Spens (1938)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Analysis, Preface, Introduction
Chapter 1 Development of the secondary curriculum
Chapter 2 The present position
Chapter 3 Physical and mental development of 11-16 year olds
Chapter 4 The curriculum of the grammar school
Chapter 5 Scripture
Chapter 6 English, classics, mathematics, general science
Chapter 7 The School Certificate Examination
Chapter 8 Technical schools
Chapter 9 Administrative problems
Chapter 10 Welsh problems
Chapter 11 Conclusions and recommendations
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Liberal education (Young)
Appendix III Secondary curriculum (Kandel)
Appendix IV Faculty psychology (Burt)
Appendix V Transfer of training (Hamley)
Appendix VI Curricula in the Dominions (Clarke)
Index

London: HM Stationery Office

Chapter 10 Welsh problems
[pages 342 - 348]

The importance of special Welsh problems; the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889

1. While many of the problems raised by our terms of reference proved to be the same in Wales as in England, it became clear at an early stage in our inquiry that Wales had problems of its own, and on these we heard considerable evidence. An appreciation of these special problems is necessary in applying to the schools of Wales many of the recommendations we have made as to the internal organisation of grammar schools and their relationship to other types of secondary education.

In the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, Wales with Monmouthshire received a special legislative measure dealing with secondary education. This enactment was in itself evidence of the great demand in Wales for that type of secondary education which we have described generally as 'grammar school' education. Among the consequences of the Act have been the relatively larger percentage of secondary (grammar) school pupils in Wales than in England, and the higher percentage of these pupils who enter the university. The schools established under this Act were described as 'intermediate' because they were intended to bridge simply and completely the gap in Welsh education between the public elementary schools and the university colleges, which had previously been only partially bridged by the old endowed grammar schools, few in number, and with limited financial resources. When the school leaving age was raised effectively to 14+, the schools ceased to be 'intermediate' in their original sense; and, further, they tended to grow at both ends, on the one hand by admitting more pupils at the age of 11 and even at that of 10, and on the other hand by retaining pupils till they had attained the age of 18 or 19.

The comparative neglect of provision for technical education in the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889

2. The early founders did not, however, envisage as the only function of their schools that they should prepare pupils for admission to the university colleges or for entry to the professions. For such pupils 'intermediate' education was provided. For the remainder, it was intended that there should be 'technical' education, and this was defined as including, inter alia, instruction in subjects 'applicable to the purposes of agriculture, industries, trade or commercial life and practice suited to the needs of the district'; but it was enacted that 'it shall not include teaching the practice of any trade or industry or employment'.

Some county committees in framing their schemes adopted a less ambitious attitude towards the 'technical' side of education than the Act appeared to intend. A common formula in the schemes was: 'So far as may be consistent with the working of the school, special attention shall be given to instruction in such branches of natural science as bear on the trades and industries of the neighbourhood, including agriculture.' The framers of some schemes omitted even this cautious statement of aim, and left the selection of subjects wholly to the discretion of the school governors.

At the same time, owing to the deficiency of technical schools of all kinds, there was in fact a great need, especially in rural areas, for schools which would undertake both 'intermediate' and 'technical' education. Until recently, few schools have provided courses 'applicable to the purposes of agriculture, industries, trade or commercial life and practice' for pupils who cannot follow, or do not for their own purposes require, the ordinary courses in literature, science, and mathematics. Perhaps the environment of the schools in their formative period, full of the traditions of the Eisteddfod, the Sunday School and Y Gymanfa Ganu (Singing Festival) also weighed against the development of the 'technical' side.

Demand in certain areas for a modification of the grammar school curriculum: difficulty of providing alternative intermediate and technical courses in small schools

3. It was, however, brought to our notice that recently in some industrial and in a few rural areas there had been a local demand for a modification of the curriculum for those pupils who proposed to find a career in industry or agriculture. As a consequence, the intention of the authors of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act is now being more fully realised in industrial districts, and to a less extent in rural areas. The recently formed Advisory Council for Technical Education (South Wales) has published memoranda showing the necessity for relating the teaching in all types of schools to technical needs, both industrial and rural. In this connection, we would call attention to the recommendations we have made in the section on the country grammar school in Chapter 4 (1) for the further development of technical, and especially agricultural, education in grammar schools which serve areas where the establishment of technical high schools is impracticable.

We fully recognise that the small size of many of the Welsh schools during the major period of their development has made it difficult to provide successfully alternative 'intermediate' and 'technical' courses. In 1916, when the Central Welsh Board investigated the position, about 25 per cent of the schools had less than 100 pupils, and a further 25 per cent had between 100 and 125. The numbers in attendance, however, have increased considerably since 1916, and it may be found that the schools generally are now in a position to carry out more completely the schemes of education which were foreshadowed by the authors of the Welsh Intermediate Act. (2) The small size of the schools has not been the only deterrent factor. Limitations of staffing, curricula and general facilities are common to all small grammar schools, but in Wales there has been the additional handicap of the late age of admission. There is a marked tendency for pupils to enter at the age of 12, or even later, with a consequent shortening of the course. Parents, teachers, and managers of schools in rural areas are even inclined to restrain children from entering at an earlier and more appropriate age. Welsh parents and governing bodies should give immediate attention to this question.

The prestige of the intermediate school in Wales; our suggestion for the establishment of small grammar schools which incorporate modern (senior) schools

4. There seems to be little doubt that concentration on the development of the 'intermediate school' has had a retarding influence on that general school reorganisation which we recommended in our Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926). We understand that there is some apprehension lest the status and efficiency of the intermediate school may suffer through the proximity of modern (senior) schools, even though experience in areas where these conditions prevail, has proved that the contrary has been the case. The suggestion we have made for the establishment of small grammar schools which incorporate modern (senior) schools (3), may therefore be found to be specially applicable to the conditions in some Welsh areas, and may assist also towards a solution of the problem of providing for the 'technical' side of education.

So far as Wales is concerned, the idea of such a combined school is not new. Official representations have already been made to extend the function of the intermediate school, and to develop it into a multilateral school providing, if not for all, at least for a large proportion of those children for whom no special provision is at present made in the secondary stage of education. In 1929, the President of the Board of Education received from a departmental committee which was then inquiring into the public system of education in Wales and Monmouthshire, particularly in relation to the needs of rural areas, a suggestion

'that alterations in the Secondary School Regulations should be made which would render it permissible to carry on in the same secondary school building the two types of education: (a) that for children up to the age of sixteen and over and (b) that for children up to the age of fifteen.'

The bilingual problem

5. We turn now to some other features which give to Welsh education its special background. Those features which have affected the curricula of the schools have been the subject of anxious consideration by both teachers and administrators, ever since the enlargement of the opportunities for education in the secondary stage began to throw a high light upon them. We refer particularly to the problem of bilingualism. It has been for many years the policy of the Board of Education and of the local education authorities to give to the Welsh language a prominent place in the curriculum. For the pupil in an English grammar school, a classical or modern foreign language is a second language; for the Welsh child it is very often a third language. This necessarily creates a serious problem and for a number of pupils it may well be desirable not to attempt a third language. We had evidence of the various methods proposed for the prevention of undue strain, and we have noted with satisfaction the memoranda published by the Board of Education (Welsh Department) for the guidance of the schools in this matter (5). But whatever the difficulties caused by the native language may be, we suggest, and we think Welsh educationists generally will agree, that the eventual standard in English to be expected of the boy or girl in a Welsh grammar school need not be lower than that in the grammar schools of England.

In our Report on Books in Public Elementary Schools (6) we recorded our opinion that the existence of the bilingual problem in the public elementary schools warranted the provision by Welsh education authorities of more generous grants for books than had hitherto been customary. We are glad to learn that this recommendation has been adopted in some areas; and we desire strongly to recommend a similarly generous provision of books both for class use and for library use in the 'intermediate' or grammar schools.

The demand for free secondary education

6. Another special feature of Welsh education is the markedly high proportion of the child population already attending the intermediate schools; and not unrelated to this is the insistent demand for free secondary education which was mentioned by several of our witnesses. This demand is not unnatural in a country in which the two once prosperous industrial counties, containing the great majority of the population, are now scheduled as 'special areas' and where the remaining counties are almost wholly rural in character. As we have remarked elsewhere, there are in Wales fewer fee paying pupils, and the 100 per cent special place system has been more extensively adopted, than in England. From an administrative point of view, these characteristics make the Welsh intermediate schools riper for the form of development we have advocated than are similar schools in England (7).

Importance of provision for the teaching of arts and crafts speech training, music, dramatic art, and the history of Wales. The teaching of Scripture

7. There are certain features of Welsh education which must retain a prominent place in the grammar school curriculum, whatever changes the future may bring. The long association of the Welsh people with rural pursuits, and the traditions of skill and pride in simple forms of craftsmanship, poetry, vocal music, oratory, dramatic power, and physical prowess which this association has produced, make it desirable that a liberal provision should be made for the teaching of arts and crafts, speech training, music, dramatic art, and physical education. In particular, the time seems opportune for giving to the teaching of art a similar measure of attention as to the teaching of languages and science, in view of the efforts made by the University of Wales through its newly appointed Art Committee to give the subject a proper standing in all Welsh educational institutions.

The distinctively national traditions of Wales, in our opinion, require also that a place should be given in all schools to the history of the Principality, which should be taught so far as possible in close connection with Welsh literature and with physical and economic geography.

Lastly, we commend to Welsh schools the full use of the methods of religious instruction proposed in this Report. The witnesses who represented the Federation of Welsh Education Authorities insisted that Welsh Sunday School traditions clearly, demanded this. 'There is probably', they said, 'no part of the country where there is so general an agreement in favour of Biblical instruction for the children as in Wales. It is the view of the Federation that religious instruction and a knowledge of the Bible should be an integral and active part of the curriculum for secondary school pupils.' (8)

The Central Welsh Board

8. Wales has an interesting institution in the Central Welsh Board, an examining and inspecting body established in 1896 by scheme under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889. This body, which includes among its members many elected members of the local education authorities in addition to members representing the purely expert or academic elements, conducts the inspection and examination of intermediate schools established under the Act, and the examination of other secondary schools in Wales and Monmouthshire by arrangement with the school authorities concerned. The Central Welsh Board works in close cooperation with the Welsh Department of the Board of Education and with the University of Wales. We received some evidence on the desirability of organising on similar lines a national council dealing with all forms of education such as was recommended by the Departmental Committee on the Organisation of Secondary Education in Wales, 1920. We do not feel, however, that we are in a position to offer a definite opinion on this proposal to expand the Central Welsh Board into a National Council of Education.

Footnotes

(1) See Chapter 4, Part IV.

(2) Of late years, much has been done towards improving the accommodation and equipment of the Intermediate schools, and we are told that it is now exceptional to find a school which is not provided with facilities for domestic science, handicraft and physical education.

(3) See Chapter 9, Part I.

(4) See Chapter 9, Parts I and VI.

(5) See Suggestions for the Consideration of Education Authorities and Teachers, Memorandum No. 1, Part II, entitled Language teaching during the period of childhood, pp. 37-66, issued by the Welsh Department of the Board of Education, 1929. Suggestions for the Consideration of Local Education Authorities and Teachers, Memorandum No. 2, entitled Entrance tests for admission to secondary schools, p. 11, Section 31, issued by the Welsh Department of the Board of Education, 1930. See also the Report of the Departmental Committee, entitled Welsh in Education and Life (1927).

(6) Report of the Consultative Committee on Books in Public Elementary Schools (1928), Chapter 2.

(7) We refer to the possibility of including in some schemes of school reorganisation the incorporation of modern (senior) schools with existing 'intermediate' schools.

(8) We may place on record here an interesting suggestion which has been made to us for the concurrent study of Welsh and New Testament Greek by able students who can undertake this without undue effort.