The 1918 Education Act increased the comprehensiveness and the element of compulsion in the education system. The

987 school boards were replaced by 38 educational authorities; Catholic schools were brought into the state system; and the school leaving age was to be raised to 15- though this did not happen in practice until 1947 because of economic depression and war.

Source: Knox, W.W. A HISTORY of the SCOTTISH PEOPLE: THE SCOTTISH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 1840-1940, Scran