The development of a national public education system in England and Wales has lagged behind much of Europe and the United States and has not even been organized. At one point the nature and purpose of education was more religious than secular. Not all children received an education, some schools created and run by churches or charities, and some children, if their parents could afford it, attended fee-paying schools. Meanwhile, the laissez-faire doctrine within society has not helped much in making education a national good. Attention was paid more to economic development and increasing wealth. There have been a number of important developments in the education system of England and Wales through the Education Act of 1870, the Education Act of 1944 and the Education Act of 1988. Policy developments such as the need to educate citizens so that they can voting rightly (democratisation), urbanization and economic transformation such as industrialization have highlighted the shortcomings of the English education system. It was believed that British education was causing the country to lag behind the rest of Europe in changes in manufacturing and trade. These changes contributed to the creation of the 1870 Education Act (also known as the Foster Act). It was the first time that the state recognized its responsibility for the education of all children. He created local school boards, responsible for providing elementary education to all children ages 5 to 13; although he did not complete this task, he started the process. Whether a child continued his education after primary school depended on the family's wealth or the bread winner's income level. The Education Act of 1944 created the intention to invest in local education. £1.3 billion for additional school places for September 2012: Britain currently has busier primary school classes than other parts of Europe. “Every Child Matters (ECM) is one of the government's positive inputs that aims to provide all forms of support to every child's needs to be safe, healthy, achieve and make a positive contribution to society. It has made provisions for children with special educational needs and disabilities. These are issues that this coalition government should find the means to resolve rather than make the situation worse by cutting education funding. Works Cited Derek Gillard. (2011). the history of education in Englandeduc. Available: http://www.Educationengland.org.uk. Last accessed 30 October Department for Education and Employment TES newspaper/magazine, year unknown