User:Sandhuman66/sandbox8

Etymology
The i.t.a. was an abbreviation of the new orthography's final name, the initial teaching alphabet. Neither the name or the abbreviation used capitalisation in respect of the fact the orthography deliberately omitted the use of capital letters in order to simplify the act of learning.

It was also previously known as The Augmented Latin Alphabet and originally as the The Ehrhardt Augmented Roman Alphabet (the Monotype Corporation of Salfords, Surrey had kindly extended their Ehrhardt (typeface) to include the new i.t.a. characters and so were accredited in the original name).

Technically, the i.t.a. should have been known as the initial teaching orthography but since most people would not know what an orthography was, it was simplified to the initial teaching alphabet.

Background
The i.t.a. was developed in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, in the following environment: -

Literacy
World War II was at the time, the most technologically advanced conflict to-date using a wide variety of machinery and communications so it was essential the armed forces could follow written instructions, unfortunately large numbers of the military intake were found to be insufficiently literate to be effective, forcing the Army to provide remedial classes. This concerning fact raised awareness of the problem so after the war, the Ministry of Education started to systematically survey the levels of literacy in children leaving school. These surveys disappointingly showed that over one in four children reaching the age of fifteen were functionally illiterate. As similar results were seen throughout the English speaking world, suspicion fell on the irregularity of the English language as the cause. Arguments for English spelling reform to improve literacy were made by influential thinkers such as George Bernard Shaw, Dr Montefiore Follick (MP)  and Sir James Pitman (MP).

Parliamentary agitation
Starting in 1949, Dr. Montefiore Follick (MP) with the backing of Sir James Pitman (MP), attempted to advance the cause of English orthographic reform in the UK Parliament. The first ambitious private members bill endeavoured to form a committee for spelling reform but it was defeated on 2nd reading. This was followed by a more restrained second bill to trial a simplified spelling system just for the early teaching of children, this won the vote for a 2nd reading and passed through the committee stage, embarrassing the Winston Churchill government. Pitman subsequently negotiated with the Education minister (Miss Florence Horsbrugh MP) and it was agreed that Follick would withdraw the bill, in return the minister publicly stated the government would not stand in the way of a trial by local education authorities & research institutes, indeed the minister wished this endeavour her best wishes. This conceded blessing was the green light for the trial to take place albeit it would need to be self-funded and self-organised, which allowed Pitman rather than the government to shape the course of events because Pitman was both wealthy, influential and had ownership of the Pitman Printing Press so he possessed the resources for an orthographic experiment which the government then lacked.