Elementary Education Act 1870 further acts in 1876 ("the Sandon Act", which gave parents a legal obligation to ensure that their children were educated) and 1880 ("the Mundella Act") made attendance compulsory for children until they were 10 years old, with various exemptions. Many factory owners feared the removal of children as a source of cheap labour. However, with the simple mathematics and English they were acquiring, factory owners now had workers who could read and make measurements. Following continued campaigning by the National Education League, following the Elementary Education Act 1880, attendance to age 10 became compulsory everywhere in England and Wales. In
Science education in England Taunton Committee made more than a century earlier. The act also established the now familiar “key stages”. The most significant developments to the science curriculum and education in this period to date have been the expansion of the compulsory science content in the National Curriculum and the associated changes to its assessment. Another significant event was the passing of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which raised the education leaving age in England to 18. It is unclear whether this extension of compulsory education will result in more science learners as science is not compulsory after the age of 16—the