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

Appendix IV
[pages 288 - 313]

NOTES ON THE PROVISION FOR POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN SOME STATES AND PROVINCES OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS AND IN VARIOUS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Dominion of New Zealand

Attendance at primary schools is obligatory for children between the ages of 7 and 14. Facilities for free post-primary education are provided in the following distinct types of institution:

(1) Secondary schools. In 1923 there were 37 of these Schools, containing 12,500 children in all, of whom about 10,500 were holders of free places. They provide a course of 4 years and upwards, aiming at matriculation.

(2) Technical high schools. There were 14 schools of this type in 1923 with about 5,000 pupils. In the larger towns much of the work done in such schools is practical or technical in character and is organised m industrial, commercial, or domestic courses of various kinds, though even in these schools a class can usually be found studying for matriculation. In the smaller places where a technical high school largely serves the purpose of a secondary school, the course only deviates slightly from the secondary school type, though an attempt is made to emphasise the agricultural side.

(3) District high schools. There were 68 of these schools in 1923 with about 3,000 pupils. They are secondary departments superimposed on a primary department and under the control of its headmaster. They are usually established in places that cannot support a secondary school or a technical high school, and they take children from all the neighbouring primary schools. The pupils, as a rule, do not remain longer than 3 years, but are often able to pass the matriculation examination within that time.

(4) Technical schools. The technical schools, in addition to maintaining technical high schools, also provide facilities for part-time education of which qualified children from primary schools can take advantage free of cost. It is possible for a child in one of the larger towns who has qualified for free post-primary education to choose whether he will attend at the secondary school, at the technical high school or at the district high school, or whether, in case he desires to go to work at once, he should accept a free place for the part-time courses at the technical school.

A child from a primary school qualifies for a free place at any of the institutions for post-primary work mentioned above if, being under the age of 15 -

(a) he wins a Junior National Scholarship (of the value of £5 a year for 3 years); about 250 of these scholarships are awarded annually, tenable at secondary schools or at district high schools only, with some preference for children from small country Schools; or

(b) he either qualifies for a free place at the Junior National Scholarship Examination, or else passes the Standard Six proficiency examination. Approximately 49 per cent of the children leaving primary schools entered on some full-time course of further education at the beginning of 1923.

Dominion of Canada

Province of Ontario
The Adolescent School Attendance Act of 1919 provides that adolescents in the Province shall attend school full-time between the ages of 14 and 16 unless released by the attendance officer on the ground that the child's services are required in the home or in profitable employment. In these cases the adolescent is required to attend a day school for at least 400 hours in the course of the school year. The courses of study for part-time adolescents must be chosen by local authorities from those laid down for public schools and separate (i.e. denominational (primary)) schools, and for higher collegiate, technical, art, industrial and commercial schools. In most urban municipalities of the Province the Act has resulted in the full-time attendance of all adolescents up to the age of 16.

These pupils are often provided for in the ordinary full-time day schools (i.e. public (primary) schools and high schools), in some of which special courses of instruction with an agricultural, commercial or industrial bias are organised. In Ontario, as in the United States, a section of educational opinion favours the development of junior high schools.

The Ontario Department of Education gives liberal grants to the local school boards, which make provision for auxiliary classes, i.e. special classes for children who are backward, or physically unfit to pursue the regular courses.

Union of South Africa

Transvaal Province
(All figures are for 1924 and for Europeans only, unless otherwise stated).

This note deals with the education of Europeans only. Besides the European population of 583,500 there is also a non-European population of 1,642,000.

There are two 'mother' tongues among the European population, English and Afrikaans. Both are taught to every primary school child.

The European primary school child in the Transvaal is older than the elementary school child in England. No child is admitted to school before the age of 6½, but attendance is compulsory from the seventh birthday and continues until the passing of the Primary School Examination, which is taken at the conclusion of Standard VI. (The average age of pupils in Standard VI is 14.6 years.)

The following table sets out the schools administered by the Transvaal Education Department. No fees are charged in any of them, and state bursaries provide liberally for the travelling or boarding expenses of pupils who live at a distance.

Pupils are admitted to the high schools in some cases at the end of Standard V, and such pupils have the opportunity of taking a five years' high school course. Others enter at the end of Standard VI on passing the Primary School Certificate Examination.

The general high school course leads to the Transvaal Secondary School Certificate, awarded partly on the school record and partly on examinations taken at the end of Form IV (Stage I) and Form V (Stage II). Under certain conditions this certificate admits to the universities.

Three of the high schools (accommodating about 1,000 pupils) offer a four years' commercial course beginning after Standard VI, which includes bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic and geography, and in the last two years, shorthand and typewriting.

There are also commercial departments in a few of the high schools in the smaller urban centres. A number of pupils, increasing every year, pass on, after taking the commercial course and the Transvaal Secondary School Certificate, to the universities, with the degree of BCom or BEcon as the goal.

One high school at Johannesburg, called the Technical High School, provides a matriculation course in which emphasis is laid on science and mathematics rather than on the literary side. Much stress is laid in the three lower forms on manual work in wood and metal with the related drawing. The vocations kept in view are those offered by the technical departments of the mines, railways and municipal and industrial undertakings.

Intermediate schools At the end of 1922 certain centrally situated schools in urban areas were selected, and in them courses were established to meet the needs of pupils who did not intend to take a high school course, but were able to remain at school beyond Standard VI. It was intended that these intermediate schools should have three special features:

(i) The subjects of instruction were to be limited in number and content so as to allow of a thorough and intensive treatment.
(ii) As much of the work as possible was to be of a practical character.
(iii) A special effort was to be made to develop initiative and self-reliance by working as far as possible on the lines of the Dalton System. The pupils were not to enter for any external examinations.

Trade schools Three schools have been in existence for some years, and are very popular with pupils and parents, but have not escaped criticism by employers. They are designed to provide a two years' course, end on to Standard VI, for boys going on to apprenticeship. As, however, older boys who have not reached Standard VI are admitted, it is necessary to provide a four years' course, of which the first two years are introductory, continuing the general education up to the Primary School Examination, but giving some workshop practice.

In the two years' trades course proper (i.e. the last two years, which alone are taken by ex-standard VI boys) the course comprises technical mathematics, office practice and essay writing, technical mechanics, heat or electricity, descriptive geometrical drawing and practical trade subjects.

The evidence of employers before the South African Education Administration Commission in 1923 was to the effect that a more general type of vocational school would be equally effective, and that Trade Schools were unduly expensive.

Domestic science school The domestic science school offers a two years' course in housewifery, leading to a certificate issued by the Union of South Africa, which has recently taken over from the provincial education departments all schools for vocational instruction. There is no sign that this type of school is likely to spread, and the one school of the kind in existence is largely occupied in training teachers of domestic science for the primary schools.

Commonwealth of Australia

State of Victoria
(All figures are for the year ending 31 December 1924.) School attendance is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. Between those ages there are 192,000 children in state elementary schools and 64,000 in schools outside the state system. Above the age of 14 there are 11,985 young people in schools outside the state system, 12,460 in state elementary schools, and 10,488 in full time attendance at state high schools and intermediate schools, of the types described below.

All children in state elementary schools take, at about the age of 12, the qualifying examination. It is the policy of the state education department to move towards a scheme (not yet realised) in which the passing of this examination will mark the end of primary education, as such, and the beginning of new courses, or entry into new schools, designed to meet the needs of the several groups of pupils.

At present, the qualifying examination marks the standard of entry to any of the state schools shown in the following table.

Some attempt is made to provide, in the elementary school, advanced general, agricultural, domestic, commercial, or industrial courses for the older pupils. The 'central schools' are the upper departments of those elementary schools in which the older pupils are sufficiently numerous to justify the name 'central school' as defined in the Regulations of the Education Department.

Schools of the first three types offer 'high school courses', which may be general, agricultural or commercial, and lead to the Intermediate (4th year). Leaving Pass (5th year) and Leaving Honours (6th year) certificates. The length of the school life may be deduced from the following table.

In sparsely populated districts, it is necessary for a single school to serve as many ends as possible. Where the only provision in a district lies in the high school or central school, that school endeavours to provide, in addition to the three types of high school course, industrial and domestic arts courses worthy of recognition as such by the Education Department. These courses are, so far as possible, similar to those provided in junior technical schools and domestic arts schools respectively. The extent of this arrangement is not at present great, as the following table shows, but there are signs of growth.

The junior technical schools offer a two years' course of a less specialised character than that given in an English trade school, with a specialised third year for those few pupils who remain. The following is a specimen (boys') curriculum, showing the number of periods per week devoted to each subject.

The girls take, in the first two years, English, civics, geography, commercial arithmetic, hygiene, physical training, singing, art, needlecraft. In the third year one course includes dressmaking, millinery, decoration, needlecraft, ladies' tailoring, costume drawing and design. Another covers ticket writing, lettering and illumination, drawing for reproduction.

These schools differ from English junior technical schools in that they aim at preparing their pupils for further full-time study. A large number of the pupils, however, enter employment before even completing the third year of the course. These are given every inducement to attend the part-time technical courses in the senior technical school and the junior technical school course is regarded as being incomplete in itself.

Of those who do not enter employment, some proceed to the senior technical school (3 years full-time course), others to the high schools, where they appear to be able to hold their own with the high school pupils.

Domestic arts schools were first opened in 1915 and are growing rapidly. They offer a thoroughly practical 3 years' course in housewifery, laundry, needlework and cookery (including marketing). Each school provides a public dinner daily and the girls look after the residential quarters of the staff. About half the time of the pupils is spent on these domestic subjects, the rest being given to general education. The general subjects are carefully linked up with the domestic work.

Those pupils who do not leave school at the end of the course proceed to high schools (where they can, if they so desire, take a course with a domestic bias), or to the domestic economy college.

Austria

Before the war the Austrian elementary school child at the age of ten or eleven had three courses open to him. Either he might remain at the elementary school till the completion of the primary school course at the age of 14 or in some places earlier, or he might enter a higher elementary school with a 3 years' course (Burgerschule) where such existed, or he might go to a secondary school with an 8 years' course. Since the establishment of the Republic in November 1918, this system has been gradually replaced by one in which all children from the age of ten or eleven are to receive instruction in one kind of school (Allgemeine Mittelschule).

The principle of the new organisation is briefly that for all children there shall be one common school (Einheitsschule) for the first eight years (6 to 14) of school life. The first four years constitute the Grundschule; the second four constitute the Allgemeine Mittelschule, which replaces the Burgerschulen and the lower division of the Realschulen and Gymnasien.

Grundschulen are operative everywhere, but Allgemeine Mittelschulen have been established in a few places only and in experimental forms of three main types.

The first of these types is known specially as the Deutsche Mittelschule, the second by the general name of Allgemeine Mittelschule, and the third as the Grazer Typus, which, however, exists in four schools only, and is really outside the scope of post-primary education.

By a law of 28 November 1919, six schools formerly used for educating cadets were transformed into residential secondary schools of a new type (Bundeserziehungsanstalten), four for boys, and two for girls, with an eight years' course (10 to 18). The first four years constitute the Deutsche Mittelschule, and work on a programme first issued by the Reform Department of the Ministry of Education on 15 September 1919, and after two years' experience slightly altered so as to reduce the number of hours of instruction. (1)

These six schools are intended for gifted children of all classes whose parents are unable to educate them without assistance from the state. The fees vary with the parents' income. The special feature of the curriculum is the emphasis laid to 'ideals of German culture'. Foreign languages are not begun until the third year (age 12 to 13), when the pupil has the choice of three courses, containing respectively:

(i) Latin and a modern language.
(ii) A modern language.
(iii) No foreign language.

In 1922 after its experience of the Deutsche Mittelschulen the Reform Department of the Ministry of Education issued a provisional curriculum for the four classes of the Allgemeine Mittelschule. The subjects of instruction are the same as in the Deutsche Mittelschule, but the hours of instruction in some cases are fewer.

The Allgemeine Mittelschule has two divisions, the first for pupils of normal or supernormal intelligence; the second for subnormal pupils. The classification of the pupils is determined not by examination, but by the judgement of the teachers of the Grundschule at the end of the four years' course in that school. Though organised in two divisions, the school remains a unity by reason of its common life, common instruction in certain subjects (religious instruction, singing, physical training, manual training, etc.) and by the fact that all teachers must teach in both divisions.

Belgium

A law of 1914 provided for the establishment of instruction of the fourth stage (Enseignement du quatrieme degre primaire) in Belgian primary schools, i.e. instruction for children from the age of 12 to that of 14. Some schools and classes of this type were established before the war, others during the war, and many, particularly in the industrial parts of Belgium, since 1918. If a commune is too small to organise a class of the fourth stage satisfactorily by itself, it may combine with a neighbouring community. The instruction of the fourth stage is of a more practical and vocational character than those of the first, second and third stages. The standard weekly timetable is as follows:

Religious instruction, 3 hours.
Moral education and civics, ½ hour.
Mother tongue, 4 hours.
Arithmetic, the metric system and algebra, 2 hours.
Geography, 1 hour.
History, 1 hour.
Geometry and geometrical drawing, 2 hours for boys, 1 hour for girls.
Drawing, 2 hours for boys, ½ hour for girls.
Manual work for boys; needlework for girls, 4 hours.
Natural science or agriculture, and hygiene, 3 hours for boys, 2 hours for girls.
Domestic subjects, 2½ hours for girls.
Writing and commercial instruction, 1 hour.
Singing, ½ hour.
Physical Exercises, 2 hours.

The timetable contemplates additional lessons in 'technology', i.e. elementary scientific and economic facts regarding the local industries, their materials, processes and organisation.

The instruction in morals and citizenship includes lessons on the administration of the country, freedom of thought and of the press, etc, the position of the worker in the social organisation, his duties; the right of workers to combine; contracts.

The instruction in geography and history deals specially with Belgium and the Belgian Congo, but also includes a general survey of other countries, and particularly the history of the 19th century.

Attached to each of the provincial training colleges in the Province of Hainaut is a model elementary school, providing instruction in all four stages. Special courses are given in the training colleges in preparation for fourth stage work; in these courses particular emphasis is laid on social economy, the technology of industries, shorthand and commercial subjects.

Czechoslovakia

Attendance at the ordinary elementary schools is obligatory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14. There are two grades of elementary school, the ordinary elementary schools, and the higher elementary schools. The ordinary elementary school (obecna skola) is, as a rule, organised in eight classes corresponding roughly to the eight years of obligatory school life. The obligatory subjects are: religious instruction, from which, however, pupils can be withdrawn (in certain circumstances) on the application of parents, civics, reading and writing, the mother tongue (i.e. Czech, German, Magyar, or Polish), arithmetic, and elementary geometry, natural history, nature study, geography and history (with particular reference to the home district and the native country), drawing, singing, handicrafts, and physical training.

The laws relating to education provide that in Bohemia, Moravia and Czechoslovak-Silesia, at least one higher elementary school (obcanska skola) must be provided in every administrative district. In fact, however, a considerable number of these schools over and above the legal minimum have been established not only in towns, but in the larger villages. In Slovakia the law prescribes that such schools must be provided in districts with more than 5,000 inhabitants. The higher elementary schools are intended for children between the ages of 12 and 14. Pupils from them are eligible for admission to the institutions for the training of elementary teachers and to vocational schools. These schools are, as a rule, arranged in three progressive classes, which are correlated to the fifth class in the ordinary elementary schools. A certain number of higher elementary schools have a fourth class for pupils who have passed through the third class with distinction and desire to pursue their studies further, with a view to entering a vocational school or a training college for teachers. The obligatory subjects of instruction in higher elementary schools are religion, civics, the language of instruction (i.e. Czech, German, Magyar or Polish with practice in writing it), geography, history, nature study, and elementary science, arithmetic and simple bookkeeping, geometry and geometrical drawing, drawing, calligraphy, singing, handicrafts and physical training. In some schools the elements of agriculture are taught as a special subject. The following optional subjects are taught at some individual higher elementary schools: French, the violin, shorthand, typewriting, and the like.

Pupils are admitted to the 'middle' (i.e. secondary schools) at the age of 10 on the results of an entrance examination (oral and written), in arithmetic and the language of instruction (i.e. Czech, German, Magyar or Polish).

France

It is customary to date the existence of the French higher primary schools from the law of 1833, which was largely inspired by Guizot. At that date in the primary school, which every commune was expected to maintain, little was taught beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. The extended instruction given in the newly established higher primary school represented rather an enrichment of the primary school curriculum similar to the addition of 'specific' and 'class' subjects in the English Codes of the, period 1867-1890, than a real extension of primary education like that of the English higher grade schools of the eighties. Whatever its character the new development did not enjoy any long prosperity, and when the Empire came to an end in 1870, comparatively few higher primary schools remained.

The Third Republic was too occupied in its earliest years with securing its own safety to be able to develop its social services. It was not till the eighties that Jules Ferry was able to pass that series of laws which laid down the lines of the existing system. In the law of 1882 which established the principle of compulsory, free and secular education, no mention is made of the ecole primaire superieure, but in the Decret Organique which elaborated the provision to be made under the Law a definite place was assigned to the ecole primaire superieure. It was to be organised as a separate institution, to which no pupil was to be admitted unless he or she were twelve years of age and possessed the certificat d'etudes primaires. The course was to be of at least two years' duration and was to have regard to the local requirements of agriculture, commerce and industry. The initiative in providing such schools rested with the locality. This type of instruction evidently met with considerable support for in 1893 it was found necessary to issue new regulations winch remained in force till 1921. The purpose of these schools may be stated as follows:

(i) A continuation and completion of the subjects learnt in the elementary schools.
(ii) A practical acquaintance with such branches of knowledge, literary, scientific, and general, as bear directly on the various occupations in life in some one of which the pupil will afterwards be engaged.
(iii) Such general hand and eye training and workshop practice as will engender habits of manual industry, increase dexterity and develop taste, and at the same time both halve the labours and double the fruits of that necessary apprenticeship (in the true sense of the word) at the workshop, the warehouse, the shop counter, or the counting-house, for which it is meant to be not so much an alternative as a preparation.

The teachers were for the most part nominated by the Minister or by the Recteur de l'Academie on his behalf and had to pass the special examination for the Professorat des Ecoles Normales and Ecoles Primaires Superieures. This qualification was considerably higher than that of the average elementary school teachers, but many of the latter were 'delegated' to give instruction in these higher schools. They were however forced to return to the ordinary primary schools if they did not pass the examination within three years.

The fact that the bulk of the teachers in these schools had had a literary training and that the manual training instructors were of inferior status may have justified the complaints which began to be made about 1903 that the work of the higher primary schools was too academic and was not fulfilling the purpose for which the schools were organised. The lack of agreement between the Ministry of Public Instruction and the Ministries of Commerce and of Labour (2) made the former anxious to retain its schools and to adapt them to the needs of industry and commerce. New programmes were issued in 1909 which emphasised the professional purpose by dividing the curriculum into two parts - the first containing the subjects common to all sections and, the second the subjects peculiar to a particular branch. At the same time it was thought desirable to extend the functions of the Local 'Comites de Patronage' on which the local industries were to be represented by giving them power slightly to modify the courses to suit the needs of particular areas.

The schools continued to increase in number and size, but it would seem that the general section still secured the larger number of pupils.

In certain districts with a large industrial population the industrial section was considerable but in many cases the work was directed largely to the preparation of boys for the competitive entrance examination for the ecoles des arts et metiers rather than for immediate entry into industry. This was not the purpose for which the schools were established, but it was easier to recognise this misuse than to secure its correction.

After the close of the war the programmes were again remodelled, but the consideration which led to these modifications affected the relation of the ecoles primaires superieures to the training colleges rather than its professional curriculum.

The specific function of these schools which is to train young people for practical pursuits is being attacked from two sides. For reasons of economy in the employment of staff, many of these schools are being combined with the 'colleges' (i.e. the secondary schools in the smaller towns). It is stated that about 20 ecoles primaires superieures have been treated in this way. This arrangement must inevitably tend to emphasise the non-professional character of the instruction given, and this tendency is increased by the concurrent transfer of the industrial section of the ecoles primaires superieures to the ecole professionelle in the same town. About 10 schools were transferred in 1922, and 20 more in the following year and it is said that the Direction de I'Enseignement Technique proposes to effect the transfer of about 120 schools in all.

At the present time, the rigid organisation of the French educational system seems to be breaking down. The barrier between the primary and secondary schools was almost complete, and the number who passed from one system to the other was inconsiderable. As a result of the war, a movement arose for the establishment of the 'ecole unique'. This has not been realised, but changes of great significance have been made since 1918. The courses of study in the classes primaires of the lycees have been made identical with those of the ordinary primary school, and candidates for scholarships from both types of school are examined by the same body. The inspection of the elementary classes of the lycees has also been transferred to the inspecteur primaire. it still remains to be seen how far these adjustments will increase the number of pupils passing direct from the elementary to the secondary school.

To hasten the assimilation the classes elementaires have been made free, and as it would not be possible to require the parents of the lycee pupils to send their children to the ordinary elementary school the authorities of the lycees have been instructed to admit to their classes pupils who would normally have gone to the elementary schools. Whether this fusion will really be effected time will show but a competent observer, by no means radical in outlook, recently remarked that whereas the line of demarcation had hitherto been drawn vertically, in time it would be drawn horizontally.

This possibility has been increased by certain other readjustments to local conditions which have been recently introduced. At Montlucon the lycee has been combined with a technical school; at Nantes the ecole normale has been amalgamated with the lycee. It has been proposed to make this combination the normal arrangement. Under this scheme the future elementary school teacher would first go to the ecole primaire superieure and after the completion of the three years' course would go for two years to the lycee for further general education and this would be followed by a single year of professional training.

The partisans of the ecole normale are opposed to this, regarding this institution as the main safeguard of republican principles for elementary school teachers. It is also felt that if these candidates for the teaching profession once go the lycee they will not come back to the elementary schools. However this may be, it is certain that the effect on the ecole primaire superieure would be to emphasise the literary side of the instruction and to favour the conversion of these schools into modern secondary schools, as has been suggested. There are various possibilities for the present ecole primaire superieure but this, as things are, seems the most likely development.

These combinations have alone been made possible by the fact that the ecoles primaires superieures have been staffed in a different manner from the ordinary elementary schools. This differentiation was first introduced in 1887 when the right of nomination to permanent positions in these schools was transferred from the Prefect to the Minister of Public Instruction. Candidates for posts in the higher primary schools had to possess the Certificat d'aptitude au professorat des ecoles normales. This qualification was obtainable either by examination or by taking a course at the ecole primaire superieure at St Cloud (for men) or at Fontenay-aux Roses (for women). Ordinary elementary teachers might be appointed to these schools, but if they did not obtain within a specified time (maximum now five years) the certificat d'aptitude they were relegated to the ordinary elementary schools.

The course of study at St Cloud and Fontenay-aux-Roses is similar to the university course in standard and there is more affinity between the teachers at the secondary schools and those at the ecoles primaires superieures than between the latter and the ordinary elementary school teachers.

The ecoles primaires superieures vary considerably in attainment. In Paris, where admission is always selective and at times keenly competitive, the standard is high and it is not uncommon for boys to remain at these schools to the age of 18 and sit for the Baccalaureat examination. The weakest side has been the practical work. Much less time was given to workshop practice than in the ecoles pratiques d'industrie and in addition the status of the instructors is inferior to that of the ordinary teachers, who are given the title of 'professeurs' - as are their colleagues of the secondary schools. The following figures for 1924, the latest available, show how large is the Section Generale:

(N.B. The figures do not tally; they are given as communicated by the French Government.)

The noticeable feature is the small size of the agricultural section, whereas three fifths of the population of France is rural. The explanation is that these schools are urban institutions and that in the rural areas undeveloped schools, called cours complementaires, are common.

In 1923 the ecoles pratiques de commerce et d'industrie had 28,479 pupils, nearly three times as many as in the corresponding sections of the ecoles primaires superieures.

Prussia

The Mittelschule in Prussia occupies much the same position in the educational system as the ecole primaire superieure in France, but its history, despite certain resemblances, shows many contrasts. Elementary schools were fostered by the Prussian government almost continuously from the Reformation. Frederick the Great tried to establish compulsory attendance in the rural districts, but the curriculum was very limited. After the disaster of Jena in 1806 Stein realised that a free state made larger demands upon the intelligence and character of its citizens. The reorganisation of the elementary schools was a national necessity, and to accomplish this a reformed corps of teachers was required. A number of young teachers were sent to study Pestolozzi's work in Switzerland and training colleges which were to propagate his ideas were established in various parts of Prussia. At the same time the higher or secondary schools were reorganised by von Humbolt. At that date there were a number of schools - especially in the smaller towns, offering a course of instruction superior to that of the elementary schools, but not reaching the level of the higher schools. No attempt was made to give these schools a definite organisation, they were deliberately left out of the scheme in order to secure the establishment of a sufficient number of higher schools.

It is true that the establishment at Berlin of a training college for urban teachers (Stadtschullehrer) seemed to indicate a desire to provide these intermediate schools with teachers of wider qualifications, but the attempt did not last long. The generous impulses of the revolutionary era were gradually weakened; the Berlin college trained teachers only for the ordinary elementary schools and the ministerial rescripts of 1854 reduced this training to a mere mechanical preparation for imparting a limited amount of information.

With the establishment of the Empire the period of restraint ended. In 1872 Falk, the Prussian Minister for Education, produced a new code for the conduct of elementary schools in Prussia which reduced the amount of mechanical repetition and allowed the teacher to develop his instruction on more liberal lines. He also published a separate course of study for Mittelschulen, recognising the need for a type of school which went beyond the limits possible in a school bound to accept all those children liable to compulsory attendance, and at the same time offered a curriculum better adapted to the needs of commerce, trade and industry than the higher school (i.e. secondary) school.

The Mittelschule was only one type of the many intermediate schools which lay between the Volkschule and the higher schools. It was differentiated from the ordinary elementary school by its curriculum, and the length of its course. The normal type had nine classes - each of a year's duration - and so retained its pupils till the age of 15, while the statutory obligation to attend the elementary school ceased at the age of 14. It also included at least one foreign language in its course and a larger measure of elementary science and mathematics.

No special encouragement was given by the state to the development of these schools. After 1878 a period of social legislation was begun in Germany. The elementary schools benefited. State funds were provided to assist the poorer communities and the salaries and pensions of the elementary school teachers were regulated by law. None of these benefits reached the Mittelschulen, which were wholly supported by the communes.

In 1910 the state intervened to establish new curricula and to define more closely the function of these schools. There are really three distinct groups of schools. First the Mittelschule proper, then the other boys' schools, which are really preparatory for the higher (i.e. secondary) schools, and lastly a large number of girls' schools which give a course of a secondary school type, but not sufficiently advanced to be regarded as a full secondary school.

The regulations of 1910 were more precise than the instructions of 1872. They provided for alternative courses of studies, whereas in 1872 only one course was suggested of a general character amplifying the curriculum of the elementary schools by the introduction of a modern foreign language and a certain measure of science.

There is no convenient detailed description of the various forms which these intermediate schools assumed, but they were very diverse in organisation and content. Some had a ten years' course; a very few had only a single year; some taught one modern language, some two; some taught only Latin. Most of the larger towns preferred to establish Realschulen which were recognised as secondary schools and offered a six years' course from the age of 9. In Berlin a special type of Realschulen was created in which the beginning of the modern language instruction was deferred till the third school year, with a view to facilitating the transfer of boys from the elementary schools at about the age of 12. Berlin being mainly a commercial city was able to dispense with the Mittelschule, and there was the further inducement that the Leaving Certificate of the Realschulen carried with it the right to serve for one year as a volunteer instead of the three years required of the ordinary recruit. This was a social privilege highly esteemed in Germany, and explains the lack of interest in the Mittelschule.

Under the Regulations of 1910 there were five different types of curriculum prescribed. The first type was a general curriculum for boys, the second was devised to meet the needs of boys entering commerce and industry, the third was a curriculum for girls which had no bias towards practical ends, the fourth was for those schools preparing for the higher schools except the Gymnasium (the fully classical school), and the last provided a course for those schools which prepared for the Gymnasium.

After the revolution of 1918 the position of the Mittelschulen was called again into question. Their continued existence was opposed by the advocates of the elementary schools, who objected to the withdrawal of the better pupils from those schools, as this rendered more difficult the improvement of the elementary schools themselves. At the same time there was an expansion of the secondary school system and new types of schools were created, one of which was based on the completed elementary school course; between the two it was felt by some no place was left for the Mittelschule, but Herr Boelitz, a former Minister of Education, strongly urged their retention on the ground that in the interest of trade and industry and of the lower placed officials some more practical course than that provided by the secondary school was required.

It was felt that the academic teacher was not well suited to give the kind of instruction desired and as a matter of fact the bulk of the teachers in Mittelschulen are those holding the Mittellschullehrer diploma. The diploma is obtained under Regulations framed in 1901. No course of training has been established, but the qualification is acquired by passing an examination to which fully qualified elementary school teachers, candidates for secondary school teachers' certificate or for the certificate of theology are admissible. The bulk of the candidates are elementary school teachers. Elementary school teachers may be employed in the Mittelschule but must acquire the additional qualification or give up the work. Of the assistant staff in 1921 8.11 per cent had academic qualifications, 62.53 per cent held the Mittelschule diploma and 23.2 per cent were elementary teachers not fully qualified for Mittelschulen. The rest (6.16 per cent) were assistant teachers without academic training. Of the head teachers 67.82 per cent had the qualification of the headship of an elementary school, 25.3 per cent were qualified secondary school teachers.

In 1924 new programmes were issued by the Ministry for the Mittelschule. The changes since 1910 have all been in the direction of laying greater emphasis on the practical side of the instruction.

Sweden

All children are under a legal obligation to attend school, as a rule on completion of their seventh year. All normal children must, unless they are receiving recognised instruction at home, or are attending a recognised secondary school, pass through the ordinary elementary school, comprising six classes, of which two form the infants' stage and four the elementary stage proper. The majority of the children leave between the ages of 13 and 14, so that school life, as a rule, lasts about six years. Children desiring to continue their education beyond the age of 13 or 14, in case they do not gain admission to a secondary school, can make a choice among the following forms of post-primary education:

(i) Continuation schools. These part-time schools in the main provide a general education, though many of them have a technical bias. They are distinct from the technical schools and schools for apprentices (established in connection with certain definite trades), attendance at which is voluntary. From 1927 onwards attendance at continuation schools will be compulsory for all young persons who are not undergoing some other form of further education. The subjects of instruction in the so-called 'general continuation schools' are: the mother tongue; civics and nature study. In continuation schools with a technical bias, nature study is replaced by housewifery for girls, and agriculture, forestry, or fishery for boys.

(ii) Elementary schools with 'higher tops'. In some towns and large communities one or more extra classes have been added at the top of the elementary school. Such schools are called 7 or 8 year elementary schools. Admission is restricted to pupils who have gained a leaving certificate from the 6th class, and attendance is wholly voluntary.

(iii) Higher elementary schools. Children are admitted to these schools who have passed through the elementary school and have obtained the elementary leaving certificate. Attendance is voluntary. They contain from 1 to 4 classes and provide instruction which is either general in character or technical in cases where the schools have been established in connection with some specific occupation or group of trades. These schools can be converted into municipal or district intermediate schools. Towns and other large centres of population which prefer to have a municipal intermediate school often begin by establishing a higher elementary school which adds a class each year until it has four classes, when it can be converted into a municipal intermediate school.

(iv) Municipal intermediate schools. These Schools invariably provide a 4 years' course. Most of the pupils are admitted at the age of 13 and must either have obtained the elementary leaving certificate after passing through the 6th class of the elementary school, or show as the result of an entrance examination that they have reached an equivalent standard of attainment. Attendance is entirely voluntary and fees may be remitted either wholly or in part. The four years' course of studies has, as its objective, the 'Realskole' examination, which serves as the entrance test for situations in the customs, railways, etc.

(v) Technical schools and schools of agriculture. Pupils from the elementary schools can, if they possess sufficient ability, gain admittance, usually at about the age of 13, into junior technical schools or junior schools of agriculture, and proceed later to the higher or senior schools of either type. It will be seen from this summary that the two main points of difference between Swedish and English practice in regard to post-primary education are that in Sweden the average age (12.9 years) at which children begin post-primary education is considerably higher than in England, and that the municipal intermediate schools, which most nearly correspond to the central schools of England and Wales, charge fees.

Note The Swedish system of education has undergone a number of changes since 1918. The most recent proposals, which bear mainly on the relations between primary and secondary education, are embodied in the Report of the Royal Commission on Schools, published in March 1926. (Utredning anagende det svenska skolvasendets organisation, 1926).

Switzerland

(i) Canton St Gallen (St Gall)
The obligation to attend school in the Canton of St Gall lasts from the age of 6 to that of 15. The primary schools are classified according to the number of weeks during the year for which they are open and the number of hours of instruction in summer and winter. Housewifery for girls and handwork for boys are taught in most schools.

From the primary schools pupils have the opportunity of attending the sekundarschulen (i.e. superior primary school). Entrants must be at least 12 years of age and not more than 14 and must have completed the first six years of the primary school course. They are admitted either on a qualifying examination or on probation for a month. Children who leave the sekundarschulen before completing at least two years must return to primary schools (or in some cases to continuation schools) to complete their school attendance obligation. The sekundarschulen, some of which charge fees, are open for 42 weeks a year. They must provide a course of at least two years' duration, but may have three or more.

The curriculum comprises religion, German and French (English, Italian, Latin optional), history and geography, arithmetic, practical geometry, science, singing, bookkeeping and writing. Shorthand, drawing, handwork for boys and girls, and domestic subjects for girls are optional.

The following is the curriculum of sekundarschulen with a two year course:

Canton Vaud (Waadt)
In Vaud the child is under the obligation to attend school from the age of 6-7 to the age of 15-16. The primary schools are divided into three stages:

(a) degre inferieur (7 to 9). (b) degre moyen (9 to 12), (c) degre superieur (12 to 15 or 16).

A cantonal law of 1906 provided for the establishment of 'classes primaires superieures'. These classes are intended to complete the primary education of those pupils who do not proceed to secondary schools 'a base classique ou scientifique'. The instruction is practical, i.e. is biassed towards the application as opposed to the theory of science. In addition to French and arithmetic, which are essential, the courses of instruction may include German, algebra, geometry, physical and economic geography, general history and science. The 'plan d'etudes' is as follows:

The classes are mixed. Candidates for admission must be at least 12 years of age and must satisfy the authorities that they are capable of profiting by the courses (must have obtained a specified high standard in French and arithmetic). The instruction lasts for at feast 42 weeks each year and the weekly hours must be not less than 18 in summer and 30 in winter.

(iii) Canton Zurich (Zurich)
In Zurich the primary schools provide for pupils from the age of 6 to the age of 14, in 8 classes. Attendance between these ages is compulsory.

From the 6th class (normal age 12) the primary school child has the opportunity to enter the sekundarschule (3) (i.e. superior primary school); if he wishes to do so, he attends the sekundarschule for a trial period of 4 weeks. At the end of that time a simultaneous examination is held in all the sekundarschulen in the Canton and those candidates who do not either pass the examination or attain the proper standard of work during the trial period are relegated to the 7th class in the primary school. More than half of the primary school children secure admission to sekundarschulen.

The sekundarschule offers a 3 years' course, but not much more than one third of the pupils remain for the full course. It has two objects:

(a) To complete the education of children who will leave school altogether at the completion of its course.
(b) To prepare pupils to proceed to higher educational institutions (i.e. gymnasien, training colleges for teachers and commercial schools).

Pupils can proceed at the end of the second year to the technical or commercial schools, and at the end of the third year to higher schools, teachers' training colleges, or to part-time or full-time continuation classes.

French, mathematics, physics, chemistry and domestic subjects (for girls) are compulsory. The optional subjects include English, Italian, physical exercises, manual instruction and a special cookery course for girls.

Languages are taught by the direct method.

Where there is a sufficient number of pupils to make it possible, the classification is either

(i) by subject bias (pupils with a bias towards mathematics and science being separated from those with a bent for languages and humanistic studies), or
(ii) by capacity (the brighter pupils being separated from the less capable).

Some of the schools are coeducational; some are for boys only and some for girls only.

On 31 December 1924, there were 98 sekundarschulen in the canton, of which 35 had only one teacher, 33 two teachers, 24 three to five teachers, and 6 more than five teachers. Out of 416 classes on 31 December 1924, only one had over 40 children, and 395 classes had less than 30 children per class.

Footnotes

(1) See Decree of 30 July 1921, Lehrplan fur die vier klassen der Deutschen Mittelschule.

(2) From 1889 to 1906 the Ministry of Commerce was styled Ministere du Commerce, de l'Industrie at du Travail. On 25 October 1906, a separate Ministry of Labour was established, and the Ministry of Commerce was known henceforth as Ministere du Commerce et de l'Industrie (Annuaire du Ministere du Commerce et de l'Industrie, 1911, p. 10).

(3) cf. Matthew Arnold's description of these sekundarschulen as they existed in 1866. Schools Inquiry Commission (1868) Vol. VI. pp 613-614.