Belfast Education Authority had a life span of exactly fifty years from 1923 when it first took over responsibility for education in the County Borough of Belfast to 1973 when it was succeeded by the Belfast Education and Library Board as a result of the re-organisation of local government in Northern Ireland. This book, which breaks new grounds in the history of local education and educational administration, discusses the changeover from a centrally controlled system of education to a locally control system. The "churches" involvement in education and the attempts made to integrate the schools in the city are also discussed: these topics have a very great relevance at the present time. The development of school ancillary services such as school meals, the creation of an efficient administration body, the financing of the system, the emergence of a logical structure of education from nursery school to university and the influence of personalities on the system are outlined in detail. The book is fully illustrated.

The author, Norman McNeilly, is a former Belfast headmaster and was awarded the MBE in 1953 for his services to education.