TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGLAND.
Some few weeks ago we gave an account of the position of technical education in
the United States, based on a report presented to the Manohester Technical Schools Association. Wehavenowreceived from the Wellington Education Board a copy of Mr Riley's report on the manual and technical instruction supplied in the United Kingdom. No doubt all engaged in the aotual work of teaching, as well as all who are interested in the building up of a complete and scientific system of education, will welcome the report, and will be quick to profit by the mass of interesting and novel information which it contains. Technical education is a thing of recent growth in Great Britain. No one who has been away from the Home Country for more than six or seven years can have any proper conception of the immense strides whioh the movement in that direction has taken or of the immense sumß of money whioh have already been expended in buildings and apparatus. *" r
It is, of course, obviously impossible to do justice to Mr Riley's very thorough research within the limits of an article. We propose, howover, to call attention to some of the ' points which seem most noteworthy and most important at tho present moment, when so much energy, often we fear misdireoted, is being ex-
pended on the subjects with which he
deals.
The first point, and perhaps the most important of all, is that technical education in the true sense of the word does not begin until the pupil .has passed through the primary school. What takes its place in the primary school is properly known as manual instruction, and it is kept in strict subordination to the main business of the school. In the earlier standards this manual instruction takes the form of kindergarten work, and this consists of paper folding, bricklaying (with wooden bricks), wirework done with wire and a pair of flat pliers, and modelling in cardboard and clay. Mr Biley recommends that an hour a week should be devoted to instruction of this kind. In the higher standards training in the use of tools is substituted, and this either with reference to wood or to metal work. The time devoted to this subject is given aa 2\ hours a week. We have been informed by gentlemen who have witnessed this system in operation in some of the largest schools in England that the effect on the minds of the children has been marvellous. To see a large class of boys and girls eagerly following a teacher who is explaining the construction of some simple article in cardboard or wire is to satisfy oneself that a very important educational instrument is at work, and one which is almost wholly neglected in our primary schools.
Another subject in which marked improvement has been made is the teaching of drawing. The introduction of color and brushwork has well nigh revolutionised this subject, and we should be surprised if, in a very short time this simple change does not have very marked effect on publio taste. We may hope that the passion for crude and garish color and trivial design, which has long been a dis-
grace to the commoner articles of English
manufacfcnre, will cease to exist. Mr Riley properly places very great stress on the teaching of drawing. At present it ia the only training for hand and eye whioh pupils in our schools receive, and we fear it is only too often very perfunotorily given. In place of wood and metal work, girls in the higher standards of the primary schools are instructed in domestio economy, the full course including such subjects as cookery, laundry work, dressmaking, and housewifery. But here, as in the boys' classes, the object is rather to teach principles than to impart a sHll whiclji can only result from long practical experience. In cookery, for example, the object of the teaoher is to show the value of economy and cleanliness, to explain the nutritive value of the various food stuffa, and how with a little trouble and thought diet can be varied without extra
cost.
Technical instruction proper is in reality a form of secondary education. It is not fair to tax the young brain with the highly complex principles whioh underlie the chief manufacturing industries. A boy is presumed to have passed the primary schools and to have acquired an average acquaintance with the ordinary educational subjects before he is allowed to specialise. Mr Riley points out that at present the difficulty at Home is that boys present themselves at the various technical colleges and institutions who have not had that preparatory training which is now supplied by the primary schools. In time that will right itself, but it is well to realise that in this matter, as in others, we must walk before we can run. The object of the technical school is to teach the principles of science and art as applied to the chief forms of trade. The course consists of drawing, mathematics, mechanics, natural philosophy, chemistry, and metallurgy. The , various schools naturally specialise. In the Midlands metallurgy is more prominent, while in the agricultural counties special schools of farming and dairying are provided. In many respects the class of instruction closely resembles that given in the higher forms of our High Schools or junior classes of our Universities. In addition, of oourse, there are praotical olasses where the, use of tools and the various methods of each trade are explained, but throughout the object of the teaching is not the acquiring of practical skill in a trade, but the acquiring of a knowledge of , the scientific principles on which the trade is founded, and the use and properties of the various tools and methods employed. In some of the large manufacturing centres special trade schools have been established whioh are solely directed to providing a thorough training in all the branches of some one partioular trade, but in the ordinary technical school the instruction supplied is of a more general and theoretic character. Most of these schools have evening or continuation classes, intended to provide a preparatory training to those students who have not had the advantages now offered by the primary schools, and a pass certificate is required before the stndent can enter the technical sohool proper. Mr Riley throughout his report bears in mind the special circumstances of the colony, and dwells particularly on those parts . of the English scheme which are applicable to the colony. We must, however, leave for another^ocoasion the consideration of his recommendations for the improvement of our own education system
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Bibliographic details
Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11217, 6 May 1899, Page 2
Word Count
1,107TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11217, 6 May 1899, Page 2
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