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1. THE system of education in England and Wales judged from the point of view of organisation and administration differs in three main respects from the systems to be found in many other countries. These characteristic features are the decentralisation of educational administration; the prominent part played by voluntary agencies; and the freedom of teachers from official direction on questions relating to curricula, syllabuses of instruction and methods of teaching.

2. The relation of the central authority to local authorities is based on consultation and co-operation which is established both by direct contact with the Minister of Education and his Department and through the intermediary of H.M. Inspectors who, since their headquarters are situated in the areas in which their work lies, are in a position to act as liaison officers. Both the central authority and the local authorities are, of course, bound by Acts of Parliament, of which the chief is now the Education Act, 1944. By this Act the Board of Education has become the Ministry of Education; and while administration remains decentralised, the Minister has been given a more effective power of direction and control over the whole field of publicly aided education - except for the universities, which remain independent and receive grant direct from the Treasury. Previously the function of the Board was defined generally by statute as "the superintendence of matters relating to education in England and Wales". Under the new Act the Minister's duty is defined as being "to promote the education of the people of England and Wales and the progressive development of institutions devoted to that purpose and to secure the effective execution by local authorities, under his control and direction, of the national policy for providing a varied and comprehensive educational service in every area".

3. The Minister of Education, in discharge of the duties placed upon him, issues his main requirements in the form of statutory regulations and in circulars addressed to local education authorities and other responsible bodies. Although in the last resort the final word in most matters naturally rests with the Minister, the autonomy of the publicly elected local authorities is reality.

4. The prominence of voluntary agencies in the sphere of education is partly due to the fact that in the past, when the State was slow to

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play its part, the burden of providing educational facilities was shouldered by religious bodies, voluntary societies and generous patrons. The educational work of these early pioneers has created not only vested interests but also a tradition of voluntary effort which fortunately persists to the present day. This tradition of voluntary effort is characteristic, and must be fully appreciated if a just estimate of the English educational system is to be reached; further, it is not confined to the sphere of education, as is witnessed by, for instance, the history of the voluntary hospital system and of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

5. The teachers in the schools are not civil servants, that is to say they are neither employed nor paid by the State. They are the servants of the local authorities or of the governing or managing bodies of the Schools in which they work. Head teachers are free, within wide limits, to organise their schools according to their own ideas, and teachers generally are not bound by any official instructions relating to syllabuses or text-books or teaching method.

6. This does not mean that the Ministry of Education refrains from advising teachers or that it has no influence on questions of organisation and curriculum. On the contrary, the Ministry's views can be and are presented in a variety of ways. In the first place H.M. Inspectors not only review the content and value of the work in the schools by means of reports which are conveyed to the school authorities, but, in the process of inspecting the schools, they are available as advisers to individual teachers. In the second place the Ministry of Education publishes from time to time reports and pamphlets dealing with a variety of educational topics, including organisation, the teaching of particular subjects and educational experiments. In particular the "Handbook of Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers"* may be mentioned, the title of which aptly expresses the relation of the central authority to the teachers. Nor should it be forgotten that the Ministry has responsibility and a varying degree of control in regard to the arrangements for training teachers.

7. The 1944 Act requires the Minister to appoint two Central Advisory Councils, one for England and one for Wales, to advise him on educational theory and practice. These Councils have replaced the standing committee, established under the Act of 1899 and known as the Consultative Committee, to which the President of the Board of Education used periodically to remit questions for investigation and report. The report of this Committee on the "Education of the Adolescent", frequently known as the "Hadow Report", has very profoundly influenced the organisation of education since its publication in 1926. Unlike the Consultative Committee the new Advisory

*This Handbook, the latest edition of which was issued in 1937, was designed primarily for teachers in elementary schools. The present intention of the Ministry is to issue guidance to teachers and others in the form of separate pamphlets in this series, dealing with various aspects of the curriculum in various types of school.

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Councils may take the initiative in making suggestions and recommendations to the Minister.

THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1944 AND THE THREE STAGES OF EDUCATION

8. The three characteristic features mentioned above have helped to mould a system which probably results in a greater variety of educational institutions than is to be found in any other country. The next few years will be a period of transition between the old system and the new growth fostered by the Education Act, 1944, which has greatly simplified the general structure and provides for a general levelling up of standards, without sacrificing the variety and freedom which are a tradition of English education. Certain changes in structure and nomenclature which the Act has already effected necessarily anticipate the completion of the new system and have come into force in advance of the new schools and the new teachers which alone can give them reality. For this reason the present structure needs to be described with an eye on the past as well as the future.

9. For the sake of clarity it will perhaps be useful to give a general indication in this introductory chapter of the principal ways in which the Act reforms the earlier system. This brief summary will be amplified in subsequent chapters dealing with the component parts of the system.

(a) Publicly aided education in England and Wales fell previously into two main divisions: the system of public elementary schools covering the age of compulsory school attendance, and the system of higher education. The latter included both the secondary schools providing a five to seven year course for a minority of children from 11 onwards, and a great variety of institutions providing part and full-time vocational and non-vocational education for young people and adults.

On the 1st April, 1945, this division into elementary and higher education was replaced by a new classification. In the words of Section 7 of the Act:

"The statutory system of public education shall be organised in three progressive stages to be known as primary education, secondary education, and further education; and it shall be the duty of the local education authority for every area, so far as their powers extend, to contribute towards the spiritual, moral, mental, and physical development of the community by securing that efficient education throughout those stages shall be available to meet the needs of the population of their area."

This section provides the key-note to the new system, in which the educational process is for the first time regarded as a continuous one through which all children and young people will pass. In particular all children will be a given a full-time secondary education.

(b) The period of compulsory school attendance has hitherto been from 5 to 14. The age will be raised to 15 not later than the 1st April,

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1947, and subsequently to 16 when the Minister' is satisfied that sufficient buildings and teachers are available.

(c) A much wider provision of nursery schools and nursery classes becomes obligatory on the local education authorities, attendance being voluntary from the age of 2 or 3 to 5.

(d) New standards of school construction have been prescribed* and will be enforced; and new arrangements have been made to enable schools provided by voluntary bodies to satisfy the new requirements.

(e) "County colleges" will in due course be established for young people who have left school before reaching the age of 18. Part-time attendance during working hours will be compulsory. Continuity of educational supervision will thus be ensured for all young people up to the age of 18.

(f) Further education will also include more adequate and better co-ordinated facilities for part-time and full-time vocational education both for young people and adults. The provision for non-vocational education and recreation will also be widely expanded.

(g) A wide range of developments will take place in the arrangements made for the physical and general welfare of all children and young people up to the age of 18.

(h) Schools not receiving grants from public funds have not hitherto been subject to compulsory inspection and supervision. Under the Act all such schools will in due course have to be registered by the Ministry of Education and inspected.

(i) Changes have been made in the system of local administration and finance to correspond with the developments mentioned above.

*Regulations prescribing standards for school premises (S.R. & O., No. 345, 1945), H.M.S.O., price 6d. (by post 7d.) ; and Memorandum on the Building Regulations, H.M.S.O., price 6d. (by post 7d.).

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10. The central authority for education in England and Wales is the Ministry of Education.

11. The political head of the Department is the Minister of Education who is normally a member of the Cabinet. He is assisted by a Parliamentary Secretary, who like himself is a member of the Government and sits in Parliament.

12. The Department is staffed by a body of permanent civil servants - with the Permanent Secretary at their head. The staff consists of administrative and other officers whose headquarters are in London, though the branches concerned with teachers' pensions and teachers' salaries are temporarily stationed at Rhyl. There is also a staff of Inspectors (known as His Majesty's Inspectors) whose work lies, in the main, in the areas of the local education authorities. The chief officials working under the Permanent Secretary are two Deputy Secretaries, six Principal Assistant Secretaries, the Accountant General, the Legal Adviser, the Senior Chief Inspector, assisted by six Chief Inspectors, and the Chief Medical Officer, who is also Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, assisted by the Senior Medical Officer who gives his whole time to the Ministry of Education. Besides the Finance Branch, under the Accountant General, and the Legal Branch, under the Legal Adviser, the main branches of the Ministry, each in charge of a Principal Assistant Secretary, are concerned respectively with primary and secondary education, further education, the training, remuneration and pensions of teachers, the medical services, information and external relations, and internal establishment matters.

13. The Welsh Department of the Ministry under its own Permanent Secretary deals with the administration of education in Wales and Monmouthshire and works at the London headquarters. There is a separate Welsh Inspectorate under its own Chief Inspector.

14. The activities of the Inspectorate are so varied and play such an important part in the work of the Ministry that a brief indication of their scope should be given. Broadly speaking, His Majesty's Inspectors have a threefold responsibility:

(a) To inspect, assess and report on the efficiency of schools and other educational institutions. This also involves the assessment of progress in schools and the offering of guidance and help to teachers both individually and in groups - e.g. by organising short courses.

(b) To serve as the local representatives of the Ministry on administrative matters. For instance they act as liaison officers

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between the department, local education authorities and the regional or divisional officers of other government departments; they advise the Ministry from their local knowledge, and they advise local education authorities and other bodies from their knowledge of general policy, on schemes, plans and proposals; while Inspectors with special experience establish and maintain contact with industrial and commercial concerns, professional associations, and bodies conducting technical and commercial examinations.

(c) To act as the expert advisers of the Ministry on matters of educational theory and practice. H.M. Inspectors have a practical knowledge of teaching and of the schools and are expected to keep abreast of educational developments through study, research and travel. The Inspectorate is mainly responsible for the contents of any pamphlets or handbooks issued by the Ministry on general or particular aspects of school practice - e.g. the "Handbook of Suggestions for Teachers" and most of the series of educational pamphlets.

16. The Ministry of Education has no jurisdiction over the universities, and its relations with them are concerned mainly with the training of teachers, the provision of adult education and the award of state scholarships and bursaries. The Ministry is not responsible for "approved schools", formerly known as industrial and reformatory schools, which are under the Home Office, nor for education in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Ministry has a joint responsibility with the Ministry of Agriculture in the field of technical education for agriculture. The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, and the Bethnal Green Museum are under the control of the Ministry of Education, which is also the department responsible to Parliament for expenditure incurred from public funds by C.E.M.A. (the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts).* A library, the most comprehensive of its kind in the country, of English and foreign educational books and periodicals is housed in the Ministry's central office, and is open to students and the public.

17. The Ministry does not provide, own or directly control any educational institution†; it does not prescribe, compile or publish text-books for use in educational institutions, nor does it employ or pay any teachers.† Public educational institutions are locally provided, *The Council has now been reconstituted as "The Arts Council of Great Britain" and will in future receive grant direct from the Treasury.

†The "emergency" training colleges for teachers form, to some degree, an exception to this statement (see paragraphs 133-5), as does the Royal College of Art, which, although it is governed by its own Council, is maintained by the Ministry of Education.

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maintained and controlled with the financial assistance and advice of the central authority.

18. There are 146 local education authorities in England and Wales. These consist of 62 counties and 83 county boroughs, besides one joint board representing the areas of a county and a borough (the Soke of Peterborough and Peterborough).*

19. The county and county borough councils are local government bodies locally elected which are concerned with many other services besides education. Their powers in this respect date from the beginning of the present century.

20. Each local education authority must establish one or more education committees to which it entrusts its educational work, with the exception of certain financial transactions. At least a majority of any such committee must be members of the council, but it is a requirement that the committee must include persons of experience in education and persons acquainted with the educational conditions in the area. In practice, education committees usually contain a substantial proportion of persons who are not members of the council.

21. Each local education authority has an executive officer called the chief education officer. Most authorities employ organisers for certain subjects such as physical education, and a few also have inspectors of schools for their own purposes. An authority must consult the Minister before appointing a chief education officer by submitting particulars of the persons from whom it proposes to make a final selection, and the Minister has power to remove names which he regards as unsuitable from the list.

22. Every local education authority is responsible for seeing that there is a full range of educational provision in its own area throughout the three stages of primary, secondary and further education.

DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS IN COUNTY AREAS

23. Although the county and county borough councils are now the only local education authorities in England and Wales, they are not the only local authorities. Each county area is divided into a number of smaller areas called county districts, each of which has a locally elected council with certain powers - e.g. in regard to housing and certain aspects of public health. These county districts consist of boroughs, urban districts and rural districts.

24. One hundred and fifty-two of these borough councils and seventeen urban district councils were at the time of the passing of the

*The Minister has power to combine the areas of two or more county or county borough councils (and in certain cases the areas of a county and a borough council), for reasons of economy and efficiency, into a joint education board consisting of representatives of the councils concerned.

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Education Act, 1944, autonomous authorities for elementary education only, the county council being responsible for secondary and other forms of higher education in these areas. The educational powers and duties of these smaller authorities dated, like those of the counties and county boroughs, from the Act of 1902. Under this Act, limited educational powers covering elementary education only were granted to any borough with a population of over 10,000 at the census of 1901 and to any urban district with a population of 20,000 or over. These authorities were sometimes called Part III authorities because their powers derived from Part III of the Act of 1902.

25. For many years there have been obvious disadvantages in a system under which responsibility for different types of publicly aided education has been divided in the same area. This division of responsibility has been a barrier to proper unity in educational organisation, and the effects of this barrier became more noticeable and more serious as the senior stage of elementary education developed many of the characteristics of true secondary education.

26. A second defect was that the determination of the authorities for elementary education by population figures as they were over forty years ago led to incongruous results as populations increased or shifted. One urban district, for instance, with an estimated population in 1938 of 183,000 had no educational powers at all because its population in 1901 was under 20,000; while a borough with a population of less than 10,000 in 1938 remained an authority for elementary education because in 1901 its population exceeded that figure.

27. On the other hand the areas of most counties are too large to enable a centralised administration to keep in close touch with local circumstances and to secure fully the benefits of local knowledge and initiative. In order to preserve and extend such knowledge and initiative, the Act of 1944, while abolishing the autonomous Part III local education authorities, made provision for the delegation of certain of the functions of county councils to specially constituted "divisional executives". These executives are individual county districts (i.e. boroughs and urban or rural districts) or combinations of them or of parts of them, and the functions delegated to the executives by the county councils relate normally to primary and secondary education.*

28. Every county council, except those† exempted by the Minister (usually on account of their sparsity of population) from the obligation to set up divisional executives, was required under the Act to prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme of delegation, after consultation with the district councils concerned. The Minister recommended county councils, in. selecting areas where divisional executives should be established, to choose those which would provide a reasonable

*With the consent of the Minister functions relating to further education may also be delegated.

†13 in England and 9 in Wales.

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educational unit for primary and secondary education and possessed, or offered prospects of possessing before long, a community of interest; it was not necessary for the whole of a county to be covered by divisional executives.

29. Borough and urban district councils with a population immediately before the war of not less than 60,000, or with not less than 7,000 elementary school pupils, were given the right under the Act to be excepted if they wished from the scheme prepared by the county council and to prepare their own scheme of delegation in respect of primary and secondary education.* These "excepted districts", as they are called, form a special class of divisional executives. District councils with a population of less than the specified size, if they could show that there were special circumstances affecting their area, could also apply to the Minister to become excepted districts. Of the 47 councils with a population of the specified size 38 have exercised their right to become excepted districts. Seven other district councils were granted the right by the Minister owing to their special circumstances.

30. In excepted districts the borough or urban district council is the divisional executive. In other cases the executive is usually an ad hoc body specially constituted by the scheme of divisional administration, and it consists of 20-30 people made up of representatives of the district councils concerned (who form the majority) and of the local education authority, and also a number of co-opted members having experience of education generally or of the educational needs of the particular area.

31. The functions of the divisional executives vary in different areas. In some cases, especially in excepted districts, the executive carries out most, though not all, of those functions of the local education authority which relate to primary and secondary education: in others the delegation is much less extensive. There are, of course, certain functions which the local education authority is bound to retain, such as the power to borrow money or raise a rate and therefore, by implication, the ultimate control of expenditure; and general responsibility for formulating the educational policy of the area within the national framework.

32. Voluntary bodies have played and continue to play a distinctive part in the provision and development of educational facilities. In almost every grade of education there are voluntary agencies at work as well as the statutory local education authorities. Such bodies provide, for instance, nursery schools, special schools (for handicapped children), primary schools, secondary schools, technical schools, training colleges, community centres, youth clubs and adult education classes. The nature and extent of the financial assistance given to

*With the consent of the Minister functions relating to further education may also be delegated.

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voluntary bodies by local education authorities and by the central authority vary considerably.

33. In addition to schools provided by voluntary bodies, there are a number of educational institutions provided by private individuals. These independent schools, though they may if they wish be inspected by a local education authority, or by the Ministry, receive no financial aid from either. The registration of all independent schools by the Ministry of Education and their inspection will, however, in due course become compulsory under the 1944 Act.

34. A very large proportion of the expenditure on education is met out of public funds, that is, money provided by Parliament out of taxes and by local education authorities out of local rates. The amount of grant paid to local education authorities by the Ministry of Education out of money provided by Parliament is related to the amount of net expenditure which is recognisable for grant, and for the year 1944-45 was in total equal to rather more than half this expenditure, though there is considerable variation in the rate of grant for individual areas.

35. As from 1st April, 1945, the standard percentage of Exchequer grant payable to each authority has been increased by 5. In addition, substantial additional grants are payable to the authorities for the poorer and more sparsely populated areas, while the school milk and meals service attracts specially high rates of grant.

36. Direct grants are paid by the Ministry to certain institutions provided by voluntary bodies - for example, to certain training colleges, grammar schools, institutions for technical and adult education, special schools, nursery schools and youth organisations.

37. The conditions under which grants are paid and the methods under which they are calculated are laid down in various bodies of statutory regulations issued by the Ministry. These regulations are of a general character and it is the Ministry's policy to give to local authorities and to teachers a large measure of freedom in the actual conduct of the schools.

38. An educational institution is said to be "grant aided" or in receipt of public aid when it either receives direct grant from the Ministry of Education or is financially supported by a local education authority out of rate fund monies. In the latter case, it is usually receiving aid indirectly from the Ministry inasmuch as the Ministry pays grant to local education authorities based on their approved expenditure.

39. Fuller details of the finance of the public educational system are given in Appendix II. A Memorandum is published each year on the Ministry's Estimates which includes an analysis of the expenditure on education for the year and a comparison of it with that for previous years.

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40. The structure of primary and secondary education under Part II of the 1944 Act, which came into force on the 1st April, 1945, is simple in principle. Broadly speaking, it is intended that free primary education (including nursery provision for children under 5) and free secondary education of various types shall be available for all children. Each local education authority has the duty of securing that efficient education throughout these stages shall be available to meet the needs of the population of the area.

41. To fulfil these duties, each authority is first required to make a comprehensive survey of the existing provision and of the present and prospective needs of its area and to submit to the Minister, normally by the 1st April, 1946, a "development plan" which gives a complete picture of the proposed lay-out. This plan will indicate the future organisation, the nature of the education to be given in the various types of secondary school and the alterations to the premises needed to bring all the primary and secondary schools up to the standards which the Minister has prescribed in building regulations. When the Minister has approved the plan, he will make an "education order" for the area, which will specify in detail the various steps the authority will be required to take by way, for instance, of maintaining existing schools, improving existing schools and providing new schools, and will also prescribe a time-table for these steps.

42. Quite apart from the war-time shortages of labour and materials for new buildings, and the equally acute shortage of teachers, both of which must inevitably delay immediate progress, some time will be taken by the necessary planning before the new organisation of primary and secondary education can be fully reflected in the schools. It will therefore be appropriate to give some account of the system of elementary and secondary education as it stood before the 1st April, 1945, and from which the new system will be developed, before describing the new lay-out in greater detail.

43. Rather more than 5,000,000 children, equally divided between girls and boys, now (1945) attend publicly maintained primary, and secondary schools. About 4,500,000 of these are attending schools which were until recently public elementary schools. Prior to the

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operation of the new Act, the public elementary school was the only type of school which was not allowed to charge fees: that is to say it had to provide free education (including books, stationery and apparatus) for any child wishing to take advantage of it.

PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE

44. From the point of view of provision, there were two types of public elementary school. Those provided by a local education authority, of which there were about 10,360, were called provided schools or council schools; while those schools, numbering about 10,550, which were provided (i.e. built and kept structurally in repair) by a voluntary body, were called non-provided or voluntary schools. The great majority of these voluntary schools have been provided by religious bodies, particularly the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. The number of children in council schools at the beginning of the war was about 3,500,000 and the number in voluntary schools about 1,500,000.

45. The cost of maintenance of all public elementary schools, both council and voluntary, was borne by the local education authorities. "Maintenance" included the salaries of teachers, expenditure on lighting, heating and so on; but the local education authority was not allowed to meet the cost of provision - i.e. building, structural repairs (other than those necessitated by fair wear and tear), etc. - of a voluntary school, this being the responsibility of the voluntary body.*

APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

46. In voluntary schools the appointment of teachers,* as distinct from the payment of their salaries, and the provision of religious instruction, which naturally conformed to the tenets of the body providing the school, fell to the managers of the school, the majority of whom represented this body. Local education authorities were empowered, but not compelled, to provide religious instruction in council schools, but it was a requirement that it should not be distinctive of any particular religious denomination.

ORGANISATION

47. The public elementary school, before its name became obsolete on the 31st March, 1945, had progressed a long way since the Act of 1870 which first made it obligatory for elementary schools to be universally provided throughout the country. Not only have standards of accommodation and educational practice for younger children progressed immeasurably since those days, but when the minimum leaving age was fixed at fourteen without exemptions in 1918, it soon became clear that "elementary" education was a misnomer for the requirements of children over 11; and changes in organisation and

*The Education Act 1936 empowered local education authorities for a limited period and under certain conditions to make grants towards the cost of building, enlarging, or improving a voluntary school for senior children. The Act made special provision for the appointment of teachers in such schools. See also para. 83.

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developments in building and teaching standards have taken place to meet the new educational realities. In fact for nearly twenty years it has been the policy of the central department and the local education authorities to make a clear distinction between primary and post-primary education within the elementary school system.

48. The result has been to create self-contained primary schools, which in turn are sometimes subdivided into infant schools and junior schools, and a number of quite distinct post-primary schools for children between the ages of 11 and 14 or 15. This process of subdivision has been called "reorganisation" or "Hadow reorganisation", after the 1926 report of the Board of Education Consultative Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Hadow, which has already been mentioned. These post-primary schools have generally been called senior schools, though in some areas alternative names such as central* schools (since in rural areas they draw their pupils from a wide geographical area) and modern schools have been used. Unfortunately this process of reorganisation was by no means completed before the war, for reasons which are explained in the next chapter.

CURRICULUM

49. The central department did not prescribe what subjects should be taught, though it was of course able through H.M. Inspectors to secure the general suitability of the school curriculum in practice. The subjects taught to older children in public elementary schools generally included religious instruction, the English language (as well as in Wales the Welsh language†), handwriting, arithmetic, drawing, nature study, geography, history, science, music, hygiene, physical education and handicraft (e.g. woodwork and metalwork for boys: and for girls, housecraft, including needlework, cookery and laundry work). Gardening and other outdoor pursuits have been increasingly included, particularly in rural areas, while older children might in some cases learn a foreign language.

50. The term "secondary" is now a generic term used to describe a variety of types of post-primary school for children of 11 years and over. Until the passing of the 1944 Act, however, it was used in a more specialised sense to denote a particular type of post-primary school now called the grammar school.

51. The movement out of which the elementary school system arose dates from about 1800, and for over 100 years (since 1833) the central authority have made grants in some form or other in aid of elementary

*The term "central school" has also in the past been used to describe a particular type of urban senior elementary school admitting pupils on a selective basis.

†See "Language Teaching in Primary Schools" Pamphlet No. 1 of the Welsh Department, Ministry of Education. H.M.S.O., price 9d. (by post 10d.).

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schools. Financial assistance from the State and local authorities, however, for grammar school education is of much more recent origin, dating from about 1900. Nevertheless secondary education of this kind unaided by the State and unrelated to publicly elected bodies has a long history going back many hundreds of years.

52. Provided and Aided Schools. The main provision numerically of grammar schools consists of schools provided or aided by the local education authorities since 1902. The provided schools were generally called municipal or county schools, but the latter term (as will be explained later) has now been extended to cover all primary and secondary schools provided by local education authorities as distinct from the voluntary schools which are only maintained by the authorities. Prior to the 1st April, 1945, the aid given by local education authorities to the voluntary grammar schools varied greatly in kind and degree in proportion to the resources of the school foundation.

53. Direct-Grant Schools. There are also a number of grammar schools which have received grant aid not from the local education authorities but from the central authority. These were, and continue to be, called direct-grant schools. Many of these, and also of the schools aided by local education authorities, are ancient foundations going back to the sixteenth century or further; but generally speaking they are all predominantly day schools and mainly local in character.

54. Public Schools. Under the general heading of secondary education of the grammar school type must also be included the Public Schools. There is no simple definition of a public school. Most of them are boarding schools and are therefore not local in character. Few of them receive any public aid; and generally speaking they charge higher fees and admit children at a rather later age (about 13) than do other grammar schools. Some of them are very old foundations (e.g. Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Rugby), but many of them (e.g. Wellington, Bradfield, Stowe) have been founded within the past 100 years. As a rule boys who enter one of the public schools have received a preliminary education of about four years' duration in a private preparatory boarding school.

55. There is also a wider sense in which the term "public school" is used to cover all schools whose headmasters are in membership of the Headmasters' Conference. In this sense of the term the majority of the direct-grant day schools are public schools, besides a very small number of schools receiving financial aid from local education authorities.

56. Private Schools. Finally, besides the independent public schools, there are a number of independent schools normally owned or governed by private individuals or groups of individuals, which receive no aid from public funds.

THE INSPECTION AND RECOGNITION OF GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

57. Every secondary school which is in receipt of public aid is inspected by H.M. Inspectors. But some schools which do not desire

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to receive grants, or are not eligible to receive them, nevertheless desire to be inspected; and most of the public schools and many independent secondary schools are so inspected. The Ministry publish a list (List 60) of schools which have been inspected and are regarded as efficient; but it follows, from what has been said above, that some well-known schools are not included in the list because they have not sought inspection. There are about 650,000 pupils in the 1,815 schools mentioned in List 60, of whom not quite half are girls. About 100,000 of these pupils attend schools which do not receive grants from public funds.

PREPARATORY SCHOOLS AND DEPARTMENTS

58. Some of the grammar schools have up to the present had preparatory departments attached to them to which children have been admitted at about 8 or 9 years of age or earlier. These, so far as schools maintained by the local education authorities are concerned, will disappear with the reorganisation of primary and secondary education under the 1944 Act. There are also a number of separate "preparatory schools" which provide for children between 8 or 9 and 13 or 14 years of age. The majority of these are independent schools, and the purpose of many of them, particularly of those which are boarding schools, is to prepare boys for the public schools. Preparatory schools may, on application, be inspected by H.M. Inspectors and recognised by the Ministry as efficient, but they do not receive any grant.

GIRLS' GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

59. The history of grammar schools for girls is very different from that for boys. Few of them have been in existence for a hundred years, though many "Private Academies" existed as long ago as that. But the present organisation of girls' schools does not differ materially from that of boys' schools, and the previous paragraphs may be taken to cover girls' schools as well as boys', except those where history is involved or where boys are specially mentioned.

FEES

60. An important distinction between the public elementary school and the secondary grammar school prior to the operation of the 1944 Act was that while the former were free, all publicly aided grammar schools were required to charge fees since 1933. Before then tuition fees showed wide variations, and in some schools no fees were charged. Under the regulations in force from 1933 to the end of March, 1945, the fees charged, though not uniform, amounted on the average to some £11 or £12 a year, a sum which was roughly equivalent to one-third of the gross cost of education in those schools. Every school was required to offer annually a minimum number of entrance scholarships, known as free or special places, to pupils from public elementary schools, and might offer additional special places open to pupils from any school. Special places entitled the scholars to total or partial remission of fees according to their parents' means. Rather fewer than half the pupils paid full fees.

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CURRICULUM AND EXAMINATIONS

61. Normally the grammar schools provide, besides religious instruction, for the study of the English language and literature, at least one foreign language, geography, history, mathematics, and science. Drawing, singing, physical education (including organised games) manual instruction for boys, and housecraft for girls, are also included in the curriculum. In practice there is considerable freedom in regard to the planning of the instruction and in some schools special courses are provided which are related to the needs of pupils who will enter industry or commerce. An increasing proportion of the pupils in grand aided secondary schools remain beyond the age of 16, and take advanced courses of instruction which provide a more specialised type of education and may cover a further period of two years. It is customary for pupils to take an examination at about the age of 16, generally called the "school certificate examination" or "first examination"; a "higher certificate examination" or "second examination" is taken by many of those who stay on at school till a later age. These examinations are conducted by eight university bodies approved by the Ministry. Both examinations are accepted by universities in England and Wales, under varying conditions, in lieu of their entrance examinations. Some universities do not allow exemption from their entrance examination on performance in the school certificate examination alone but require a pass in this examination and a specified standard in the higher certificate examination; others allow exemption on the basis of performance in the school certificate or higher certificate examination alone. The higher certificate is accepted by some universities as exempting from a part or the whole of the intermediate examination for a university degree and both certificates under certain conditions exempt from the preliminary examinations for entry to many of the professions.

62. Changes in the curriculum of the secondary grammar schools, and a radical revision of the examination system, have been recommended by the Norwood Committee in a report published in 1943*.

63. This type of school dates from about 1905. It was planned to give a two or three year course from about the age of 13, offering a good general education associated with preparation for entry to one or other of the main branches of industry or commerce; but there has been no narrow vocational specialisation. Until the operation of the 1944 Act these schools were regarded as part of the provision made by local education authorities for vocational education. They are now more properly regarded as secondary schools. Their number has not in the past been large, but has grown remarkably in recent years, including war-time,† and more will be said about them in the next chapter.

*"The Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools." H.M.S.O., price 1s. 6d. (by post 1s. 8d.).

†The number of pupils attending these schools in 1938 was about 30,000; in 1944, 58,000.

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64. An immediate consequence of the simplification of the administrative structure by the 1944 Act is that the Minister can codify his requirements as regards primary and secondary schools in a way which was previously impossible. For instance there are now in force building regulations which lay down in detail consistent standards of accommodation for the various types of primary school and secondary school maintained by local education authorities. All new schools will have to conform to these standards, which will also be applied, so far as possible, to existing schools, some of which will need to be completely replaced, while others will be capable of the necessary enlargement or improvement. The regulations prescribe the minimum sizes of sites and playing fields and the minimum sizes and numbers of classrooms, practical rooms, laboratories, gymnasia, school halls, and so on, while leaving considerable freedom of choice and layout to those responsible for the actual planning of the schools.

65. Comprehensive primary and secondary school regulations have also been made prescribing the general conditions under which the Ministry's grants are payable. Some of these regulations apply generally to all primary and secondary schools; others relate to special categories of schools such as direct-grant schools. Examples of the requirements of the regulations are those governing the maximum size of classes (15 for children under 3, 30 for children between 3 and 5, 40 for children between 5 and 11, and 30 for all children of secondary school age), those governing the appointment, dismissal and recognition of teachers, and the requirements as to hours of school attendance and the maximum number and minimum aggregate length of school terms.

66. The question of teachers' salaries is dealt with in a later chapter, but it may be mentioned here that all qualified teachers in primary and secondary schools now receive a standard basic scale, additional payments being made in respect of special qualifications or responsibilities.

MANAGING AND GOVERNING BODIES

67. All primary schools must now have a duly appointed body of managers and all secondary schools a body of governors. The powers and duties of these bodies, which vary according to whether the school is a voluntary school or one provided by the local education

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authority, are partly defined in the Act and in the regulations and partly left to definition in the light of local circumstances.

THE LAW OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

68. School attendance, as such, has never been compulsory in England and Wales. As the law stood up to the end of March, 1945, the parent was simply required to cause his child to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic from the age of 5 until the end of the school term in which the child reached 14 years of age. The present law illustrates the new conception of education which runs through the 1944 Act. The parent is now responsible for causing his child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude within the age limits of compulsory school attendance. These limits remain unchanged for the time being. The Act provides that the age shall be raised to 15 not later than the 1st April, 1947, and by a further step to 16 directly the Minister is satisfied that sufficient teachers and buildings are available. The age would have risen to 15 automatically under the Act on the 1st April, 1945, had it been possible to provide teaching staff and buildings by then. The war situation made this impossible (a contingency foreseen in the Act) and the Minister therefore exercised his powers by making an Order postponing this step.

FEES

69. No fees may now be charged for tuition in any type of primary or secondary school maintained by a local education authority; though boarding fees may be charged in accordance with the means of the parent. Free tuition includes the free provision of books and any necessary equipment and apparatus. The arrangements for direct-grant schools, in which fees are not entirely prohibited, are dealt with more fully below. (Paras. 91-93.)

70. In the following sections a brief account is given of the proposed organisation of the different types of primary and secondary schools. Further information will be found in "The Nation's Schools".*

NURSERY SCHOOLS AND CLASSES

71. The term "primary education" covers all educational provision for children of 11 years and under, including those below the compulsory school age. In the past special provision has been made for these younger children in most areas, particularly in large towns, generally by way of "nursery classes" forming part of the ordinary public elementary school. This type of provision has been widely used in war-time to meet the needs of women war workers. Local education authorities have also had the power to provide separate nursery schools for children between 2 and 5 years of age, and some such schools have been provided by voluntary bodies.

*Now out of print.

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72. It is now the duty of each local education authority to make special provision for these younger children, where it is likely to be needed, by means of nursery schools or, where such schools are considered to be inexpedient, by means of nursery classes. A preference is thus given to the separate and self-contained nursery school, which will wherever possible be small, containing not more than about forty children. Their proposals for nursery provision will be included by local education authorities in the development plans which they must submit to the Minister (see paragraph 41).

INFANT AND JUNIOR SCHOOLS

73. No substantial changes in the organisation of these schools are contemplated, but the general improvement in standards of accommodation and the reduction in the size of classes to a maximum of 40 in the first instance (and to a lower figure when circumstances permit), which will take place as soon as teachers become available, will do much to assist them to provide a more flexible education in line with modern educational thought. The junior school, in particular, has been hampered in the past by the special place examination at 11 for admission to the secondary grammar schools. This examination has necessarily been competitive, since only about 10 per cent of elementary school children have been transferred to grammar schools. As secondary education becomes available for all children, it will be necessary for local authorities to devise new methods of determining for children at the age of 11 the types of secondary education which are best suited to their needs.

74. The key-note of the new system is that, so far as is possible, all children should receive the type of education best suited to their abilities and aptitudes. In order to fulfil this principle in the field of secondary education it is intended that there should be three main alternative types of education open to children of 11 and over; that given by the grammar school, by the modern school or by the technical school. The grammar school has already been described; the modern school will be a development of the senior elementary school of the best type, offering a general education closely related to the interests and environment of the pupils and with a wide range covering the literary as well as the practical aspects of life.

75. The secondary technical schools will be developed from the junior technical and similar schools, which have already been mentioned. These schools will continue to give a general education largely related to one or other of the main branches of industry (including agriculture) or commerce. Schools of this type, quite apart from their value from the industrial point of view, will meet the needs of boys and girls with a practical turn of mind, and through their relations with industry and commerce they will give a sense of reality and objective which makes a direct appeal to young people of this kind and develops not merely their practical but their intellectual interests in a way that a more academic type of education could not do.

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76. The three types of secondary education will not necessarily be provided in separate schools. They may in, some cases be provided in a single "multilateral" school. In any case free interchange of pupils from one type to another will be made as easy as possible, and the decision as to the type of education which was made at the age of about 11 will be reviewed at 13 and even later.

BOARDING SCI-IOOLS

77. One particular development provided for under the new Act is an extension of the powers of local education authorities to provide a boarding school education for children, whatever their parents' means, living in their areas. This may be done either by paying the fees of a pupil at an existing boarding school, or by the provision by the local education authority or by a group of authorities of boarding schools of their own.*

CAMP SCHOOLS

78. It may be mentioned here that before the war a number of urban education authorities had established camp schools in the country to which they sent parties of school children for short periods under holiday or semi-holiday conditions with teachers to supervise them and to give such instruction as was desirable. Under the Camps Act, 1939, a number of permanent hutted camps were set up by the National Camps Corporation, financed by the Government, to be available for this purpose, or alternatively to provide emergency accommodation in the event of war. In practice, during the war these camps were put at the disposal of local education authorities for use as boarding schools as part of the arrangements for housing children evacuated from the more vulnerable areas. As the operation of the evacuation scheme is brought to an end, these camps are being made available to local education authorities for use as camp schools of the peace time sort.

79. The complexities of the educational system, as of many other institutions in England and Wales, are largely due to the prominent part played by voluntary bodies in the pioneering stage. When the time came for the State to undertake fuller responsibility for the educational service it has naturally been reluctant to prejudice, merely for the sake of administrative tidiness, the traditional rights of such bodies or destroy the variety which their schools provide in the system as a whole. This reluctance is all the greater where religious beliefs and freedom of conscience are involved.

80. These factors have operated particularly strongly in regard to

*This subject is dealt with fully in the Fleming Report, "The Public Schools and the General Educational System." H.M.S.O., price 1s. 6d. (by post 1s. 8d.).

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the voluntary schools, especially within the elementary system; with the result that it will be necessary to describe the position in some detail in order to give an adequate idea of the new relations between the voluntary schools, the local authorities, and the central department.

THE DUAL SYSTEM

81. It has already been explained that there were two categories of public elementary school: the provided or council school, where the local education authority had complete responsibility, both financial and otherwise; and the non-provided or voluntary school, where the provision and upkeep of the school buildings, as well as the appointment of teachers, was the responsibility of the school managers, though the secular instruction was under the control of the local education authority. Religious instruction of a denominational character might, and almost invariably was, given in the voluntary school but was prohibited in the council school. The local education authority was responsible for the maintenance costs in both types of school, i.e. the salaries of the teachers, the cost of educational material and equipment and so on.

82. This system, known as the "dual system", with its legal safeguards and divided responsibilities, gave rise to much complication in administration and seriously retarded educational progress. Not only had the local education authority no effective power to alter the organisation of a voluntary school or to make any adjustment of staffing which might be desirable on grounds of economy or efficiency, but (and this was the most serious obstacle to progress) the denominations concerned - mainly the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church - found it quite impossible to finance the improvements which were necessary in order that their school buildings, over 90 per cent of which date from before the present century, should reach or approach modern standards, or to build the new senior schools required for the reorganisation of the elementary school system. In 1939 for instance over 60 per cent of children over 11 in council schools were in special senior schools or departments, but the corresponding figure for voluntary schools was only 16 per cent.

SPECIAL AGREEMENT SCHOOLS

83. The difficulties of reorganisation were partly met by the Education Act of 1936 which enabled, but did not compel, local education authorities for a limited period to pay from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the cost of new voluntary school building for senior children. The response was only partial. Five hundred and nineteen proposals were put forward, covering about a third of all the senior children in voluntary schools, but only 37 of these materialised owing to the intervention of the war. The 1944 Act enables the remaining proposals, modified if necessary to meet new conditions imposed by war damage or town planning or by the new educational requirements, to be revived under broadly the same conditions as before. Schools

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provided under this scheme will in future be called "special agreement schools".

THE VOLUNTARY GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

84. In the field' of the grammar schools there was no dual system as such, the relationship between governing bodies and local education authorities being very much looser and less formal than that between managers of voluntary schools and the authorities. The financial assistance which authorities gave to voluntary grammar schools, though often very substantial, took a variety of forms and there was in law nothing to prevent such assistance being withdrawn.

CONTROLLED AND AIDED SCHOOLS

85. The 1944 Act has dealt with the problem of both voluntary elementary and voluntary grammar schools by offering all of them (except those which become special agreement schools) the choice of two alternatives. It has also stabilised nomenclature, all non-provided schools, whether primary or secondary, being termed "voluntary schools" and all schools provided by the local education authorities "county schools".*

86. The alternatives offered to the managers or governors of primary and secondary voluntary schools are as follows.

(a) If the managers† find themselves unable or unwilling to meet half the cost of the alterations and improvements needed to bring the buildings up to standard, and of the continuing external repair of the fabric, all financial obligations pass to the authority. The power of appointing and dismissing teachers also passes to the authority, subject to the right of the managers to make representations with respect to the person proposed to be appointed as headmaster or headmistress and to the right of the foundation managers to be satisfied as to the appointment of a proportion of the teachers (called "reserved" teachers), who may give denominational instruction for not more than two periods a week to those children whose parents desire it. Apart from such denominational teaching, the religious instruction must be in accordance with an agreed syllabus.‡ Schools, the managers of which have elected for this alternative, are termed "controlled schools".

(b) Where the managers are able and willing to meet half the cost of alterations, improvements and external repairs, the

‡Syllabus Instruction. In all provided schools and controlled schools, and in certain circumstances in aided schools, undenominational religious instruction must be given in accordance with an "agreed syllabus". The syllabus is decided locally by means of a conference called by the local education authority and consisting of representatives of the religious denominations concerned, the teachers' associations and the authority.

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remaining half is met by a direct grant from the Exchequer. The powers and duties of the managers in regard to the appointment and dismissal of teachers and the giving of denominational religious instruction remain substantially unaltered and denominational religious instruction continues to be given as before, subject to the right of parents who so desire to have their children given agreed syllabus instruction. Schools falling in this category are known as "aided schools".

88. The result of these provisions of the Act is not only to make available the financial assistance needed by the voluntary schools to enable their premises to be brought up to modern standards and enable these schools to play a full and effective part in the primary and secondary school system, but also to ensure that they retain liberty for the teaching of the tenets of the Church with which they are associated by teachers of their own faith. The appointment of teachers in controlled schools by the local education authority reduces the field of religious tests for teachers, while the provision of agreed syllabus religious instruction in controlled schools and, when necessary, in aided schools, meets the needs of parents of other faiths in areas which are served by a single voluntary school.

89. It may be mentioned here that it is now a statutory requirement that in all county and voluntary schools, both primary and secondary, the day should begin with a collective act of worship and that religious instruction should be given. Children must be excused from attendance at either at the request of their parents.

90. Time is given for the managers or governors to elect which alternative they will choose and for the necessary negotiations to be completed with the local education authority or the Ministry of Education, so that the authority may have the position clear in time for the submission of its development plan to the Minister. As the local education authorities have in any case been meeting the full maintenance costs of schools which were previously voluntary elementary schools, no special problem arises in the case of these schools during the interim period. Most of the voluntary grammar schools, however, and a few junior technical schools received only partial aid from the local authority. The disappearance of income

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from fees has meant that special financial assistance from the local education authority has become necessary until the new status of the school is determined and the authority take over full maintenance.

DIRECT-GRANT SCHOOLS

91. Several types of institution receive grant direct from the Ministry of Education, among them a small number of nursery schools provided by voluntary bodies, a number of special schools for handicapped children (which are dealt with in a later chapter), and many of the institutions for training teachers. What is most often meant, however, by the term direct-grant school, is one of the grammar schools, numbering something over 230, which have, since 1927, been aided in this way by the central department on a capitation basis on condition that a proportion of their pupils (usually 25 per cent) should be admitted from public elementary schools either free of charge to their parents, or on the same terms as special place holders in provided or aided schools.

92. The Fleming Report on the Public Schools* made certain recommendations for linking these direct-grant grammar schools more closely with the publicly aided system. The Minister has in the main adopted these recommendations. In future in order to be included in the direct-grant list a grammar school must offer not less than 25 per cent of its places to non-fee-paying pupils from grant aided primary schools who may be selected by the governors or selected and paid for by one or more local education authorities. Further, the school must put at the disposal of the local education authority (if it wishes to use them) for any area served by the school "reserved" places to be filled at the nomination of the authority; the governors will not be obliged to allocate more than 50 per cent of their annual vacancies as free or reserved places, but they will be able to exceed this aggregate percentage if they wish. The fees of pupils nominated to fill reserved places will be paid by the local education authority or authorities concerned. The required proportion of free places may be included in this 50 per cent if they are filled under this arrangement.

93. A school may charge approved fees to the pupils filling the remainder of the places, but the criterion in selecting pupils to fill these places must be ability and aptitude to profit from the education provided by the school. Parents of these children may apply for a remission of fees in accordance with an approved income scale. Grant is paid to the governors by the Ministry at the rate of £16 a year per pupil for all pupils in the school between the ages of 10 and 19. Where parents receive a remission of fees the Ministry also pays the difference between the fees actually paid and the approved fee.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

94. The public boarding schools for both boys and girls are, as has

*H.M.S.O., price 1s. 6d. (by post 1s. 8d.).

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been mentioned above, independent of the central department in the sense that they are not controlled or grant aided, though the majority of them in fact invite inspection by H.M. Inspectors. It has, however, been felt in many quarters that the reconstruction of the educational system offered opportunities for linking these schools more closely with the publicly aided system. Consequently a Committee (the Fleming Committee) was appointed by the Minister to consider this question and in its report published in 1944 recommended that a system of association should be established which would enable a gradually increasing proportion of children from primary schools to be admitted to the public schools without cost to their parents or at reduced fees.

95. In brief the Committee suggested that those boarding schools not conducted for private profit which wished to do so might undertake to admit annually a minimum of 25 per cent of pupils from grant aided primary schools. The children would be selected by specially constituted regional interviewing boards and a central advisory committee appointed by the Minister of Education. Fees would be paid by means of bursaries awarded by the Ministry, or, if they wished, by local education authorities.

96. No decision has yet (May, 1945) been reached on these recommendations. At the same time the Act makes it possible for any local education authority to provide a boarding school education for boys and girls living in its area for whom it regards such an education as suitable, either by providing boarding school accommodation itself or by paying fees at an existing boarding school.

97. The general duties of each local education authority in relation to further education are, to quote the Education Act (section 41): "to secure the provision for their area of adequate facilities for further education, that is to say:

(a) full-time and part-time education for persons over compulsory school age; and

(b) leisure-time occupation, in such organised cultural training and recreative activities as are suited to their requirements, for any persons over compulsory school age who are able and willing to profit by the facilities provided for that purpose."

(i) technical, commercial and art education - i.e. vocational education;
(ii) non-vocational education for young people and adults;
(iii) county colleges;
(iv) the youth service.

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99. Prior to the 1944 Act the provision of further education was a power and not a duty of the local education authorities, and two needs became apparent in the pre-war period - the need for the further development of vocational education in the sphere of industry, commerce and art, and the need to create a more extensive and flexible system of cultural and recreative facilities for adolescents and adults.

100. The Act meets these needs in two ways. A measure of compulsory part-time attendance will be introduced for young people under 18 who have left school; and local authorities will, subject to the direction of the Minister, be under an obligation to submit and operate schemes for developing vocational, cultural and recreative facilities in their areas. An important requirement of the Act is that in preparing and operating these schemes authorities must consult and co-operate with neighbouring authorities and with the universities and other bodies concerned.

101. Provision made under this head is of a very varied and extensive kind, designed to meet the equally varied and extensive demands for vocational instruction. Three facts should be mentioned at the outset. In the first place attendance is not obligatory for any category of students. Secondly this type of education is, with few exceptions, provided by local educational authorities in the form of technical, commercial and art colleges, either self-contained or combined in a single building, and in evening institutes. Thirdly, the great bulk of the work is on a part-time basis and is still in the main in the form of evening courses.* There has, however, been a steady extension, very marked in certain areas during the war, of the release by employers during working hours of young employees for part-time attendance at technical colleges or similar institutions.† These arrangements are usually made under schemes of training by which experience in the works as an apprentice or learner is correlated with technical studies at the college, but in some cases release is granted for younger employees, mostly under 16 years of age, for the continuance of a general education. In either case wages are paid for the period of attendance. Again, some employers have established their own schools, whether vocational or general. Such arrangements are, however, still the exception rather than the rule.

102. Vocational education being mainly in the form of part-time study after entry into employment and concurrent with it, the volume

*Evening classes have been seriously affected by war-time conditions, but the number of part-time students in 1943-44 was practically at pre-war level, namely over 1,100,000. Full-time students, mainly engaged in vocational courses, at technical colleges and art schools number in 1945 29,000.

†The number released by employers is now (1945) over 66,000 as compared with 41,500 in 1937-38.

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of full-time work is comparatively small. While the larger colleges offer a considerable variety of courses in subjects of an industrial or commercial character, employers, at any rate at present, do not recruit to any large extent from students of this kind who leave the college at the age of about 18 or 19. Generally the preference of industry seems to be either for the entrant at about the age of 16 or for the product of a university. It is clear that there is room for a development of full-time work in the colleges. It seems likely that there will be an increase of "sandwich courses" in which periods of full-time attendance alternate with corresponding periods of employment in a works. Students now following full-time courses do so in the main in preparation for national diplomas conducted on similar lines to national certificates or examinations of professional bodies or the external degree of the University of London.

103. The work of the technical colleges for students in industry falls under two main heads: the training of the technician and that of the craftsman. At the present time provision for the former type is largely through national certificate courses. These are part-time courses conducted under schemes operated jointly by the professional institutions concerned (e.g. the Institution of Mechanical Engineers) and the Ministry of Education, working in close conjunction with the various technical colleges. The essentials of the scheme are a course proposed by a college and approved jointly by the institution and the Ministry, and a final examination set and marked by the college, but subject to a scrutiny by assessors appointed by the institution. On the results of this examination and on the student's record throughout the course the certificate is awarded by the institution and the Ministry. The normal length of course for the ordinary certificate is three years usually covering the years 16 to 19, with a total on the average of about 200 hours a year; and for the higher certificate a further two years.*

104. In describing this aspect of the technical college work as the training of the technician it is not intended to convey that the colleges are unconcerned with work of a professional type. A substantial number of students prepare for the examination of such bodies as the Institute of Bankers and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, while several other professional institutions recognise the national certificates for exemption under certain conditions from their own examination requirements. In many other ways the colleges are concerned, and will probably be more and more concerned, with studies of a high, and indeed a post-graduate, standard.

105. The technical colleges, and, in the larger centres, branch technical institutes, also offer a wide range of craft courses, very frequently in

*Schemes are in operation for mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, building, chemistry, naval architecture, textiles, commerce, civil engineering and production engineering, for the last two of which schemes for a higher certificate only are in operation. For the first three there are also national diploma schemes. 3,646 ordinary and 1,261 higher national certificates were awarded to part-time students in 1943. Schemes for physics and metallurgy come into operation in September, 1945.

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preparation for the examinations of the City and Guilds of London Institute, a body which has had a great influence on the character and growth of provision for the skilled craftsman. An essential part in the examination system is also played by regional unions such as the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes.

106. Vocational courses in commercial subjects are provided by commercial departments of technical colleges or, in some cases, in self-contained institutions; and the broad outline of vocational education is completed by the art colleges and art schools. These make a considerable contribution to industries such as textiles, pottery, or glass, in which design is an important element. It may be added that teaching in art schools is generally speaking on a more individual basis than in technical colleges and there are no examinations corresponding to the national certificates. The Ministry of Education, however, itself conducts examinations which have been modified from time to time to bring them more into line with the growing importance attached to industrial art.

107. This, then, is the core of the educational system related to industry, not perhaps superficially as imposing as the large scale schemes of full-time education such as are found in many foreign countries, but related closely to the needs and characteristics of the individual industry and the individual student and reacting rapidly to changing industrial conditions. These relations and reactions are helped by the common practice of setting up advisory committees, representative of the industry or trade, to work with the various departments of a technical college. A further link is provided by the fact that members of the full-time staff have usually had experience of works or offices and that of the large number of part-time teachers employed a considerable proportion are occupying responsible industrial or commercial positions.

(a) PROVISION MADE BY LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES

108. Further education of a non-vocational character is undertaken either by local education authorities or by universities and certain voluntary bodies. From one point of view the two services are distinct, but the need for co-ordination of the work at the adult stage and of co-operation between the local education authorities and the other agencies is now generally recognised and, as was indicated at the beginning of this chapter, finds expression in the Education Act.

109. Non-vocational education between the age of leaving school and the age of about 18 is almost entirely in the hands of the local education authorities. For many years it was normally given in evening institutes which also provided courses preliminary to entry to a technical or similar institution. In London and increasingly in

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other centres it has, however, become the practice to offer wider and often special facilities for those who do not want a vocational, or even a pre-vocational course, but wish to study a subject, or pursue a craft, for its own sake, or, again, to take part in organised social activities, gymnastics, or games. It may be remarked that when county colleges (see paragraphs 119, 120) are established it is certain that this type of provision will greatly increase and the boy or girl will naturally find it in the county college which he or she attends.

110. Along with the increase in non-vocational classes and other activities for young people there has been a growth of provision of a parallel kind for older people. Some of this work is comparable with that done under the adult education movement described in the following section, but it has been recognised over a number of years that there is a growing need for much wider and more varied facilities for adults than those confined to serious study and discussion. The Physical Training and Recreation Act of 1937, for instance, made public money available for the provision both by local education authorities and voluntary bodies of playing fields and other facilities for physical recreation.

111. A more recent development has been the decision of the Government that the provision of community centres where men and women can meet for social and educational purposes and for recreation should be regarded as coming within the scope of the education service. Local education authorities are now expected to review the needs of their areas and provide such centres, which will have buildings of their own and full-time staff.*

(b) PROVISION MADE BY UNIVERSITIES AND VOLUNTARY BODIES

112. This is a very important body of educational provision, more than 3,700 courses of this kind having been provided in 1942-3. These courses are complementary to the facilities offered to adult students by local education authorities. The courses are explicitly designed to promote liberal education and serious study and are provided by the universities and university colleges (working through extra-mural organisations) and by voluntary bodies, of which the most important for this purpose is the Workers' Educational Association.

113. The correlation of these services with those provided by the local education authorities opens up the prospect of an adult education service which will be more general in its appeal and more varied in the resources it offers than it has ever been in the past. Among significant contributions to this development are the success of the educational work undertaken in the fighting forces, and the activities of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts.

114. The work carried out by the voluntary bodies is co-ordinated in

*See "Community Centres", H.M.S.O., price 9d. (by post 10d.).

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various ways. Among these may be mentioned the formation of joint committees consisting of an equal number of representatives from the university and the Workers' Educational Association. In this field of education the primary but not always the sole responsibility of the universities is for tutorial classes of three years' duration in which a high standard of academic study is expected and, in fact, secured. The Workers' Educational Association, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with courses, as a rule of a less advanced character, extending over a year or a term.

115. The service depends largely on part-time tutors who may be otherwise employed on the staffs of universities, or as teachers, for instance, in secondary schools, or in other occupations. There are, however, a number of full-time tutors who are occupied partly in actual class teaching and also in pioneer work on the organisation and stimulation of classes.

116. The greater part of this service consists of evening classes held in whatever convenient premises may be available, but there is a growing belief that provision on institutional lines could usefully be developed in the form of settlements or other institutions which would be a meeting-place for students with different interests. There are at present twenty-three settlements in various parts of the country affiliated to the Educational Settlements Association, which afford facilities of this kind, though some of them make a special feature of handicrafts and practical work. Morley College in London and Vaughan College in Leicester may also be mentioned as pioneer institutions. Finally, there were before the war several residential colleges providing for the full-time instruction of students of the wage-earning population in courses of one year or more. The chief of these were Ruskin College, Oxford, Fircroft College, Birmingham, the College for Working Women, Surbiton, Avoncroft College, Evesham, the Catholic Workers' College, Oxford and Coleg Harlech. Owing to war-time conditions, several of these colleges have had to close down, but it may be hoped that after the war most, if not all of them, will be re-opened. It should also be mentioned that voluntary bodies have also been active in the less specifically educational field, for example the provision of community centres.

117. For all these activities provision is made for direct grant from the Ministry of Education to the appropriate responsible body.

CHARITABLE TRUSTS

118. The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust has done important work in financing the development of rural community councils and rural schemes of the Workers' Educational Association, and in promoting through the county library service an efficient service of book-supply. The Cassel Trust and Miners' Welfare Fund have both devoted funds to enable students to attend universities or colleges as

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full-time students and have supported rural schemes of adult education. The Gilchrist and Thomas Wall Foundations have also contributed money towards lecture courses and adult work generally.

119. Local education authorities will be required, within three years after the leaving age has been raised to 15, to establish county colleges which all young people under 18 who are not receiving a full-time education will be required to attend on one whole day a week for forty-four weeks in the year, or the equivalent. The full age range will be built up gradually, children of 15 attending for the first year of operation, in the second year those of 15 and 16, the full range 15 to 18 being attained in the third year following the appointed day for bringing compulsory attendance into force.

120. This new service will clearly have a vital contribution to make to the education and welfare of young people. It will, however, be several years before the county colleges come into full operation. An account of how it is proposed that they should be organised and staffed, and what they may be expected to offer in the way of curriculum and facilities, will be found in a separate pamphlet shortly to be published in this series.*

ESTABLISHMENT

121. The war has seen a considerable expansion in the provision and maintenance of facilities for the social and physical training of young people. Towards the end of 1939 the Government charged the Board of Education (as it then was) with a special responsibility for looking after the needs and interests of young people who had left school and started work, and made money available for grants to voluntary organisations. A National Youth Committee, since replaced by a Youth Advisory Council, and a Welsh Youth Committee were appointed to advise the Minister. The foundations upon which the youth service is built were laid by the national voluntary organisations (the Brigades, Scouts, Guides, Clubs and kindred bodies, including the youth organisations associated with the Churches) and, to a lesser degree, by certain local education authorities. To-day, the youth service is a normal educational service concerned with the leisure activities of young people between 14 and 20 years of age who are no longer in full-time attendance at school.

ADMINISTRATION

122. As with other branches of the educational system, central direction of the youth service rests with the Ministry, and its local administration with the local education authorities, which have established special youth committees to help with this work. The

*"Youth's Opportunity", Ministry of Education Pamphlet No. 3. (In preparation).

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function of the local education authorities is to take the initiative in their areas, provide the machinery for local co-operation, encourage existing organisations to extend their work and fill the gaps not covered by such organisations. Nearly all the authorities now employ one or more youth service organisers.

GRANTS

123. Grants in aid of the work of the youth service are available from two sources. Local education authorities have power either to provide facilities for young people or to aid voluntary organisations to maintain and develop their work by cash grants or the provision of instructors and by the use of premises and equipment. The Ministry may make direct grants to local voluntary organisations in aid of both the provision and the maintenance of youth facilities, including the payment of leaders, instructors and wardens, and the provision, hiring and equipment of premises. They may also make grants to the headquarters of the national voluntary organisations in aid of the training of leaders, instructors, and wardens, and for carrying on youth facilities and defraying the incidental expenses of organisation and administration. Applications for the Ministry's grants for local purposes are submitted by local voluntary organisations through the local youth committee of the local education authority to ensure co-ordination with the authority's own programme.

TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP AND SERVICE

124. The youth service was intended from the outset not merely to cover the provision of recreational facilities but to provide for the training of young people in self-government and citizenship, and as a means of continued education in the widest sense of the term. This was specially emphasised towards the end of 1941, when both boys and girls in the 16 to 18 age group were required to register. After registration, these young people were invited to attend an interview to determine the best form of activity for them to engage in, if they were willing. A summary of the reports submitted by local education authorities on the results of their follow-up of the registration of young persons was published in May, 1943.*

PRE-SERVICE ORGANISATIONS

125. The trend of events since 1939 brought the boys' pre-service organisations (Sea Cadets, Army Cadet Force and Air Training Corps) into closer contact with the youth service, of which they form an integral part. The war gave a great impetus to cadet recruitment, and together with rising numbers came an increasingly close liaison between the Service Departments and the local cadet organisations, on the one hand, and the Ministry of Education and the local education authorities on the other. The service cadet forces had no counterpart in the form of pre-service organisations for girls, but in order to meet the needs of girls the National Association of Training Corps for Girls was established. This body supervises and encourages the development of

*"Youth Registration in 1942." (Cmd. 6446.) H.M.S.O., price 6d. (by post 7d.).

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girls' pre-service training, and has a total membership of about 100,000.

DEVELOPMENT

126. The service of youth is not a mere war-time expedient, though it arose in its present form under the exigencies of the war situation. It is concerned to provide increasing opportunity (without compulsion of any kind) for leisure time facilities of all kinds for young people. It will be developed and expanded in close conjunction with and as a complement to the system of part-time continued education in county colleges. A report, "The Youth Service after the War"* was published by the Youth Advisory Council in 1943.

127. The supply of teachers will be a crucial factor in the rate of educational progress for a number of years. It has been estimated that the total establishment of full-time teachers will have to be raised from the pre-war figure of something under 200,000 in grant aided schools to a figure approaching 300,000 before all the developments which form part of the Government's policy can be achieved. To meet this need there will have to be a considerable extension of training facilities and of the field of recruitment, and some of the steps which have already been taken to this end are described below.

128. Besides the need for additional teachers to enable the new schools to be staffed and the size of classes to be reduced, there is a large war-time gap to be filled. Not only have some 20,000 men teachers been withdrawn from the schools for war service, but during the war the number of men students entering each year upon a course of training has been greatly reduced, and those who have completed a course of training have then gone into the Forces rather than into the schools. The intake of men teachers from the universities has also practically stopped. Even the number of women being trained for teaching has from the beginning of the war until the present year (1945) been below normal. Owing to the return to the schools of married women and teachers who had retired on reaching pensionable age, the schools have been able to carry on during the war, though with difficulty. It will be seen that the continuance of the war has put an ever-increasing strain on the present and future staffing of the schools.

TYPES OF TRAINING INSTITUTION

129. There are normally two main types of training institution: namely training colleges, which may be provided either by a local

*H.M.S.O., price 6d. (by post 7d.).

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education authority or by a voluntary body, and training departments provided by a university or university college.

130. Training Colleges. The training colleges provide normally a two year course for students of 18 years* or over who have as a rule been educated at a grammar school and have passed an appropriate qualifying examination. The course covers both academic and professional subjects, including practice in teaching. A limited number of two year students subsequently take a third year course for special purposes. In addition there are eleven specialist training colleges for teachers of domestic science. Of the eighty-three recognised training colleges of the types named above, fifty-four belong to voluntary bodies (mostly religious bodies), the remainder being provided by local education authorities. In addition there are a few training colleges providing specialist courses in physical education for women. The Ministry recognises a number of art colleges or schools for the training of teachers of art.

131. University Training Departments. The training departments of universities provide a one year course of professional training for students who have spent the previous three years in obtaining a university degree. This type of training is therefore frequently known as a four year course, since the first three years as well as the fourth year of professional training may be aided by grants from the Ministry. There are twenty-two training departments, besides two training colleges which provide only a one year post-graduate course.

132. Before the war there were about 10,000 students in training colleges and, about 5,000 (including students in their undergraduate years) in the university training departments, giving an annual output of about 6,500 trained teachers a year.

133. Post-war Emergency Colleges. Plans have been worked out by the Ministry in consultation with teachers, training colleges and local education authorities, for the establishment immediately after the war of a number of special "emergency" training colleges for men and women from the forces and other forms of national service who wish to enter the teaching profession. These colleges will provide an intensive course of training lasting for one year, which may be extended for a few students by one or two terms to make possible a study of some special subject to a more advanced level. The college course will be followed by two years' probation, which will also be a period of supervised study.

134. Teachers trained in this way will be regarded as fully qualified teachers. It is hoped that the scheme will provide a substantial contribution towards the large number of teachers which it will be necessary to recruit during the post-war years, and in particular that it will help to compensate for the fact that hardly any men teachers have been recruited during the war years. "Emergency" colleges

*The minimum age of admission has been temporarily lowered as a war measure.

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will be organised by the local education authorities acting as the agents of the Ministry, the full cost being met by the Exchequer. The staffs for the colleges will be recruited from experienced teachers from schools and colleges of all types including those who have themselves had experience in the forces during the war.

135. Although the scheme cannot start on a substantial scale until demobilisation begins, a small start has already (May, 1945) been made. Four colleges are already in operation and are providing courses for a number of men discharged from the forces on medical grounds and for women wishing to train as teachers who have been able to be released from civilian war work.

136. Short Courses. The Ministry of Education, the universities, local education authorities and other bodies provide a variety of short courses for practising teachers of all kinds, including teachers in technical and commercial schools.

THE McNAIR REPORT

137. Comprehensive and important recommendations for improving the system of training teachers were made by the McNair Committee; whose report was published in 1944.* Some of the recommendations have already been put into practice: for instance it has now been accepted in principle that in future all teachers in publicly maintained schools should be professionally trained; the reforms contemplated under the Act do much to improve the status and conditions of service of teachers; salary scales have been improved; something has been done to widen the field of recruitment by asking local education authorities to extend the educational opportunities for selected children in schools other than grammar schools with a view to the possibility of their becoming teachers; and the 1944 Act makes illegal the practice, previously common among employing bodies, of regarding marriage as disqualifying a woman teacher from employment on their regular staff.

138. The more basic questions of establishing a closer relationship between the training colleges themselves and between them and the universities are still (May, 1945) the subject of consideration. The McNair Committee also recommended an extension of the present two year course to three years - a reform which cannot take place while there is an acute shortage of teachers in the schools.

RECOGNITION

139. In the matter of recognition of teachers as in other respects there has been a great divergence of practice in the past between the elementary and the grammar schools and a short account of the arrangements which were in operation before the 1st April, 1945, is necessary.

140. Until that date only teachers in public elementary schools (and nursery and special schools) needed to be individually "recognised"

*"Teachers and Youth Leaders." H.M.S,O., price 2s. (by post 2s. 3d.).

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by the central department. To secure recognition as a "certificated" teacher a course of professional training had in general to be successfully completed. The great majority of teachers in elementary schools were in fact certificated though a minority were recognised as "uncertificated" teachers - i.e. they possessed qualifications equivalent at least to the school certificate examination without having undergone an appropriate course of training. A small and diminishing number of "supplementary" teachers without professional training or defined qualifications were, and still are, employed to teach the younger children in rural schools.

141. Teachers in grammar schools, on the other hand, were not individually recognised by the central department according to their qualifications. About 80 per cent were in fact university graduates, and a large number of these and of other teachers in the grammar schools were trained teachers. In technical and commercial schools also teachers were not individually recognised and, moreover, few of them had undertaken a course of professional training in teaching.

142. In order to be regarded as qualified under the present regulations governing primary and secondary schools a teacher must either have taken a recognised course of training or possess a university degree or some other qualification which the Minister accepts for the purpose. He must also satisfy the Ministry of his health and physical capacity for teaching. It is intended that when the supply position improves newly appointed teachers, whether they are graduates or are academically qualified in some other way, will be regarded as qualified teachers only if they have also taken a course of professional training.

143. For the time being approval will continue to be given to the appointment as "temporary teachers" of persons with qualifications similar to those hitherto required of "uncertificated teachers", but approval will be given to the employment of any one individual for not more than five years in the first instance. It is expected that those of them who prove to be satisfactory teachers will take suitable courses of training so as to become qualified after their temporary period of teaching service. Teachers already in the schools who have been recognised as uncertificated for twenty or more years are now automatically regarded as qualified, and as soon as they can be spared from the schools other uncertificated teachers will be encouraged to take a course of training for the purpose of becoming qualified. This will be either a full two year course or, in the case of those with five years' service or more, a one year course of training. It is also hoped that some of the younger "supplementary teachers" will be able to take courses of training in order to become qualified. No appointments of new supplementary teachers are now being made.

PROBATION

144. In the past only teachers in public elementary schools have been required satisfactorily to complete a year's service on probation before having their "recognition" confirmed. Now a period of probation

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will be required of all teachers in publicly maintained schools appointed for the first time. Newly qualified teachers will be placed during their period of probation in schools of good educational standards where the staff can supervise and assist them in their work.

145. The salaries of teachers in schools and institutions grant aided from public funds are paid in accordance with scales which have been fixed by a joint committee consisting of representatives of the local education authorities and the teachers' associations. This committee, which was established under the chairmanship of the late Lord Burnham (hence the frequently used term "Burnham scales") is now under that of Lord Soulbury.

146. The Minister's approval to the scales recommended by the Committee is required under the Act since his department is affected for grant purposes, but he can only approve or reject the Committee's recommendations; he cannot modify them. He is also empowered to make the scales mandatory on local education authorities and employing bodies - a power which was not possessed by the central department under previous Education Acts.

147. The present basic salary for qualified assistant teachers in schools maintained by local education authorities is on the scale of £300 x £15 to £525 for men, and £270 x £12 to £420 for women. Certain additions are made to these rates for teachers serving in the London area, and in respect of a course of training longer than two years and for university graduates. Extra payments ranging from £50 to £100 in the case of men, and £40 to £80 for women, are made to teachers holding posts of special responsibility, generally in secondary schools.

148. The maximum salaries of headmasters and headmistresses range from £570 for men and £460 for women in the smallest schools to £750 and £620 respectively in schools with more than 500 pupils, with additions of £50 (£40 for women) for every 30 pupils over 15 years of age.

149. A system of superannuation is administered by the Ministry and provides for grants, based on salary and years of service, of pensions and lump sums at or after the age of 60 to eligible retired teachers. The scheme also provides for the grant of gratuities, or pensions and lump sums, to permanently incapacitated teachers at any age under 65, and of death gratuities in respect of teachers who die in service. Contributions of 5 per cent of salary are paid by the teacher and 5 per cent (less grant aid from the Ministry in most cases) by the employer. Teachers' contributions are repaid if no benefit is earned. The contributions are not funded but are paid into the Exchequer which bears the charge for superannuation allowance and gratuities. A special

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account is, however, kept of contributions and benefits and is subject to actuarial investigation every seven years.

150. The benefits of the scheme have recently been extended to cover supplementary teachers and teachers giving full-time service in youth clubs and community centres. Certain restrictions on the inclusion of educational organisers employed by local education authorities have also been removed.

151. For nearly forty years the principle has been accepted that the State has a special responsibility as regards the health of school children and that this responsibility is best fulfilled through the educational system. The 1944 Act makes considerable changes in this as in other fields, and the school medical service will be closely co-ordinated with the proposed comprehensive national health service.

152. Central responsibility for this service is delegated to the Minister of Education by the Minister of Health and the work is undertaken by the local education authorities by means of their medical and nursing staff. The work has consisted of regular medical inspection and the provision of certain forms of treatment. Until recently authorities have only been required to provide inspection for children in public elementary schools and in certain types of secondary and other schools, and to provide certain kinds of treatment for children in elementary schools, though they have had the option of extending treatment facilities to children in secondary schools. Forms of treatment so far provided cover minor ailments, defects of eyes, ears and teeth, and enlarged tonsils and adenoids, while an increasing number of authorities have also undertaken the treatment of crippling defects, heart-disease and rheumatism, and the treatment of maladjusted children through child guidance clinics or otherwise.

153. Under the new Act the scope of the service is extended to cover all children in primary and secondary schools maintained by local education authorities and also, when they are established, all young people attending county colleges. This will be a considerable advance as the adolescent has tended hitherto to miss the advantages of regular medical inspection and advice.

154. The setting up of a comprehensive national health service will

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eventually ensure that all forms of treatment which school children require will be available for them through that service. When this stage is reached it will no longer be necessary for local education authorities to provide treatment generally, and their functions will in the main be confined to providing medical inspection and seeing that the children and parents are properly advised and encouraged to seek through the new health channels any treatment the children may need. Pending the completion of the new service it will be necessary for local education authorities to continue their present provision and indeed to provide additional facilities for treatment. Under the 1944 Act it has become the duty of local education authorities to provide for the medical inspection of all children and young persons attending maintained schools and to take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that those found to be in need of treatment shall receive it. No charge is made for medical treatment for any of these children or young people.

155. Domiciliary treatment (i.e. treatment in the home) will, in accordance with the practice which has prevailed since 1907, be outside the function of the local education authority and will from its establishment be dealt with under the national health service.

MEALS

156. Since 1906 local education authorities have been able to provide meals and milk for children attending public elementary schools who are unable owing to lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided for them. Until the beginning of the war school meals were provided mainly for under-nourished children whose parents were necessitous and for those who found it difficult or impossible to get back to their homes at midday. Since the war the school meals service has been greatly expanded in order to ensure that in these days of food rationing the health and nutrition of the younger generation are fully maintained and to meet the situation created by the large scale employment of married women in war work.

157. It is now the policy of the Government as part of its plans for family allowances that school dinners and milk should be provided free of charge at all schools maintained by local education authorities, for all children whose parents desire them, and under the Education Act, 1944, it is the duty of local education authorities to make such provision at all these schools. Until the facilities for meals have been completed and the scheme for family allowances has been established, parents who can afford to do so will be required to pay a small sum which represents not more than the cost of the food as distinct from overhead expenses. This sum will usually be about 5d. a meal.

158. During the war great progress has been made in spite of many difficulties, and by the beginning of 1945, the number of children having midday dinners at elementary, secondary and junior technical

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schools in England and Wales was approximately 1,650,000 - including 185,000 receiving meals free. Since May, 1943, accommodation and equipment have been provided by the Government without charge to local funds. Every effort is being made to extend this service to every school in the shortest possible time.

MILK

159. Under a scheme introduced in October, 1934, children in grant earning schools could buy milk at the reduced price of ½d. for one-third of a pint. In October, 1938, some 53 per cent of children in the public elementary schools alone were taking advantage of this scheme.

160. Following the control of milk supplies in October, 1941, the milk in schools scheme became an essential part of the arrangements for securing a priority supply of milk to children of school age, and in 1942 it was extended to non-grant earning schools. In 1944 the number of children in England and Wales taking milk at school was about 3,800,000 (including 300,000 children in elementary or secondary schools having milk free of charge). This represented a total of over 76 per cent of all children attending elementary schools, and over 60 per cent of those attending secondary schools.

161. Here again, what has up to the present been a power is converted by the 1944 Act into a duty of the local education authority, which has been defined by regulations made by the Minister, and, as in the case of dinners, it is intended in due course that school milk shall be provided free of charge.

162. The 1944 Act enables local education authorities to provide, or aid the supply of, boots and clothing for children and young people attending grant aided primary, secondary and special schools. The cost will be recovered from parents who can afford to pay.

163. Local education authorities were required under previous Education Acts to provide for the suitable education in special schools of blind, deaf, physically defective, mentally defective and epileptic children in their areas. For blind and deaf children the period of compulsory education in special schools was from 5 to 16 years of age; for defective children from 7 to 16. Schools might be provided either by local education authorities, public health authorities or by voluntary bodies. Some of these institutions include provision for full-time courses of instruction for blind, deaf and crippled students over 16, in preparation for a trade.

164. In practice this system was found to have certain defects. There has been an insufficient number of special schools, especially for the mentally defective; the system by which a child had to be "certified"

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by the local education authority as being defective before being sent to a special school was resented by parents, who regarded certification as providing an unnecessary handicap in later life; and no adequate provision was made except sporadically for "borderline" children.

165. The 1944 Act accordingly required the local education authority to ascertain all children who need special educational treatment, including what are known as "maladjusted" children, and to provide special educational treatment in the ordinary primary and secondary schools for those less severely handicapped and in special schools for those more severely handicapped. More special schools will be provided, the certification procedure has been abolished and parents may ask for the examination of any child over 2 with a view to its being given such special education as it may need. The compulsory age of attendance for all handicapped children needing education in special schools is standardised at 5 to 16.

166. The education of handicapped children is brought more closely within the main educational framework by requiring local education authorities to have regard to their needs in making their development plans for primary and secondary education.

167. There are twelve degree-giving universities in England and Wales, namely, the universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield and Wales; and five institutions without the power to give degrees, which for general purposes are grouped with the universities, namely, the university colleges of Exeter, Nottingham, Southampton, Leicester and Hull.

168. Oxford and Cambridge, each with a number of colleges, are very old foundations and are residential. The remainder, three of which - Durham, Wales and London - also comprise groups of largely autonomous colleges, have been established since 1800 and with one or two exceptions are mainly non-residential, though they have residential facilities. The total number of full-time students before the war was 39,950; and 22 per cent of these were women. Oxford and Cambridge accounted for 10,950, London University for 13,200, the provincial universities and colleges for 13,050 and Wales for 2,750.

169. University degree courses generally extend over three or four

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years, though in medicine five or six years' are required. In general, degree examinations are taken in two stages. All the universities provide for post-graduate work and for research.

170. The universities are self-governing institutions. They all, however, receive aid from the State in the form of direct grants from the Treasury made on the advice of the University Grants Committee, composed of academic experts; and the modern universities also receive grants from local education authorities. The University Grants Committee is a committee not of the Ministry of Education but of the Treasury.

171. State Scholarships tenable for courses for honours degrees at the universities are offered each year by the Ministry of Education. At present the number offered annually is 360. They are awarded on the results of the higher school certificate examinations to pupils attending secondary grammar schools, and they entitle the holder, subject to financial need, to a grant in aid of the approved fees, and a grant not exceeding £100 per annum towards the cost of maintenance at a university. A large proportion - approximately two-thirds - of the holders receive their early education in a publicly maintained school. The Ministry also award about 30 Royal Scholarships and Studentships in Science tenable at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and about 60 scholarships, exhibitions and free studentships at the Royal College of Art each year. Some 1,500 scholarships with maintenance grants are also awarded by local education authorities each year to enable selected pupils to proceed to the universities.

172. It should also be remembered that numerous exhibitions and scholarships are awarded from their own funds by all the universities and colleges - notably by the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge - and also by private trusts and benefactions. It has been estimated that out of the total number of full-time students at the university institutions in Great Britain between 40 and 50 per cent are receiving financial assistance of some kind from other than private sources.

173. Recommendations affecting the system of scholarships to universities awarded both by the central department and by local education authorities are contained in the report of the Norwood Committee, which has been referred to in paragraph 62.

SPECIAL WAR-TIME SCHOLARSHIPS AND BURSARIES

174. During the war over 6,000 State Bursaries in physics with radio, engineering (mechanical and electrical), chemistry, metallurgy and also in glass technology, have been awarded by the Ministry of Education to selected boys and girls on their performance in the higher school certificate examinations to enable them to take courses of training at universities, university colleges and technical colleges

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in order to equip them for technical work in the Forces or in responsible civilian employment of national importance. A small number of bursaries has also been awarded for post-graduate and research courses in aeronautical engineering, chemical engineering and fuel technology.

175. Some 3,000 Engineering Cadetships, tenable at technical colleges, have also been given to boys of 17 and 18 years of age who were adjudged by selections boards to be qualified for training for commissioned rank in technical units of the Services.

176. Scholarships have been awarded during the war, tenable at the Schools of Oriental and African Studies and of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, in order to increase the supply of men for the Forces with a special knowledge of Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Persian, Russian, Italian, Serbo-Croat, Rumanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and modern Greek.

177. The war has interrupted the training and education of large numbers of young men and women who, at an age when they would normally be taking courses of further education or training for a business career, have been engaged in work of national importance. This has led to a scarcity of persons fully trained to occupy posts of importance in the professions, industry and commerce. Part, therefore, of the Government's plans for the resettlement of demobilised men and women consists of a scheme for assisting those whose further education or training has been prevented or interrupted by their war service to undertake or resume courses at universities, training colleges, technical colleges, and comparable institutions.

178. The scheme is administered in England and Wales jointly by the Ministry of Labour and National Service, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Pending demobilisation it is limited in general to men and women who have been discharged from their war service on medical grounds and who are not required by the Ministry of Labour to undertake other forms of national service. The scheme was first announced in the spring of 1943 and 450 awards had been made by the Ministry of Education by the end of 1944. The number of awards will of course be very greatly increased during the progress of demobilisation.

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1. SOME knowledge of the history of the educational system is desirable if its present day terminology is to be appreciated. The following notes indicate some of the salient points in the history of educational development during the hundred years before the date of the first Parliamentary grant and up to the present time.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

2. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were in existence a large number of endowed grammar schools for boys which had been founded by private individuals, by religious bodies or by City Companies. Many schools of this character were established in the sixteenth century, though some are of earlier origin. In the course of time special circumstances (such, for example, as the location of a school, financial resources, or the eminence of a headmaster) enabled some of these endowed schools to establish a reputation above their fellows and beyond their own locality, with the result that they became known as "Public Schools". The remainder maintained their original local character and frequently retained their original title of "Grammar Schools".

3. Though there was provision in many of the endowed grammar schools for the "education of the poor" they did not profess to give elementary instruction. The main provision of this character in the eighteenth century took the form of "Dame Schools" and other private schools, frequently conducted by persons wholly unqualified for the task; and of "Charity Schools" established as a rule under the auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) which was founded at the end of the seventeenth century, and of other schools of a parochial character.

4. Towards the end of the eighteenth century popular education received a stimulus owing to the establishment and rapid development of Sunday schools in which children were taught among other things to read and write. In addition, the late eighteenth century saw the establishment of a small number of schools of industry in which elementary instruction was combined with industrial training.

5. Girls as well as boys received instruction in the charity schools and in the Sunday schools; and there were some girls' schools of a private character which were generally boarding schools but were mainly concerned with training pupils in those accomplishments considered necessary for social life.

6. In the realm of university education there were, in the eighteenth century, only the ancient Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

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whose origins date back to the thirteenth century. Like the grammar schools at that time, the universities were mainly concerned with classical studies, and with equipping their students to enter the Church and the learned professions.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

7. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a more comprehensive attempt was made, by voluntary agencies, to establish a system of popular elementary education. Two religious societies, the British and Foreign School Society and the National Society, the latter being closely identified with the Church of England, established and maintained throughout the country, by means of voluntary subscriptions and children's school fees, a number of elementary schools for boys and girls. Hence the names British School (now somewhat rare) and National School.

8. In 1833 the State came to the aid of these societies with a grant for buildings, and in 1839 a Committee of the Privy Council was established to administer the State grants and to arrange for the inspection, by Her Majesty's Inspectors ("H.M.Is.") of these voluntary schools. The work involved resulted in the establishment of a central Education Department which was the beginning of what is now the Ministry of Education.

9. From 1833 to 1870 the two societies referred to above and other voluntary bodies, mainly of a religious character, carried on and developed the system of elementary education with the aid of fees, voluntary subscriptions and state grants, the latter, as time went on, extending beyond mere building grants.

10. In 1870 locally elected School Boards were required to provide elementary schools in areas where the efforts of voluntary agencies were shown to be insufficient to meet the growing demand for popular education. Hence the name "Board School" as distinct from "Voluntary School". From 1870 to the end of the nineteenth century there were thus two types of elementary school - voluntary schools provided and maintained out of voluntary subscriptions, fees and state grants, and board schools provided and maintained out of rates, fees and state grants.

11. In the realm of secondary education the nineteenth century saw the establishment of many new "Public Schools", together with a number of private preparatory boarding schools for boys, designed specifically to prepare pupils for admission to the public schools. In the latter half of the nineteenth century a beginning was made with the systematic provision of girls' boarding schools and high schools in which an education was given comparable to that provided by the boys' public schools and grammar schools.

12. Many of the voluntary agencies which had established elementary schools also provided training colleges of a residential character for the training of teachers, who would teach in their schools; and

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towards the end of the nineteenth century universities and university colleges undertook the work of training teachers in departments which are now referred to as university training departments.

13. Durham University was founded in 1832 and the University of London, at first only an examining body, in 1836. The examinations of the University of London were widely available, with the result that many independent university colleges in the provinces prepared their students for London degrees and eventually, towards the end of the nineteenth century, themselves became universities granting their own degrees. Oxford and Cambridge are thus sometimes referred to as the older or ancient universities and Manchester, Liverpool, etc., as the modern or provincial universities.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

14. The twentieth century heralded great changes in the educational system. In 1899 the Board of Education had been created and "charged with the superintendence of matters relating to education in England and Wales". The Board absorbed the Education Department, and also the Science and Art Department which had originally been attached to the Board of Trade but was subsequently placed under the same Minister as the Education Department.

15. In 1902 (1903 for London) the school boards were abolished and their functions transferred to county councils, county borough councils and certain borough councils and urban district councils, which thus became local education authorities (L.E.As.).

16. The new local education authorities were called upon not only to take over and maintain the board schools and to provide new elementary schools as required; they were also charged with the maintenance, as distinct from the provision, of the voluntary schools, and were made responsible for the secular instruction in them. It was thus that the old board schools and the new elementary schools provided by these councils became known as council (or provided) schools as distinct from the voluntary (or non-provided) schools. The terms used in the 1944 Act are "county" and "voluntary" schools respectively.

17. The Act of 1902 dealt drastically with higher education as well as with elementary education. The county councils and county borough councils were required to "consider the educational needs of their areas and take such steps as seem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of Education, to supply or aid the supply of education other than elementary and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education ...". The ultimate results, to which subsequent Acts and various Statutory Regulations contributed, were:

(a) The establishment and rapid development of secondary (grammar) schools wholly provided and maintained by local education authorities.

(b) The granting of financial assistance by local education

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authorities to a number of secondary (grammar) schools already in existence - in some cases existing secondary schools were completely taken over by the local education authorities.

(c) The co-ordination and further development of technical instruction for which under the Technical Instruction Act of 1889, county councils and county borough councils had already been given some responsibility.

(d) The establishment of a number of training colleges for teachers wholly provided and maintained by local education authorities.

19. The Act of 1918 also made provision for the establishment of part-time compulsory attendance at day continuation schools for boys and girls between 14 and 18 years of age who had given up full-time schooling. But the post-war financial depression, among other things, led to the postponement of the operation of this part of the Act; and to-day (1945) such day continuation schools as exist (save for one at Rugby) are still on a voluntary basis. The principle of part-time education as a compulsory alternative to full-time education between the school leaving age and the age of 18, has of course been re-enacted under the 1944 Act, though with certain modifications.

20. The Education Act of 1921 embodied the Act of 1918 and consolidated other Acts relating to children and education. The Education Act of 1936 provided for the raising of the age of compulsory attendance to 15 (as from 1st September, 1939), with the possibility of exemption from attendance after 14 years of age if beneficial employment had been obtained. The outbreak of war in 1939 resulted in the suspension of the main provisions of this Act, which also gave local education authorities the power, subject to certain conditions, to contribute from public funds to the building of new and the improvement of existing premises for senior children by the managers of voluntary schools.

21. Despite periods of financial restriction and other set-backs the past twenty-five years have seen an immense development; especially as regards the number of publicly provided secondary schools, the improvement in the standard of education provided in the elementary schools and the development of technical education. These developments, though not evenly distributed over the country as a whole, have done much to facilitate the comprehensive changes which will be brought into operation by the 1944 Act.

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22. So far as universities are concerned, there have been, since 1918, four Commissions or Committees dealing with various universities, namely Wales, London, Oxford and Cambridge, and Durham respectively, and five new universities have received their charters in the present century. In 1919 the University Grants Committee, appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was created for the purpose of advising the Government about the financial needs of, and the distribution of government grant to, the universities. The universities do not come within the purview of the Ministry of Education.

PROGRESS

23. Some figures will illustrate the progress which has been made since the first parliamentary grants were made for education in 1833.

(a) The first annual grant was £20,000. The annual expenditure of public money on education (excluding University education) to-day (1945) is over £120,000,000, of which the Ministry of Education spends about £65,000,000. The total will rise to over £200,000,000 when the reforms under the 1944 Act are completed.

(b) At the time of the establishment of the school boards in 1870, there were 9000 schools provided by the religious denominations accommodating 2,000,000 children. In 1938 there were about 22,000 publicly maintained primary and secondary schools accommodating in all about 5,500,000 children.

(c) Of the Universities, London was the first to receive assistance from the Exchequer; for 1839-40 the grant was £4,706. For the present year (1945-46) the Treasury grants to university institutions in England, Wales, and Scotland will amount to a total of nearly £6,000,000, and substantial additional assistance has been promised towards post-war capital expenditure.

At the beginning of the present century the total number of full-time university students in England and Wales was rather more than 15,000, of whom 2,565 were women. For the last pre-war year the figures were 39,950 and 8,900 respectively.

1. GRANTS are made by the Ministry of Education to

(a) local education authorities;
(b) bodies other than local education authorities; and
(c) individual students.

2. Generally speaking the Ministry's grants to local education authorities are based on a percentage of their approved expenditure.

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The amount of grant is assessed annually and paid by instalments through the year, with a balance after its close.

3. It will be convenient first to describe the position immediately before the war, then to indicate the changes which have occurred during the war, and finally to indicate the adjustments which have been made under the Education Act, 1944.

THE PRE-WAR YEARS

4. The total grants made by the central department to local education authorities in 1938-39 (the financial year begins on 1st April) amounted to approximately £45,500,000, this being about half the total expenditure on education incurred by the authorities. Separate regulations then governed the grants payable in regard to elementary and higher education respectively.

(i) The grant for elementary education was largely based upon the expenditure of local education authorities, but the formula on which it was calculated contained factors which related to the number of children to be educated and to the financial and other conditions of the area. The grant formula was as follows:

60 per cent of teachers' salaries.

50 per cent of special services (school medical service, provision of meals, schools for defective children, organisation of physical training, play centres and nursery schools), maintenance allowances, grants made to voluntary schools under the Education Act, 1936, and expenditure on reorganisation or development, either on the service of loans or met out of revenue, to which an authority had become committed within prescribed periods.

40 per cent of the cost of conveyance of children.

20 per cent of the remaining net expenditure.

An extra grant (totalling for England and Wales a sum of about £400,000) was also payable to meet the special needs of highly rated areas.

(ii) For higher education (i.e. secondary, technical and the training of teachers) the grants were wholly based on recognised expenditure, and were at the rate of 50 per cent of such expenditure.

The expenditure aided by the department included the cost of maintaining the local authorities' schools and of aiding those managed by governing bodies not under the direct control of the authorities.

THE WAR YEARS UP TO THE END OF MARCH, 1945

5. The rate of grant for higher education continued at 50 per cent. In regard to elementary education, owing to the need for simplifying procedure during war-time and to the dislocation of educational services caused by movements of population, a special grant formula

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was introduced. This was based on the percentage of each authority's net expenditure on elementary education which was met by Exchequer grant during 1937-38. This rate of grant, which varied, of course, as between the various authorities, was called the "standard percentage", and included the Ministry's grant to highly rated areas to which reference is made above.

6. After 30th September, 1941, grant at the rate of 100 per cent was paid in respect of net expenditure on the provision of milk for school children, while for expenditure on school meals the rate was raised to 30 per cent above the standard percentage, with a minimum of 70 per cent and a maximum of 95 per cent. Approved expenditure on establishing and equipping premises and on transport facilities for school meals, to which local education authorities became committed after the 30th April, 1943, attracted grant at the rate of 100 per cent. Expenditure on the provision of school air-raid shelters incurred not earlier than 19th October, 1940, also attracted grant, subject to certain conditions, at the rate of 100 per cent.

7. Increasing costs and these special grants led to a considerable increase in the total of the grants to local education authorities during the war years. The estimated expenditure under this head for the year 1944-45 was about £57,500,000 - i.e. £12,000,000 more than for the last year before the war.

8. Educational expenditure attributable to the government evacuation scheme has throughout the war been repaid in full by the Ministry of Health which is the department responsible for evacuation.

THE SITUATION UNDER THE EDUCATION ACT, 1944

9. Separate grants to local education authorities for elementary and higher education ceased on 31st March, 1945. Instead, a single combined grant is now payable to the authorities for all forms of education, though expenditure on school milk and meals continues to be aided at the rates specified in paragraph 6 above, and expenditure incurred by local education authorities on the emergency scheme for training teachers is aided at the rate of 100 per cent.

10. The combined grant varies, as before, in accordance with the individual circumstances of the local education authorities. The basis used in calculating the rate of grant for each authority is to add together the grants for elementary and higher education payable for 1938-39, the result being expressed as a percentage of the net recognisable expenditure of the authority for that year. In making the calculation in respect of county councils the expenditure and grant of any former authorities for elementary education only in their areas is included.

11. To enable the authorities to play their part in the new developments, and having regard to the increases in the salaries of teachers which took place on the 1st April, 1945, an increase of 5 has been made in this "combined standard percentage" for each education authority.

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In addition, a sum of up to £2,000,000 annually has been made available to the poorer and more sparsely populated areas. Over the country as a whole these increases have brought the Ministry's grant up to rather more than 55 per cent of the total recognisable expenditure of the local education authorities.

12. The estimated general effect of the reforms under the 1944 Act will be to raise the total expenditure on education from public funds progressively over a number of years, from the 1944-45 figure of approximately £120,000,000 to a figure of the order of £200,000,000 ultimately. The additional expenditure attributable to teachers' salaries alone, in 1945-46, is estimated at about £18,000,000. Apart from the increase in the rates of salaries the additional expenditure attributable to the reforms is estimated at about £ 5,000,000 in the first year, about £40,000,000 in the sixth year and about £80,000,000 ultimately.

GRANTS TO BODIES OTHER THAN LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES

13. In 1938-39 the amount of these grants was about £1,600,000. By 1944 they had increased to well over £2,000,000, partly owing to special grants to meet war difficulties.

14. In the sphere of primary education these grants have so far amounted to a very small figure. For secondary and further education, on, the other hand, they are of considerable magnitude, as a number of important institutions, schools and classes are conducted by bodies other than the local education authorities. For instance, the direct-grant grammar schools, the voluntary training colleges, the university training departments, the voluntary youth organisations, and classes for adult education.

15. There are several important developments in the sphere of direct grants from the Ministry to schools and institutions under the 1944 Act, though it is not yet possible to indicate the sums likely to be involved. In the first place the Ministry will make grants direct, in respect of improvements and repairs to their premises required by the development plan for the area, at the rate of 50 per cent, to those voluntary primary and secondary schools which choose to become aided schools. Where such improvements involve comparatively heavy capital expenditure the Act enables the Minister to make loans to the managers or governors in certain circumstances, in order to enable them to meet their share of the cost.

16. In addition, direct grants are now available to voluntary training colleges and voluntary special schools in aid of capital expenditure. The Act also gives the Minister wider powers than those possessed by the central department under previous legislation to make direct grants to outside bodies of various kinds - and in particular those concerned with educational research.

17. Substantial grants (amounting to £175,000 for 1944-45) are

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made to C.E.M.A. (the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts.)* Direct grants also continue to be available, under the Physical Training and Recreation Act, 1937, as amended by the Education Act, 1944, to voluntary organisations and to local authorities other than education authorities in aid of the provision of social and recreational facilities.

18. The system of grants to bodies other than local education authorities rests upon regulations defining for each type of institution or class the conditions to be complied with and the basis of computation.

GRANTS TO INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS

19. The total amount under this heading was, before the war, about £230,000. In 1944-45 it is estimated at less than £150,000, the decrease being due to the reduction in the number of students owing to the war.

20. The largest item is that for state scholarships tenable at the universities, of which 360 are at present awarded each year by the Ministry to pupils of secondary schools on the result of the approved second examination in those schools. A small number of scholarships are also awarded by the Ministry to enable students to attend the Royal College of Art and the Imperial College of Science and Technology.

21. Another large item is aid given to enable students to attend colleges for the training of teachers.

22. In addition to the grants described above special awards are made by the Ministry to ex-service men and women to enable them to complete courses at universities and other institutions (which will involve considerable expenditure in the post-war years), and grants to holders of state bursaries in science and engineering cadetships.

RELATION OF GRANTS TO THE MINISTRY'S TOTAL VOTE

23. The total amount distributed in grants by the central department in 1944-45 is estimated at about £60,000,000, or about 84 per cent of the gross total Vote. The remaining 16 per cent represents the cost of administration, inspection, pensions to teachers, the Royal College of Art, and the museums under the control of the Ministry.

*C.E.M.A. is being incorporated under the new title of "The Arts Council of Great Britain", and will from 1946 onwards receive grant aid direct from the Treasury.

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IT may be useful to give a list of some of the technical terms more commonly used, with a brief indication of their meaning. Terms formerly current but now rendered obsolete by the new terminology of the 1944 Act have been included, since it will no doubt be some time before they drop out completely from current usage. Such terms are marked with an asterisk. "School" covers both primary and secondary schools unless otherwise indicated.

Advisory Council (Central Advisory Council). Statutory bodies appointed, one for England, one for Wales, by the Minister of Education to advise him on educational theory and practice.

Agreed Syllabus. Syllabus governing undenominational religious instruction in county and controlled schools, and drawn up or adopted for each area by a conference representing the religious denominations, the teachers and the L.E.A.

Aided School. Voluntary school in which the managers appoint the teachers, have responsibility for religious instruction, and meet half the cost of structural improvement and external repairs.

Assisted School. School not maintained by, but receiving some financial assistance from, an L.E.A.

*Board of Education. Designation of the central department from 1899 to 1944. Now called the Ministry of Education.

Burnham Scales. Scales of salaries payable to all teachers in publicly maintained schools and institutions. So called because they are fixed by the Burnham committees, consisting of representatives of L.E.As. and teachers.

Camp School. School, usually in a rural area or at the seaside, attended mainly during the summer months by successive groups of children from town schools.

Central Advisory Council. See "Advisory Council".

*Central School. In urban areas a special kind of senior elementary school attended by pupils selected at 11 and generally remaining till 15. In rural areas equivalent to a senior school. Central schools have now become secondary schools.

*Certificated Teacher. Teacher recognised by the central department as fully qualified to teach in a public elementary school.

Chief Education Officer. Chief salaried officer employed by an L.E.A.

Community Centre. Centre, mainly for adults, providing social, recreational and educational facilities for a neighbourhood. May be provided by the L.E.A. or by a voluntary body.

*Consultative Committee. Statutory body appointed under the Act of 1899 to advise the Board of Education on educational matters referred to it. Now superseded by the central advisory councils.

Controlled School. Voluntary school in which the L.E.A, is responsible wholly for the cost of structural improvements and maintenance, and, subject to the reservation of certain rights to the managers or governors, for the appointment of teachers and religious instruction.

*Council School. See "Provided School".

County Borough. City or town with local government powers equivalent to those of a county council.

County College. Institution provided by an L.E.A. and attended part-time on compulsory basis by young people under 18 not in full-time attendance at a school or other educational institution.

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County District. Local government area (borough, urban district or rural district), within administrative area of a county council.

County School. School provided and maintained by an L.E.A.

*Day Continuation School. Name previously given to earlier counterpart of county college.

Development Plan. Plan made by an L.E.A. and submitted to the Minister showing the proposed organisation of primary and secondary education in its area.

Direct-Grant School. School receiving grant direct from the Ministry of Education (e.g. nursery, special or grammar school).

Director of Education. Title applied to some chief education officers.

Divisional Executive. Body exercising functions, normally confined to primary and secondary education, delegated to it by the L.E.A. for a county area.

Education Committee. Statutory committee appointed by an L.E.A. and generally exercising the majority of the L.E.A's functions.

*Elementary School. See "Public Elementary School".

Emergency Training College. Training college established by the Ministry of Education and administered on its behalf by an L.E.A. for giving training for teaching to men and women demobilised from national service.

Evening Institute. Institution for further education providing vocational and non-vocational courses in the evenings for young people and adults.

Excepted District. Borough or urban district excepted from the scheme of divisional administration prepared by a county L.E.A. and granted special status as a divisional executive.

First Examination. See "School Certificate".

Fisher Act. The Education Act, 1918, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher being then President of the Board of Education.

Free Place Pupil. Pupil admitted without payment of fees to direct-grant grammar school.

Further Education. The post-secondary stage of education, comprising all vocational and non-vocational provision made for young people who have left school, and for adults.

Governors (Governing Body). Body responsible for conduct of a secondary school.

Grammar School. Type of secondary school leading mainly to the universities and professions.

Grant Formula. Basis of calculation of Exchequer grant to each L.E.A.

Grant Aided School (Institution). School receiving financial assistance from public funds.

Hadow Report. Report of consultative committee, "The Education of the Adolescent", published in 1926. It recommended provision of separate senior schools for elementary school children over eleven.

*Higher Education. Former term covering secondary and further education.

Higher School Certificate (Higher Certificate). Certificate awarded on results of the examination taken at about 18 by grammar school pupils.

His Majesty's Inspector (H.M.I.). Inspector of schools and institutions for further education for the Ministry of Education, and appointed by the King by Order in Council. Also acts as liaison officer between the Ministry and L.E.As. and other educational bodies.

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Independent School. School not in receipt of grant from the Ministry of Education or an L.E.A.

Infants School (Infants Department). Primary school for children of about 5 to 7 years, including in some cases classes for children of 3 and 4.

Joint Examination Board. Body representing two or more universities conducting school and higher certificate examinations.

Joint Examining Board. Body including representatives of universities, training colleges and L.E.As. and responsible for the examination of training college students.

Joint Education Board. Local education authority consisting of two or more councils constituted by an Order of the Minister.

*Junior Art Department. See "Secondary Technical School".

*Junior Commercial School. See "Secondary Technical School".

Junior School (Junior Department). Primary school for pupils of about 7 to 11 years.

*Junior Technical School. See "Secondary Technical School".

Local Education Authority (L.E.A.). Local authority (county or county borough council or joint board) responsible for provision and administration of all stages of education in its area.

Local Education Order. Order made by Minister after approving the development plan submitted by an L.E.A. and making its completion a statutory duty.

Maintained School. School of which the full cost of educational maintenance (including salaries of teachers) is met by an L.E.A.

Managers (Managing Body). Body responsible for conduct of a primary school.

Modern School. Type of secondary school developed from the senior elementary school.

*Non-Provided School. Former term for voluntary elementary school.

Nursery Class. Class for children of about 3 to 5 attached to primary school.

Nursery School. Self-contained school for children of 2 to 5 or older.

*Part II Authority. County or county borough council formerly responsible for both higher and elementary education. In the case of a county, powers with regard to elementary education did not cover certain independent areas within the county.

*Part III Authority. Borough or urban district council formerly responsible for elementary education only.

Preparatory School. Independent, usually boarding, school for pupils aged about 8 to 13 or 14, intending to enter public school.

Primary Education. Covers the nursery, infant and junior and special school stages up to the twelfth year.

Private School. Independent school owned by a private individual or group of individuals.

*Provided, School. Former term for public elementary school provided by an L.E.A. (Also called Council School.)

Public School. Usually connotes independent secondary boarding school. The term may also include certain day grammar schools, most of which are direct-grant schools.

*Public Elementary School. School formerly providing free education for children mainly of compulsory school age.

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QualifiedTeacher. Teacher approved by the Ministry as qualified to teach in primary and secondary schools.

Recognised Efficient School. Independent school inspected by H.M.Is. and regarded as efficient by the Ministry.

*Reorganisation (Hadow Reorganisation). Process of altering the organisation of public elementary schools so as to provide separate schools for junior and senior pupils respectively according to the recommendations of the Hadow Report.

Reserved Place. Place at a direct-grant grammar school reserved for a pupil nominated by an L.E.A., which pays fees for him.

Scheme of Divisional Administration. Scheme prepared by an L.E.A. or excepted district for delegation of functions from county council to divisional executives.

School Certificate. Certificate awarded on the result of the examination taken mainly by grammar school pupils at the age of about 16.

School Medical Officer. Medical officer of an L.E.A. - usually also medical officer of health for the local authority in its capacity as public health and welfare authority.

Second Examination. See "Higher Certificate".

Secondary School. School providing wholly or mainly for pupils of 12 and over.

Secondary Grammar School. See "Grammar School".

Secondary Modern School. See "Modern School".

Secondary Technical School. Type of secondary school providing a course linked with some branch of industry or commerce.

Special Agreement School. Voluntary school in receipt of financial assistance in respect of its construction, structural alterations or improvements from the L.E.A. under the Education Act, 1936 (or under that Act as extended by the Education Act, 1944).

*Special Place Examination. Competitive examination for admission (involving remission of fees for poorer pupils) at the age of 11 to secondary grammar schools before the general provision of secondary education for all pupils.

Special School. School for mentally or physically handicapped children.

State Scholarship. Scholarship tenable at a university awarded by the Ministry of Education on the result of the higher certificate examination.

*Supplementary Teacher. Special grade of unqualified teacher employed in some rural schools.

Syllabus Instruction. See "Agreed Syllabus".

Technical College. Major institution for further education, mainly vocational.

Temporary Teacher. Teacher recognised on temporary basis by the Ministry, but not as fully qualified.

Training College. Institution for training teachers.

*Uncertificated Teacher. Teacher formally recognised by the Ministry for teaching in public elementary schools, but without full qualifications.

University Training Department. Department of a university providing a one-year course of professional training for graduates intending to become teachers.

Voluntary School. School, the premises of which have been provided by a voluntary body, usually denominational (in the case of special agreement schools, with financial help from the L.E.A.).

Works School. School provided by industrial concern for part-time education of its employees.

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*Young People's College. Name originally proposed for county colleges.

Youth Centre, Youth Club. Centre or club provided by a voluntary organisation or an L.E.A. for leisure time activities of young people between school leaving age and 20.

Youth Committee. Committee of an L.E.A. formed to co-ordinate and assist youth service activities in its area.

Youth Service. General term covering the activities and responsibilities of the Ministry of Education, the L.E.As. and voluntary organisations in regard to leisure time activities of young people over school age.

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GENERAL

A GUIDE TO THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF ENGLAND AND WALES. (Pamphlet No. 2.) 1945. 1s. (1s. 2d.)

THE EDUCATION ACT, 1944. 2s. (2s. 2d.)

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS (GRANT CONDITIONS) REGULATIONS. (S.R. & O. 1945, No. 636.) May 1945. 5d. (6d.)

CIRCULAR No. 30. March 1945. Deals with the Regulations, and in particular with the qualifications of teachers in maintained schools. 1d. (2d.)

CIRCULAR No. 32. March 1945. Deals with new conditions for Direct Grant recognition of certain grammar schools. 1d. (2d.)

BUILDING REGULATIONS FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS. (S.R. & O. 1945, No. 345.) March 1945. 6d. (7d.)

MEMORANDUM ON THE BUILDING REGULATIONS. April 1945. 6d. (7d.)

REPORT OF THE NORWOOD COMMITTEE ON THE CURRICULUM AND EXAMINATIONS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 1943. 1s. 6d. (1s. 8d.)

REPORT OF THE FLEMING COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE GENERAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 1944. 1s. 6d. (1s. 8d.)

REPORT OF THE LOVEDAY COMMITTEE ON THE PROVISION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF COURSES PREPARATORY TO AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT. (Issued jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.) 1945. 3d. (4d.)

MEDICAL SERVICES, SCHOOL MEALS AND MILK

HANDICAPPED PUPILS AND SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES REGULATIONS. (S.R. & O. 1945, No. 1076.) July 1945. 4d. (5d.)
Amending Regulations No: I (S.R. & O. 1946, No. 1290) July 17, 1946. 1d. (2d.)

CIRCULAR No. 41. April 1945. Deals with the Regulations. 2d. (3d.)

PROVISION OF MILK AND MEALS REGULATIONS. (S.R. & O. 1945, No. 698.) June 1945. 1d. (2d.)

CIRCULAR No. 34. March 1945. Deals with the Regulations. 1d. (2d.)

TRAINING OF TEACHERS

REPORT OF THE McNAIR COMMITTEE ON THE SUPPLY, RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS AND YOUTH LEADERS. 1944. 2s. (2s. 3d.)

TEACHING AS A CAREER. For men and women released from H.M. Forces and other forms of National Service. 1945. 4d. (5d.)

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FURTHER EDUCATION

FURTHER EDUCATION GRANT REGULATIONS, 1945. (Draft) 1d. (3d.)

REPORT ON COMMUNITY CENTRES. 1944. 9d. (10d.)

YOUTH'S OPPORTUNITY: FURTHER EDUCATION IN COUNTY COLLEGES. (Pamphlet No. 3). 1945. 1s. (1s. 2d.)

BUILDING CRAFTS. (Pamphlet No. 4.) 1945. 1s. (1s. 2d.)

YOUTH SERVICE

THE YOUTH SERVICE AFTER THE WAR. Report of the Youth Advisory Council. 1943. 6d. (7d.)

THE PURPOSE AND CONTENT OF THE YOUTH SERVICE. Report of the Youth Advisory Council. 1945. 4d. (5d.)

POST-WAR YOUTH SERVICE IN WALES. Report of the Welsh Youth Committee, 1945. 4d. (5d.)

YOUTH REGISTRATION IN 1942. (Cmd. 6446.) 1943. 6d. (7d.)

YOUTH IN A CITY. Educational Pamphlet No. 117. 1943. 2d. (3d.)

SIMPLE HEALTH HINTS. Notes for the use of Youth Group Leaders. Revised October 1943. 3d. (4d.)

SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS

REGULATIONS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND OTHER BENEFITS. (S.R. & O. 1945, No. 666.) May 1945. 1d. (2d.)

CIRCULAR No. 26. March 1945. Deals with the Regulations. 1d. (2d.)

FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROVISIONAL GRANT REGULATIONS, 1945. 1d. (2d.)

BURNHAM REPORTS

SCALES OF SALARIES FOR TEACHERS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS MAINTAINED BY LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES. (E. & W.) 1948. 1s. (1s. 1d.)

SCALES OF SALARIES FOR TEACHERS IN TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL COLLEGES AND INSTITUTES, ART COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS MAINTAINED BY LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES. (E. & W.) 1948. 9d. (10d.)

SCALES OF SALARIES FOR THE TEACHING STAFF OF TRAINING COLLEGES. (E. & W.) 1948. 4d. (5d.)

WELSH DEPARTMENT

LANGUAGE TEACHING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS (Pamphlet No. 1). 1945. 9d. (10d.)

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Oversea Education. A journal of Educational Experiment and Research in tropical and subtropical areas. Quarterly. 1s. (1s. 2d.) Annual subscription 4s. 0d. including postage.

Mass Education in African Society. Report of the Adult and Mass Education sub-committee (Chairman: C. W. M. Cox) of the Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies (Colonial No. 186). 1s. (1s. 2d.)

Higher Education in the Colonies, Commission on (Chairman: The Hon. Mr. Justice Asquith). Report (Cmd. 6647). May 3, 1945. 2s. (2s. 2d.)

West Indies Committee (Chairman: Sir James Irvine, Sc.D., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.) of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies. (Cmnd. 6654), Report. Aug., 1944. 1s. 3d. (1s. 5d.)

Higher Education in West Africa, Commission on (Chairman: The Rt. Han. Walter Elliot, M.C., M.P., D.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., F.R.S.). Report (Cmd. 6655). May 5, 1945. 3s. (3s. 3d.)