Since the Factory Act required factory children to attend school, the factory inspectorate had been drawn into taking a view on the quality of schooling the children were getting. The "British" and "National" schools they considered acceptable and a very few manufacturers had set up their own factory schools of equivalent quality; but there were populous manufacturing districts (Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne were the examples given) where there were few or no efficient schools. Below these schools, there could be, for Dissenters, day schools associated with their place of worship - although often described in their locality as 'British' schools they were not formally so and in most cases, the quality of education given was in no way comparable. (The organisation and discipline of the Established Church prevented any similar phenomenon of 'unofficial' National schools.) Other than this the quality of education was generally poor.
