Working conditions for Catholic teachers in the archdiocese of Glasgow in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century

Abstract

The Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, was a key point in the process towards full state funding for Catholic schools in Scotland. There has been important research on the political and ecclesial negotiations that led to the Act and into the conditions of the Act that preserved the denominational identity of the Catholic schools. This article examines the working conditions of Catholic teachers leading up to the Act and focuses on several themes, primarily in relation to the Archdiocese of Glasgow: school accommodation, the roll, and class sizes; the impact of disease, sickness and death; the working conditions for pupil-teachers; and, the major focus of the article, the remuneration for Catholic teachers.