Hadow (1926)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Analysis, Preface, Introduction
Chapter 1 Development of post-primary education in England and Wales 1800-1918
Chapter 2 The facts of the present situation
Chapter 3 The lines of advance
Chapter 4 Curricula for Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 5 The place of 'bias' in the curriculum of Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 6 The staffing and equipment of Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 7 The admission of children to Modern Schools and Senior Schools
Chapter 8 The lengthening of school life
Chapter 9 The question of a leaving examination
Chapter 10 Administrative problems
Chapter 11 Conclusions and recommendations; Notes of reservation
Chapter 12 Suggestions on the curriculum in Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Notes on nomenclature
Appendix III Statistics relating to Chapter 2(ii)
Appendix IV Post-primary education abroad
Appendix V List of publications
Index

London: HM Stationery Office

Chapter 2 The facts of the present situation
[pages 36 - 69]

(i) The nature of the problem

39. It will be evident from the facts set out in the preceding chapter that the issue raised by the Committee's reference is not a novel one, but has attracted the attention of educationalists with increasing insistence during the greater part of the last half century. So impossible is it, indeed, to confine the different stages of education within closed compartments, especially when those compartments correspond rather to the conditions imposed by history or by administrative convenience than to the facts of human life and growth, that the national system of Elementary Education had hardly been established, when it began, through its own inherent power of expansion, to throw up its own offshoots into the world of higher education. For a period of almost fifty years attempts, differing in form but similar in object, have been made, with varying but increasing success, to organise in one way or another advanced instruction within the existing elementary school system.

Till recently, however, such action was generally taken by way of exception, and was not intended to provide for the needs of more than a limited number of unusually gifted children. What is new in the present situation is the growing agreement, reflected in the opinions expressed by most of our witnesses, that the time has come when a more comprehensive view requires to be taken of the educational task which the needs of adolescence impose on the country. At the present day the years between 11 and 14-15 form the opening phase of secondary education for a small minority of children, and the closing phase of elementary education for the great majority. Is it possible so to organise education that the first stage may lead naturally and generally to the second; to ensure that all normal children may pursue some kind of post-primary course for a period of not less than three, and preferably four, years from the age of 11+; and to devise curricula calculated to develop more fully than is always the case at present the powers, not merely of children of exceptional capacity, but of the great mass of boys and girls, whose character and intelligence will determine the quality of national life during the coming quarter of a century?

40. That, as we see it, is the problem. It is not peculiar to England and Wales. Educational organisation and policy are so closely dependent upon the varying characteristics historical, political and social, of different communities, that the experience of one can only with large qualifications be applied to another. The interpretation of such experience is always a matter of great difficulty, and conclusions based merely on a study of documentary accounts of foreign developments are, at best, highly precarious. For this reason we have refrained from attempting to make any exhaustive investigation into the manner in which the questions suggested by our terms of reference have been treated in other countries, and in referring to the action taken or contemplated by other countries we must not be understood to be pronouncing any judgement as to its wisdom or its probable success. The emergence of similar issues in several different communities is not, however, devoid of significance. It is, perhaps, worth noting, therefore, that the question of the education of the adolescent, and of the relations which should exist between primary and post-primary education, have since 1918 been the centre of an increasing volume of attention on the Continent, in America and elsewhere. It is in this sphere of educational policy, indeed, that some of the most instructive experiments of recent years have been made and that some of the most far-reaching proposals have been advanced.

41. At one extreme, in the United States, the classical example of an educational system in which primary and secondary education are normally intended to be not parallel, but successive, the desire to establish a more satisfactory correlation between the primary and post-primary stages of education has led to the establishment in many places of Junior High Schools, designed both to give a secondary course, complete as far as it goes, to pupils between 12 and 15, and to lay the foundations on which the work of the Senior High School can afterwards be built. At the other extreme, in France (1) the typical representative of a system under which primary and secondary education hitherto have been, not successive, but parallel, there are some signs that the sharpness of the old division between them will in future be softened. There appears, for example, to have been a considerable increase in the number of ecoles prrimaires superieures; and the barrier between the Elementary School and Lycee has been, at least slightly, lowered, by the assimilation of the courses in the classes primaires of the latter to the work done in the later years of the former. The development in Austria (2) of the plan of the Deutsche Mittelschule, designed to give a course of junior secondary education, with liberal provision for practical activities, to all children leaving the primary school, and the somewhat closer connection between elementary and higher schools which appears to be in process of establishment in parts of Prussia (2), illustrates in different ways the criticism directed against arrangements under which the work of the primary school was felt sometimes to taper off into vacancy after the age of 11, and the desire to effect a more logical synthesis between the earlier and later stages of education.

42. The most instructive example of a systematic attempt to develop post-primary education, pursued with much care, practical insight and popular support over many years, is to be found, however, nearer home. It is supplied by Scotland, for an account of some of whose recent educational developments, in so far as they bear on the main problems before the Committee, we are indebted to Mr JC Smith and Dr JM Wattie. There has always been a higher degree of unity between the different stages of education in Scotland than in England. The Act of 1872 (2), which laid the foundations of the modern organisation in Scotland, was an Education Act, not, like the English Statute of 1870, an Elementary Education Act. Its declared purpose was to ensure that 'the means of providing efficient education may be furnished and made available to the whole people of Scotland.' One of our witnesses informed us that more than half of the schools which now rank as secondary have developed since 1900 out of primary schools.

43. Such a conception naturally both encouraged the development of advanced work in the elementary schools, and strengthened the continuity between the different stages of education which had always existed in Scotland. When, in 1901, the abolition of exemption by examination added almost a year to the school life of nearly half the children, the problem arose, as it was to arise later in England, of how to make the most effective educational use of the time thus gained. The answer was found in development along two main lines, which together led to a most remarkable expansion of post-primary education in a country where 'secondary' education, in the narrower sense of the word 'secondary' (4), was already much more accessible and more widely diffused than it was in England. In the first place, the Scottish Education Department established 'supplementary courses' - commercial, industrial, rural and domestic - which were to be begun at the conclusion of the primary stage, on the passage of a qualifying examination ordinarily about the age of 12; were to lead to a 'merit certificate', based mainly on the pupils' school record, at the age of 14; and were designed 'to make this last lap of school life real, by giving it a turn towards the affairs of "real life" on which pupils were so soon to enter.' In the second place, and more important, the establishment by the Department in 1902 of the Intermediate Certificate was followed by a striking development of intermediate education - so striking, indeed, as almost to overshadow the supplementary courses. The Intermediate Certificate 'served at once as a goal for the Higher Grade School, and as a midway hurdle for the secondary school.' It was attainable on a three years' course, which could be taken either in an Intermediate School or in the Intermediate Department of a Secondary School: it had the incidental advantage over the supplementary courses that classes were smaller and the qualifications of teachers more carefully scrutinised, and it supplied 'a good, well-balanced, but quite rigid course of secondary education.' How remarkably such education has grown in the twenty years following 1902 is shown by the fact that in 1922-3 there were 29,336 pupils between 11 and 16 years of age in the Intermediate Schools, in addition to 55,058 pupils between 11 and 16 in secondary schools - figures which should be compared with those for England and Wales given at a later point in this chapter.

44. By that time, however, a further change was on the eve of being introduced. The Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, in addition to other important changes, had empowered the Department to appoint a day after which full-time attendance at school should be compulsory to the age of 15, and, though the power has not yet been exercised, it was thought necessary 'to put things in such shape that effect might be given to the express intention of Parliament' as soon as circumstances should allow. As a result of this fact, and of the feeling that there were some weaknesses in the existing arrangements, certain significant alterations were made, of which it is too early, as yet, to foretell the result, but which are of interest as showing the way in which it is proposed that an issue somewhat similar to that raised by our Terms of Reference should be handled in Scotland. The Supplementary Course and the Intermediate Course both disappeared, being merged in what is known as the Advanced Division, and the place of the Merit and Intermediate certificates was taken by a Lower and Higher Day School Certificate; the former to be awarded on a course of two years, the latter (which may also be taken by those pupils in secondary schools who do not intend to proceed to the leaving certificate) on a three years course, after the age of 12, at which the Primary School course comes to an end. The work of the Advanced Division may be carried on either in a secondary school, or in a 'top' taking children from a group of primary schools, or in an entirely separate unit. In practice all three arrangements are found in the larger towns.

The curriculum of the Advanced Division courses is modelled largely on the Intermediate curriculum, but it is designed for a course of longer duration, and it is more varied and liberal in character. Science is one of the prescribed subjects, and a language (or languages) is included as an alternative subject. The latter is of importance in forming a link between the Advanced Division and secondary schools, and in facilitating the transfer of suitable pupils from the former to the latter. The requirements of the Code in respect of size of class, and qualifications and salaries of teachers, are the same for the Advanced Division as for the first three years of a secondary school; and all the Advanced Divisions are free.

45. A community must solve its educational problems in accordance with its own traditions and circumstances, and, even were the experience available for comparison more complete than it is, it would supply suggestions to be pondered rather than an example to be imitated. The impression left, however, by an examination of the experiments which have been made and of the projects which have been advanced is that the problem suggested by our Terms of Reference is making itself felt in different countries, and that there is in more than one of them a growing body of opinion which holds that the strengthening and broadening of the lower ranges of post-primary education, and the adjustment of them to the work of the primary school in such a way as to smooth the transition from one to the other, are among the most important of the issues immediately calling for attention. Nowhere has the consciousness of the urgency of the question been more acute in recent years than in England and Wales. Section 2 of the Education Act, 1918, and the circulars of the Board based upon this section, were the natural result of an anxiety which had long been growing as to the life and education of boys and girls during the years of adolescence, and of an increasing desire to adjust the work of the schools more closely to their requirements.

46. The rising interest in the problem presented by children between 11 and 15 or 16 can be traced in the literature, official and unofficial, on educational subjects for many years before 1918. It was due in the main to two different, but closely connected, considerations. The first, directed to the individual demoralisation and social wastage too often following on the completion of the elementary school life, was emphasised in the Report by this Committee, on Attendance Compulsory or Otherwise at Continuation Schools, which appeared in 1909, as well as in the Majority and Minority Reports of the Poor Law Commission of the same year, the Report of the Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education in relation to Employment after the War, issued in 1917, and the Report of the Ministry of Reconstruction on Juvenile Employment published in 1918. The questions raised by these Reports, all of which made educational recommendations of far-reaching importance, are partly outside our purview, and for an account of the social and economic conditions of the children concerned - 'the educational and industrial chaos' described by the Departmental Committee of 1917 - we must refer our readers to the relevant passages in the documents mentioned. But the problems which they described had also, as was emphasised in the Reports, an educational reference. For school and industry are different facets of a single society, and the habit of mind which isolates them from each other is a habit to be overcome. Education fails in part of its aim, if it does not prepare children for a life of active labour and of social cooperation; industry fails no less, if it does not use and strengthen the qualities of mind and character which have been cultivated by education. It is to a clearer realisation of the dangers to which many boys and girls are exposed at a critical period of their lives that the increased public interest in the education of children between 11 and 15 years of age is in great measure due. In considering the difficult questions connected with it - the curriculum best suited to develop their powers, the age up to which full-time attendance at school is desirable, the school as a training ground of character - the educationalist, unless he would build his castles in the air, is bound at every turn to take into account the probable future of the children and the nature of the industrial society into which, when their formal education has ceased, the majority of them will enter.

47. If one consideration which has concentrated attention on the years between 11 and 16 has been a growing sensitiveness to the social problem which they present, a second and not less significant has been the progress of education itself. The remarkable advance made in the period since 1902 has had the effect both of raising new questions and of restating old questions with a heightened emphasis. The improvement in the quality of primary education has raised the general level of attainment among the older pupils in the elementary schools, has thus strengthened the foundations upon which further education can be built, and, for an increasing number of children, has turned attendance at school from a tiresome obligation, from which escape is to be sought at the earliest possible moment, into an interest and a pleasure, which, if opportunity is forthcoming, and if the financial circumstances of the family permit, both they and their parents desire to be continued. The raising of the age of compulsory school attendance to the end of the term in which the fourteenth birthday is reached, which was completed by the final abolition of partial exemption in 1921, and has been followed by an increase in the number of children remaining at school beyond the age when the legal obligation to do so ceases, has emphasised the importance of ensuring that the fullest advantage is taken of the time thus gained, and has made it at once more urgent and more feasible to plan the education of children over the age of 11+ as a progressive course, with a unity and character of its own.

48. Anxiety lest the closing years of the elementary school should not be turned to the best account has found expression in the complaint that the older pupils are liable to be 'marking time.' Work already done, it is said, is being repeated; and the result is that children themselves are sick of school, and, for all the progress which they are making, might as well be elsewhere. This criticism obviously raises important considerations, and we have been at some pains to collect evidence on the question how far it is, or is not, justified. There appears to be a considerable divergence of opinion upon this point among Local Education Authorities. Some state that in their areas there is no foundation at all for the complaint; others that while it would be untrue to say that all children over 12 are marking time, a considerable number over the age of 13+ are doing so; others that even where the statement is inapplicable to the great majority of children, it is true of a minority of exceptional ability who reach the highest standard at an earlier age than usual, and 'whose further progress is restricted to what may be achieved by individual study, or to group work under the guidance of a teacher whose main energies are occupied by his class.' Such differences are very largely to be explained, no doubt, by the varying conditions obtaining in different parts of the country and in particular, by the different problems presented by predominantly urban and predominantly rural areas - though it is important to observe that the problem of the rural school must not by any means be regarded as insoluble, since in some areas it appears to have been handled with great success. On two points there seems to be general agreement - that in the large urban schools the evil has been to a great extent overcome, but that in small rural schools it remains serious; and that the most hopeful methods of coping with it are to be found in the careful grouping of the older pupils (such as takes place, for example, when, as in some areas, children over 11 are accommodated in separate Senior Schools), in staffing on a scale which permits of individual teaching, and in the encouragement of independent methods of work, so that children may proceed in a subject at a speed which corresponds with their attainments and ability. In these conclusions, broadly speaking we concur. It seems to us that the complaint of marking time is partly based (like so many other criticisms of public education) on the impression that conditions, which are in fact gradually disappearing, have survived unaltered since the time when the critic himself was at school. But it is both inevitable and satisfactory that, with the enhanced appreciation of education, the work of the school should be judged by more exacting standards, and there seems to us sufficient foundation for the criticism to justify public opinion in attaching special importance to the further improvement of the education of children over the age of 11.

49. The progress of elementary education which has prepared the way for that development, has been reinforced by equally important changes in other parts of the educational system. The expansion of public secondary education, which has resulted in the number of pupils attending grant-aided Secondary Schools being increased from 138,443 in 1907-8 to 354,165 in 1922-23, the improvement in its quality, and the development of Central and similar schools which began about 1910, and has already proceeded far in certain areas, have had profound reactions both upon the other parts of the educational system, and upon the public attitude towards the value of post-primary education. On the one hand, thanks largely to the bridges thrown by the Free Place system from the elementary to the secondary school, many thousands of parents, who twenty years ago did not think of education other than elementary as a possibility open to their children, have been familiarised with the conception of primary education as a preparatory stage which should lead naturally to some form or another of more advanced work; and a public demand for post-primary education has been created which the existing secondary schools, with the resources at present at their disposal, are not always easily able to satisfy. On the other hand, the growth of secondary and of central schools has revealed a wealth of ability among children attending the elementary schools, the existence of which is a ground both for confidence and for anxiety - confidence in the natural endowments of our fellow countrymen and anxiety lest, at the age at which the powers of the rising generation are most susceptible of cultivation and sensitive to neglect, the nation should fail to turn to the best account so precious a heritage. The precise proportion of children 'capable of profiting' by post-primary education continuing to the age of 15+ is not susceptible of exact statistical expression. Any attempt to estimate the proportion must depend partly on the interpretation assigned to the word 'profit', and partly also, in as much as children who show little response to one type of education may nevertheless derive much benefit from another, on the range and character of the facilities which are offered. So long, however, as the proportion of children for whose post-primary education special provision is made - whether by 'higher tops' and analogous arrangements within the elementary schools, or by Central schools, or by Secondary schools - is not larger than it appears to be today, the problem of determining exactly the proportion of children capable of profiting is not, perhaps, of very great or immediate practical moment, since by general consent it is considerably greater in all parts of the country than the proportion for which facilities at present exist. Nothing struck us more in the evidence submitted to us than the consensus of opinion among our witnesses as to the importance of developing such facilities further. As to the methods to be used there were, naturally, some differences - though not very wide differences - among them. As to the objective to be aimed at, there was something like unanimity.

50. Such agreement, which would not, we think, have been so noticeable even as recently as ten years ago, is partly the result of the practical successes in coping with the problem, to which we refer below, achieved by teachers and administrators. It affords grounds for a reasonable hope that the difficulties surrounding it may be overcome. But the difficulties, both of principle and of the practical application of principles, are real, and it would be a mistake to underestimate them. Their solution can, at best, be only tentative, and while mere empiricism is to be deprecated, premature systematisation must not be allowed to close the door to experiment. The questions which need a reply are numerous and complex. What kinds of curricula are most likely to meet the varying requirements of children between 11 and 15 years of age, and what part should be played in them by practical interests and by more general literary and scientific studies? What should be the relations between primary and post-primary stages of education? What are the main types of school needed for the latter? In what relation should such schools stand both to 'Secondary' Schools of the kind most common today, and to the advanced instruction already carried on in an increasing number of Elementary Schools? What should be the conditions prescribed for these schools in respect of such matters as staffing, building and equipment? Whence are the teachers to be recruited, and what qualifications should be expected of them? Up to what age is it desirable that the majority of scholars should attend such schools, and what are to be the relations between the schools and the world of industry?

To such questions only provisional answers can be given. They are obviously vital. Before, however, we discuss them more in detail, it will be expedient to set out summarily the main facts of the present situation, and to describe the plans for developing post-primary education which have been put into operation by certain important Local Education Authorities.

(ii) A statistical summary

51. The broad facts of the present situation are not obscure and can be summarised in few words. As will be seen from Table I in Appendix III, there were, at the date of the Census of 1921, 3,662,620 children between 11 and 16 years of age. Of this number 2,014,608 (55 per cent) were in 1922-23 attending Elementary Schools; 264,938 (7.2 per cent) grant-aided Secondary Schools; 12,133 (0.3) per cent, Junior Technical Schools; 785 were attending pupil-teachers Centres and 569 were rural pupil-teachers, (5) while a number which is uncertain, but which appears not to have exceeded 10,000, was in full-time attendance at schools of art, art classes, day technical classes and schools of nautical training. (6)

If the last group be omitted, about 63 per cent of the 3,662,620 children between 11 and 16 were attending one or other of the above categories of schools, though, of course, a substantial proportion of the remaining 37 per cent of children were attending schools not within the purview of the official statistics. The proportion of children in attendance at school falls off very rapidly after 14. Between 13 and 14 it was 88 per cent; between 14 and 15 it was only 31 per cent, a figure which, though deplorably low, nevertheless represents a substantial increase on the level of ten years ago; between 15 and 16 it was 9.9 per cent. The proportion of the 1,446,693 children between 14 and 16 shown by the official statistics to be attending school was just over one in five, or 20.5 per cent.

52. If we turn from a static to a dynamic survey of the facts - if, that is to say, instead of analysing the distribution between different types of schools, and between school and employment, of the population between 11 and 16 years of age, we inquire into the fate of the children leaving school in a given year - the general results which emerge are much the same. According to figures which have been supplied us by the Board of Education, (7) the number of children leaving the elementary schools in the year 1923-24 was 668,749. Of this number 55,541 (8.3 per cent) entered secondary schools; 7,244 (1.1 per cent) entered Junior Technical and Commercial Schools, and 19,267 (2.9 per cent) entered other full-time institutions for Higher Education. Against this total of 82,052 (12.3 per cent) who left the elementary schools in order to continue some form of full-time education elsewhere, must be set 497,894 (74.4 per cent) who left to enter employment, and 88,803 (13.3 per cent) who left for some other reasons not specified.

53. These summary figures enable a general idea to be formed of the magnitude of the problem. But conditions vary so widely from area to area, that, taken by themselves, they are liable to give a misleading impression. While it has not been possible for us to collect exhaustive figures of the conditions obtaining in all areas, certain Education Authorities have been good enough to supply us with returns relating both to the distribution of the school population over the age of 11 in the year 1923-4, and to the proportion of children leaving the elementary schools who passed in that year to other institutions for full-time education. Their effect is to show the widest diversity of educational provision in different areas. Thus the proportion of the total school population over 11 which is found in secondary schools varied from as low as 6.9 to as high as 42.5. The proportion of elementary school leavers who entered some other institution giving full-time education ranged from 4.4 to 45.4, or ten times as much; while the smallest proportion entering secondary schools was 4.4 and the highest 27.6. Clearly, when the differences between the provision already made by different areas are so great, the organisation of advanced instruction for children between 11 and 15 years of age presents a problem whose dimensions vary very widely from one part of the country to another. There are authorities which have already gone a considerable way towards solving it. There are others in whose areas, as far as we can judge from the information at our disposal, the task remains to be begun almost from the foundations.

54. Secondary Schools, which, in the sense of the word hitherto customary in England (8), account for 7.2 per cent of the children between 11 and 16, are not within our purview. For this reason, though, as we explain in the following chapter, we think it important that care should be taken, in the development of other forms of post-primary education, to avoid any action which might undermine their efficiency or expose them to undesirable competition, we do not here discuss the problems connected with them. Of the place of Junior Technical schools, which contain 0.3 per cent of the children between 11 and 16, something is said below. (9) At the present time, however, 55 per cent of the children between 11 and 16, 68 per cent of those between 11 and 15, and 83 per cent of those between 11 and 14 are attending the elementary schools. It is these children who constitute our main problem. Important as it is to secure a steady increase in the number of children attending secondary schools of the existing type, it is evident that, even were the standard set by the Authorities where the provision of secondary school places is most generous made universal, there would still remain an actual majority of children for whom it would be essential to organise other facilities for post-primary education. To what extent are such facilities provided by Local Education Authorities at the present time?

55. To this question it was until recently impossible to give any precise answer, since the official statistics did not distinguish between the advanced courses carried on in Public Elementary Schools (which include Central Schools) and their other work. Last year, however, the Board of Education made an inquiry into the number of authorities and schools 'giving advanced instruction of the sort contemplated in Section 20 of the Education Act 1921,' the results of which it has been good enough to place at our disposal. (10) While, owing to the ambiguity of the conception 'advanced instruction', they must no doubt be used with a certain amount of reserve, they represent an approximation to the truth sufficiently close to be of very great interest, and throw valuable light upon the important question of the degree to which the provisions of section 20 of the Act of 1921 have found practical expression in the organisation of the schools. The general conclusion which appears to emerge from them is that, in spite of the striking degree of initiative shown by certain Authorities, some examples of which we give in the last section of this chapter, the provision for advanced instruction hitherto made within the elementary school system is, when the country as a whole is considered, somewhat smaller than might have been expected from the attention which the subject has, in recent years, received. While the number of authorities in England and Wales which had arranged for 'advanced instruction' was 158, the number of departments giving it was only 682, and the total number of pupils in advanced courses not more than 107,565. According to the Board's returns, therefore, just under half the Education Authorities in England and Wales had organised advanced instruction within the elementary school system. But the provision was more scanty than that figure would suggest. For the average number of departments per Authority, in which such instruction was given, was less than 5, and the number of children in advanced courses formed only 5.4 per cent of the total number of children over 11 attending the public elementary schools. In this matter, as in that of secondary education, there was a marked divergence between the provision made in different parts of the country. In London the corresponding percentage was 8.5, in the areas of borough and urban district authorities 7.4, in the areas of county borough authorities 6.5, and in the areas of county authorities 2.7.

56. In the great majority of departments - 647 out of 682 - the advanced courses represented in these figures are planned to provide for pupils who may remain after 14, and in 329 cases they are definitely designed to cover a period of four years, the usual age of entry to them being 11 years and upwards; and in more than a third the parents are required to give a definite pledge that their children shall remain at school till 15+. It is obvious, indeed, on the one hand, that both the facility with which an advanced course can be planned, as a systematic whole, and its value to the pupil, will be greatly increased if the school life lasts for four years after the age of 11. It is not less obvious, on the other hand, that the disposition to remain at school will be strengthened by any arrangement of the curriculum which causes the pupil and his parents to feel that, so far from retraversing again ground already covered, he is beginning a new and vital part of his school career. It is of some interest to observe, therefore, that, on the whole, the tendency in recent years has been markedly in the direction of a lengthening of the school life. The number of children over the age of 14 attending the elementary schools was 47,066 in 1913-14, 125,292 in 1919-20, and 170,893 in 1922-23. Expressed as percentages of the age group 10-11, it was 7 per cent at the first date, 18.8 per cent at the second, and 26.1 per cent at the third. (11) According to the latest available figures, therefore, just over one quarter of the children in the elementary schools between 10 and 11 remain in them beyond the age of 14.

57. The explanation is to be found partly (12) in section 9 of the Education Act of 1918, re-enacted in section 138(1) of the Education Act of 1921, which requires children to remain at school to the end of the term in which they reach their fourteenth birthday, partly in the fact that the decline in the birth rate has diminished the elementary school population below 11, with the result of increasing the proportion to be found in the higher age-groups. But, even when due allowance is made for those factors, the increase in the number of children remaining at school both beyond 14, and, though to a less extent, beyond 15, is striking. While it naturally depends on economic conditions, being least in areas where there is a keen demand for the services of young persons in industry and highest where the pressure on parents to set their children to wage-earning employment is less intense, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the proportion of children remaining at school beyond 14 is affected also by the nature of the provision made by Education Authorities. It is significant that it is considerably higher in the areas of county boroughs than in those of counties, and that in London, where there are numerous openings for young persons in commerce and industry, but where the organisation of advanced work within the elementary school system began at an earlier date (13) and has proceeded further than in most other areas, it is higher than in either. The length of the school life of pupils in the London Central Schools has, we are informed, increased considerably since their inception. (14) Of those who left them in the year 1923-24, 41 per cent did so at the age of 14; 22.6 per cent between 14 and 15; and 36.4 per cent after the age of 15. (15) On the whole then, the facts seem to bear out the conclusion which would have been anticipated. It is that, while large numbers of children leave school prematurely owing to economic difficulties, with the provision of a better education for pupils over 11 the desire of parents that their children should have the advantage of it increases, and that the efforts which have been made in recent years by certain authorities to organise advanced instruction for the older children have contributed in an appreciable measure to the lengthening of the school life. This result appears to us extremely encouraging. If the facilities for such instruction, scanty as they are, have already had the effect of prolonging the period of school attendance, it seems reasonable to anticipate that their wider dissemination and better organisation is likely in the future still further to stimulate the appetite for more prolonged education.

58. We may now summarise the main statistical facts bearing on the dimensions of the problem. Of the 2,943,822 children between 11 and 15, 221,373 (7.5 per cent), and of the 3,663,620 children between 11 and 16, 278,425 (7.6 per cent), were in 1922-3 being educated in grant-aided secondary schools, junior technical schools, pupil-teachers' centres and as rural pupil-teachers. In addition a number not exceeding 10,000 was found in 1923 in full-time attendance at schools of art, art classes, day technical classes, etc, and in 1925 107,565 children over 11 years of age were in advanced courses in elementary (including central) schools. The children over 11 in the elementary schools who were not, so far as is known, receiving 'advanced instruction' in the meaning of Section 20 of the Education Act 1921, numbered slightly over 1,800,000. Finally, between 14 and 15 there were 493,025 children, and between 15 and 16 641,811, or 67.7 per cent and 89.3 per cent of the corresponding age-groups, who were not attending any full time school represented in the official statistics. What proportion of them are attending schools outside the public system of education it is not possible to state. But it would appear safe to assume that approximately half the children in the country between 14 and 15, and approximately three quarters of the children between 15 and 16, are not receiving full-time education of any kind.

59. The task before the nation is, therefore, a large one. The question what proportion of the 1,800,000 children between 11 and 15 attending elementary schools, who are not stated to be receiving 'advanced instruction of the sort contemplated in Section 20 of the Education Act 1921' are capable of beginning post-primary education at or near the age of 11 cannot be answered till experiment has yielded fuller data than are at present available. The problem is to secure that, in one way or another, facilities for post-primary education may be made available for as many of them as is possible, and, in addition, that an increasing proportion of the children whose school life now ends altogether shortly after their fourteenth birthday, may continue their full-time education to a later age.

This problem, as we point out in our next chapter, is not to be solved by any single device of universal application. If the system of post-primary education is to be successful, it must correspond to the needs of the pupils, and, if it is to correspond to their needs, it must embrace schools of varying types. Progress must take place, in short, along several different paths, and there must be a due proportion in the outlay of thought and expenditure devoted to each, so that the whole front may advance together. Before, however, discussing in detail the lines on which, as we think, development should take place, it will be convenient to examine shortly the steps already taken by certain representative Local Education Authorities.

(iii) Steps taken by Local Education Authorities to deal with the problem of post-primary education

60. Local Education Authorities have devoted much attention to the question of providing 'courses of advanced instruction' since the Education Act 1918 came into operation. The Act left very wide discretion to Local Authorities in this matter, and no attempt has been made by the Board to suggest, still less to prescribe, the lines upon which courses of advanced instruction should be organised. Local Authorities have accordingly been free to develop the methods which they consider best suited to their local circumstances and needs. It is evident that the provision of such courses affords opportunities for clever children to rise in school more quickly, and at the same time prevents less gifted children from being left for an indefinite time low down in the school. Though the expression 'advanced instruction' has never been officially defined, it may probably be taken for working purposes to mean instruction more advanced than that ordinarily given hitherto to the older children in public elementary schools.

Apart from the provision of selective or non-selective central schools for older pupils only, a number of Authorities have organised courses of advanced instruction within existing elementary schools. Such courses fall into two main groups:

(a) Those provided in large public elementary schools in which an advanced course can be organised in the upper part of the school for pupils who have passed through the lower classes. Upper classes of this type, intended to offer a course of advanced instruction, are sometimes known locally as higher or upper tops.

(b) Public elementary schools receiving children from other schools into their upper classes, which are so organised as to provided a course of advanced instruction. The upper parts of such schools are often described as 'central classes'.

It is evident that arrangements for advanced courses of the two types described above can, as a rule, only be carried out satisfactorily in the upper classes of large schools.

61. The central schools for older children only, which have been established up to the present by various Local Authorities seem to fall into two main classes:

(i) Schools composed of children selected at about the age of 11, usually by examination, the majority of whom remain three and in some cases four years longer under instruction. In some parts of England these schools are called middle schools or intermediate schools, but they can best be described as central schools of the selective type.

(ii) Schools beginning work about the level of standard V, into which all or most normal children from a group of contributory schools in a district are drafted after they have pursued a course of instruction up to that level, and in some cases have also attained a specified age. These schools may be conveniently described as non-selective central schools.

In addition to the two types described above, a third variety of central school is found in some areas, offering a course of instruction corresponding more or less to that provided in ordinary elementary schools from standard V to standard ex-VII, but carried somewhat beyond that stage, and admitting pupils, on the application of their parents, provided that they satisfy the head teacher that they can do the work. As such schools are, in a sense, selective, they may from that aspect be regarded as falling under central schools of the selective type.

The first type of central school corresponds to some extent to the higher elementary school of the period 1900-1917. (16) Central schools of the second type offer several points of resemblance to the higher standard schools with a science course at the top, which were developed in considerable numbers, particularly by the smaller School Boards, between 1885 and 1900. (17) The third variety of central school is not unlike the higher grade schools which were established by a number of School Boards between 1870 and 1900, except that such schools used to charge fees. (18)

62. All these types of central school are also to be found, not as distinct schools, but arranged as departments at the top of large elementary schools. Furthermore, all the main ways described above of organising advanced courses, whether in existing elementary schools or in separate central schools for older pupils, may be found within one large administrative area. In one part of the area there may be a large 'senior school', first-rate of its kind, with good buildings, equipment and staff, which can be so organised as to provide 'advanced instruction' for its own older or more intelligent children on promotion from its junior departments. In another part a number of small schools may be sending older children to central classes at the top of one of the schools chosen for the purpose, and in yet another part the Authority may be maintaining a new central school consisting wholly of children selected by means of some entrance test from the elementary schools in the neighbourhood.

63. The methods of admitting pupils to these courses are more fully described in Chapter 7, but we may say at this stage that there are three main arrangements:

(1) Selection by means of a competitive examination;
(2) Selection by means of a qualifying test;
(3) Promotion on reaching a certain age, which is often combined with a requirement that the pupil shall have reached a certain level of attainment, e.g. standard V.

The age basis is common for senior schools with or without higher tops. For central classes a combination of age and qualifying examination is often employed. Competitive examination with various modifications is the method ordinarily employed for admitting to selective central schools. Pupils are often transferred to non-selective central schools on attaining a certain age, usually 11+.

64. Local Education Authorities, in deciding what type of organisation to adopt for their advanced courses, necessarily take into account, in addition to general questions of finance, considerations such as the existing provision of secondary schools, junior technical schools, full-time junior domestic courses for girls, full-time junior classes in art schools and the like. For example, selective central schools of the first type described above are usually found in larger towns, especially those on which the provision of secondary schools has not been sufficient to meet the existing demand. Central schools of the second type have generally been established in areas well provided with secondary schools, or where the local industries and occupations afford openings for children of the age of 14 or thereabouts, and also in thinly populated rural areas. In such areas two other important factors have usually to be taken into consideration in connection with the establishment of central schools; first that it is difficult to secure a sufficient number of children of outstanding ability for a central school of reasonable size, and in the second place, that it is an economical arrangement to transfer all the older children of the smaller schools to centrally situated schools. The third variety of central school described above has been adopted by some Local Authorities, which hold that the lengthening of school life to the age of 15 and upwards can best be secured by the free choice of parent or child without compulsion of any kind.

65. Nearly all the courses of advanced instruction hitherto arranged are planned to provide for pupils who may remain at school up to the age of 15+. (19) Most of the methods of organising these courses described above are still in the experimental stage, except in a few areas, such as London, where the system of central schools dates from 1911. The great majority of the courses of advanced instruction are given in central schools or classes to which children are transferred, usually about the age of 11, from neighbouring schools. In many instances the accommodation for the central school has been obtained in an already existing building, by means of a redistribution of the pupils in a whole group of schools in the district. It is interesting to note that in less than half of the 551 departments claiming to provide courses of advanced instruction in England in 1925 had it been found necessary to provide special buildings for the purpose. (20) It may be pointed out incidentally that the bringing together of younger children in separate schools, so as to secure the use of suitable separate buildings for the older pupils, renders possible better grading and is also more economical, since in cases where the age-range of the class is wide, as it must inevitably be in a small school for children of all ages, the class must be small. With proper grading, it is possible to arrange that larger classes are taken by fewer teachers.

66. A few specific examples illustrating the provision made for courses of advanced instruction by various Local Authorities - counties, whether chiefly agricultural or also containing mines and factories; county boroughs; urban districts; and boroughs having powers in respect of elementary education only - will show how many facets the problem has, and how varied are the means adopted to cope with it in different areas. When growth is taking place on every side, classification becomes exceedingly difficult, but for the sake of convenience we have attempted to group under a few headings the arrangements made by some representative Authorities. (21)

(1) Authorities which have provided central schools of a non-selective type, to which all normal older children are transferred from groups of contributory schools at about the age of 11+, e.g. Carnarvonshire.

(2) Authorities which have organised central schools of a very slightly selective type, to which pupils are admitted on application from their parents, and on satisfying the head teacher that they can do the work, e.g. Warwickshire.

(3) Authorities which have provided central schools of a slightly selective type, to which the majority of the older children are transferred after an easy examination at about the age of 11+, e.g. Rutland.

(4) Authorities which have adopted a system of highly selective central schools, e.g. London and Bradford.

(5) Authorities which are carrying out a far-reaching reorganisation of most or all of the elementary schools within their areas so as to provide central (sometimes called 'intermediate') schools for the more gifted children who are not proceeding to secondary schools, and distinct senior schools for the remaining older children, e.g. Leicester.

(6) Authorities which provide most of their courses of advanced instruction by means of 'higher tops', forming integral parts of existing elementary schools, e.g. Durham County.

(7) Authorities which have organised their courses of advanced instruction within existing elementary schools, either wholly for the pupils in certain individual schools, or also for a limited number of pupils drawn from other schools, e.g. Hornsey.

(8) Authorities which up to the present have provided courses for the older children by means of 'senior standard' schools, or of departments providing specially arranged three year courses, e.g. Dorset and Leeds.

(9) Authorities which are adopting several of these arrangements simultaneously in different parts of their areas, e.g. Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

(N.B. The descriptions in Sections 67 to 78 are based on data supplied to the Committee by the Local Education Authorities in question.)

Type 1: Carnarvonshire

67. Since 1910 the Authority has been devoting much attention to the question of making better provision for pupils in the top standards of the elementary schools. Section 2(1)(c)(ii) of the Education Act of 1918 enabled the Authority further to develop this policy, and there are now seven central schools in the area. There are nine secondary schools in the county, but no junior technical schools. In 1923-24 there were approximately 7,650 children over the age of 11 in attendance at all types of school.

Of these 4,286 were in elementary schools, 1,906 in secondary schools, and 1,181 in central schools. Of the 2,504 children who left elementary schools in 1923-24, 462 passed into secondary schools and 551 into central schools. The policy of the Authority is to transfer either to secondary schools or central schools all pupils from council schools who have spent a year in standard V. It has been found that, by collecting at one school the two top standards from the contributory elementary schools, it is not only possible to provide a teacher for each standard, but to sub-divide each standard according to the ability and attainments of groups of individual pupils. The courses of study in central schools are planned on the basis of a leaving age of 15 and approximate to those in secondary schools, except for the omission of a foreign language. Eight hours are allocated to languages - 3 hours for Welsh, and 5 for English. The courses are varied to meet local needs, and stress is laid on handicrafts and domestic subjects. Since these central schools were established, the number of children remaining at school after the legal leaving age has considerably increased. Since 1 January 1925 the legal leaving age in the county has been raised to 15 by bye-law under section 46 of the Education Act 1921. The establishment of these central schools has not adversely affected the nine secondary schools in the area.

Type 2: Warwickshire

68. In 1923-24 there were 12,845 pupils over the age of 11 in elementary schools, 3,354 in secondary schools, 1,198 in central schools recognised as such by the Board, 1,033 in central schools not recognised by the Board, and about 100 in junior technical schools and other full-time schools giving education of a technical type. The Authority considered that it was not necessary to provide a junior technical school, as the needs of the area are met either by the junior technical schools in the adjoining urban areas of Birmingham and Coventry or by the day continuation school at Rugby. In the scheme submitted under the Education Act of 1918, the Authority proposed to provide 50 or 60 central schools or classes; 21 of these schools had been established in 1923-24. The type of central school varies according to local conditions. Some are wholly for children over the age of 11; others, situated for the most part in rural districts, are organised as central classes within schools containing junior pupils; some draw pupils from one town only, and others from extensive rural areas. Most of these schools have no local bias, two have a slight bent towards engineering, one towards mining, and one in the direction of agriculture. Pupils are admitted to the central schools and classes by means of an examination conducted by the teachers, who have been authorised to admit all children whom they regard as suited for 'advanced instruction'.

Type 3: Rutland

69. There are no secondary schools in the area except Uppingham School and Oakham School which are largely non-local.

Most of the elementary schools are small village schools, not sufficiently large to support a senior top. The Authority, accordingly, decided to build 5 new central schools in various parts of the county, and 3 of these schools have, up to the present, been erected. Approximately four fifths of the children over the age of 11 in elementary schools are transferred to a central school on the result of an annual examination taken by all children at the age of 11+. The less able children remain in their own schools and attend special classes at a central school for one day in a week. The central schools provide a three years' course, and approximately 50 per cent of the pupils in them remain voluntarily for periods varying from a term to one year beyond the statutory age in order to complete the course. The curriculum is not definitely vocational, but the various subjects are taught with reference to the future occupations of the pupils, which in Rutland are mainly rural.

Type 4: London

70. The circumstances which led to the establishment of central schools in London have been briefly described in Chapter 1. In 1923-24 there were in the area 211,516 pupils over the age of 11 in elementary schools; approximately 40,600 pupils in secondary schools; 19,708 in central schools; and approximately 3,090 in junior technical (and trade) schools, full-time Junior domestic courses, and full-time junior art departments in art schools. There were also 10,105 pupils in part-time day continuation schools. The three years' programme approved by the county council in 1924 provides for an increase of 3,650 places in the accommodation afforded in aided and maintained secondary schools in the area. Steps are also being taken to provide three or four new junior technical schools. In 1925 there were 62 central schools affording accommodation for 22,000 pupils. These schools provide a four years' course with an industrial bias, a commercial bias or a dual bias, and are organised for boys, or for girls, or for both. Children in attendance at a public elementary school who have attained the age of 11 are eligible for admission to central schools, subject to certain exceptions. The final selection of entrants rests with the head teachers of the central schools, who in choosing candidates have regard to the recommendation of the head teacher of the contributory school, the results of the junior county scholarship examination, and the probability of the children remaining at school sufficiently long to justify the change. In central schools with an industrial bias specimen drawings of the candidates and any other suitable evidence of manual dexterity are also taken into account.

Type 4: Bradford (County Borough)

71. The policy of the Bradford Authority in regard to the provision of courses of advanced instruction has been largely determined by the fact that the area is exceptionally well provided with secondary schools, and that the 8 provided secondary schools have ceased to charge fees since 1919. In 1923-24 the total number of children over the age of 11 in schools in the area was 13,145. Of these 7,308 were in elementary and special schools, 5,056 in secondary schools, 431 in central schools and 75 in full-time junior classes at the school of Art. Three central schools were opened in 1920, one for boys, with an industrial bias and a commercial bias, one for girls, with a commercial bias, and the third for boys and girls, with a commercial bias. Pupils admitted to them must have attained a certain standard in the general scholarship examination, and their parents must have agreed to keep them at school up to the age of 15+.

Type 5: Leicester (County Borough)

72. When the Education Act of 1918 came into operation in 1919, the Authority divided the area for purposes of reorganisation into districts. In each of the districts, when a reorganisation has been effected, there is one intermediate school to take at the age of 11+, selected children who, for various reasons, are unable to proceed to a secondary school, and two or more 'senior' schools to accommodate all children of the age of 11+ who are not proceeding to secondary, intermediate, junior technical or junior craft schools. The contributory elementary 'junior' schools only take pupils up to the age of 11+. There were in 1924 2,799 pupils in secondary schools, 837 in intermediate schools, 4,210 in senior schools, and 239 in schools of other types.

The intermediate schools offer courses planned to end at the age of 15+, and the courses in the senior schools are arranged to end at the age of 14+. The courses in the intermediate schools are more academic than those of the senior schools, less attention being devoted to practical work, and a modern language being included in the curriculum. Pupils are chosen for admission to intermediate schools by means of the annual general examination, which also serves to select pupils for secondary and junior technical schools.

Type 6: Durham County

73. This Authority provides courses of 'advanced instruction' for children over the age of 11 by means of 54 higher tops, 4 upper standard or central schools, and 38 public elementary schools, in which the curriculum for pupils over the age of 11 has been extended. In 1923-24 there were 61,242 children over the age of 11 in attendance at schools in the county area, of whom 51,736 were in ordinary public elementary schools, 5,722 in secondary schools, 3,202 in 'higher tops', and 582 in commercial schools and colleges, private schools and upper standard schools. The higher top system was first introduced in 1918 into 30 elementary schools, and extended to 54 schools in 1924. The system aims at widening and enriching the curriculum of the ordinary elementary schools, and provides parallel classes for those children who develop mainly on literary lines, and for those whose interests are chiefly practical. In 1924 there were 11 higher tops providing a two years' course, 38 offering a three years' course, and 5 organised for a four years' course. The teachers are given full discretion in the matter of curricula and in the choice of books and educational equipment. The teachers are largely responsible for the admission of entrants to the higher tops, which takes place on the result of a simple written and oral examination and a survey of the child's school record. The consent of the parent is also required before a pupil can be admitted to the higher top.

Type 7: Hornsey Borough (Authority for Elementary Education only)

74. This Authority has organised courses of advanced instruction in individual elementary schools, in preference to establishing central schools. Since 1920, 6 advanced courses of this type have been established - 3 for boys, 2 for girls, and 1 mixed. The courses are planned for pupils who are likely to remain at school beyond the age of 14+, and it is made a condition of admission that the parent should furnish an undertaking to keep the child at school beyond that age. The selection of candidates for admission is made mainly on the result of the examination for admission to secondary schools.

The curricula for these courses are planned on a broader basis than those for the ordinary elementary schools and include a modern language. No bias was at first given, but in 1923 commercial instruction was introduced in three of the courses for pupils in their third and fourth years and an industrial bias was given to one of the courses for boys.

Type 8: Dorsetshire

75. In 1923-24 there were in the county area 7,169 pupils over the age of 11 in elementary schools, 2,385 in secondary schools, and 22 in schools of other types. No central schools have as yet been established, but there are a number of 'senior standard' schools for pupils between the ages of 11+ and 14+. There is one junior technical school in the area.

Type 8: Leeds (County Borough)

76. In 1923-24 there were in Leeds 23,434 children over the age of 11 in elementary schools, 4,588 in secondary schools, and approximately 600 in two day preparatory trade schools and one day school of commerce. The policy followed by the Authority in regard to the courses of advanced instruction is based on the view that 'instruction to children over the age of 11 years should be given either in the elementary school or in the secondary school, with the exception of education which is definitely technical in character.' The existing secondary schools afford accommodation for approximately 6,300 pupils (i.e., about 13.6 per thousand of the population.) The Authority proposes gradually to increase this provision to at least 20 places per thousand of the population, and at the same time to provide more schools of the junior technical type. It is stated that courses of advanced instruction are being organised within elementary schools for those children of the age range of 11+ to 14+, who do not enter either a secondary school or a junior technical school. In 1924 there were in the public elementary schools of the area 27 departments providing three years' courses of advanced instruction for boys, and 11 departments providing three years' courses for girls. The curricula followed in these courses comprise specialised syllabuses adapted for individual pupils or for the needs of certain districts of Leeds.

Type 9: Lancashire

77. In 1923-24 there were in the county area 45,947 pupils over the age of 11 in elementary schools, 10,155 in secondary schools, 1,427 in central schools and classes, higher elementary and senior schools and advanced courses, 289 in junior technical schools, and 29 in full-time day classes in schools of Art. There are three junior technical schools in the county all situated in districts where the engineering industry predominates. The schools offering advanced courses comprise (a) selective central schools which take a certain number of the older pupils from groups of contributory elementary schools, (b) schools containing an elementary section and a higher section to which neighbouring contributory schools send pupils (i.e., 'central classes'), and (c) schools with a self-contained higher section to which other schools do not send pupils. Entrants to the selective central schools and classes are chosen on the recommendation of the head teachers of the contributory schools. Their recommendation in turn is based upon a general review examination conducted by the Authority, for all pupils in public elementary schools of the age of eleven. The curricula of central schools and classes vary according to the district, and the courses extend over three, four or five years.

Type 9: Yorkshire, West Riding

78. In 1923-24 there were in the West Riding 63,960 pupils over the age of 11 in attendance at public elementary schools, 10,630 at secondary schools, and 106 at Doncaster junior technical school. There were also a few pupils over the age of 11 residing within the West Riding area who were in attendance at central schools, junior technical schools, full-time day classes at schools of art, and the like, situated in the areas of other authorities (chiefly county boroughs within the West Riding). There were at that time no schools of the central type in the West Riding and the 'courses of advanced instruction' provided were given in the 'tops' of public elementary schools. However, during the year 1923-24, the Authority approved the establishment of 11 'Middle' schools providing accommodation for approximately 3,500 pupils. These Middle schools were to be housed, either in new buildings, or in existing elementary schools suitably remodelled for the purpose. The Authority has also decided to provide further secondary school accommodation. At the present time the secondary schools in the area afford accommodation for all pupils who attain 60 per cent marks in the County examination for scholarships and free places.

Note on Junior Technical Schools, Junior Commercial Schools and full-time junior classes in Art Schools

Junior Technical Schools

79. The origin, aim and province of the junior technical school in the more restricted sense of that expression has been briefly described in Chapter 1. Its purpose is to give a course of instruction of two or three years for children who have previously attended elementary schools, and the curriculum is planned to continue the pupil's general education and at the same time to provide a special training for entry into some particular occupation or group of occupations. The recognition of a school of this type by the Board normally depends in part on the existence of such relations between the Local Authority (or Governing Body) and neighbouring employers in the occupations in question as affords reasonable assurance that pupils will find appropriate employment on completing the course. Hitherto, these schools have aimed at not turning out more pupils than can be absorbed by the local industry or group of industries for which each several school affords a preparation. The normal age for admission has been 13, and the course has ordinarily lasted for two or three years. In a number of the girls' schools pupils enter at the age of 14 and take a two years' course. Hitherto, the Board has required that the course should be planned as a preparation for employment upon its completion, and not as a preparation for further full-time instruction. The Board has also required hitherto that a reasonable proportion of members of the staff should possess practical trade experience of the occupations for which the school furnishes a preparation.

80. The junior technical schools recognised up to the present appear to fall into two classes:

(1) Those dealing with industries in which manual craftsmanship is still of great importance; in these schools, which are popularly known in the London area as 'trade schools', the practical work is intended to develop a substantial measure of personal craftsmanship. Such schools provide in some degree a substitute for a year or two of apprenticeship or ordinary learnership.

(2) Those concerned with industries connected with engineering in which machinery is largely used, and in which the scientific principles underlying the construction and use of machinery are of paramount importance. Manual skill up to a certain point is taught in schools of this type, but its full development demands a range of machines with which the pupil can only become familiar in the works.

All the junior technical schools for girls fall within the first class. A few boys' schools in the London area are of the first-named type, but outside London most of the boys' schools conform to the second type, and prepare boys either for engineering or for the group of constructive trades which, according to local circumstances, comprise building, engineering, and occasionally shipbuilding. In schools of the second type, a large proportion of the time is usually assigned to mathematics, science and mechanical drawing. It is evident that in junior technical schools of the first type the curriculum is primarily vocational. Schools of the second type, though from one aspect largely influenced by the requirements of certain groups of industries, seem to us to be less definitely vocational than the 'trade schools'. We consider that schools of the first type, within their own province, are doing most valuable work and should be developed so far as is possible in accordance with the needs and requirements of certain local industries.

We think that the same is true of junior technical schools of the second type.

81. It is convenient to deal here very briefly with two criticisms on existing arrangements for junior technical schools which were made by several of our witnesses. The representatives of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions and of the Association of Technical Institutions, together with several individual witnesses, urged that the age of admission to these schools should be fixed at the age of 11+ instead of 13+ and that for two years from 11+ to 13+ the pupils should be given a course parallel to that provided in secondary schools as a foundation for the more technical instruction which would begin at the age of 13+.

We are strongly of opinion that all junior technical schools of the trade school type should continue to be arranged as vocational courses for two or three years from the age of 13+. If any local authorities desire to organise a school somewhat on the lines of a junior technical school of the second type, it is quite open to them to organise and conduct such a school as a secondary school with an industrial bias under the Regulations for Secondary Schools. It must be remembered that the junior technical school as contemplated in the Regulations for Further Education is definitely a vocational school, differing in this respect from the central school, which only provides a bias in the direction of industry in the last years of the course. Further, when a pupil is admitted to a junior technical school under the conditions under which these schools have hitherto been working, he is assumed to have made up his mind about his future occupation, and so his whole education henceforth is directed towards some definite occupation or group of occupations. Junior technical schools of the type, which prepare boys for industries connected with engineering and the like, appear on a first view to be less restricted in their aim than the 'trade' schools, but it must be remembered that all pupils in these schools devote a large proportion of their time to studies such as mathematics, science and mechanical drawing, the time allotted to these subjects being very appreciably longer than the time that would normally be assigned to them in a central school with an industrial bias. Furthermore, in a central school with an industrial bias there would generally be the possibility of an alternative course for such pupils as did not desire to take the course with the bias.

We think that it is highly inadvisable that a boy or girl should be placed at so early an age as that of 11+ in a school planned to give a course of definitely-vocational education. The arrangement by which pupils are admitted to junior technical schools at the age of 13+ greatly diminishes the risk of committing the child to a course which may ultimately prove unsuitable, and we accordingly recommend that for the present the normal age of entry to these schools should remain fixed at 13+.

82. Several witnesses urged strongly that a modern language should be included in the curriculum of junior technical schools chiefly on the ground that it made it easier for pupils in such schools to pass examinations such as those conducted by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, or matriculation examinations. This argument in itself does not seem to us to carry much weight as these schools were expressly planned for the definite object of fitting boys or girls to enter industrial employment immediately on leaving school. We note that the rule which appeared in the Board's Regulations for these schools up to 1925 to the effect that the inclusion of languages (other than English and Welsh) in the curriculum would not be approved unless such instructions could be shown to be of direct vocational value in connection with the occupations for which the school afforded a preparation, has been omitted from the Regulations for Further Education for 1925. We understand that the principal reason for not encouraging the study of a modern language was that in practice it is difficult to find time for the effective study of a foreign language in a school with a curriculum occupying as much as 30 hours a week and extending in most cases only over two years. We recommend that the question of including a foreign language in the curriculum of such schools should be decided at each individual school in the light of local circumstances and the requirements of the group of occupations for which the school affords a preparation. Much would depend on whether teachers could be obtained possessing the special qualifications required for teaching a modern language profitably in a very limited time, and whether there were a sufficient number of pupils with any aptitude for linguistic study.

Junior Commercial Schools and Classes (now called Junior Technical Schools)

83. Up to the present the Board have recognised a limited number (about 30) full-time junior commercial courses of two or three years for pupils aged 13 or 14 on admission. From one aspect such classes or schools are parallel to junior technical schools in the narrower sense. We are disposed to doubt whether in the future there will be any considerable field for such schools, as in most areas central schools with a commercial bias for children between the ages of 11+ and 15+ and secondary schools with a commercial bias in the later years of the course for pupils between the ages of 11+ and 16+, or 17+, should afford a sufficient preparation for commerce, combined with a good general education. It must be remembered, however, that there are at present in many towns a considerable number of parents who desire their children to have some more specific or intensive preparation for office employment than has hitherto been provided by the available secondary and central schools. A large number of private commercial schools and business colleges have sprung up to meet this demand. If central schools giving a commercial bias in the last years of the course develop in the future on the lines we anticipate, we think that the demand for the recognition of junior commercial schools with a two or three years' course for pupils aged 13 or 14 on admission will probably gradually diminish. The more specialised form of education provided by schools such as junior commercial classes should guard against two dangers: (i) that it may limit the range of occupations into which the pupils can enter on leaving; and (ii) exercise a somewhat narrowing influence on the curriculum as a whole.

Full-time Junior Art Departments in Art Schools

84. These departments for pupils under the age of 16 are in a manner parallel to junior technical schools in the narrower sense, and the courses include the study of drawing and artistic handicraft, combined with a certain amount of general education for pupils under the age of exemption. As a rule, artistic industries are not conducted on so large a scale in any one town or area as to create a substantial annual demand in any specific industry for young persons who have remained in full-time attendance at such a school to the age of 15 and upwards. In a few areas, where such a demand exists, it is possible to organise a junior technical school such as the school of cabinet-making at Shoreditch, or the school for book production and for silver- smithing at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts. On the facts before us, we are of opinion that junior full-time art departments are of genuine value within their own province, and we think that where local conditions require them, they might with advantage, be further developed.

85. It is worth noting that the institution of the junior technical schools and junior art departments described above has not, as a rule, involved additions to previously existing accommodation, as most of them are carried on in the premises of polytechnics, technical colleges, and art schools. Such information as is available in regard to the expenses of maintenance suggests that the cost per head in these schools is comparable with that of secondary schools and not with that of elementary schools.

Footnotes

(1) See Appendix IV. (B) France.

(2) See Appendix IV (B) Austria and Prussia.

(3) 35 and 36 Vict. c. 62.

(4) See Chapter 3, footnote (1).

(5) The corresponding figures for the age-group 11-15 were as follows: Population 11-15: 2,943,822; Elementary Schools: 2,000,871 (68 per cent); Grant-aided Secondary Schools: 210,837 (7 per cent); Junior Technical Schools: 9,897 (0.3 per cent); Pupil Teachers Centres: 470; Rural Pupil Teachers: 169.

(6) Statistics supplied by the Board for 1923-24 show that in that year the number of pupils between 10 and 19 attending these schools was 12,463. All except a small minority of these pupils were in full-time attendance. The part-time attendants at some place of education were, of course, much more numerous.

(7) See Table II. Appendix III.

(8) For the sense in which we recommend that the word 'secondary' should be used, see Chapter 3, footnote (1).

(9) See this chapter, Sections 79-82

(10) See Table III, Appendix III.

(11) See Table IV, Appendix III.

(12) The reasons for thinking that the provisions of this section are not a complete explanation of the increase in the number of children over 14 attending the elementary school are as follows: (i) The increase has been continuous over a number of years; (ii) even after the new requirement the number of pupils shown by some authorities in the 14-15 ages group remains insignificant; (iii) the ages represented in the Board's statistics represent an average week throughout the year; (iv) there has been a considerable increase in the number of children in the 15-16 age-group.

(13) See Chapter 1, section 35 and this chapter, section 70.

(14) Carnarvonshire has had a somewhat similar experience. In the town of Carnarvon the pupils over 14 in the Elementary Schools numbered 24 before the Central School was opened in 1912 and 153 in 1925. In Bangor the corresponding figures were 5 and 58.

(15) See Table V, Appendix III.

(16) Chapter 1 Sections 29-35.

(17) Chapter 1 Section 26.

(18) Chapter 1 Sections 21-23.

(19) Section 26(1) of the Education Act 1921, re-enacting section 8(5) of the Education Act 1918, provides that the Board may, on the application of the local education authority, authorise the instruction of children in public elementary schools till the end of the school term in which they reach the age of sixteen or (in special circumstances) such later age as appears to the Board desirable.

(20) cf. Education in England and Wales, being the Report of the Board of Education/or the School Year 1924-25 (Cmd. 2695) pp. 83-84 and 91-82.

(21) See also Table III, Appendix III.