food. Health care no longer depended on income.
Gender: wives and mothers, who had often been left out of National Insurance, were now covered, as were children, and maternity care was free. But women still did most of the caring at home, and most senior doctors were men, so equality was far from complete.
In 1942 a government report by William Beveridge named five great problems in Britain, including Disease. It said the state should protect people from them. The report was hugely popular with the public.
In 1939 the government set up an Emergency Hospital Service to treat people injured by bombing. It showed that hospitals could be organised nationally. Before the war they were run by a patchwork of charities and local councils.
A third reason was politics. Labour won the 1945 general election by a large margin, and Bevan, as Minister of Health, turned the ideas into the National Health Service Act of 1946.
Key term: Beveridge Report - the 1942 report that set out how the state could tackle problems such as disease and poverty.
Both reforms raised equality of opportunity. Education gave a fairer start and the NHS gave a healthier one. But the eleven-plus meant that class still shaped children's lives, and gender expectations stayed strong in schools and at home. Later reforms, such as comprehensive schools, tried to go further.
This is a Paper 2, Section B type (b) question. You write about two causes, with precise facts and a clear link from each cause to the outcome.
Explain two causes of the creation of the National Health Service in 1948. [8 marks]
One cause was the wartime Beveridge Report of 1942. It named disease as one of five great problems in Britain and argued that the state should look after the health of all its people. The report was very popular with the public, and it made free health care for everyone seem a fair reward after the sacrifices of the war. This led directly to the plan for a national service, because the government could point to Beveridge's report as showing what people wanted.
A second cause was the experience of the war itself. In 1939 the government had organised an Emergency Hospital Service to treat people injured by bombing, which showed that hospitals could be run on a national basis. Before the war, hospitals were run by a patchwork of charities and local councils. The wartime service showed that they could be organised nationally, which made it easier to argue that they should be run that way in peacetime. This helped cause the NHS, because it showed that a national system was possible.
What lifts it to the top level: two clearly separate causes, each with precise facts (the 1942 report, the 1939 Emergency Hospital Service) and a sentence showing exactly how it led to the NHS.
Start each paragraph with "One cause was..." and "Another cause was...". End each with a sentence beginning "This led to the NHS because...". That link is what moves you into the top level.