| Short Title: | Elementary Education Act 1880 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to make further provision as to Byelaws respecting the attendance of Children at School under the Elementary Education Acts. |
| Year: | 1880 |
| Citation: | 43 & 44 Vict. c. 23 |
| Territorial Extent: | England and Wales[1] |
| Amends: |
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| Royal Assent: | 26 August 1880 |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
The Elementary Education Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 23), or Mundella's Education Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which extended the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75). It was one of the Elementary Education Acts 1870 to 1893.[2]
Previous Elementary Education Acts had not required (and allowed potential difficulties in) the drawing up of bye-laws on school attendance by local school boards; the 1880 Act removed those difficulties, made the drawing up of such bye-laws mandatory, and allowed central government to impose such bye-laws where local boards had not done so. If the bye-laws specified minimum requirements (age and/or educational standard reached) to be attained before a child could leave school, it was illegal to employ a child under thirteen who did not satisfy one or the other requirement.[3] The act therefore removed uncertainty on whether children being educated 'half-time' under the educational provisions of the Factory Acts were thereby excluded from the scope of the Elementary Education Acts (they were not).[4]