FOR EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 19

FOR EDUCATION

BRITISH GOVERNMENT

PLANS

SPECIAL MANIFESTO

The National Government's programme of educational reform was set forth in a .special manifesto just before the recent election. The days are gone for ever, said the manifesto (as reported in the "Daily Telegraph"), when any but the most rudimentary education was the privilege of the few. There never was a time when a well-educated democracy was so necessary ar it is today. Internationally, so that we shall have the wisdom to hold fast to our Parliamentary institutions; nationally, so that every citizen shall make the best contribution of which lie is capable to the nation's welfare; and individually, so that the citizen of tomorrow shall be capable of deriving both from his work and his leisure the full measure of enjoyment. The pursuit of this policy involves a recasting of the old ideas as to the purposes rf education. Our aims should be that every child should receive the best training of mind, of hand and eye, and of body from which he is capable of profiting. And we should not relax our efforts when the period of full-time schooling comes to an end, but should afford every help and encouragement to young people to add to their store of knowledge, to practise arts- and crafts, and to keep physically fit. ALONG WHOLE FRONT. Besides making provision for prolonging and improving the school life of those who will not proceed beyond the elementary school and bettering where necessary the conditions i 1 which they work, we must also make sure that, for those who are qualified to take their education a stage or more further, poverty is no bar to their progress, and over the whole field of education we must take vigorous steps to

imp-ove and maintain the health and physique of our people. The proposal for raising the age usually takes the form of requiring -all children to be kept in school up to the age of 15, w;th maintenance allowances to compensate for possible loss of wages. Such an arrangement has the merit of., simplicity, but its inflexibility makes its present adoption inadvisable for several reasons. It presupposes a uniformity throughout the country of economic, industrial, and occupational conditions which is very far from being the case. It does not make proper allowance for the fact the4 "or many children retention in school is not necessarily the best thing, and it does not take into account the wishc- and the circumstances of the parents, who may well argue that an offer of beneficial employment at a proper wage ought not to be refused. EXTENSION, WITH EXEMPTIONS. The National Government have therefore decided to legislate to raise the school-leaving age to 15, with a right to exemption between 14 and 15 for beneficial employment! The Act will not come into operation until there has been time to complete the considerable preparations which will first be needed. The decision whether any given employment is beneficial for a child will rest with.the Local Education authorities, and it will be open to them when granting exemptions to attach such conditions as to hours of work (including time for recreation), wages, and opportunities for further education as may seem to be desirable. Exemptions will also be permissible where the authority are satisfied that, owing to circumstances of exceptional hardship, it is desirable that the child should be released for assistance in the home. VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS. But the raising of the school age depends upon its effectiveness on the completion of reorganisation on Hadow lines, and the co-operation of the voluntary schools. While the Government have no intention of reopening the settlements of 1902, they recognise that the voluntary schools cannot meet these new calls without some temporary measure of assistance. The Bill for raising the age will accordingly also empower

authorities, during a limited period, to nial* building grants to managers of voluntary schools for the purpose of raising the age and reorganisation, including in special circumstances grants in aid of new senior schools.

• These grants will not be less than half and not more than three-fourths of the cost, in so far as it relates to provision for senior children. In return for this, aid from public funds there will be a certain, extension of public control over the appointment and dismissal of teachers, but the rights of the managers to satisfy themselves as to the fitness of teachers to give religious instruction will remain unimpaired. The National Government will press on with their policy of getting rid of defective premises and reducing the number of large classes. To meet the additional expenditure to which authorities will be put the rate of the Board of Education's grant on expenditure on elementary school buildings will be raised for a limited period. EDUCATIONAL LADDER. Much has been done to enable poor children of capacity and promise to get from the elementary school to: the secondary school and. from the secondary school to the university; but the rungs of the ladder are still too narrow. To widen them the National Government intend to remove-altogether the existing restrictions on the discretion of authorities in regard 'to the proportion of children who may be admitted to secondary schools either free or at reduced fees; in addition, they intend to increase the number of State scholarships tenable at universities, at the same time throwing them open to pupils from all secondary schools, and 'also to increase the amount of assistance given in the case of these and other State awards. A survey is already being made of the deficiencies which at ; present exist in the field of technical education. With a view to reaching the highest standard set in other parts of Europe, the National Government intend to embark on an intensive campaign to secure - that existing buildings are brought up to date, and new schools are built in areas where, owing to the shifting of industry, or for other reasons, facilities either do not exist oi> are insufficient.

The National Government fully appreciate the value of adult education, and they will give every assistance to the national development of this movement. HEALTH AND PHYSIQUE. The reproach that we are a C 3 nation must be removed once and for all. This can on!; be achieved by a systematic plan covering the whole period from infancy to the end of school life and beyond. The aim of such a plan must be to prevent, as far as possible, the onset of ill health, to set up an adequate machinery for the treatment of ailments when they ■ occur, and by a wide extension of the facilities for, and the time applied to, physical training, to instil in our children a pride in physical fitness.' To this end the Government propose: Nursery schools in areas where the mothers cannot give children under five the care and'attention which they need. School Medical Service.—Local education authorities to be encouraged to ledy deficiencies where they exist and to provide more remedial and preventive treatment by such means as orthopedic centres and open-air schools. Physical Training.—A comprehensive system of physical ixaining covering all types of school to be promoted. "It is when young, people leave school for the office or the workshop that they most need the opportunities of keeping up their physical exercises," adds the manifesto. "To meet this need every effort will be made to develop and supplement the provision already made by clubs and other voluntary organisations.". .: