and women and the use of Spanish as a medium of conversation will be insisted upon. It is estimated that the total cost of the four weeks in Madrid, excluding travelling expenses, will be 750-1,000 pesetas. Further particulars can be obtained from the Secretario de los Cursos para extranjeros, Centro de Estudios Históricos, Almagro, 26, Madrid.

EASTER SCHOOL IN LIBRARIANSHIP.-The University of London School of Librarianship, having held three successful vacation schools in Brussels, Paris, and at Florence, now proposes to hold one next Easter at Heidelberg (April 9-23), provided a sufficient number of students enter at once. Arrangements will be made for courses of lectures and practical classes to be held at the University, by the kind permission of the Rector, Dr. Panzer. Besides courses on recent phases of Library Economy, by Mr. C. R. Sanderson and Mr. Berwick Sayers, there will be ten lectures on the Contemporary English Novel, by the Director, Dr. Baker; ten or more practical demonstrations by a member of the staff of the University of London Department of Phonetics (to be arranged), and a series, in English, by a leading authority on Contemporary German Literature. Several of the courses

should be of interest and real service to teachers as well as librarians. Arrangements will be made for the housing of students at moderate prices in the Studentenheim, and for special travelling facilities. Visits will also be arranged to Mannheim, Frankfort, Nüremberg, Cologne, and other places of interest. The total cost, including fees and excursions, should not exceed £12.

INTERCHANGE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLMASTERS AND MISTRESSES WITH THE DOMINIONS.-The following interchange appointments between secondary schoolmasters and mistresses have lately been effected by the League of the Empire: Two assistant masters in English grammar schools have been exchanged, one with the deputy-head of the Ballarat High School, and one with an assistant master of a high school, Melbourne; another will take up an exchange appointment in Melbourne in March. An assistant mistress in an English high school with an assistant mistress in the Kimberley Girls' High School, South Africa. Two secondary school mistresses in the Glasgow Education service, one a science mistress and one French, with mistresses in girls' high schools in Sydney and Melbourne. A language mistress in the Kirkcaldy High School with a language mistress at a collegiate institute in Toronto. A French mistress in a secondary school in Ayrshire with a French mistress in a secondary school in New South Wales. These assistant masters and mistresses have been exchanged with those teaching similar subjects, and as far as reports have as yet been received, all have been satisfactory, both to the school and Education Authorities concerned. The League of the Empire, 124 Belgrave Road, London, S.W. 1, will be glad to receive inquiries from any assistant masters or mistresses in secondary schools desiring such interchange with the overseas Dominions. At present interchanges are being arranged with Western and South Australia.

STATISTICS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN WALES.-The Welsh Department of the Board of Education has published statistics relating to 1924-25; the last publication of this kind was for 1921-22. In Wales in 1924-25 there were thirty Local Education Authorities, with a total population of 2,656,474. Of a total of 488,320 pupils in schools of all kinds, 23,844 were under 5 years of age and 3,145 were 17 and over. There were 1,918 public and other elementary schools (of which 1,299 were Council schools with 385,638 pupils) and 16,243 teachers. The percentage of attendance in elementary schools was 87.7. Of a total of 52,696 pupils who left public elementary schools, 14,917 were 14, and under, years of age, and 9,619 entered secondary or other schools for senior children or young persons. Of 15,858 teachers in public elementary schools, 50 2 per cent were certificated and college-trained (48.3 per cent in 1923-24); 8.6 per cent were certificated but not college-trained (9.3 per cent in 1923-24); 29.9 per cent were uncertificated (29 per cent in 1923-24); 6.6 per cent were supplementary (74 per cent in 1923-24); 3.1 per cent were student teachers and 8 per cent pupil teachers (3 per cent and 1-8 per cent respectively in 1923-24). Of head teachers, 80.8 per cent were trained. There were 87 departments containing one class and one department containing 16 classes. There were 855 classes containing between 50 and 60 pupils ; of these classes 245 were in charge of uncertificated teachers. There were 218 departments with average attendance of under 30. The aggregate code value of staff per 1,000 pupils in average attendance was 1,685. There were 14 certified special schools

for blind, deaf, and defective children in Wales. There were 158 secondary schools on the efficient list, as compared with 150 in 1923-24; of these 21 charged no fee whilst the average fee ranged from four to six guineas. There were 138 pupils under 12 years of age in such schools on March 31, 1924, and on March 31, 1925, the total number of full-time pupils on the grant list was 31,168, or 117 per 1,000 of the population (11'1 on March 31, 1924). Of a total of 1,655 teachers, 1,290 were graduates. 4,638 pupils were entered for approved first Examinations, and 66'9 per cent passed; 597 were entered for approved second examinations and 63.8 per cent passed. Comparing the number of ex-public elementary school pupils drawn from the area admitted to secondary schools during 1924-25, with the number of public elementary school pupils aged 10 and under 11 on March 31, 1924, a percentage of 16 is shown for Wales, but the extraordinary figure of 404 is shown for Merionethshire. There were four technical institution courses and courses of advanced instruction in arts, with a total of 341 boys and men students and 39 girls and women. Four junior technical schools had a total of 263 boy pupils. In part-time technical instruction there were 671 classes in English, 1,033 in mathematics, and 455 in coal-mining. One hundred and thirty adult education classes were held under the direction of the various university colleges ; of these classes, 27 were in literature and language, 43 in economics and industrial history, 4 in aesthetics, 13 in sociology, and 19 in philosophy. Of 32 State scholarships held by ex-pupils of Welsh secondary schools, 8 were applied to courses at Oxford, and 17 to courses at the University of Wales. There were 715 apprentice teachers as compared with 1,352 in 1922-23. The student-teacher system of training preponderates greatly. The percentage of apprentice teachers to adult teachers throughout Wales was 3.8 in 1924-25, as compared with 6.6 in 1922-23. Of II training colleges and departments, 5 were provided by Local Education Authorities; there were 1,988 students in training (as compared with 2,060 in 1922-23), of whom 1,789 were training for elementary schools, 95 for secondary schools, and 104 women as teachers of domestic subjects. Of those admitted, 104 held an approved second school examination certificate. The average amount per pupil of payments in respect of school maintenance of secondary schools was £25.1, of which £20-2 was for teachers' salaries and £2.7 for maintenance of premises. The amount per child spent on elementary education was 221s. 8d., of which 168s. Id. is in respect of salaries of teachers.

on

ESSAY COMPETITION.-Thanks to the generosity of the Council of the Educational Institute of Scotland, the Research Committee is able to offer prizes to the value of £50 for essays The Economy of Time in School Work." The economy to which the Committee hopes to direct attention by means of this essay scheme is the economy to be secured by the improvement of school work under existing conditions. Competitors are left free to deal with the subject from any point of view they please, but the Committee ventures to suggest as the most promising lines of attack: (a) the definition of the minimum essentials in the different subjects; (b) the examination and testing of the accepted methods of teaching subjects; (c) an exploration of the possibilities of the new individual methods of teaching subjects. Essays should not exceed 10,000 words. The adjudicators will be Mr. D. M. Cowan, M.P., Mr. John R. Peddie, and Dr. Boyd. Their decision on the order of the competitors and on the allocation of the prize money will be final. Essays bearing a nom de plume, accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the name of the writer should be sent to the General Secretary of the Institute, 47 Moray Place, Edinburgh, not later than July 15, 1927.

RUDOLF STEINER.-A conference on the Educational Impulse of Rudolf Steiner is to be held on March 4 to 6, at the Rudolf Steiner Hall, 33 Park Road, Clarence Gate, N.W. 1.

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from the harshness of reality, it may be reassuring if we look closer at what has been happening underneath the darkness and the tumult. Perhaps we shall find that we were over-optimistic and too easily disappointed, and that dreams which allowed themselves to become pale wraiths were but hurried illusions which prevented our clear view of realities we tended, in our enthusiasm, to ignore.

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BY H. J.

Not a few of us who, in the spacious days immediately following the horror of 1914-18, were proud to think that with us lay the hope of a new world, have felt the chastening hand of disappointment. Education was to go forward filled with a new idealism. A nation, tried in the fiery furnace of war, had learned its essential unity and the fineness of its previously hidden qualities, and was full of a high and earnest endeavour to make all things clean and new. Money was not to be spared in so sacred a cause; on this, at least, political opponents were at one. The teacher was to become almost a high priest charged with the noblest of all duties. All types and shades of opinion willingly came together to examine new aims and methods. A great Act was placed upon the Statute Book. Then came forces and reactions we had not thought possible: clashing policies and upheavals; political quarrels, and bitternesses; scrappings and snarlings about salaries and pensions, in which we were forced to join instead of being able to get down to our real purpose; new reasons for illogical retrenchments; the staggering realization of decreasing trade. and increasing unemployment; all the deadly arguments for clipping the wings of idealism; the growing feeling that we had been living in an unreal world. What seemed almost a cynical callousness appeared to drive us back to the ancient narrow grooves and the dull striving after things never to be realized.

But if the world is still dark and bruised; if the noise of shrill headlines and strident political contradictions so deafens us that it seems impossible to hold on to the dreams which writhe like pale wraiths intent on flight

Rightly or wrongly, formal education is a conservative process it follows rather than leads public opinion: and any scheme, no matter how apparently desirable, is doomed if it is not an accurate reflection of human life and endeavour. This has shown itself dimly in our recent criticisms of examination methods, our grasping of Montessori and Dalton plans, and, in secondary education, in our desire to develop "practical" sides to the curriculum. More and more conscious of the fact that the vast majority of pupils must ultimately be absorbed by industry and commerce, we have perceived, however vaguely and incompletely, that to control future evolution we must take into account new factors. Statesmen, too, have grown similarly conscious, and, even if they have frustrated us in other ways, they have not failed to recognize that, if an inevitable commercial and industrial civilization is to be made to realize a high enough standard of living, the knowledge that the art of getting a living is not less important than the final art of living must not be neglected. So, while movement may have been slow, it is there nevertheless, and our educational policies have, in spite of disappointments, been progressive.

The best indication has been in the steady interest in post-primary education. No hurried scheme has been universally accepted, and attention to the problem has been directed from more angles than that of the school. There has been a steady piling up of varied opinion, and not a few apparently unconnected agencies have converged on a common problem.

First came the Annual Report of the Board of Education for 1924-5, in which the principal chapter was devoted to a Survey of the Provision made for Technical and Further Education." The choice of the subject was due to the "keen and widespread interest which is at present being evinced in the relation of the educational system to the needs of trade and industry." Such recognition of the importance and the humane possibilities of technical education was timely not only because of its bearing on the material welfare of the country, but because its official character gave an indicaation (since commented upon by the Consultative Committee and administratively dealt with by the Board itself) of the fact that there is, in spite of necessary labels for different branches, ultimately but one thingeducation. And in attempting the reconciliation of

education and industry there are good reasons for selecting technical education as their common meeting-place. Here are students pursuing studies which have an obvious connexion with their life's work: here the first link with industry is already forged: here relationships with employers are already attempted: here, too, are students from all other types of school.

Next came the report of the Consultative Committee, and if it did not appear to be well informed of the work and type of students in junior technical schools, it clearly realized that "school and industry are different facets of a single society, and the habit of mind which isolates them is a habit to be overcome"; and it set itself to formulate lines of advance, which demonstrated the cultural possibility of humane technical education. Failure to put into operation the Education Act of 1918 was disappointing, but we now see more clearly the beginnings of a sound plan upon which its ideals may yet be realized, and the Consultative Committee's contribution is invaluable, not only for its wide survey, not only for its inspiring ideals, but also for an almost unconscious demonstration of weaknesses to be avoided when the new structure is being made.

Almost concurrently Mr. D. O. Malcolm's Committee on Education and Industry produced a report concerning the many factors involved in securing and retaining employment, and, if all the recommendations are not commendable, we must not fail to recognize the baffling nature of the problems reviewed. When the second part of the report is issued we hope to comment on the work as a whole. For our present purpose it is sufficient to note the significance of one emerging fact, viz., that junior technical school students have no difficulty in obtaining employment, and that, in a number of cases, the demand exceeds the supply.

A recent volume from another Committee (under Sir Arthur Balfour) entitled "Factors in Industrial and Commercial Efficiency" may be regarded as of especial importance because the Committee's business was not primarily that of education. Its examination of the future possibilities of British trade lead it inevitably to

questions of technical education, apprenticeship, and research. Its view is crystalized in one of its own phrases: "Industrial output is not merely a question of volume but depends essentially on quality." Clearly it sees that school education before entry into, and concurrently with, employment has increased in importance since, under modern industrial conditions, the relative value of the potency of apprenticeship is diminishing; it sees, too, the potentialities of industry inspired by science, not merely in the interests of an arid efficiency, but of improvements in the standard of living. The plea for an extension and fuller appreciation of technical education is therefore one which must command attention.

Finally we understand that the Emmott Committee, which was formed by all types of teachers' associations, learned institutions and the Federation of British Industries, is now at the stage of drafting its report on the relationship of technical education to other forms of education and to industry. And we recall that when, in May last, Lord Eustace Percy interviewed a deputation of this committee he pointed out that, before he could begin to make any changes, he would prefer to have in front of him the results of all the committees we have mentioned.

In spite, then, of the post-1918 disappointments, it is obvious that education has been continually under review and that we may hope shortly to see defined a sane and bold policy of post-primary education. our part, we rejoice that technical education is at last coming into its own. We are not unaware, of course, that there are those who may see in that statement a sacrifice of the ideals and liberal qualities which are usually supposed to be inherent only in more purely academic forms of education. Our own columns give sufficient reply. No one will guard more jealously than we the great spiritual purpose of education, but we do not believe that purpose will be hindered by adaptation to new conditions. On the contrary we believe that a still greater culture may yet rise, phoenix-like, from the dead ashes of our importunate material needs

University Government:

THE paper read by Mr. T. LI. Humberstone before the Education Guild on " University Government, with special reference to the University of London raised some interesting questions. Our ancient universities have handed down a medieval tradition of a self-governing community with full freedom. of opinion, a tradition as precious as the dreamy spires and moonlit lawns of which we are frequently reminded. Can that tradition be reconciled to the organization of a modern university in a great centre of population? The future government of the University of London has been settled in broad outline by the Act of 1926, but adjustments can be made, and no doubt will be made, by the Commissioners who are now at work on the new Statutes. Mr. Humberstone submitted a number of suggestions, many of which, based as they are both on historical considerations and an appreciation of actual conditions, should receive careful consideration.

Notes

The Council of the University of London:

THE necessity for ensuring a high standard of attendance on the Council, which is to be responsible for the financial administration of the University and may control an income of a million a year, is obvious, and was not overlooked by the Departmental Committee. Payment of members is a novel suggestion, but precedents have recently been established by the Government in the control of broadcasting and electricity supply. The suggestion that non-regents or non-teachers of the university-should alone vote or be eligible for election in the election of members of the Senate by Convocation is logical, since adequate representation of the teachers' interests is provided by the election of representatives of the Faculties. The chief purpose of graduate representation," Mr. Humberstone said, "should be to bring the university into touch with the world of affairs, the professions and industries." This suggestion received strong support from two members of the Senate of the university who attended the meeting.