After the first industrial revolution, child labor was used because the use of machines simplified the labor process and the labor force was scarce. More importantly, child labor is cheap.

In 833, the British government promulgated the Factories Act, prohibiting the employment of children under 9 years old (except silk weaving factories); The working hours of 9- 13-year-old child laborers shall be 48 hours per week and shall not exceed 9 hours per day; /kloc-Children under 0/4 receive two hours of compulsory education every day. The content of study is the basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, religious knowledge and certain moral education.

1867, the parliament passed the reform law, and nearly one million workers won the right to vote, so universal education became an urgent political need. The parliamentary reform law put forward the slogan "We must educate our masters". 1870, the director of education, W.E. Foster, proposed the Primary Education Act, which was passed. This act is also known as the Foster Education Act. The Law on Fostering Education aims to establish a public primary education system on the basis of perfecting the existing primary education system run by religious and charitable organizations. Therefore, it laid the foundation of the whole British education system.