A UNIQUE SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 16, 13 October 1927, Page 3

A UNIQUE SCHOOL

EDUCATION FOR THE AIR COURSE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS (By J. Hight, M.A., LittD., for The Dominion.) At Halton, on one of the wooded slopes of the Chiltern Hills, overlooking the beautiful Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, stands the Royal Air Force School of Aircraft Apprentices. It occupies a famous estate, formerly belonging to the late Mr. Alfred Rothschild, about two miles from Tring, set in one of the most charming landscapes in England. But to those interested in educational experiment and progress it has a great interest apart from ths natural beauty and associations of its site—an interest which is intensified at the moment of writing by the criticisms levelled at the technological side of the R.A.F. in consequence of the numerous fatal accidents among its airmen during the last two months. One of the chief problems facing educational administrators to-day is m connection with vocational (or technical) schools. These schools are to continue the education of those destined not for the professions, but for industry and commerce. They take it up after the first period of post-primary education has been completed in schools giving a thorough training in general subjects, with a certain but not very pronounced vocational bias supplied by a grounding in the general principles of knowledge underlying particular groups of trades. This first stage of post-primary education may be covered in a junior high school, or in one of the advanced divisions added to an ordinary school, or. whore provision has not yet been made for the newer chain of educational institutions, in one of the "sides” of an academic high schoo' or a secondary school of the old type. When a boy (or girl) leaves this school to take up his economic work it is now generally recognised that his formal education should be continued, that it should comprise a definitely vocational element with a smaller amount of general training, and that, as far as possible, some of the vocational as well as all the general training should bo given in schools or divisions established for that purpose, and working in close touch with the leaders of the industries in which the youths are employed. But great difficulties are experienced in determining the best distribution of the school time between the definitely vocational instruction and the general education, the character of the general education most appropriate to the needs of these pupils, and the relation of the vocational instruction given in school to that which the pupil gets us apprentice or worker in the practice of his trade. And there is the further problem of developing in the members of the vocational school a healthy spirit of fellowship, uniting all in devotion to their school and its ideals of life as understood in the broad- . est sense, preparing them, in short, for true citizenship of the State and the world of humanity. It is the special interest of Halton that there these difficulties have been attacked and overcome, and, through the R.A.F. School, works in many respects in most favourable conditions compared with the ordinary vocational school, yet its experience should have a general value; for there is no community to-day which is not vitally interested in the provision for adolescents of a good system of vocational education with a certain intellectual bias. Competitive Entrance Examination. The boys enter between the ages of fifteen ami seventeen utter a competitive examination. It is possible for boys overseas to take the examination in their own country on their being nominated tor this purpose by an approved educational utluority or a minion Government. Tney are trained as "aircraft apprentices," the main trades concerned being those of fitter, carpenter, coppersmith, wireless opera-tor-mechanic, and electrician. At Halton the training is confined to the metal and wood-working trades, the electrical and wireless school being at Flowerdown, near Winchester. The course lasts three years, and the aim is to give in this period a training at least as good as that which an ordinary apprentice would get in bis five-year course. During the course the boy receives not only education, food and clothing free, but an allowance beginning at a shilling a day and rising to eighteenpenee. Thirty-nine hours a week are spent in more or less formal training; twenty in the workshop; eight in the school; and nine in j. training, drill, and organised game There are three wings, each occupying a separate barrack block of bu. iugs, and there has developed in each of these wings a strong feeling of esprit de corps similar to that of the “house” in a great public school. The workshops and school, however, are used by the boys in common. There are at present about 3000 boys in residence, drawn from all parts of the country, some from overseas, the majority from secondary and technical schools, with a few from the public schools and from the higher divisions of elementary schools. They are of a very fine stamp, and according to a competent authority who knows both types thoroughly, as capable intellectually as the best of the youths from the public schools entering Oxford or Cambridge with scholarships. The general plan of training is based on a particular theory, viz., “That in general a boy’s standard of education affords a measure of the rate at which he can absorb technical training." It was felt that if the entries were confined to boys of a secondary school standard and if their education was continued throughout the course of training at a corresponding level and in close association with their workshop training, the apprenticeship period might be cut down by two years. Seven years’ experience has served to confirm this theory. The School Work. The actual school work is in four sections: mathematics, engineering, science, mechanical drawing, and general studies and English, with approximately equal division of the time. Only eight hours a week being available, tho apprentices attend the classes in three divisions of about 1000 each for eight terms. Tho final term of the course is given up to work bearing directly on the passing of examination in trade-skill and knowledge, special attention being given both to practice m self-expression in technical matters and to the application to practice of the scientific principles studied during the school course to practical measurements and calculations and to the reading of working drawings. A fundamental principle of the scheme is to keep the educational work in close

touch with the realities of life so as to arouse keen interest and to call for individual effort. This has been achieved partly by emphasising the factor of personality in selecting the staff and in seeing that the school work is kept constantly in touch with the shoptraining and, in the case of the “general studies," that they deal with live questions. Very considerable importance is attached to these general studies. All the teachers have been carefully selected for their special knowledge of history, geography and English language and literature. The course attempts on the one hahd to develop powers of self-expression in speech and iu writing, ami on the other to give a general understanding of how the world of to-day has developed, first showing, of course, only in rather bare outline, how man has gradually adapted himself to his environment through one civilisation after another, then sketching the growth of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and finally dealing with those questions which touch the boy more directly, this country and how it is governed, the countries in which he will serve overseas, their geography, and the ways and customs of their peoples. Throughout the whole course a special effort is made to arouse an interest in reading and to develop the ability and the wish to make use of a library in regard both to technical studies and to more general interests—history, travel, and questions of the day, in polities, economics, literature, etc. The aim of this department of the school is to produce intelligent airmen who will think abort problems vital to themselves and their service, who will determine to understand and adapt themselves to their chan.'Ang environment. The boy is trained in the skill required in order that he may be able to satisfy his inquisitive habit of mind, now made purposive through the school training by his own effoit. “The Task.” There are large libraries, with a great many copies of the more important books, and these play a very important part in the instruction. But one of the most stimulating features of (he general course is what is known as "the task.” This is really a little piece of original research into various sources of knowledge designed to strengthen and perpetuate the youth’s interest in independent inquiry aud the methods of pursuing to the best advantage. The boy chooses a subject from a long list; he is given two monJis in which to write a kind of thesis on the subject of his choice, usually from hterrture, history, geography, cr economies. He is provided with lists of headings, giving the broad outsiles of treatment and a list of • useful books, and is expected to do the work partly in school and partly in evening leisure. The thesis is supplemented by an examination on the subject chosen partly as a check on the independence of (lie former, the questions calling for judgment and opinion even more than for information. Half the marks for the passing-out examination are given to ‘‘the task.” which is essentially a test of ability and keenness of interest in living issues other than of facts or laws memorised. I have read some or those "tasks" and can vouch for thei.- own intrinsic interest as well as for tueir great value as a means to the end required. This, with the special training in literature, history, and civics, and related studies, the debating clubs, outdoor sports, sharing by the boys in the administration of the libraries. the school magazine, the different clubs and societies of the more technical kind, and the common life of each wing produces youths with fine ideals of citizenshin and ability to realise them as well as with the technical knowledge necessary for their special vocation. There is no space to mention the characteristic features of the three other departments of the school proper. But they all combine to provide the type of educational training so necessary in view of the special nature of the work of airmen. This demands a high degtee of personal initiative and resoutveiulness on the part not only of tile officers, hut of every individual member of inc air force; it requires a very high proportion of skilled craftsmen m (lie service as a whole, and it is subject to constant and rapid development with (lie everchanging nature of the art of aviation and the material of the service aeroplanes, engines, armament, wireless, and SO forth. Reaction to Necessities. The aircraft training institutions are a remarkable example of the practical way in wliich Englishmen react to the necessities of the situation, iheir plan has liecn shaped throughout by real needs; and in responding to these, it has been found necessary to discard certain long-cherished ideas as to contents of educational subjects and methods ot teaching, and this with a probable rise in the level of general culture thereby attained. The scheme and its successful administration is largely due to (.olonel, Curtis, in charge of the educational section of the Air Ministry, and the tme results obtained at Halton are in great part the product of the enthusiasm devotion and breadth of view of Colonel A. F. S. Caldwell, director of the educational side of the school, and his staff of specially selected teachers, working under conditions of considerable freedom as to methods, but co-operating loyally in view of a common end.