In the 20th century, the centre of the education system became more focused on Scotland, with the ministry of education partly moving north in 1918 and then finally having its headquarters relocated to Edinburgh in 1939. The school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1901, but despite attempts to raise it to 15 this was only made law in 1939 and then postponed because of the outbreak of war. In 1918, Roman Catholic schools were brought into the state system, but retained their distinct religious character, access to schools by priests and the requirement that school staff be acceptable to the Church.
In the 20th century the centre of the education system became more focused on Scotland with the ministry of education partly moving north in 1918 and then finally having its headquarters relocated to Edinburgh in 1939 The school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1901 but despite attempts to raise it to 15 this was only made law in 1939 and then postponed because of the outbreak of war In 1918 Roman Catholic schools were brought into the state system but retained their distinct religious character access to schools by priests and the requirement that school staff be acceptable to the Church