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III. GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND
THE PROVISION MADE IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND FOR THE CARE OF CHILDREN UNDER THE COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE
(For the Table of Contents of this part of the Report, see page 7.)
I. INTRODUCTION
A. GERMANY
(i) NATURE AND HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTIONS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
The institutions which exist in Germany for the care of children under the compulsory school age are of three kinds, Krippen or crèches, Kleinkinderbewahranstalten (or Kleinkinderschulen or Warteschulen), and Kindergartens. The Krippen, as a rule, form a distinct class by themselves, being concerned only with very young children up to three years of age, though in some cases older children are admitted; but the Bewahranstalten and the Kindergartens are not always to be distinguished from one another. Both receive children between the ages of two and a half or three and six years. The Bewahranstalt exists primarily for social reasons, its object being to afford a refuge for children whose mothers are at work; it is, therefore, open from early morning till evening, and provides the children attending it with a. mid-day meal. The primary object of the Kindergarten, on the other hand, is education according to Froebel's principles, for which purpose it meets for a couple of hours, morning and afternoon. But in practice no hard and fast line can be drawn between the two classes of institutions. The Kindergarten is often also a Bewahranstalt, remaining open all day, and providing dinner, while the Bewahranstalt, especially when it is run on non-sectarian lines, is frequently a Kindergarten in Froebel's sense of the word. In towns where the distinction between the two institutions remains clearly defined, the poorer children naturally attend the Bewahranstalt, and the wealthier ones the Kindergarten. The tendency to-day, on the whole, is rather to level the distinction between the two classes of institution, though there remains a certain rivalry between them. The confusion between the two classes is shown by the Table given in Appendix 37, where it has been found impossible to distinguish between Kindergartens and Bewahranstalten.
The Kinderbewahranstalt
Historically, the Kinderbewahranstalt is the oldest institution. The first institution of this kind was founded in 1779 by Johann Friedrich Oberlin, (1740-1826), the well-known
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Protestant pastor, in the village of Waldbach in Alsace. It was opened in connection with a "Knitting School" for older children, also founded by Oberlin, where the children were taught sewing and where stories were told and object lessons given on maps of the district, and coloured pictures of subjects taken from Biblical and natural history. The idea of combining with this school a refuge for small children whose mothers were occupied in the fields is due really to Oberlin's maidservant Louise Scheppler, under whose charge the first Kinderbewahranstalt was opened; she carried on the work with single-hearted devotion till her death in 1887. The experiment excited much interest, and in 1802 the Princess Pauline von Lippe-Detmold started a similar institution in Detmold, in which children up to four years of age were received from June till October, when the mothers were at work in the fields. But the chief impetus to the movement in Germany was given by the similar movement for the foundation of infant schools in England in the early years of the 19th century. Robert Owen's experiment at New Lanark in 1800 and the proceedings of the Infant School Society aroused much attention in Germany, and the first twenty years of the century saw the foundation of Bewahranstalten in all parts of the country. In every case they were started and maintained by private persons, by religious philanthropic societies both Catholic and Protestant, such as the Oberlin Societies founded in memory of Oberlin himself and to carry on his work, or by various other charitable agencies, especially the many women's Societies (Frauenvereine), which play so large a part in German philanthropic life. Many of these institutions have a distinctly religious aim, as was the case with the original one started by Oberlin, and in places where the religious feeling is strong this has led to a certain rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in the founding of such institutions. In Germany, as in this country, it was, however, the change in industrial conditions, and the consequent employment of women away from the home, which first opened the eyes of the benevolent public to the need of making some provision for the children of such women.
The Kindergarten
The early history of the Kindergarten is of course connected with the life of Friedrich Froebel (1782--1852), its creator. Froebel, though he was not the first to point out the importance of the early years of a child's life from an educational point of view, for here Comenius and Pestalozzi, at least, had anticipated him, was the first to draw up a system of education through the senses, based on organised play, for children up to six years of age; he was the first also to declare that such education could not be carried out exclusively by the mother.
The history of the development of the Kindergarten in detail has yet to be written, and the materials for it lie buried in the annual reports of many societies. The first institution of the kind was opened by Froebel himself in 1837, at Blankenburg in Thüringen; and three years later he founded
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the first training college for Kindergarten teachers. The movement soon spread, some sixteen or eighteen other Kindergartens being opened in Froebel's lifetime. The idea of the Kindergarten, however, was not everywhere kindly received. In 1851 the Prussian Ministry actually forbade Kindergartens to be founded in Prussia, on the ground that Froebel's teaching was socialistic and atheistic. The order was revoked in 1861, and it is supposed that it arose from some confusion of Froebel with a democrat of the same name; but it is the case that the Kindergarten was, and to some extent is, looked upon with suspicion in certain quarters, as wanting in a definite Christian atmosphere.* In Austria, on the other hand, the Kindergarten found fruitful soil, and by an order of the Ministry of Education in 1872, it was recognised as part of the educational system, under the charge of the local education authorities.
The Kindergarten as Froebel planned it was to supplement and widen home training, and not to be a substitute for it, and therefore applied to children of all classes. In practice, however, in Germany, Kindergartens exist chiefly for the poorer children, and the reasons which have led to the founding of them have been rather social than educational; i.e., the primary aim has been to afford shelter for children whose parents are at work. Only in Munich can the Kindergarten be said at present to form part of the system of public elementary education, for the public infant schools that exist in Cologne and Düsseldorf appear to be far more of the nature of Bewahranstalten, and are not carried out on Froebel's lines. The development of the Kindergarten on educational grounds seems to belong rather to America† than to Germany. The German Kindergartens were founded by private Societies existing for that purpose, and there are no general statistics to be had as to the total number of Kindergartens and the number of children provided for in this way in Germany as a whole.
The Krippe or Crèche
The idea of the Krippe or Crèche came to Germany from France. The first German one was opened in connection with a Bewahranstalt at Dresden in 1851; but two years before one had been started at Breitenfeld, near Vienna. Krippen now exist in most of the German towns. They are supported by private Societies, generally with help from the Municipal Authorities, and are run on much the same lines as our own day nurseries. (For further particulars as to the Crèche system in Germany and Switzerland, see page 242.)
(ii) ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT
Kindergartens and Kleinkinderbewahranstalten in Germany to-day are still maintained, generally speaking, by the various private societies that founded them, and the Kindergarten does not form part of the recognised system of public elementary education.
*See the articles on Kleinkinderschulen in Schmid's Encyclopädie des gesammten Erziehungs-u Unterrichtswesens, 2nd edition, Gotha. 1881.
†See "The Kindergarten", by Laura Fisher (Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1903, vol. i., chapter xvi.), Washington, Government Printing Office, 1905.
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Institutions of this kind, however, entirely supported by Municipal Authorities, exist in Cologne and Düsseldorf, where they have been established for many years, in Frankfort, where there are two and in Munich, where a number of Kindergartens were taken over by the town from a private Society in the beginning of 1907. Municipal grants for such institutions are, however, the rule in almost every town, and a varying amount of Municipal supervision and inspection is exercised in most towns. It is generally the case that permission must be had from the town authorities before a Kindergarten or a Bewahranstalt can be established, and in many towns, a register of all institutions for children between the ages of three and six is kept by one of the Town School Inspectors; the extent of the information required, however, and the nature of the inspection carried out appear to depend very much upon the interest taken by the educational officials in the institutions in question. In any case each town has its own policy in regard to the matter. Municipal grants to such institutions appear to be generally on the increase, but there does not seem any likelihood at present of Kindergartens being adopted generally as part of the educational system. Against the example of Munich must be set the fact that in certain North German towns the opinion was definitely expressed that the present policy is to leave the management of these institutions in private hands, and not to increase the number of public ones even where they exist. The reason urged for this is generally the expense that public institutions would involve, but some authorities (at least in Prussia) believe that institutions of this nature thrive better under the freedom of private management. It should be added that most private Societies complain of lack of funds. The management is vested, as a rule, in a committee, and expenses are met by subscriptions and to a certain extent by fees. These last are very small, ranging from about 3d. to 6d. weekly. There are also in most towns a few private fee-paying Kindergartens for the children of well-to-do parents. Kindergartens are, as a rule, unsectarian.
(iii) STAFF AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS
Most Kleinkinderbewahranstalten are conducted by Sisters or Deaconesses, belonging to the different religious orders, Catholic or Protestant. These nearly all receive a certain amount of training in the care and management of small children in a Convent or a Deaconesses' Institution (Mutterhaus). The Deaconess generally lodges in the Bewahranstalt, and a small salary (about £18) is paid yearly to the Mutterhaus with which she is connected, and which provides for her in sickness and old age. Some of the newer unsectarian Kleinkinderbewahranstalten are, however, under the charge of trained Kindergarten teachers.
All Kindergartens proper are conducted by specially trained teachers (Kindergärtnerinnen), and Kindergarten training colleges exist in a large number of German towns.* They form
*See Die deutsche Frau im Beruf (Handbuch der Frauenbewegung Parts iv., p. :347, and v., p, 190, W. Moeser, Berlin, 1902 and 1906) where lists of such institutions, including a few private colleges, are given.
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indeed an integral part of Froebel's scheme, which included the training of women for the care and education of small children, and especially for motherhood. These colleges are for the most part under private management, though municipal training courses for Kindergarten teachers are held in some places, e.g., Leipzig and Frankfort. Generally speaking, two classes of Kindergärtnerinnen are provided for in these institutions.
(a) Regular Kindergarten teachers for a Kindergarten proper. Candidates for this course must have attended a Girls' Higher School, and must generally be over sixteen. The course lasts from one to two or two-and-a-half years, and includes, among other subjects, German, the theory and practice of education, natural history, geometry, hygiene, singing, gymnastics, the study of Froebel's occupations, children's games and stories, as well as actual practice in a Kindergarten. The average fee is about £6 a year (without board), though some colleges are dearer, and some, with very short courses, cheaper.
(b) Kinderpflegerinnen (Nursery Governesses, or superior nursery maids). This course is open to girls leaving the elementary schools, and lasts from six months to two years. It aims at providing governesses for the home for very young children, or well-trained nurses, and includes, besides further study in elementary school subjects, instruction and practice in the care of children, and in house work. A usual charge is £1.16 (36M.) for the course.
Most institutions undertake to find situations for their students, and for both classes of student there is a large and growing demand. The reports of many training colleges state that they are unable to supply nearly all the situations offered.
(iv) SALARIES AND PENSIONS
The average salary of a Kindergarten teacher of the first class ranges from £35 to £60 yearly (700M. to 1200M.), and of a Kinderpflegerinnen, from about £6 to £30 yearly (120M. to (600M.), with board and lodging.* (Women elementary school teachers in Prussia receive, on an average, an initial salary of from £38 to £54 (760M. to 1080M.), together with an allowance for lodging, which varies from £5 to £15. This salary rises to a maximum of from £84 to £116 (1680M. to 2320M.), inclusive of lodging allowance.†
In the matter of an old age pension Kindergarten teachers are at a great disadvantage, and for this reason they would welcome a closer connection between the Kindergarten and the public educational system. Their salary is in most cases too small to do more than meet the daily expenses of life, and they can therefore rarely afford to save. It is true that compulsory "old age and invalidity insurance" (Reichs-Alter-und Invaliditäts-Versicherung), has been extended to teachers,
*Die deutsche Frau im Beruf, Part iv., p. 331.
†Die deutsche Frau im Beruf Part iv., p. 323.
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other than public school teachers, but the pension is small (on an average about £10 (200M.) a year), and only begins after the age of 70, whereas it is stated that Kindergarten teachers find their work exhausting, and lose the vigour and elasticity necessary for it soon after 55. Some Societies have private funds for supplying pensions to their teachers, and there are other agencies which to some extent meet the necessities of the case. The "Allgemeine deutsche Pensions-Anstalt für Lehrerinnen und Erzieherinnen", for instance, pays pensions to over 700 female teachers.* But the supply of retiring allowances generally is very insufficient. Munich, Cologne, and Düsseldorf are apparently the only German cities where the Kindergarten teachers are regularly entitled to a pension.
(v) BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT
The accommodation provided for Kindergartens and Bewahranstalten varies very much in different towns, and indeed in the same town. Kindergartens are often accommodated in the elementary schools, where rooms and the use of the playground are placed at their disposal by the education authorities. In Munich the authorities have gone further, and a separate building with a separate playground is attached to many of the schools for the purpose of a Kindergarten. The newest and most admirable Kindergarten buildings are, however, to be found in Frankfort. In some towns the newer Bewahranstalten are also excellently housed in buildings specially erected; otherwise they are to be found very variously lodged, for the most part in private houses adapted to the purpose. In all cases the equipment is simple, consisting of low tables with benches, or, in the newer buildings, of little chairs and low tables, with generally a blackboard and a piano. The usual arrangement is to have two rooms, one large one for games and a smaller one for occupations. A garden is an almost invariable feature of all classes of institutions.
B. SWITZERLAND
(1) GERMAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND†
The same three classes of institutions for young children exist in German-speaking Switzerland as in Germany, and here also the history and development of these institutions have been different in different places. In Switzerland, however, the Kindergarten is more a recognised feature of elementary education than in Germany, inasmuch as the larger Swiss towns have a system of free public Kindergartens for children between four and six, though attendance at these is not compulsory. They are accommodated as a rule in the schools. In these towns, more-
*Die deutsche Frau im Beruf, Part iv., p. 332.
†1. Much of the following information is taken from the pamphlet Hebung der Kleinkinderbewahranstalten: (Ein weiterer Beitrag zur Totalrevision der Glarnerischen Schulgesetzgebung), C. Auer, Sekundarlehrer Swanden (Buchdruckerei Glarner Nachrichten), 1907.
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over, private institutions of this kind are being more and more transferred to the public authorities. In the smaller towns and villages, however, the institutions which receive young children are more of the nature of Bewahranstalten, and are housed and conducted in various ways. Generally they seem to be supported by private societies, with assistance from the local authorities, but in some cases they are entirely under the charge of the latter.
In Switzerland, as in Germany, the materials for the history of these institutions is scanty and scattered.
Basel, which has to-day the most elaborately organised system of Kinderanstalten generally, appears to have been one of the first towns to open such institutions. In the famine year of 1817 charitable Women's Societies in that town started infant schools for children whose parents were unable to look after them. In 1843 the Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft took up and supported institutions of this kind, and in 1875 a Society for founding Kindergartens was established. The first public Kindergartens in Basel were opened in 1895, and in the nine years from 1898 to 1907 the public Kindergartens had increased by 72, while the private institutions had decreased by 24. In Zurich the first private Kindergarten was opened in 1872; in 1895 existing Kindergartens were taken over by the town, and their number was speedily increased. In 1898, for instance, there were 7 Kindergartens with 290 children; in 1899, 27 with 1026 children; and to-day 51 with 1000-1600 children. The private institutions which still exist are rather Bewahranstalten than Kindergartens. Training courses for Kindergarten teachers are held in the Girls' Higher Schools in Basel and Zurich. A Swiss Kindergarten Society, founded in 1881, does useful work by holding yearly meetings, at which subjects hearing on the work of the Kindergarten are discussed. It has at the present time some 400 members.
(2) FRENCH-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND
In French Switzerland the Infant Schools (Ecoles enfantines) generally speaking form a recognised part of public elementary education. An account of the regulations on the subject for the Canton of Geneva may be given as an example, though all French Cantons may not be so advanced. In Vaud, Neuchatel and Fribourg the organisation appears to be much on the same lines as in Geneva; in Valais the Froebel system is not employed.
Article 25 of the Lois sur L'Instruction Publique (1896) of the Republic and Canton of Geneva recognises the écoles enfantines as the lowest stage of primary education. The following extracts give the regulations for such schools.
"Article 26: The infant schools are organised in such a manner as to forward the bodily and intellectual development of the child, and to serve as a preparation for the primary school. They comprise:
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a lower division for children from three to six years of age, and an upper division for children from six to seven.
Article 27. In both divisions the instruction consists chiefly of object lessons, manual occupations, games, songs and moral talks."
Attendance at these schools, which are for both sexes, is free, but not compulsory before the age of six. Further regulations are laid down in the Règlernent des Ecoles Enfantines. There it is stated among other things that the instruction given is regulated according to a plan of lessons drawn up by the Department, to which the mistresses are bound to conform. The duty of those mistresses is "to work at the physical, intellectual, and moral education of the children committed to their charge. They ought to take care to inculcate good principles into them, to teach them good habits, proper manners and correct speech. They are bound to prepare their lessons in such a way that their teaching may be easily understood, attractive, and well within the comprehension of their pupils. They must carefully abstain from anything of a sectarian nature". They are also instructed to see that the children come to school clean, tidy and in good health. (See Appendix 40 (4) and Appendix 41.)
Mistresses for the infant schools are appointed for Geneva by the Conseil Administratif, and for the other communes by the Conseil Municipal. The salary of a mistress begins at 800 francs, with an annual increment of 25 francs for ten years; all assistant mistress gets 600 francs. There is an Insurance Fund for the mistresses of infant schools, to which each mistress must subscribe; the annual subscription must not be less than 40 francs. The State pays in annually 50 francs for each member not already pensioned.
The infant schools are also under the general charge of an inspectress, who receives an annual salary of 2,300 francs. Her duties are to supervise the instruction given, and see that it conforms to the regulations, to instruct teachers in training and those newly appointed, to look after the hygienic conditions of the school buildings and to distribute school material.
It will be seen that the aim and the methods of the écoles enfantines are in many respects different from those of the Kindergartens in German Switzerland. In the écoles enfantines the time-table is much more strictly regulated, and the work directly prepares for the work of the primary school. The ideal of educational reformers in German Switzerland is in some ways altogether opposed to the French system. What they aim at is the establishment everywhere of free public Kindergartens where children shall be trained generally on Froebel's lines, but without any definite formal instruction; these institutions are to be altogether separate from the schools, if possible in a separate building, and are only to prepare for school work indirectly in the widest sense, by the general training given to the child's faculties.
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II. ACCOUNT OF THE KINDERGARTENS AND KINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN IN THE TOWNS VISITED.*
(1) BERLIN.*
There are no institutions for children under school age directly maintained by the Municipality in Berlin, but the city supervises and aids private institutions. Certain difficulties in regard to the development of the elementary school system in Berlin, and also in the matter of continuation schools, have prevented the authorities from as yet paying so much attention as elsewhere to the question of the care of children under school age. A committee has, however, been appointed to bring the Kindergarten into closer connection with the public school system, and matters will be improved in four or five years.
In 1907 the Municipality contributed £300 (6,000 marks) to the Berlin Froebel-Verein, in aid of its Volkskindergärten; £425 (8,500 marks) to the Verein für Volkskindergärten, and £250 (5,000 marks) to the Verein zur Beförderung der Kleinkinderbewahranstalten.
(a) KINDERGARTENS
There are some 16 or17 Kindergartens in Berlin supported by private Societies, including one for children defective in speech and hearing, besides 18 private Kindergartens. The chief societies supporting Kindergartens are:
(1) Berliner Verein für Volkserzichung (Pestalozzi-Froebel-haus) founded 1873, supporting four Kindergartens with 350 children.
(2) Berliner Froebel-Verein, founded 1859, supporting six Kindergartens (three for rich and three for poor children) with 340 children.
(3) Verein für Volkskindergärten in Berlin, founded 1863, supporting six Kindergartens. The number of children in attendance in 1905, when there were only five institutions, was 284.
Fees
The fees in the above institutions seem to range from 15pf. to 1 mark monthly (excepting, of course, in the Kindergartens for the rich), with reductions and free places; dinner where provided is charged for at the rate of 1d. a day. In the majority of cases the Kindergartens seem to remain open all day till as late as 7 p.m. The holidays are the same as the school holidays, except that in the summer many of the Kindergartens have either shorter holidays or do not close. The salary of a head teacher is from £4 to £5 monthly; of an assistant £2 15s. monthly.
*The towns marked with an asterisk were visited by Mr. Darlington, and the accounts given in these cases are taken from his notes and from material collected by him. See footnote on page 40.
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Training Courses for Kindergarten Teachers
These are held in Berlin by:
(1) The Berliner Verein für Volkserzichung (Pestalozzi-Froebel-haus I. This is a well-known training college for Kindergarten teachers, housed in a large and imposing building. The course for Kindergarten teachers lasts from one to two years. The candidate must be 16 years of age, and have attended a Girls' Higher School. The fee for Germans is £2 1Os. (50M.) quarterly, and for foreigners £3 17s. 6d. (77M. 50) quarterly. There is also a course for training Kinderpflegerinnen, lasting from one to two years, to which girls from the elementary schools over 14 are admitted. In 1906 there were 184 students in the first course and 30 in the second. There is a boarding-house (Viktoria-Heim) in connection with the college, where students can be lodged and boarded at the rate of £18 (360M.) a session. (For further particulars, see Appendix 42 (1)).
(2) The Berliner Froebel-Verein. This Society also trains Kindergärtnerinnen and Kinderpflegerinnen. The first course lasts a year and costs £1 17s. 6d. (37M. 50) quarterly, with an entrance fee of 5s., which goes to form a fund for free places for poor students. The second course (school for nursery maids) also lasts a year and costs 3s. a month, with an additional 6s. a year for material, and 1s, entrance fee. In this course during the first six months the mornings are spent in a Kindergarten, and during the second six months in a family where the student takes part in the domestic work of the house and the care of the children under the guidance of the mistress. In the afternoons from three o'clock instruction is given in German, Arithmetic; Froebel's occupations, education, nature-knowledge, sewing, etc. Thirty-nine girls attended this course in 1906 (see Appendix 42 (2)).
Other training institutions are the Froebelsche Kindergärtnerinnen - Bildungsanstalt der Hamburger Vorstadt (six months' course) and the Berliner Froebel-Schule (three to four months' course). The Oberlin-Seminar trains Protestant (evangelisch) infant teachers, in from one to one and a-half years, at a cost of £4 10s. (90M.) yearly, with another £1 for books. Students are not bound to follow a deaconess's calling.
(b) KLEINKINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN
In 1905 there were in Berlin 19 Kleinkinderbewahranstalten under the Verein zur Beförderung der Kleinkinderbewahranstalten (2179 children); 5 under the Gossner Verein (827 children); 14 private institutions (1992 children); and 19 which seem to be religious in character (811 children), The total number of children provided for in this way was thus 5809. The distinction between these institutions and the Kindergartens rests not in the matter of hours, which seem
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to be often the same, but in the fact that Froebel's methods are more used in the one than in the other. There appears however, to be much confusion in the classification of the two kinds of institutions.
(2) BRESLAU
(a) KINDERGARTENS
There are 11 Kindergartens in Breslau under the Kindergarten-Verein, founded in 1861. One of these is for children who are backward in speaking. It meets in the afternoons four times a week from 3 to 5. In the other Kindergartens children are received between the ages of 3 and 6, and pay a monthly fee of 2s., with an entrance fee of 1s. and an additional charge of 3d. monthly for material, and of 1s. 6d. in October and January for fuel (Heizgeld). There are a certain number of free places, and the usual reductions are made for brothers and sisters. All these Kindergartens are open in the morning only, from 8 to 12, or from 9 to 12.30 according to the season, and they are all under the supervision of an inspectress appointed by the Society. In 1906 the Verein received £125 from the town.
Training Course for Kindergarten Teachers
The Kindergarten-Verein also conducts training courses for Kindergärtnerinnen and Kinderpflegerinnen. The former course was attended in 1906-7 by 53 girls. It lasts a year or a year and a-half, and costs £6 yearly. The latter course lasts from 6 months to a year, and costs £1 each half-year. It was attended in 1896-7 by 65 girls.
The Frauenbildungsverein zur Förderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit also trains Kindergärtnerinnen and Kinderpflegerinnen.
(b) KLEINKINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN
The Breslau Directory for 1907 gives a list of some 30 Bewahranstalten. Of these 13 are Catholic and one unsectarian; the rest appear to be Protestant. The usual charge is 6d. a month, with free places, and in some cases free soup at mid-day. The Catholic institutions are poorer than the Protestant, owing to the constant flow of poor Catholics from Poland.
(3) COLOGNE
(1) MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS
Public Kindergartens directly maintained by the Municipal Authorities have been in existence in Cologne for some thirty years. They are generally accommodated in a school, where two rooms are set apart for them. There are nine such Kindergartens at present in Cologne, attended in 1905 by 561 children. The fees charged are 6d. weekly (50 pf), but there are a few free places. Except in two Kindergartens no meals are given.
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The exceptions are situated in the neighbourhood of factories where women are employed, and in these cases dinner, and milk and bread in the afternoon are supplied at a charge of 1d. (10 pf.) a week. The hours are from 8 to 12 and from 2 to 4, and the age of admission from 2½ to 3 years. About sixty children are allowed for one teacher and one assistant. Salaries for teachers begin at £45 (900 M.) yearly, and rise to £75 (1,500 M.); assistants receive £36 (720 M.). A pension of half the salary is allowed after 10 years' service with an annual increase of £1.
The total expenditure by the Municipality on the nine schools in 1905 was £993 (19,866 M.). The amount received in school fees was £288 (5754 M.), an average of about 10s. per child per year. The total cost per child per year was 35s.; the actual cost to the city (deducting money received from fees) was £705 (14112 M.) or roughly 25s. per child per year.
A course of training for Kindergarten teachers is held in connection with the Municipal Kindergartens.
(2) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
There are a large number of private Kindergartens and Kinderbewahranstalten in Cologne, under different committees. A list of charitable institutions in this city, published privately in 1905, gives in all 35 institutions for the care of children between the ages of 2½, and 6. Of these 18 are Catholic, eight Protestant, two Jewish, and seven non-sectarian. Unfortunately no figures are given as to the total number of children accommodated, and no statistics on this point seem to be published by the Municipal Authorities. Generally speaking, these institutions appear to be more of the Bewahranstalt type than Kindergartens proper. They are mostly under the charge of sisters, either Catholic or Protestant, and Froebel's methods are not followed to any great extent.
(4) DRESDEN*
There are no Municipal institutions in Dresden for children under school age, nor does any Municipal supervision seem to be exercised over the private institutions, though some of these receive Municipal grants. The supply of such institutions is said to be very inadequate to the demand, which is increasing with the growth of industries, and some of the authorities hold that it is the moral (even the legal) duty of the town to supplement the number of existing institutions. This, however, the town authorities generally are most unwilling to do, on account of the expense. According to the Haushaltsplan der Stadt Dresden the amount contributed by the city in 1907 to Societies for the purpose of Kindergartens or Bewahranstalten was £730 (14,600 M.).
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(A) KINDERGARTENS
There are some 11 Kindergartens in Dresden supported by Societies. Eight of these are maintained by the Allgemeiner Erziehungsverein, and are attended by about 800 children. The fees charged range from 1.50. M. to 2.25 M. a month. The hours are from 9.0 to 12.0, and in some cases also from 2.0 to 4.0. Teachers must have been trained in a Froebel college, and begin generally with a salary of £40 (800 M.) a year, rising to £70 (1400 M.). In other Kindergartens, where free lodging and sometimes board are given in addition to the salary, the latter ranges from £15 (300 M.) to £24 (480 M.).
There are also eight private Kindergartens with from 10 to 34 children in each, and fees ranging from 3s. to 5s. monthly.
Training Course for Kindergarten Teachers
Courses of training for Kindergärtnerinnen and Kinderpflegerinnen are conducted in the Froebelstiftung, under the Allgemeiner Erziehungsverein. In each case the course lasts a year, and the examination at the end is conducted by a Government representative, generally one of the District School Inspectors. The fees for tuition are respectively £5. and £1 4s. (100 M. and 24 M.) yearly, with as much again for material. There is a hostel for students where board and lodging can be had for £27 (536 M.) yearly.
(B) KLEINKINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN
In 1901 there were altogether 8 Bewahranstalten in Dresden, the majority of them being supported by the Frauenvereine. The number of children in attendance at each institution varied from 60 to 100, and the fee charged is 1d. daily. The person in charge is generally a Deaconess, called the foster-mother (Pflegemutter) and in some cases she is assisted by a Kindergarten teacher. The usual salary for the Deaconess is £18 (360 M.) with free lodging, and £5 at Christmas; for the Kindergärtnerinfrom £11 (216 M.) to £12 (240 M.) also with free lodging and £2 10s. (50 M.) at Christmas. These institutions are open all day from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
DÜSSELDORF
In Düsseldorf all institutions for children between the ages of three and six have been for over 20 years under Municipal supervision. A register is kept, and each institution is inspected from time to time; new institutions can only be established with the permission of the School authorities. Besides aiding and supervising the 21 existing private institutions the city provides eight Municipal Kindergartens. It is not likely, however, that this number will be increased, or that the policy of direct Municipal management will be extended to private institutions. Rather the tendency in Düsseldorf at present is towards leaving
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the management of all Kleinkinderanstalten in private hands, possibly with increased grants. It is found inconvenient to house the Kindergartens in the ordinary schools, where they are apt to be crowded out, and where their use of the playground at the hours when the other classes are at work leads to complaints as to noise, and the authorities feel that the supervision of institutions of this kind is very suitably left in the hands of the various charitable societies.
Instruction
The rules laid down for the regulation of infant schools in Düsseldorf expressly forbid any definite school instruction. "The children are to be occupied with playing, singing, exercises in the powers of observation and speech (Anschauungs-und-Sprechübungen), story-telling, and the like. No children are to be admitted who have not completed their third year. The hours are from eight to twelve and two to four with half-holidays on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the usual school holidays.
Training of Teachers
No definite rules are given as to the training of teachers for these institutions, and no course of Kindergarten training is carried out in Düsseldorf. Teachers begin as assistants, and thus pick up a certain amount of training in the course of time. But in neither public nor private institutions is a Kindergarten system on Froebel's lines carried out to any great extent.
Salaries
The salary of a head-teacher is £23 (470 M.) yearly, and of an assistant £15 (300 M.). In addition the teachers in the Municipal Schools are allowed to take fees from the children to the extent of 6d. per child per month. No fees are taken directly by the Municipal Authorities. Pensions are given up to three-fourths of the salary received.
Numbers and Cost
There are altogether in Düsseldorf 27 institutions for children between three and six, accommodating 4754 children, and attended in 1906 by 3752 children. Eight of these institutions are entirely Municipal. For the total number of institutions there were 85 teachers, and 27 assistants. The total outlay by the Municipality on all institutions was £734 (14,675 M.), but this sum does not include the cost of the upkeep, heating, cleaning, etc., of the premises in which the Municipal Kindergartens are housed, which is estimated with the expenses of the ordinary schools.
None of the institutions visited either in Cologne or in Düsseldorf, calls for particular description, and it seems to be the case that in both of these towns the organisation is better on paper than in fact. In both places large numbers of children are found under one teacher. Thus in Düsseldorf, though the
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numbers given in the Municipal Statistics work out at about 60 children to each teacher (including assistants), yet out of the three institutions that I visited two had classes of 80 under one teacher. It is partly a result of these large numbers that so little has been attempted in the way of definite Kindergarten work.
(6) FRANKFORT-ON-MAIN
The institutions in Frankfort for the care of children under the compulsory school age are very well organised, and have some interesting features not to be found elsewhere. Since 1898 all institutions for children between the ages of three and six have been under careful Municipal supervision and they all receive yearly grants, though only two of them are entirely supported by the Municipality. One of the City School Inspectors keeps a register of all such institutions, in which particulars are entered in each case as to the number of rooms and the accommodation, the training of the person in charge, the name of the doctor in attendance, and whether there is a garden attached. Each institution is occasionally visited by this inspector. It is possible, perhaps probable, that in time all these institutions may be taken over altogether by the Municipality, though at present the expense is a deterrent factor. On the other hand some at least of the school authorities are doubtful whether it would be a good thing to have institutions of this kind directly controlled by a public body, as a certain amount of restriction as to time-tables and management would be the necessary consequence of such a step. In the case of very small children it is desirable that a good deal of freedom in the handling of them should be allowed to those in charge, and this, it is thought, may be better obtained by leaving the institutions under private management with Municipal supervision as at present.
There are altogether 30 institutions in Frankfort for children between the age of three and six, attended by some 3,000 children. The total sum spent on such institutions by the City amounted in 1907 to £791 (15,830 M.), but, this year it will be about £1,416 (28,380 M.), as the grants to one Society are to be largely increased. Certain regulations hold good for all institutions alike. One teacher is allowed for every 40 children, and salaries range from £4 to £6 monthly (80 to 120 M.) In many cases the Head Mistress lives on the premises and receives free lodging as well as her salary. In addition to the teacher or teachers, each institution has a maid servant, who acts in some degree as nurse to the children and who receives a monthly wage of £1 5s. (25 M.) All institutions are medically inspected, the doctor's services in each case being given free. There is no regulation time-table, each teacher being allowed to draw up her own, and to regulate the length of each occupation as seems best. Occupations generally, however,
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are carried out on Froebel's lines. In most schools a particular subject is taken each month, according to the season of the year, and talks, stories, etc., are grouped round this.
(1) MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS
The two Kindergartens directly controlled by the Municipality of Frankfort are, so to speak, accidental in origin. They are situated in outlying villages which a few years ago were taken into the Municipal area. At the time of their incorporation these villages possessed public Kindergartens, and the City of Frankfort was, therefore, bound to continue such institutions in these particular instances.
Number of Children in attendance
About 200 children with five teachers are accommodated in these two Kindergartens, which, in the words of the regulations, offer children of from three to six years of age "shelter and occupation suited to their years, in cases where the parents are not able themselves to look after their children". In the form to be filled in by an applicant for admission to one of these Kindergartens, information has to he given as to the whereabouts of the mother at mid-day.
Hours
The Kindergartens are open in Summer from 7 a. m. and in Winter from 8 or 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday is a half-holiday, and the other holidays are the same as in the elementary schools. Admission is free.
School Dinners
Children whose parents are not at home in the middle of the day can receive dinner, but the Municipality has nothing to do with the arrangements for this meal, beyond providing the kitchen and cooking utensils. A woman undertakes to cook and supply a dinner at 7d. a head weekly (70 pf.), and makes what she can out of it. She is supervised by the Head Mistress, who lives on the premises.
A detailed description of one of these Kindergartens will be found below (p. 224).
(2) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
As in other places private institutions in Frankfort are supported by numerous committees. There are, for example, some thirteen committees each supporting one institution. It would be unnecessary to give a detailed account of the institutions in each case, but there is one Society supporting a large number of schools of which the working may be more fully described.
Society for People's Kindergartens
This is the Society for People's Kindergartens (Verein für Volkskindergärten), founded in 1896, which maintains five Kindergartens, accommodating altogether 500 children, under the
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charge of Kindergarten teachers trained on the Froebel system. Those Kindergartens are intended primarily for children whose parents are at work, and, therefore unable to look after them, and they are open in Summer from 8 to 12 a.m, and from 2 to 5 p.m., and in Winter from 9 to 12 a.m, and from 2 to 5 p.m. The fee charged varies from 7½d. (75 pf.) to 3s. a month, according to the circumstances of the individual families. A further charge of ½d. a day is made for milk, which is given at 10 a.m. and at 4 p.m., the children bringing rolls with them, and, if necessary, dinner can be had for another ½d. daily. In some instances these Kindergartens are accommodated in very excellent houses built on purpose; a description of one of these will be found on p. 225 below. A doctor gives his services in connection with each Kindergarten, and there is also a large number of voluntary helpers, who assist the teachers.
Training Course for Nursery Maids
An interesting and practical feature in the Kindergartens under this Society is that they are used also for training as nursery maids girls who have just left the elementary schools (see Appendix 42 (3)). These girls are received free of charge, but must follow the course of training for a year. They help in the work of the Kindergarten, and thus gain experience in the management and care of small children. Girls trained in this way can be sure of good situations on leaving.
Cost
The cost of maintaining these five Kindergartens cannot be exactly estimated, as two institutions of another kind are included in the yearly statement of expenses. The sum received in school fees in 1906 was £178 (3,565 M.) and for food £338 (6,757 M.). The average attendance at the five schools for 1906 was 449.
TRAINING COURSE FOR KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS
.A course of training for Kindergarten teachers, on the PestaIozzi-Froebel method is carried on by the Frauenbildungs-Verein in Frankfort. The course lasts from 1½ to 2 years, according to whether the student is training as a private Kindergärtnerin in a family or as a teacher in a Kindergarten School. The fee is £7 10s. yearly (150 M.). The course of instruction is similar to that in institutions elsewhere. There is a practising Kindergarten in connection with the training College.
This year (1908) the Municipality of Frankfort hopes to open a large training College for Women Teachers, which is being built at a cost of £85,000 (700,000 M.). This will include a Kindergarten Course and a practising Kindergarten School. The latter will be visited by all teachers in training, and not by Kindergarten teachers only, as it is considered desirable that all teachers should have experience of children of as young an age as possible.
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THREE FRANKFORT KINDERGARTENS
The Kindergarten system of Frankfort has been largely developed lately in the way of providing new buildings, and some of the institutions in this CIty are housed in a way that represents the very latest and best developments in institutions of this kind in Germany, or indeed anywhere. Three schools were visited, for instance, which had all been opened within the last six months, and which were admirably equipped. The sanitary arrangements in particular, in contrast to those found in certain institutions elsewhere, were excellent in every case. The offices were fitted with small "baby" closets, well flushed on the separate cistern plan, and the lavatories were supplied with hot and cold water. All these new buildings had central heating apparatus. The following notes were taken of the visits paid to these particular schools:
(a) Municipal Kindergarten at Oberrad
This is in a new building erected at a cost of about £3,000 or £3,500 (60,00 to 70,000 M.), and opened at Easter, 1907. The house is detached and of three storeys, standing behind a large elementary school, on high ground, overlooking a wide stretch of wood and field. It accommodates 120 children, with three teachers. The head teacher lives on the premises. On the first floor there is a large light playroom and a good classroom, with the offices and bathrooms and lavatory. In the play and classrooms the walls are colour-washed, with a dado of stained and varnished wood, in one room green and in the other red. Doors and window-frames match in each case. The furniture in the playroom consists of little round tables with small chairs; in the classroom of low tables and benches, and a black board. In the lavatories, etc., the floors are paved with red and white tiles, and the walls have a dado of glazed white tiles. There are eight wash-hand basins, six water-closets, and two small zinc baths. Pegs for hats and cloaks are in the hall.
On the second floor are two more classrooms, and offices similar to those below, but no lavatory or bathrooms. On this floor there is also an excellently fitted up kitchen. Above again are the living rooms of the head mistress. The smaller children are put to sleep from 12.30 to 2.30, and instead of beds sloping wooden frames are used covered with brown canvas.
The garden is gravelled, and planted with trees. It contains the usual sand-pits and play-shed, with flower-beds in one corner. A low wooden fence divides it from the playground of the school behind, and in one place this fence was covered with large pumpkin, the growth of which had been watched with interest by the children, from the planting of the seeds to the swelling of the great yellow fruit.
On the bright October day on which the school was visited doors and windows were wide open, and sun and air streamed in everywhere. The children were playing outside.
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(b) Kindergarten under the Verein für Volkskindergärten
This school occupies the ground flat in a tenement forming one of a colony of model Workmen's Dwellings. The dwellings in this case are built in horse-shoe shape round a court. The school accommodates 110 children, and is planned in the form of a long corridor with rooms on each side. On the one side there are three small class-rooms opening into one another by folding partitions, and on the other the playroom and a covered glass verandah. Here also the walls are colour-washed in a light tint to harmonise with the dado of stained red, green, or blue wood, and the furniture consists either of long tables with benches, or of round tables with chairs. In one of the class-rooms at the time of the visit tables were laid for dinner. The preparation consisted simply of putting three tables together and tying over them white wax cloth covers. At each place there was a white wooden square and a spoon. In this school also sloping canvas-covered wooden frames (roughly 4½ ft, by 2½ ft.) are used for the midday sleep. They are kept in a cellar below one of the rooms, and handed up through a trap-door when required. There are two baths, in which the children are bathed two or three times a week, and there is also a garden, laid out in the usual way.
(c) Jewish Kindergarten
This Kindergarten, founded in 1800, has just moved into a very fine new building called after the donors, the "Moritz und Johanna Oppenheimerscher Kindergarten für Israeliten". The building is beautifully and most expensively fitted up, but is hardly typical of what it is possible to do in ordinary circumstances. The house is detached, and accommodates 70 children, and the total cost of ground and building was £10,000 (200,000 M.) All the rooms for the children, viz., two class-rooms, a play-room, a cloak-room, offices and lavatory, are on the ground floor. The play-room is exceptionally large and lofty, with a gay painted frieze representing the Four Seasons, and seats on a raised gallery at one end, so that the children can be gathered together there for any particular display. Out of the play-room there opens it sunny covered glass verandah. Here the children take their mid-day sleep, on small canvas deck-chairs with folding foot-rests. Each chair is numbered, and each child has his own. The verandah leads by three steps into the garden. The lavatory is all white, with porcelain baths and hand-basins. The offices open off it, and there are also smaller offices on the basement floor, entered from the garden. The floors in lobby and class-rooms are covered with plain dark-red linoleum. The second storey contains a large and admirable kitchen (whence the food is sent down by a lift), the head teacher's rooms, and the Committee rooms. There is also on this floor an isolation room for use in any case of illness. The wood-work and walls of this room are white. It contains a basin with hot and cold water, an invalid couch and a medicine cupboard. The
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whole building is fitted with electric light. The children in this school are very poor, many of them being the children of Jewish immigrants. The fees are 2½d. weekly (25 pf.), which includes dinner, and milk and rolls in the afternoon. Overalls of dark-blue print and bibs for meals are supplied clean every day. Baths are given twice weekly. All children are made to gargle after the mid-day meal. A doctor is in attendance, and the children are weighed and measured every month. The School receives many gifts of shoes and clothing.
(7) LEIPZIG
There is no direct Municipal supervision in Leipzig of institutions for the care of children under school age, though in many cases these institutions receive grants and sometimes the use of rooms in a school, from the Municipal Authorities. As no register appears to be kept of the different institutions, general figures for the whole subject are not to be had other than those given in the Table in Appendix 37.
The institutions for children between the ages of three and six fall, generally speaking, into two classes: (a) Kindergartens. (b) Kinderbewahranstalten.
(a) KINDERGARTENS
Kindergartens are provided in Leipzig by the following Societies: Verein für Volkskindergärten, Leipziger Froebel-Verein, Pestalozzi-Froebel-Verein, Verein für Familien und Volkserziehung. The largest number is under the Verein für Volkskindergärten, whose object is to provide Kindergartens for the children of poor parents. It has at present six Kindergartens under its charge, attended in 1906 by some 394 children, the highest average daily attendance being 65. The report of the Society for 1906 states that in several cases the Kindergartens were overfilled, and about 300 children had to be refused admission. In consequence of this demand a seventh Kindergarten has been started by the Society. In several cases the Society is granted the use of a room or rooms in a Bezirks or a Bürger School; in other cases suitable localities are rented. The fee charged is 6d. (50 pf.) weekly, with an additional 1d. weekly for material. Teachers' salaries range from 50 M. to 75 M. monthly (£30 to £45 yearly). The children do not receive meals, but go home in the middle of the day. The cost of the maintenance of the six Kindergartens in 1906 was, roughly, £335 (6,707 M.); the sum contributed by the payments of the children amounted to £147 (2,945 M.)
The three other societies support altogether five Kindergartens, which serve also as practising schools for the course of training for Kindergarten teachers, conducted respectively by each society. These kindergartens are all run on much the same lines, and need not be described separately. The number of children in each school ranges from about 30 to 75. Fees vary according to the locality and the class of children. They run from 6d. to 3s. a month, and free places are provided in the institutions visited by poorer children. The children are admitted between the ages
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of 2½ or 3 and 6 years. The hours are from 8.30 or 9 to 12, and from 2 to 4. Wednesday and Saturday afternoons are free, and the holidays are the same as in the Elementary schools. Salaries range from £30 to £45 yearly. In the regulations for the schools for the poorer children it is generally stated that "children must come punctually and regularly, cleanly clad, and provided with a pocket and a clean pocket-handkerchief. Parents must provide for the bringing and fetching of the children".
The Municipality gives grants to the different Kindergarten societies, ranging from £15 (300 M.) to £60 (1,200 M.) yearly.
Municipal Kindergarten
A small Kindergarten attended by 30 children is maintained by the Municipal Authorities as a practising school for Kindergarten teachers in training in connection with the Municipal School for Women's Occupations (Städlische Schule für Frauenberufe). This Kindergarten is accommodated in a room on the ground floor of the school, and has the occasional use of the gymnasium. It meets only in the morning, in winter from 10 to 12, and in summer from 8 to 12. The children pay 2½d. (25 pf.) monthly.
Training Courses for Kindergarten Teachers
(1) Municipal
A Kindergärtnerinnen-Seminar is conducted in connection with the Municipal School for Women's Occupations. Kindergarten teachers of Class I (kindergarten teachers for the family, and for public Kindergartens) have a three years' course, while the training for those of Class II (children's nurses and nursery governesses) lasts for two years. The yearly fee is £2 8s. (48 M.) Besides the practising school in the building, the Kindergarten of the Verein für Volkskindergärten are open to the students in training.
(2) Private
Each of the following Societies has a training course for Kindergarten teachers, viz.: The Leipziger Froebel-Verein, the Pestalozzi-Froebel-Verein, and the Verein für Familien und Volkserziehung. Kindergarten teachers of both classes are trained in these courses, and in two of the colleges there is an additional course for those who wish to become teachers in a Kindergarten college. The course of study is much the same as in the Municipal Kindergärtnerinnen-Seminar. The courses last from 1½ to 2½ years, and the cost of training ranges from £5 to £11 yearly. The conditions of admission are that the candidate shall have passed through the highest class of a Bürgerschule, and have obtained a satisfactory leaving certificate.
(b) KLEINKINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN
There are some 24 Kleinkinderbewahranstalten in Leipzig, supported by many different committees. In a large number of cases these institutions are parochial, but as each society is
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worked independently it is not possible to give general statistics. The persons in charge are either Sisters of different religious orders or Kindergarten teachers. The hours are from 6 or 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer and from 7 or 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter. The children pay 5d. or 6d. weekly and receive a mid-day dinner and milk or coffee and bread in the afternoon. They bring their breakfast with them. They are not admitted under 2½ or 3 years, nor, generally, after school age, though in one such institution at least a sort of Kinderhort is combined with the Bewahranstalt, and the older children come after school hours. Every institution possesses a garden, where the children spend most of the fine weather. The day is occupied with games and occupations on more or less Kindergarten lines, according to the tastes and training of the person in charge. A two hours' sleep after dinner is generally insisted upon; the elder children rest their arms on the table and their heads on their arms, while small wooden beds are provided for the younger ones. In many cases a doctor gives his services when required.
With one or two exceptions, the institutions visited in Leipzig, whether Kindergartens or Bewahranstalten, were not remarkable, and do not call for detailed description. The accommodation varied in different institutions; but, as a rule, it was not free from the drawbacks almost inseparable in any alteration of a private house for other purposes. In every case, however, the garden was a pleasant feature, and there on a fine day the children were generally to be found. In one Kindergarten, for instance, visited in the afternoon, the children were sitting in three groups - about ten in each - round low tables under the trees. One group was modelling with clay, another was stringing beads into necklaces, while the third set was sticking slips of coloured paper together to form stars. This last occupation proved rather a difficult task for the small fingers, for the paper (bookbinders' waste to be had for the asking) was glazed and slippery and would not stick. The very youngest children were tumbling about happily by themselves on a heap of sand and gravel. Where the Kindergartens are held in the schools the children have to share the common playground, and are not able to be so much out of doors. Time-tables were little in evidence, and did not seem to be very strictly adhered t0 - at all events, in fine weather.
One admirably housed Kinderbewahranstalt, however, in a suburb of Leipzig, is worthy of a more detailed description. It is established in connection with a set of Model Workmen's houses built by a "Society for the Erection of Cheap Dwellings" (Stiftung für Erbauung billiger Wohnungen). The houses in question, which accommodate 344 families, are built in rectangular form, round about five acres of open ground, and the Kinderbewahranstalt forms one end of the quadrangle. It is a detached house of three storeys, the children's rooms being on the first floor. There are three of these, two for occupations, and one for games. The last is a bow-shaped room, looking out on to the ground enclosed by the houses, which is laid out with a
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walk down the middle and strips of allotment-gardens on each side. The play-room is lighted by nine large windows, and faces south. In a small room off it, beds are provided for the youngest children. They consist of low wooden bedsteads, wide enough to hold five children in a row. The mattress is covered with a blanket, which, as well as the over blanket, is washed weekly. The other rooms are furnished with low benches and tables. Each table seats ten children, and for the different occupations the children are thus divided up into groups of ten. There is a good kitchen and larder also on the ground floor. Dinner is taken in one of the class-rooms, and eaten out of small enamel bowls. Pegs for the children's clothes are hung in the lobby. On the upper floor are the living rooms of the Kindergarten mistresses.
There is a small play-ground for the children, fenced in from the common ground and containing a play-shed, a sand-heap, and little plots for gardens. The children were outside at the time the institution was visited.
This institution is attended by from 60 to 80 children. The hours are from 8 to 6, though some children go home to mid-day dinner, with an hour and a-half's sleep in the afternoon. The age of admission is from two years to six. The fee charged is about 3½d. (35 pf.) weekly, which includes dinner (see Appendix 43), afternoon coffee, and material for occupations. The children are provided with dark blue print overalls, one a week. The early breakfast (as well as a pocket handkerchief), is required to be brought by each child. Holidays are the same as in the schools. There are two mistresses, both trained Kindergarten teachers. This institution and a similar one of the same size in another "colony" are supported by the society which manages the buildings; they cost on an average (in addition to the payments of the children), about 4d. (37 pf.), per child, per school day.
(8) MUNICH
The population of Munich is 538,983 (1905); there are 55 Public Elementary Schools (Volksschulen) attended by 61,758 children. Attendance at these schools only becomes compulsory on the children after they have reached the age of six. The provision made for the care and education of children between three and six years of age falls into two classes :
(1) The institutions supported by the municipality;
(2) The institutions supported by private enterprise.
(1) MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS
There are in Munich, at present 23 Kindergartens under the care of the municipal authorities (Stadt Gemeinde). Up to January, 1907, these institutions had been directed and supported by a private society (Münchener Kindergartenverein) which
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had existed since 1868. As this society, however, had no longer sufficient funds at its disposal to meet the necessary expenses, the municipal authorities agreed in September, 1906, to take over the entire charge of the Kindergarten Departments from the beginning of 1907. They had already for some time partially supported these departments, the Stadt-Magistrat giving a yearly grant of about £2,334 (46,693 M.), including a grant of £627 (12,548 M.) for teachers' salaries. A Kindergarten Department has been included in every new school for the last sixteen years, and the use of these buildings was granted to the society rent free, and without charge for heating and cleaning.
As the transference of the Kindergarten Departments has only taken place so recently the organisation is still in a transitory state.
Building and Equipment
The Kindergarten Departments are on the ground floor, shut off from the rest of the school, and with a separate entrance. They consist generally of two rooms, with a cloak room, teachers' room, and lavatories for the boys and for the girls, these last being inside the building. There is always a garden attached, with a covered play-shed, and a plot either of grass or of gravel, surrounded by trees. The class-rooms vary in size in the different buildings. The furnishing is of the most simple description. One room contains long low tables with low benches, and the other is left empty in the middle for games, etc., and has benches round the walls. A piano and a few pictures and a cupboard or two complete the equipment, with the exception of the materials necessary for the various Kindergarten occupations. There are also benches and tables in the garden and in the play-shed, and the former often contains a sand-pit.
The Staff
There are as yet no particular regulations as to the number of teachers in relation to the size of the classes. The number ranges at present from four in the largest schools (of about 140 children) to one in the smallest (40-45 children). There are at present in all 63 teachers.
Qualifications and Training
Every teacher must have undergone training as a Kindergarten teacher. The Training College for Kindergarten Teachers in Munich (Münchener Kindergärtnerinnen-Seminar) is under private direction. The course lasts for a year, from September 15th to July 15th, and consists of instruction in the theory and practice of Kindergarten teaching. Candidates for entrance must be at least sixteen years old, and must have been at a Girls' Higher School, or some corresponding institution. These regulations have not hitherto been insisted upon very stringently. In future, however, they will probably be more strictly observed, and the period of training may be extended to two years. The cost of the year's training is about £9 (180 M.).
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After leaving the Training College the Kindergarten teacher has to serve for a year in a school without salary as Praktikantin. She then serves for four years as Hilfslehrerin, and for three years as Verweserin; after these eight years she is recognised as a fully trained Kindergärtnerin.
The salaries are as follows: Hilfslehrerin about £30 (600 M.) a year; Verweserin about £36 (720 M.); Kindergärtnerin £48 (960 M.), with five three-yearly increments, and five five-yearly increments of £3 respectively. Further the Verweserin is entitled to a pension of 65 per cent of her salary, and the Kindergärtnerin to one of 70 per cent in the first ten years of service, 80 per cent in the second ten years, 90 per cent from the twenty-first to the thirty-fifth years of service, 95 per cent from the thirty-sixth to the fortieth; after fifty years' service she is entitled to the whole salary as pension. There is also an organising Kindergarten mistress (Oberkindergärtnerin) who receives an additional salary of £24 (48O M.)
Holidays
The teachers receive the following holidays: Praktikantin 14 days; Hilfslehrerin 4 weeks; Verweserin and Kindergärtnerin 6 weeks.
Conditions, etc., for Admission to Kindergarten
Children are received into the Kindergarten between the ages of 3 and 6. Attendance is voluntary, and entrance can take place at any time - the only conditions imposed are that the child shall be clean and free from any infectious or contagious disease.
Fees
A fee is charged of 2s. (2 M.) a month; if two attend from the same family, half-price is charged for the second child. In the case of poverty the fees are remitted either in whole or in part.
Hours, etc.
The Kindergartens are open daily, except on Sundays and on certain public holidays, from 8 a.m. to 12, and from 2 to 6 p.m. They remain open during the summer vacation. It is possible to arrange for this and at the same time to give the teachers holidays without increasing the teaching staff; as the attendance is much smaller during the summer months.
Instruction and Time-table
The instruction given is of the ordinary Kindergarten nature, consisting of games, action-songs, clay-modelling, paper-folding and weaving, etc. The object is to leave the children as free as possible, and to reduce anything approaching school discipline to a minimum. In summer the children are as much as possible in the garden, or at least in the open play shed. (See Appendix 40 (1)).
Number of Children in Attendance
The latest available report of the Kindergarten Society, that for 1905, gives a total attendance in the year of 1,658 individual
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children at twenty Kindergarten Departments. In the City statistics for the same year the number of children from one to six years of age is given as 64,157; thus about 2½ per cent of the child population under the compulsory school age were in attendance at a Kindergarten. Out of those 1,658 children, an average of about 59, or roughly 3½ per cent of the number attending, had free places. As there are now 28 Kindergartens under the Municipal Authorities the percentage of the child population in attendance will be higher. There are not yet sufficient Kindergartens to meet the demand.
Cost
The cost of erecting a Kindergarten Department for between 60 and 80 children (exclusive of the cost of the ground) is reckoned at about £800 to £1,000 (16,000 to 20,000 M.). No exact estimate is yet to be had as to the cost of maintenance per child per year. The yearly expenditure on the part of the Stadt-Magistrat is estimated as likely to be about £3,000 or £3,500 (60,000 to 70,000 M.).
Miscellaneous
The majority of the Kindergarten children go home to dinner in the middle of the day, but in those departments attached to schools where there is a soup kitchen, a dinner of soup with meat in it is provided at a charge of 1d. daily (10 pf.). Each child brings his own morning lunch, and also something to eat in the afternoon (Vesperbrod). The bringing and fetching of the children is not undertaken by the school authorities. They do not receive boots or clothing, nor are they medically inspected.
Four-fifths of the children attending the Kindergartens come from working-class families, but other sections of society are also represented. In the Kindergartens in the wealthier part of the city, for instance, there are to be found the children of officers, professors, teachers, etc. Such children often attend the Kindergarten for a part only of the clay.
Under Municipal management certain alterations will probably be made in the organisation of the Kindergartens. The number of teachers, in particular, is likely to be increased, so as to reduce as far as possible the number of children under one teacher. The Kindergarten ideal of a home, as distinct from a school atmosphere, could only be obtained with very small groups of children (about 12) under each teacher.
(2) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
(A) KLEINKINDERBEWAHRANSTALTEN
These institutions are of the nature of day-nurseries for children under school age of working-class parents. They are supported and directed by different charitable societies. The City statistics for 1905 give the total number of such institutions as 24, 20 being Catholic and 4 Protestant.
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Building and Equipment
The accommodation varies considerably in size, the average number of children in attendance monthly in the different institutions ranging from about 400 to 20. In almost every case the room or rooms provided form part of a larger building, used for other purposes. Generally speaking, the Kinderbewahranstalt consists of one large room, or two smaller ones provided with low tables and forms, lavatories, kitchen, and garden. The accommodation indeed is on much the same lines as in the Kindergartens.
Staff
These institutions are conducted by Sisters of various religious orders, both Catholic and Protestant, sometimes with voluntary lay assistants.
Admission Fees
Children are received between the ages of 3 and 6. A small fee is charged, generally about 3d. weekly (30 pf.), but poor children are received free of charge. Dinner, consisting of soup with meat in it, is provided for those children who do not go home in the middle of the day, at a charge of either ½d. (5 pf.) or 1d. (10 pf.) daily. This charge is also remitted in the case of poverty.
Hours, etc.
The Kinderbewahranstalten are open every week-day throughout the year from about 6.30 or 7 a.m, to 6.30 or 7 p.m.
Instruction
The instruction in these institutions is more or less on Kindergarten lines, including action-songs, games, hand-work, etc. A time-table, however, is less strictly adhered to than in the regular Kindergartens, and religious exercises play a much larger part in the day's curriculum. In summer the children are as much as possible out-of-doors. All the institutions seem to be conducted on much the same lines.
Cost
Exact estimates are not to be had of the cost of maintenance of the Kinderbewahranstalten, or of the cost of the buildings. In almost every case the Bewahranstalt forms part of a larger building, and other organisations are included in the year's expenditure.
The municipal authorities (Stadt-Magistrat) give a yearly grant of about £186 (3,716 M.), divided among different private institutions.
Miscellaneous
No arrangement is made for bringing and fetching the children. At Christmas the poorer children receive gifts of clothing.
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(b) KLEINKINDERSCHULEN (INFANT SCHOOLS)
There are besides the Kinderbewahranstalten, four Catholic infants schools in Munich, supported by charitable societies. These institutions approach more nearly than the Kinderbewahranstalten to the regular Kindergartens. The teachers are paid, and do not belong to any religious order; they need not, however, have undergone regular Kindergarten training.
Fees
The usual fee charged is 2s. (2 M.) monthly, with reductions in the case of more than one child attending from one family. A dinner of soup is provided at a daily charge of ½d. Free places and free meals are granted in cases of poverty.
Hours
The schools are open every week-day, in winter from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and in summer from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed for a short time in the summer holidays.
Instruction
The instruction and occupations are of the ordinary Kindergarten kind.
The monthly average attendance at the Infant Schools in 1905 was 366.
Jewish Kindergarten
There has also been in existence in Munich for the last two years a Jewish Kindergarten for the children of poor Jewish parents. It is supported by a private society, and worked largely by voluntary helpers. There are three rooms accommodating thirty children. The children are received free, and are given a free breakfast of milk and bread; they also receive a warm bath once a week. The hours are from 8.15 a.m. to 12, and from 2 p.m. to 4.
Cost of Private Infant Schools
As in the case of the Kinderbewahranstalten, the Infant Schools almost always form part of a larger building, and no separate estimates are to be had as to the expense of erection or the cost of maintenance. In one instance, however, a separate building had been erected for an Infant School alone at a cost of, roughly, £500 (10,000 M.). This was for the building only, which was of one storey and contained two rooms, kitchen, cloakroom, visitors' room, and lavatories. The cost of the garden and play-shed was not included in the estimate given. The school had an average attendance of 180 children with one teacher and two assistants. Of these, ten were received free and 138 at half-price. The expenditure for the year 1906 was about £190 (3,806 marks), roughly, £1 1s. per child.
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(9) ZURICH
(1) MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS
Supervision
In each of the five districts (Kreise) into which Zurich is divided a Committee (Kindergarten-Kommission) of from five to 10 members, formed from the District School Committee (Kreis-Schulpflege), is appointed to superintend the public Kindergarten classes. There are further three women inspectors, whose duty it is to visit Kindergartens, and private Kinderbewahranstalten in the City and surrounding district (Bezirk-Zurich). These women inspectors are teachers, one in a Kindergarten, and two in elementary schools, and the work of inspection is carried on in addition to their school work. Each of them is bound to visit each institution allotted to her twice a year, and she receives 6 francs for each visit. There are about 25 institutions for each inspectress.
Regulations, etc.
In the public Kindergartens children are admitted from the end of the third to the end of the fifth year. No fees are charged. The hours are from 9 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m., with two afternoons free in the week. One teacher is allowed to every 40 children. Salaries begin at 1,400 francs a year, and rise gradually, till, after twenty-one years of service, the maximum of 2,400 francs is reached. A pension is given, amounting to 60 per cent of the salary, at the time of retiring. (For the occupations, etc., of the Kindergartens, see Appendix 41 (1)).
Accommodation
The public Kindergartens are held for the most part in the public schools, where a room on the ground floor is assigned to each class. They have generally the use of another room for playing. The Kindergarten children share the common playground, but have separate offices inside the building. In some quarters of the city, however, where there is no convenient school, rooms are hired for the purpose of a Kindergarten.
School Dinners
In the poorer districts the Kindergarten children are given soup and bread at mid-day, and in some cases milk. This is supplied free out of a fund made up of Municipal and private contributions. This fund also provides clothes, shoes, and spectacles for poor children.
Medical Inspection
The Kindergarten children do not come under the regular medical inspection, though the school doctor can be called in if necessary. They share, however, with the other school children in the periodical inspection of heads. This occurs twice or thrice a year, and is carried out with the aid of a powerful magnifying
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glass, by a woman appointed for the purpose, who acts us a sort of assistant to the school doctor. The parents of children who are found to be in a dirty condition are warned, and if the warning has no effect the authorities have power to have the offending child cleansed. Compulsory cleansings are rare, however, as they are looked upon as a great disgrace.
There are at present 47 Kindergarten classes in Zurich, attended in 1906 by 1,823 children. Of this number 266 children received mid-day soup.
The yearly cost of the Municipal Kindergartens is not estimated separately from the general school expenses.
Training of Teachers
A course of training for Kindergarten teachers is held in Zurich every second year in the Girls' Public High School (Höhere Töchterschule). The number of students is limited to 30. The course is free, and consists of 32 hours a week, 10 of which are occupied with practical work in the Kindergartens. The subjects consist of German (five hours), History of Education (three hours), Method (two hours), Hygiene (two hours), Natural History (two hours), Geometry (one hour), Drawing (two hours), Singing (two hours), Gymnastics (one hour), Handwork (two hours) (sec Appendix 42 (4)).
Equipment: Time-table
The Kindergarten system of Zurich is well organised, and the occupations are carried out on broad and reasonable lines. The accommodation naturally varies. Where the class is held in a school the rooms are large, well provided with windows, and heated with hot pipes. The furnishing consists of low tables, seating four or five children a side, with either low benches or little chairs with arms. Pegs for hats and cloaks are generally in the corridor. Where rooms are hired for the purposes of a Kindergarten the accommodation may leave a good deal to be desired. One class which was visited, for instance, was held in a room on the ground floor of a corner house. Though the room itself was fairly large and well lighted, the lavatory accommodation and the offices were very deficient, and there was no garden. There was, however, a public square just outside, and country walks were within reach.
No general time-table is insisted upon in the Kindergarten classes, and the division of time is left largely in the hands of the individual teacher. Where it is possible country walks are taken on fine afternoons. One class was visited as it assembled in the morning. Proceedings began with a short prayer, which was followed by an individual inspection of hands, which were satisfactorily clean in each case. Then came the roll-call, and after some recitation of poetry, the children were divided into groups and placed round tables. One set was given large beads to thread, another bricks to build with, a third pricked cards to sew, while the fourth set made patterns on the table with porcelain buttons.
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(Porcelain buttons of different sizes and colours are used in Zurich instead of cardboard discs. Though more expensive they have the advantage of being easily washed, and not easily destroyed.) Talking was allowed among the children.
(2) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
In 1900 there were 19 Kleinkinderbewahranstalten or Spielschulen in Zurich attended by 1,005 children. These are under the same Municipal supervision as the public Kindergartens, and have to conform to certain regulations laid down by the city. They are not allowed to take children before the completion of the fourth year, and all teachers must be trained. The hours are the same as in the Kindergartens, and the fee charged is from 60 to 100 centimes a month. These institutions receive no support from the city. Many of them are of old standing, and were founded as far back as 1830. Generally speaking they are not modern either in spirit or method, and they seem to exist largely for religious reasons. Much greater weight is laid in them on religious instruction than in the town Kindergartens. The object, for instance, of the Verein für Kleinkinderbewahranstalten (Zurich) is stated in the Society's regulations to be "to receive children under school age, to influence their education through the principles of the Christian religion, and to further their development, bodily and mental. For this purpose no other means are to be employed than those used by a Christian mother in a well-regulated family for the education of her children". In general the tone of the reports of the different private Societies (some seven in all) are rather on the defensive as against the public institutions. Some of them state, however, that they have not sufficient places to supply the demand, and congratulate themselves that "even in these days of State management many parents prefer schools for which they must make a sacrifice to the free schools".
As an example of the cost of these private institutions, the following extract from the accounts of a Society maintaining three Bewahranstalten, attended by about 160 children, may be given:
The total amount received in school fees was Fr. 1,250 20c.
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(10) BASEL
(1) MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS
In Basel the same system of public kindergartens exists as in Zurich, and here also all institutions for children between three and six are under municipal supervision. In Basel, however, the number of municipal classes is larger than in Zurich, and private institutions are gradually being taken over by the city. Municipal organisation in this city dates from 1895.
Supervision
In Basel, the public Kindergartens, or Kleinkinderanstalten as they are called, are under the general supervision of the Education Department (Erziehungs Departernent), and under the particular supervision of a special committee (Kommission der Kleinkinderanstalten), consisting of a president and eight members, three of whom must be women, chosen by the Municipal Council (Regierungsrat) for a period of three years. This committee has the power of appointing a Ladies' Committee of from three to five members for each individual institution.
There is further a woman inspector appointed by the Education Department at a yearly salary of from 8,000 francs to 5,000 francs, who has charge of all institutions public and private. Her duties are carefully laid down in the official regulations. She organises the public Kindergartens, keeps the accounts, and supervises the attendance returns. She visits the different classes, inspects the management of the children, the sanitary conditions, etc., and arranges any difficulties that may arise, such as those between parents and teacher. She reports to the special committee, to which she acts as secretary. She also arranges conferences with the teachers of the Kleinkinderanstalten, at which she takes the chair.
Regulations
Children are admitted to the public Kindergartens from the end of the third to the end of the fifth year. Attendance is optional and free. The hours are from 9 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m. There is one teacher to every 40 children; where the class is over 40 an assistant is appointed. The salaries for teachers range from 1,500 francs to 2,000 francs yearly with a supplement after 10 years' service, and another after 15 years' service, rising altogether to a maximum of 2,350 francs. Assistants begin with 1,000 francs yearly. Pensions are given of from 1,000 francs to 1,500 francs a year.
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Instruction
The occupations laid down in the official regulations as suitable for children between 3 and 6, are story-telling, observation and description of objects and pictures, practice in speaking, simple handwork, games and singing. No one occupation is to last more than three-quarters of an hour. It is expressly stated that no instruction in reading, writing or arithmetic is to be given. Teachers are to strive to train the children in obedience, honesty, and love of truth, and "to plant the seed of childish piety in their hearts". They are to pay great attention to the bodily care of the children, to see that they sit, stand and walk in a rational way, and to guard against any straining of sight or hearing. Corporal punishment is only allowed in exceptional cases, and then only in a way which would not go beyond mild paternal punishment ("nur in einer Weise welche die Grenzen einer mässigen elterlichen Zucht night überschreiten.")* The children in the Kindergartens are not as yet medically inspected. The poorer ones get boots and clothing from the Municipality.
Numbers, Cost, etc.
In 1906 there were 13 Municipal institutions in Basel with 14 classes. The number of children in attendance was 3,213, with 42 teachers and 32 assistants. The estimated expenditure on the part of the municipality for 1908 is 28O,000 francs. This includes rent, salaries, material, etc., as well as grants to private institutions.
Training Course for Kindergarten Teachers
A free course of training for teachers in Kleinkinderanstalten is held in the Girls' High School in Basel. The course lasts a year, and follows the same lines as the similar course in Zurich.
(2) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
Private institutions for children between 3 and 6 years of are are under the same supervision and regulations as the public ones. A private institution can only be opened with the permission of the Council of Education (Erziehungsrat), which must be satisfied that the qualifications of the teacher, the size of the classes, the accommodation provided, etc., are satisfactory. All private institutions which charge no fees, and in which the mistress has a salary of at least 1,000 francs yearly, can receive grants from the municipality. These grants are from 500 francs to 600 francs yearly in each case. In 1906 there were 20 private institutions in Basel, attended by 836 children.
Kinderhorte for Children under School Age†
There is a further interesting development of private enterprise in Basel. Kinderhorte are provided in some quarters of the
*This regulation, however, is never taken advantage of and is practically a dead letter.
†See also Appendix 45.
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town for children attending the Kleinkinderanstalten. So far as is known Basel is the only place where such institutions exist for the small children, though in all German and Swiss towns a more or less flourishing system of Kinderhorte is carried on for children of school age. The need of such a provision for small children is not so apparent in many towns whore the Kinderbewahranstalten are open till evening. But where, as in Basel, they shut at 4 o'clock, some further provision is obviously necessary in the case of children whose mothers are at work. It is probable that Horte for small children will soon be opened in Zurich also.
There are at present four Horte for children between three and six in Basel, accommodating about 40 children each. They are supported by the Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft, and are held in the same buildings as the Kindergartens. The Hort is open as a rule from October to March, between the hours of 4 and 6.30 p.m. It is under the charge of one of the kindergarten teachers, who receives 2½ francs or 3 francs an evening. The children play games, and amuse themselves with toys. They get bread and sometimes milk at 4 o'clock. The children attending a Hort are not necessarily the children who attend the Kindergarten in the same building, as the Hort serves a whole district and is intended only for the poorer children.
None of the Kleinkinderanstalten visited in Basel offered anything remarkable in the way of building or equipment. The whole system is excellently organised and supervised, but some of the buildings seemed to come far short, especially in sanitary matters, of the standard laid down in the official regulations. These regulations indeed would appear at present to be rather a counsel of perfection, and are not strictly obeyed in every detail.
(11) GENEVA*
Regulations
The general regulations for the infant schools in Geneva have already been given (see page 218). These Schools are open in the morning from 8.15 to 11, and in the afternoon from 1.15 to 4. Entrance takes place four times a year, viz., after the summer holidays, in October, January, and after the Easter holidays. The holidays are the same as in the elementary schools. Classes may not exceed 40. Poor children are fed in winter, from November till Easter, either free or for a payment of 4 sous a day. The classes are medically inspected every two months.
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Salaries.
The following extract from the Budget of the Canton of Geneva for 1906 gives the cost of salaries in the infant schools in the town and canton of Geneva in that year:
Ecoles Enfantines*
Training of Teachers
Free courses of training for teachers in the écoles enfantines are conducted in connection with these schools.† Candidates have to pass :
(a) A preliminary examination to show that their general education has reached the stage of the third class of the école secondaire et supérieure des jeunes filles.
(b) A competitive examination for admission to the special training. Candidates must be between 17 and 30, and of Swiss nationality. The examination includes French composition, reading and discussion of a literary extract, recitation of poetry, the working out on the black board of a problem in simple arithmetic, singing, a simple sketch from nature, and a page of hand-writing, the examination may only be attempted twice.
(c) Successful candidates then enter upon a special training course (le stage), which takes place partly in special classes in the infant schools (classes d'application), partly in normal courses on education in general, and the methods of Froebel. The final examination consists of a composition on some educational subject, and the conducting of a class, including lessons, games and occupations, according to the programme of the écoles enfantines. Successful candidates receive the certificat d'aptitude á l'enseignement dans les écoles enfantines, which the Council of State demands from all teachers in the infant schools.
*From Budget du Canton de Genéve pour l'année 1906, Section VI: Départemnt de l'Instruction Publique.
†See Réglement concernant les examens et le stage des aspirantes aux fonctions de Mâitresse et de sous-Mâitresse dans les écoles enfantines Geneva, 1905.
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III. THE CRÈCHE SYSTEM IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND
Crèches or Krippen exist in most German and Swiss towns, and form as a rule a distinct class of institutions apart from the Kindergartens or Bewahranstalten. Generally speaking children are admitted into the Krippen from the age of from three to six weeks until the end of the third year, and though occasionally they may be kept until the compulsory school age is reached, children over three do not properly come within the sphere of the Krippe. In most cases they pass at the age of three from the Krippe into the Kindergarten or the Bewahranstalt. Krippen in Germany, and in German-speaking Switzerland, are not municipally organised or supervised, though they may receive grants from the municipality. They are supported always by private charitable societies. The number of such institutions varies greatly in the different towns. In Leipzig, for instance, there are none at present, those which previously existed having been given up, as the demand for them was so small; Munich, on the other hand, has some eight Krippen in the city itself, besides others in the suburbs; Dresden has four; Frankfort, about six; Cologne and Düsseldorf one each; Zurich, four; Basel, five; and Geneva, four. As no register appears to be kept of the Krippen generally it is not possible to give the total number of children received in them in any one town.
REGULATIONS
The rules of the Krippe are much the same everywhere. The average age of admission is six weeks, though in some cases much younger children are received. It is not considered desirable, however, to take infants of a few days into the Krippe, except in cases of absolute necessity, as it encourages the mother to work sooner than is advisable for her health. The Krippe is intended only for children whose mothers are at work, and is open from 5.30 or 6 a.m, till the factories close in the evening, or, in some towns, till 8 p.m. The charge made is generally 20 pf (about 2d.) a day, in Switzerland from 20 to 30 centimes, and a reduction is allowed if more than one child attends from the same family. In some institutions a lower charge is made for nursing mothers who are able to visit the Krippe during the day. In Frankfort, for instance, a nursing mother who comes once during the day is charged only 10 pf., and if she comes twice her child is received free. As a rule, however, few mothers are able to visit the institution by day. In nearly every institution free places are given. Illegitimate children are also generally received; if a regulation to the contrary appears among the rules of the Krippe it does not seem to be kept very strictly.
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STAFF
The Krippen are in most cases under the charge of Sisters (Catholic or Protestant), often with voluntary helpers. In nearly every case the Sister is trained in the management and care of infants.
CARE OF CHILDREN: MEALS
When the children arrive in the morning they are completely undressed and put into clean clothes. The infants are bathed daily, the older children twice or thrice a week. Infants are fed every two or three hours with milk and rice or barley water, according to the directions of the doctor attending the Krippe, the older children get milk and bread in the early morning, dinner about 11 a.m., sometimes with meat twice a week, sometimes only of milk-food, milk and bread again in the afternoon, and in some institutions a further meal of soup before leaving. In some institutions, too, it is the custom to give the mothers properly prepared milk to use during the night, and also a supply over Sunday, as it is found that the children suffer from the change of food. The older children have all a two hours' sleep after dinner, and the rest of the time they are amused with toys and games; Kindergarten occupations are also employed in some cases. The children are as much as possible in the open air, a garden being an essential part of every well-equipped Krippe.
COST
No general rules can be laid down as to the municipal grants received by the Krippen, as these vary considerably. Nor is it possible except in a few instances to give the cost of such an institution per child per year, as the accounts are often not given in detail. A few examples are to be had, however. Thus, in Frankfort in 1905-6, the cost in three Krippen, with an average attendance of 28,23 and 14 children, was respectively 68 pf., 73 pf. and 93 pf. per child per day; in Munich, six Krippen were maintained at an average cost of 60 pf. per child per day; in Zurich, the cost per child per day for three Krippen, attended on an average by 68 children, was 1 fr. 09 cts.; the cost of a crèche in Geneva, attended altogether in 1906 by 93 children, was 1 fr. 04 cts. a day.
NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL KRIPPEN
The following notes of visits paid to Krippen in Frankfort and in Basel describe the latest developments in the way of housing and arranging those institutions.
(1) Krippe at Frankfort
This Krippe is lodged in a flat in a colony of workmen's dwellings, just above the Kindergarten described on page 225. It accommodates 60 children under the management
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of two Sisters, with a cook and a washerwoman. Voluntary helpers also give some assistance with the older children. The rooms consist of a receiving room, where the children are taken in on arriving and undressed, their own clothes being hung in string bags; a bath-room with two large zinc baths and one small one, all raised; a large play-room and an infants' room, as well as a kitchen and offices. There is further a covered glass verandah where the older children play. Some of the fittings of this Krippe are very practical. In the bath room, for instance, there is a sort of dresser with a ledge that puts up, on which the babies can safely be laid for dressing. In the play-room a kind of low sloping wooden locker runs along one side of the wall, and on this mattresses covered with dark American cloth are laid for the older children at sleeping time. When not in use the mattresses are kept inside the locker. The play-room also contains at one end circular wooden forms, surrounded by a railing. The babies' room is very dainty, as the cots, hung on wheels, are covered with white piqué, and have curtains of pink and white muslin. (The curtains, however, had been condemned by the doctor as unsanitary, and he preferred plain unadorned cribs of white enamelled iron.) The cupboards hold a plentiful store of clothes and linen, tied up with ribbons in the neat German way. The babies in this Krippe wear jerseys or little jackets knitted in white cotton, the older children suits of thick striped calico, pink and white or blue and white, according to the sex. There is also a good supply of toys. Sanitary arrangements are excellent and the play-room and verandah beautifully airy and sunny.
(2) Krippe in Basel
The latest institutions of this kind in Basel are built on lines of which the following Krippe is an example. In this building the entrance from the street leads into the courtyard or garden, which has a covered shed at one end. Here the perambulators in which the children are brought by the mothers are stored till the evening, and here the children are received. A door leads from the shed into the bath and reception-room, so that the children never enter the other rooms in their home clothes. These latter are stored for the day in a cupboard, and are disinfected with formalin once it week. Out of the bath-room opens a covered glass verandah which serves as play-room, and out of this again a sleeping-room with cots for the bigger children. Then comes the infants' room with small wicker cots like clothes baskets on wheels. This opens into a passage, into which the private entrance gives. On the other side of this passage are the kitchen, wash-house, bath-room and lavatory for the staff, and larder.
(For specimen regulations and tables of expenses of Krippen, see Appendix 44.)
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IV. CONCLUSION
In general it may be said that we have less to learn from Germany in regard to institutions for young children than is the case in other departments of her social and educational work.
A comparison of the institutions provided in the two countries is however difficult, owing to their different nature. In this country by far the greater number of children under school age who attend an institution at all attend an elementary school, and the number of children thus provided for is much greater than the number of children provided for in institutions in Germany. Unfortunately the latter number cannot be reckoned exactly. According to the statistics given in Appendix 87 the total number of children between three and six attending institutions in Germany in 1901-02 was about 19,117; in England and Wales in that year there were 613,473* children under five attending school. The admission of children under five to the schools in this country seems to have been carried out on no very definite policy, either social or educational, although the modern institution of "babies' classes", containing some of the best features of the Kindergarten, has no doubt given a certain educational value to the attendance of very young children at school. In Germany the whole movement for the care of young children has been based on much more definite aims - the negative aim of providing shelter and wholesome surroundings for the children of the poor, and in the Kindergartens, the further positive aim of developing the faculties of the young child in accordance with his age and nature. We have nothing to compare in this country with the very large number of institutions, maintained by private charitable societies, which in Germany take charge of children between three and six; for our day nurseries are few in number, and belong more to the class of institutions known as Krippen in Germany, where they are also not very numerous.
COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND GERMAN METHODS
As far as the method of handling the children and the nature of the occupations are concerned, this country appears to be quite abreast of modern German ideas. It is now generally recognised here that the methods and subjects suitable for older children are often very unsuitable for children under five, and in the special "babies' classes", time-tables are followed from which formal instruction in the three R's is altogether excluded, and which are quite as good as anything to be found in Germany. Where German institutions are perhaps superior is in the general absence of anything of the set school-room, owing largely to the substitution of tables and chairs for fixed benches, and in the greater elasticity of the time-table. The duration of any particular occupation is left largely to the discretion of the mistress, and in the summer and fine weather the whole time-
*This number included 2,484 under three. The numbers in 1905-6 between three and five had fallen to 497,643.
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table is either modified or set aside altogether, to allow of out-of-door work or free play in the garden, or walks when the country is near. Rigid discipline is never insisted upon, and the relation between children and teacher (who is always addressed as Tante) seems everywhere of the happiest. Talking is allowed within limits, and the healthy noise that arises from the playground proves that discipline is not unduly repressive. Much attention is paid to the social side of life. As in all German institutions, public or private, the Christmas festivities form the crowning point of the year, and opportunities are taken at these of providing the poorer children with clothes; there are also many small excursions and treats in summer. Elternabende, too, evening meetings with parents, for discussion and explanation of the work, are known in the Kindergartens as well as in the ordinary schools. In all these ways home and institution are drawn together.
TRAINING GIVEN IN GERMANY FOR THE CARE OF CHILDREN
One point that emerges very clearly from the inquiry is the great weight laid in Germany on special training for the care of young children. This extends as we have seen not only to those in charge of institutions, but also to private nurses and nursery-governesses, and to individual mothers. In regard to institutions there exists in Germany (as also in America) a special class of teacher for young children, such as we do not know in this country. It is possible that the institution of some such class here might help to bring about the much needed reform of the reduction of the size of classes, as far as the infant room is concerned; it would in any case seem to be needed if "babies' classes" are to continue. What has been said as to the importance laid on training applies also to Switzerland. The organisation of all institutions for young children in that country, both public and private, under women inspectors, as carried out in Basel and Zurich, is thorough and sensible.
THE KINDERGARTEN
It should be noted that in Germany the Kindergarten is carried further on in the child's life than with us, and that as the compulsory school age in that country starts with the end, instead of the beginning of the sixth year, definite formal instruction begins, generally speaking, a year later than in England. It is possible that some modification of the curriculum in the first year of school life might be introduced with advantage into some of our infant departments, especially in places where no "babies' classes" exist, and where there is thus a certain proportion of children under five in the infant room itself. The problems connected with the linking on of the Kindergarten to the school have not as yet received much general attention in Germany (see Appendix 40 (3)), and in that country, as elsewhere, there is some difference of opinion as to the value of the Kindergarten as a preparation for the ordinary school. It is urged against the Kindergarten that it
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tends to deaden the children's interest in intellectual work, and in its favour that both the moral training, in the way of discipline, and the mental training are an excellent preparation for school work. It should be added that in Germany, as in this country, real Kindergarten training, "conscious nurture of the free self-activity of childhood", is often made impossible by the excessive size of the class allowed to one teacher.
BUILDINGS
In the matter of buildings the average institution in this country, whether "babies' class" or day nursery, is probably as well housed as the average institution in Germany or Switzerland; in sanitary matters, indeed, our standard is higher. On the other hand we seem to have nothing so good in the way of building as the best and newest of the German institutions. And in one point all foreign institutions are superior to ours. All of them possess some sort of a garden or playground with a covered play-shed. These playgrounds are really pleasant places, always containing trees, frequently flowers, and small plots for children's gardens. Creepers grow upon the walls, and the sun often shines into the Kindergarten through a green frame of vine leaves. Few of our private institutions have gardens at all, and our school playgrounds are generally lacking in any of the qualities of a garden; and though it would be impossible for children in this country to be so much out of doors as on the Continent, still, we might he more prepared than we often are to take advantage of fine weather when we have it. At any rate, the provision of a garden should be aimed at, wherever possible, in the planning of a day-nursery, and education authorities might consider the question of a separate playground for the smallest children, which would be always at their disposal.
CLEANLINESS OF CHILDREN IN ENGLAND, GERMANY, AND SWITZERLAND
There is one other important point in which foreign institutions, as well as elementary schools generally, are very superior to our own, namely, in the much greater cleanliness and tidiness of the children attending them. The regulation that children attending a Kindergarten must be provided with a clean pocket-handkerchief, though it may seem a small matter, is significant of the high standard of personal cleanliness set and obtained in Germany and Switzerland. A pocket-handkerchief in any condition is probably an article of dress unknown to large numbers of children in our poorer elementary schools. The general impression given by the children in the Kindergartens and Bewahranstalten was one of clean hands and faces, neat pinafores, and tidy heads. There were no bare-footed children, except in summer, when bare feet are a matter of comfort and convenience. Nor were there any visible signs of neglect
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in the way of dirt and rags. It is true that the very neglected children would probably not be brought to a Bewahranstalt at all, but there was no evidence in the streets of the poorer quarters that such children exist to any extent, though the reports of charitable societies, bear witness to a certain amount of social distress. Something is due no doubt to the efforts of those in charge of institutions in regard to this matter, but the chief credit for the high level of cleanliness and neatness must be set down to the undoubtedly higher sense for these things which prevails in the poorer sections of the population abroad as compared with those in our own country.
The children in the municipal Kindergartens in Germany and Switzerland, it may be added, do not share in the weekly compulsory bath, which is a feature of both German and Swiss elementary schools. The buildings in all cases are kept scrupulously clean.
M. G. MAY.
April, 1908.
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Appendices (image-only pdf file - 12.1mb)