ENGLAND’S COUNTY SCHOOLS

Evening Star, Issue 19521, 31 March 1927, Page 2

ENGLAND’S COUNTY SCHOOLS

LIGHT OH THE HEW SECONDARY. SYSTEM A GROWTH OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS [By Isis, in the ‘Age.’] The establishment of county secondary schools is now one ot the chief features of the English educational system. The term “ secondary schools means any school giving education of a higher typo than that completed in elementary schools, or State schools, as the latter are called in Australia. , This higher education is earned on by the secondary school to the stage of university matriculation, and very frequently to that of intermediate arts or science.

Many schools giving secondary education were in existence betore county authorities took up the work of providing such institutions where they were needed. The older schools include the great public schools, such as Eton and Kugby; others of lesser rank, such as grammar schools, collegiate schools, colleges for ooys or girls, academies, and high schools; and a large uumoer of private’ or proprietary schools, with similar names to those of the lesser public schools. In England a public school means one under the control ol some public body, and not conducted for private profit. Many of the lesser public schools and some private schools have now been transferred to the control of the county in which they are situated.' The schools founded by the county authorities are all comparatively, new, few ol them having been in existence ior more than twenty-live years.

In each English county there is a body itnown us the County Council composed of members directly elected by the ratepayers of the boroughs or urban districts contained in the county. These members are known as county councillors. Within its own county each council levies certain rates and exercises control over such matters as education, the public health, or pro, vision for the destitute, giving grants from the rates for these and other purposes. iTom the members of the council a numoer of sub-committee, are formed, each dealing with a special branch of public business. Of these the education committee is one of the most important. The composition of this committee changes more or less at each cew election of councillors, but a permanent clerical staff provides for the continuity of its educational work. The chief of this staff is known as the director or secretary of education for the county. His influence and initiative have wide scope, and England owes much to many able directors, whose high educational ideals and untiring zeal have inspired and aided the work of the schools of their countries.

At first the county education committees dealt solely with elementary education, erecting many fine schools, known as council schools. These, being equipped and j supported by grants from the county rates, | often compared "cry favorably with the j older schools erected by various religious ■ b ’ “:s, to whose Christian zeal the masses , i, w almost the whole of their elementary \ until the latter half of last ceu- \ tury. Thus the erection of council schools . checked the foundation and growth of ele- ; mentary schools of the older type, but instruction in Scripture forms part af the curriculum of the council schools, so that they j carried on this work A the earlier founda- ; tions, but without any sectarian lias. _ j For a while the middle classes, compris- i ing the greater number of the payers of . rates and taxes, defrayed most of t.io cost of the free education of tho masses, but received no help from the btate or county ' towards the expenses of the education of their own children. The result was that , tho poorer middle-class parents, if they wished for secondary education fer their , children, were often unable to afford the j fees of tho good public schools, and had I no choice but to send their ooys and girls | to cheap private schools, sometimes ot a 1 very unsatisfactory type. The inclusion of j secondary .education among the setivities | of the county education commitees reme- j died this evil. I

Secondary schools founded oy the cimnty are known as county schools, bet us suppose that it is represented to the county education committee that a new county school is required in a certain district. If the committee decides that there is a real need for such a school, and if ti.e Board ot Education approves of the project, a suitable site is selected and acquired. In a few cases a private school, a great country home, of some ether building already on the site, can be adopted for ihe future school, but usually an entirely new building is needed. Plans for the latter, or for necessary alterations to an existing edifice, are prepared by the county architect, end submitted for the approved of the Board of Education. When this approval has been obtained the county proceeds to build or adapt in accordance with the approved plans. In the borough or urban district where the new school is to be set up, a board of governors or a higher education committee is constituted to control the affairs of the school. Half of the members of this body aro nominated by the county council and half by the borough or district council, tho total number being usually fifteen. _ They elect their chairman and vice-chairman. The council or elementary schools are managed by a sub-committee of the local borough or district council. Local secretaries and clerical staffs to carry on much of the business and details of organisation of both secondary and elementary schools in their districts, but all the finance and the general scheme of educational organisation and development are controlled by the county education committee, aided by its staff of permanent officials. The head and staff of the new c ; >nnty school are appointed by the local leant of governors or higher-education emmuttoe, the recommendations of the head being usually considered in appointing tho members of tho staff. Salaries, paid by tho county, are in accordance with the rational Burnham scale for the staff, the maximum for an assistant master Icing approximately £550, and for m a;.s slant mistress £550. The London salary seme is tho highest, to 'over tho cost of living there, which is greater than in other places. The arrangements lor the salaries of heads vary. Tho minimum, acourd.ng to the Burnham scale, is £CUO i<<x a bead master, and £SOO for a head mistress. iViost counties have salary scales for thou: beads, the maximum salary for a nead master being about £1,200 (non-resident) and for a head mistress £I,OOO (non-resident). Five per cent, of the salaries is deducted for the superannuation scheme, pensions being granted from the age of sixty, if thirty years’ service has been completed. At sixty-five retirement is compulsory. They amount to one-eightieth of the average salary of the last five years’ service for each complete year of service—e.g., if the average salary for the last five years' service was £BOO, the pension for thirty-six years’ service would bo £360. ( A gratuity is given in addition to tho pension, and amounts to one-thirtieth of the average salary of the last five years’ service for each complete year of service—e.g., if the average salary for the last five years’ service was £6CO, the gratuity for thirty-two years’ service would be £640, A death gratuity, calculated in this way, or amounting to a year’s salary, whichever is ihe greater, will usually be paid to the nearest relative of any teacher dying before qualifying for a pension. In the case of council schools, expenses are met by grants from the Board of Education anil from the county council—i.e., by taxes and rates. Secondary schools have also a third source of income in their fees. These vary, but are usually not more than £4 to £6 per term.. Before the Great War they were as low as £2 a term in many schools. In many oounries—e.g., in Middlesex—all books and stationery are supplied free of charge, and a compulsory fee of two or three shillings a term covers the upkeep of playing fields and the supply of footballs, cricket outfits, tennis rackets, hockey sticks, and other equipments for games. It miiet be evident that the school fees supply only a very small fraction of the cost of the county school, and in reality every pupil attending it is receiving a valuable scholarship.

Every year free places, or entrance scholarships, to the number of 25 per cent, of the number of entrants in the previous school year are granted to pupils in attendance at the elementary schools of the district to which the county school belongs. These are awarded in accordance with the results of an entrance examination in arithmetic and English, together with oral tests of general intelligence. Children are usually admitted to free places at the age of eleven, for the county school course is planned for pupils entering at this age. Older pupils cannot be admitted unless, qualified to enter a form of pupils of their own age, and after fourteen only by special permission of the governors, on the recommendation of the head mistress. Parents are

usually required to sign an agreement to keep their children at school until tho ago of sixteen, or, in default, to forfeit a term’s foes. Pupils taking advanced work do not leave until eighteen or nineteen rears old.

A gifted pupil, who has entered the school either with a free place or as a foo payer, can usually obtain valuable aids it necessary. Junior county scholarships with maintenance grants are awarded at the ago of fourteen-fifteen, on the results of school work and examinations, and intermediate county scholarships to pupils wishing to take up intermediate arts or science work after matriculation. Senior county scholarships provide for university careers, and other scholarships are granted for training i» art or technical work. Tho county school thus offers a series of stepping stones from tho elementary school to tho university, or to an institute for higher technical training, across which gifted boys or girls may pass with little cost to their parents. Many such pupils have already won distinction for themselves in Oxford, Cambridge, London, or one of the newer universities, and have obtained important professional or technical posts.

Tho county schools are not eligible for a grant from the Board of Education until “ recognised ” as fulfilling the requirements of the board as regards buildings, staff, equipment, and curriculum. The curriculum includes religious instruction, mathematics, English, history, geography, French, sometimes German, Spanish, or P sc'V-ce. art. singing, physical inttruction, wood work cr gardening for i. ,y», domesuu .science for girls, and occasionally typing, shorthand, and other commercial subjects. Inspectors and inspectresses of tho board visit the school at intervals.

The schools are also visited by the inspectoral staff of the university, for the examinations of which the pupils are prepared, and arrangements are made by which the general school examination of that university, taken by pupils at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and the higher school examination, taken two years later, qualify for matriculation and intermediate arts or science respectively if a sufficiently high standard is reached in the necessary groups of subjects. These examinations are usually worked by tho pupils in tho familiar surroundings of their own class rooms, and thus one element of examination strain and fatigue, the journey to a distant examination centre, is avoided. Tho head of tho school arranges for supervision by members of the staff. The physical development of children attending both council and county schools is carefully supervised. Medical inspection of pupils of tho council schools-—i.e., those receiving an elementary education only, and leaving at the age of fourteen, has been an established .feature of school life for many years and where necessary school nurses and clinics have been provided. Pupils of the county secondary schools also are now medically inspected and advised. Careful tecords are kept of the physical state end growth of all pupils, and highly-trained physical instructors organise the drill and other physical exercises and the games in these schools. Fine playing fields, tennis courts, and gymnasiums are provided. Cricket and lootball are played by the boys, and hockey, tennis, and netball by the girls. Swimming is arranged foi where possible. Cadet corps are often organised in boys’ schools, but military training is not compulsory. Most county schools provide for day pupils only, a.nd both morning and afternoon sessions are held, the school day averaging four and a-half to five hours. The annual holidays amount to about thirteen weeks in all, usually three weeks at Christmas and at Easter, and seven weeks in the summer months. ' The activities of a county school include many possibilities of general culture and mental deevlopment outside , the actual course of school duties. Such are school journeys and tours at Home and on the Continent, choral, dramatic, geographical, historical, and debating societies, sketching and photography clubs In a number of schools parents’ uniono have been formed with the object of obtaining the interest and support of the parents of the pupils in the work of the school. Some of these unions have been very successful, and although they have no official position in the educational system, their views arc occasionally sought by the school governors when the latter are considering new :(filiations. It is Interesting to note that a number

ot county schools are co-educational, such schools being established in districts wmro the population is not sufficiently great to warrant the erection of separate secondary schools for boys and eirls. The powerful influence ot the county secondary schools on the youth of the British nation can hardly be over-estimated. Not only is this influence directly exorcised on the pupils attending these schools, but-it affects a very largo proportion of the future teachers in the elementary schools, who receive their education in the county schools to the age of seventeen. The system of pupil teachers has now been replaced by one in winch prospective elementary school teachers receive a full secondary education up to that age, and then, after passing matriculation or some other examination, qualifying for a training college, they usually attend for part-time training for a year as student teachers in the local elementary schools while continuing their studios in certain subjects at the county schools. Thus the latter practically control the years in which tire characters and minds of the majority of ( the future educators of the masses are being formed. It is too early as yet to estimate the full value of this control, but undoubtedly it will ensure higher standards of educational work, and foster a closer union between the elementary and secondary branches of the teaching profession.