Welsh Journals

THE ORIGINS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WELSH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION* THE greatest obstacle facing advocates of administrative decentra- lization for Wales has been the lack of tradition in treating Wales- unlike Ireland and Scotland-as a separate administrative unit. Thus, the creation of a separate Welsh Department of Education in 1907 is of considerable importance because it established for the first time the principle of the administrative differentiation of Wales which eventually led, over half a century later, to the appointment of a secretary of state for Wales, with direct responsibility for a range of Welsh affairs. The desire for a measure of Welsh control over the administration of education in Wales can be traced back to the last two decades of the nineteenth century. However, in this period it was largely a factor of secondary importance. Major interest centred on the actual provision of education facilities, especially at secondary and uni- versity level. The passing of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 led to a great expansion of secondary education in Wales, while in the field of higher education there was a similar story of intense activity, with the founding of three University Colleges and their incorporation into the University of Wales in 1893. Although the issue of Welsh, rather than Whitehall, control of educational administration in Wales was not a dominant one, various attempts had been made to secure a greater degree of Welsh control, as, for example, in the proposal to create a Welsh Board of Education contained in the Welsh Intermediate Education Bills of The basis for this article is provided by the author's M.Sc. (Econ.) Wales thesis (1969) which examined the history and development of administrative devolution in Wales from 1907 to 1964. The article emphasizes the political and administrative implications involved in the creation of a separate Welsh Department within the wider concept of administrative devolution. Particular attention is paid to the nature and extent of the delegated authority, the reaction of officials in the Board of Education to the new department, the difficulties faced by the department in extending its responsibilities and the degree of administrative independence. Dr. Leslie Wynne Evans has covered the same theme but from a different angle. His approach emphazises the origins and the immediate establishment of the depart- ment in 1906-7 and has much less to say on the wider political and administrative implications, especially in the department's formative years. ('The Genesis of the Welsh Department, Board of Education, 1906-7', Trans. Cymm. Soc., 1969-70, pp. 195-228).