WHAT AN EDUCAT ION COMMITTEE 
CAN DO. (ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.) 


w~: are pending, in the United Kingdom, something like forty

millions tcrling out of the rate and taxe and public endowments on 

our educational system, and nobody is yet sati lied with the result. On 

all sides critics and educational reformers are asking for this or that 

alteration in what we teach our children and how we teach them. The 

ideal ystem 11·ill be reached only in the ideal tate. In the meantime, 

whil t the educationalists are di cu ·ing what sort of education we 

should have, the practical administrator has to carry on such schools 

as exi t. The pre ent pamphlet represents an attempt to supply the 

men and women who find themselves on local education authoritie , 

bodies of chool managers, or children's care committee , with 

some useful information as to how to make the chool com


mitted to their charge more efficient. :\ t pre ent, it i not too much 

to say, nearly all the twenty thousand school in Great Britain are 

quite unncces arily imperfect. The bulk of them fall a far below 

the best ~pecimens as these best pecimens them elves fall short of 

our ideal. To bring your own particular school-taking all local 

circum tance into account-up to something like the standard of 

the be t contemporary school is as useful an achievement in our own 

day and generation a rai ing the standard of the ideal. 

The following pages are therefore de\·oted to uch humdrum 

matters as accommodation and taffing, equipment and curriculum, 

pictures and scholarships. The enormou ly important subject of 

medical impection and treatment, and the physical condition of the 

child, must be dealt with separately. 

Accommodation. 

It is incumbent upon an education authority to provide sufficient 
school accommodation for every child of school age within it area, 
but a rising standard of efficiency, together with occa ional fluctuations 
in population, prevents this from becoming a matter of undue 
simplicity. During the past forty year nearly every detail of chool 
planning ha~ changed. A modern well equipped chool ha· a 
central hall for general assembly ; class rooms not less than four 
hundred ~quare feet in area, to seat forty children, well lighted from 
the lett of the pupils, well ventilated, and \\·armed ; w1de corridor ; 
safe and efficient staircases and e:'l.its ; adequate cloak room , where 
11·et clothes can be dried ; well provided ]a,·atorie · for nece ary 
washin~ ; a good upply of drinkinrr water ; sanital)· office ; and 
~uflicient playground accommodation, with a portion covered for 

~hclter in wet weather. 

ReJm.tn·s Ro1d L.C.C. Elementary chool, Stepney, London, has cia s rooms 
to ho1d fou~ pup.!,; ample halls, tauc,tse', and <"\it'; IS lit by eltctric lio-ht; heated 
by low pte U!e hut 11ater app.11.1tus; and its playgrounds pro\·ide thirty >quate feet 

to e~•h pupil. 


2 

Such a school finds no counterpart among those erected before 
1870, and is far in advance of many erected before 1900. At the 
time when some of the older voluntary schools were built, the 
Education Department of the day did not insist upon receiving 
complete and detailed plans before sanctioning the building ; and 
these often did not provide the eight square feet per child, includingcorridor and cloak room space, in the estimate which was first 
exacted. This provision has increased, and for some time past ten 
square feet in senior schools, and nine square feet in infant schools, 
counting only class rooms, have been enforced in all new buildings ; 
and the demand is now made that all old buildings shall be also 
raised to this standard. 

Hence it is not surprising to find that in its last Report (1908-9)
the Board points out that in England and Wales two thousand 
school premises, nearly one tenth of the whole, are still unsatisfactory. 
Of these, six hundred and sixty have been condemned, a 
time limit having been given for their recognition. It is to be 
noted that the standard adopted by the Board in thus condemning 
schools is by no means a high one compared with modern ideas on 
school planning ; and, further, that when a time limit is given, often 
of two or three years, during which condemned premises are allowed 
to continue in use, at the end of that time frequently no new building 
is available, and the time is extended until five or six years may 
elapse before satisfactory accommodation is provided, the health and 
efficiency of pupils and teachers alike suffering in the meantime. 
And such inadequate school buildings appear to be most common in 
the North of England.':' 

Some local authorities have arranged to rebuild or remodel 
systematically a certain number of schools each year. Thus in 
London a list of schools, arranged in order of urgency, has been 
prepared, with which it is proposed to deal at the rate of nine each 
year. One hundred and eighteen of the one hundred and ninety-
seven council schools built r87o-8o, and thirty-four of the one 
hundred and fifty-one built 1881-90, have so far been dealt with, 
leaving yet many defective buildings, some of which have been 
condemned in reports year after year for defects in lighting, warming, 
ventilation, cloak rooms, staircases, and playground accommodation, 
in strange contrast to the excellent provision made in new 
school premises.t 

Of old, class rooms were built to seat from sixty to ninety pupils,

often with one large room in which four or more classes could be 

taught together. Many such still remain, particularly in rural dis


tricts. The large room is still fa\'ored because of its convenience for 

purposes of Sunday school and evening meetings. One of the 

greatest commercial cities of the North has a non-pro\·ided school 

with a room eighty feet by twenty-five feet, in which one hundred 

and ninety children are taught in four classes. But in most districts 

• Report, Board of Education, rgog. 
t As the result of a careful survey by the London County Council in rgo; of the 
four hundred and thirt)-three non-prov1ded ~chools, closure was required in twenty-
three cases and improvements in three hundred and forty-nine cases. 


3 

these are being gradually partitioned off, two large class rooms for 
sixty or seventy pupils being sometimes divided into three smaller 
rooms. Thus in London during 1907-8 five hundred and forty-threeclass rooms, with an average accommodation for sixty-seven pupils, 
were changed into five hundred and ninety rooms, with an average 
of fifty-two; but in January, 1909, there still remained one thousand 
two hundred rooms accommodating more than sixty pupils. 

Many schools, in some districts the majority, are still unprovidedwith halls in which no classes are taught, now recognized as essential 
for efficient work under modern methods. Thus there are fourteen 
schools in Colchester, seventeen in York, seventeen in Burnley,
fifteen in Reading, without halls. In Darwen only two schools out 
of twenty are so provided, and West Bromwich has none, its schools 
resembling in this respect the majority in rural districts. 

The question of safe exits in case of fire and provision of fire 
alarms has come to the fore of late. Some schools would proveveritable death traps in the event of a panic. Some authorities, as 
London, have recently been reconstructing and providing new exits, 
rehanging doors so that all shall open outwards, and providing fire 
alarms to ensure safety. In many districts, particularly in congested 
town areas, playgrounds are inadequate, giving insufficient room for 
adequate exercise-in one such the infants play in a coatinual gloom 
with no open air, whilst the boys play in instalments, in what is little 
better than an enlargement of the sanitary offices-deficiency here 
also adding to the difficulty of remodelling the premises where this 
is necessary.* 

There is a general consensus of opinion that three hundred 
pupils is the number that can be most adequately provided for in 
one department, this number being large enough to admit of due 
classification and small enough for adequate supervision by the head 
teacher. 

In many cases, for purposes of economy, much larger schools 
are administered. Some London council schools provide for five 
hundred and sixty pupils, and some districts in the North of 
En11;land, as Burnley, have schools with more than eight hundred 
children under one head teacher. But higher elementary schools 
are restricted to three hundred and fifty pupils, and this number is 
the proposed limit for the new central elementary schools in London. 
Ifsuch a number is large enough in schools where classes are small 
and the premises exceedingly well equipped, there appears no reason 
why it should be exceeded in the ordinary schools, which are in 
other respects less well off. 

Fluctuations in school population often cause considerable difficulty 
in providing sufficient school accommodation. Rapidly growing 
residential districts, sometimes already heavily rated, often fail to 
keep pace with the demand, with disastrous results. Thus, in a 
letter to the Tottenham Education Committee, sent in February, 

"' In Manchester it has recently been decided to build a new school in a corner of 
one of the public parks. The Edinburgh School Board has bought a large playin!rfield for the common use of the schools with insufficient playgrounds. 


19101 the Board of Education pointed out that nearly every school 

had too many children, that some class rooms were overcrowded to . 

the extent of forty or fifty children, that passages and exit corridors 

were used for teaching purposes, and that the resulting overcrowd


ing was bad for health and education. Such a case is fortunately 

extreme, though the conditions are not unknown elsewhere. On 

the other hand, some districts have an accommodation considerably 

in excess of present needs ; whilst again in some large area , with 

a total excess of accommodation, there may be deficiency in certain 

parts of the area. Thus, for example, the London Authority, with 

a total accommodation greater than its needs, has recently given 

notice of its intention to build or enlarge schools for nearly ten 

thousand children in East and North London, where for some time 
past there have been in ufficient school place ':' 

Staffing. 

In considering the question of the relative values and sufficiency 
of staffs the different grades of teachers now employed must be 
remembered. 

Over one hundred and fifty-nine thousand teachers were engaged 
in the elementary schools of England during the year 1908-9, of 
whom only eighty-nine thousand were certificated, and of these only 
forty-seven thousand had spent two or three years in a training 
college and were technically known as "trained" ; whilst forty-two 
thousand had received the certificate without having been through a 
training college. Of the remaining seventy thousand, nearly forty 
thousand have had some experience as pupil teachers, but havingfailed to pass the necessary examinations are known as uncertificated; 
whilst the remaining thirty thousand are composed of pupil 
teachers, student teachers, and the anomalous, unqualified class known 
as supplementary teachers.+ 

In no satisfactory scheme of education would an unqualified 
teacher be allowed to be responsible for the education of children, 
any more than an unqualified medical student is allowed to be 
responsible for their physical well being. Jn the following statistics, 
therefore, only certificated teacher are considered, and the aYeragenumber of children in average attendance for which such certificated 
teacher is respon ible has been taken as the best basi of comparison. 
In this connection, however, two points have to be borne in mind: 
first, that amongst these certificated teachers are included the head 

* In connection with this question the Board of Education has recen tly published 
the report of a committee on the provision of school buildings which, whil t efficient, 
shall be less costly and permanent in structure. Report of Departmental Commiltee 
on the Cost of School Buildings (Cd. 5534), 1911. 
t It is noteworthy that, excluding pupil teachers, ninety·one per cent. of the non-
certificated teachers are women, often very badly paid; also that whilst so many unqualified 
teachers are al lowed to be responsible for a class, a very large number of fully 
qualified young people, again mostly women, who have been trained at considerable 
expense to the State, have either been un:>blc to obtain emplc1ymet1t, or have had to 
accept employment as uncertificated teachers. It is ~aid tha t in L:tncashire alone 
there were recently (1910) two hundred and ninety-six certificated teachers employed 
as, and at the wages of, uncertifica ted teachers. 


5 


teachers, who are always for a part or the whole of their time 
engaged in administrative or executive duties, and who thus can 
never give their undivided attention to a class, and are often not 
expected to, therefore the number of pupils per certificated class 
teacher is always greater than that given; whilst, in the second 
place, this number is still further increased by the fact that the 
teacher is actually responsible for the number of children on the 
1'egister, for the irregular, who are often the greater burden, as w'ell 
as for the regular. Thus in a school of three hundred pupils in 
aYerage attendance, staffed by six certificated teachers, the number 
of children on the registers would be about three hundred and 
thirty, and in a school of this size the head teacher should be 
entirely freed from responsibility for a class ; hence the remaining 
five certificated teachers would be responsible for sixty-five pupils 
each, instead of fifty, as would appear at first glance. This needs to 
be borne in mind when considering the folloWing figures. 

If school provision varies at all, it might be expected to vary in 
proportion to the wealth of a district. The best basis of wealth 
comparison for school purposes is that taken by the Government, 
the amount yielded by dividing the total product of a penny rate tor 
the district by the number of children in average attendance. But 
it should be noted that by the Special Aid Grant, which is distributed 
in inverse proportion to this product of a penny rate, some 
approach to equality of burden is attempted. . 

The following table giyes for the yean; 1907-8 and 1908-9 respectively 
the number of adult teachers per thpusand pupils in averageattendance in county boroughs, boroughs .and urbq.n districts, and in 
-rural area under county councils, in England and Wales.':' 

No. of Teachers per 1,ooo Children in Average Attendance 

ENGLAND 

Certificated U ncertificated . Others Totals 

1907-8 1908-9 1907-8 1908-9 1907-8 1908-9 1907-8 1908-g. 
London ... 23"6 24"2 I"57 1"2 0"753 0"39 25"95 2'j"•79 
County Boroughs 18·6s 19·28 7"66 7"19 1"28 0"99 27")9 2]"46 
Bor. & U rb. Dist. r6·63 1]"2 9"18 8·76 2"09 1"74 27"9 27"7 
County Areas ... q·69 15"08 IO"I7 10"59 7"24 6·59 32"1 32"2 

WALES. 
County Boroughs 16·95 17·52 1o·r9 9·91 2·86 3o·o 29.A9 
Bor. & Urb. Dist. I 5"46 1 6·.~4 rz·o8 12·39 4"23 31"77 32"4 
County Areas .. . I 3"34 13"89 f2"65 13"17 8·65 34"54 35"57 

* It may be noted that the more progressive areas maintain a certain number of 
higher grade or higher elementary schools, more liberally staffed than the ordinary 
schools. In such a district thouah the average be below fifty, the size of cbsses may 
vary from twenty-five in a 'highe~ elementary school to seventy in an ordinary school 
at the beginning of the school year. On the otbtr hand, nearly all authorities have a 
number of" supply ' teachers available in case of the ab;ence of permanent teachers, 
and have also some teachers of special subjects who are not technically" certi'ficated," 
and do not count for staffing purposes. Thus London in 1910 had one hundred 
and twenty-six visiting teachers, mainly for French; >~ree hundred and thirty-fo~r 
teachers of domestic economy; and two hundred and nmety-seven teachers of handicraft 
under this las.t h_ead. 

6 

In order that there should be one certificated teacher for every 
forty pupils, with a head teacher freed from responsibility for a class 
for every three hundred pupils, 28·3 certificated teachers for every 
thousand pupils would be necessary. From this table it will be seen 
how far we are from that quite modern ideal. But there has been 
steady improvement in the number of certificated teachers employed, 
approximating generally to ·6, being lowest in the English rural 
areas, whilst the number of uncertificated and others tends to getless. Further, it may be noted that the quality of the teachingprovision decreases as we go from county boroughs to rural districts; 
that Wales makes distinctly worse provision than England ; and 
that the number of'' teachers of a sort" provided is not an indication 
of the quality of the teaching staff, unless taken inversely.

The second table gives for certain education areas the productof a penny rate (ppr.) and the education rate for I907-8, togetherwith A, the number of children in average attendance to each certificated 
teacher, including the head teacher, and B, the percentageof certificated teachers in the total number of adult teachers 
employed, for 1907-8 and I908-9 respectively. The instances given 
are typical of many that might be cited, and are arranged in order of 

column A for I908-9. 

Area 

CouNTY AREAS. 
Middlesex 
SurreyKent 
Lancashire... 
West RidingNorfolk 
Essex 
Holland (Lines.) 

'SoME WELSH TowNs. 
BarryCardiff 
NewportSwansea 

ENGLISH TowN AREAS. 
HomseyTottenham 
London 
Birkenhead 
Leyton 
Manchester 
Oldham 
Stockport ... 
Preston 
Eastbourne 
Worcester .. . 
St. Helens .. . 

A B 
Ppr. Rate 1907-8 1908-9 1907-8 1908·9 
4/4 
5;6 
3/4 
3/0 
2/8 
2/4 
2/8 
3/8 
Io·7 
w I 
Io·9 
9·8 
Io·4 
9·o 
u·3 
s·6 
49.7 
55·4 
64·7 
6To 
69·0 
7I"I 
75·o 
75·8 
50.5 
s6·o 
63·3 
6s·o 
65 · I 
70.2 
73.3 
76·5 
66·o 
49.9 
44.7 
40·8 
40"4 
33·8 
39.5 
36·6 
71·o 
56·5 
50·8 
47"5 
48·5 
4o·o 
44.2 
36·7 
3/4 
3/2 
2/6 
2/2 
20·8 
I3.9 
Ip 
I 9·7 
30·8 
55"7 
58·4 
64·4 
29.3 
51"5 
58·8 
65·2 
84·2 
62·4 
6o·9 
53.2 
84·4 
69'3 
62·6 
53.0 
6/8 
2/2 
5/4 
2/10 *3/6 *2/4I/IO 
6/4 
2/4 
1/8 
15·2 
24.2 
ITO 
Is·s 
24.9 
14.9 
20·1 
1!"2 
7·6 
5·6 
I0.4 
yo·o 
33.2 
41"0 
43.2 
49.3 
47.0 
51"5 
52·6 
66·o 
68·o 
72·o 
71.4 
76·5 
33·0 
40·8 
41·6 
45.9 
48·7 
4Q.I 
50·1 
63·2 
66·6 
69·6 
7o·s 
71.4 
95·o 
82·4 
8rs 
70"4 
67"2 
56·7 
66·7 
57·6 
50·6 
47·o 
38·2 
42·o 
95·o 
94.0 
92·8 
74·6 
8.)·56r2 
68·o 
6o·5 
54.9 
55·4 
46·I 
46·6 


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Together with general improvement very considerable variation 
will_ be noticed. The counties ranged from so· 5 to 76·5 pupils percert1ncated teacher. There seems no reason why the Holland 
J?ivision of Lincolnshire should be so poorly equipped and spend so 
httle. In the towns, too, the teaching provision of heavily rated 
Tottenham and Leyton will bear comparison with that made in 
London and Birmingham. Nor are these two exceptional amongthe poorer residential districts around London. In Ilford, Leyton, 
East Ham, West Ham, Walthamstow, and Edmonton, the rate 
varied from I 9·8 to 24·9 pence, and the provision of certificated 
teachers varied from one to forty-seven to one to fifty pupils. 
Wealthier Manchester is at last coming into line with them. 
Oldham and Preston, two towns very similar in character, afford an 
interesting contrast, Oldham raising an education rate nearly three 
times as great as Preston and providing thirteen per cent. more certificated 
teachers. Birkenhead and Stockport form another interesting 
pair, and the comparison is somewhat odious for Stockport. 
But if Preston and Stockport were not well equipped, wealthy Eastbourne 
and the dignined cathedral city of Worcester could at least 
cast no stones at them, whilst the poverty of St. Helens cannot justify 
its lack of qualified teachers. If, indeed, the head teachers of 
schools large enough for them to be relieved from responsibility for 
a class had been excluded from the computation, some of these 
authorities would, as already explained, make a much worse appearance. 
Thus in Eastbourne, excluding the head teachers of each of 
its twenty-five departments, there was in 1908-9 only one certificated 
class teacher for every one hundred and three pupils in averageattendance. But Eastbourne had its reward in having one of the lowest 
education rates in the kingdom.*

The issue of Circular 709, which, whilst reducing the numbers of 
pupils for which non-certincated teachers will in future be allGwed to 
be responsible, insists that the number of scholars on the register of 
a class under the instruction of one teacher shall not exceed sixty, 
is justined by such instances as have been, and others that could be, 
quoted ; as is also the wish of the Board of Education that "the 
arrangements of certain authorities should be levelled upwards to the 
standard already attained, or in process of attaining, in other parts of 
the country, and that a more uniform observance of the fundamental 
conditions of educational efficiency should be secured." t But, in order 
to attain that, there needs to be also some readjustment of the financial 
burden to relieve the discrepancy between such rates as that of 24·9 
pence in the pound in Leyton and that of s·6 pence in Eastbourne.t 

* The proportion; of non-provided schools in these districts is suggestive. Old-
ham had sixteen non-provided out of thirty-eight schools ; Preston, thirty-six out of 
thirty-eight; Worcester, sixteen out of eighteen; East bourne, ten out of thirteen·j and 
St. Helens. thirty-three out of thirty-nine. Eastbourne is also the favored abode of a 
large number of proprietary schools. 
t Prefatory Memorandum, Code of Regulations, 1909. 
t llford in 1891, had a population of ten thousand nine hundred and eleven and an 
education rate of twopence; in June, 1909, its population was seventy-nine thousand 
four hundred and thirty-six and its education rate for 1909-10 is one shilling and ten-
pence in the pound. Since 1894 it has built thirteen schools, and two more are planned. 


8 

Desks. 

Let us now turn to the subject of equipment of school premises. 
For children under six it seems to be agreed that low tables and 

·small chairs are better than any form of desk. The children sit in 
small group , six or eight at a table, and the mistre s moves easily 
among them. These little chairs and tables can be procured from 
any good maker of school furniture at the following prices : chairs, 
two shillings and threepence to three shillings and fourpence each ; 
tables, ten shillings to sixteen shillings, according to size. 

For older children also separate seats should be used. Doctors 
· and teachers alike agree on this point. For reasons of hygiene and 
· of order there should be a clear space between children engaged in 
school work. The long benches once in use, and still used in many 
country schools, are therefore to be condemned. The single seat is 
best provided by single desks. Chairs are sometimes used with 
these for reasons of economy. The desk without seat costs about 
eighteen shilling , and the chair may be had for two shillings ; while 
a desk with attached seat costs from twenty-two shillings and sixpence 
to twenty-five shillings, according to Yarieties of pattern. 
The small saYing, however, effected by the use of chairs is reported 
to be inadvi able, ince the chairs are noisy in use ; and with them 
it is not so easy to secure that the child sits in a good position for 

_ reading, writing, or drawing. And if the growing child its in a distorted 
position for four or five hours of five days in the week, the 
effect on his immature body is disastrous. 
The cost of providing single desks for many hundreds or 
thousands of children is evidently a matter for serious consideration 
to many educational authorities. New schools can be fitted out 
with tables and separate chairs for baby classes, and with single 
desks for the standards, at no very great addition to the cost of the 
old fashioned and unhygienic double desk . But to 11 scrap" an 
existing supply is the difficulty of many administrators. A compromise 
between the worst system and the best can be found and 
cost lessened by desks such as the 11 Sheffield," in which a long slope 
for book is backed by separate seat at satisfactory distances from 
each other. These have al o the merit, hared by the single desk, 
of preventing overcrowding. A dual desk can easily be made to 
seat three and a form a very indefi nite number, but only one child 
can sit on a separate seat. 
Flat de ks are objectionable, because the child must bend over 
them to write in a position which cramps the bouy. This objectiondoes not apply to the tables for babies, who do not write. 
It may be well to suggest here that all desks should be cleansed 
once a week with a di infectant solution. 
We have made enquiries of makers of chool furniture and of 
workmen whether it is advisable to com·ert dual de ks already existingin a school into ingle ones. So far as our cnquirie have gone, all 
authoritie agree that this is not worth \\·hile. The co t, they say,
of providing the nece ary iron supports would amount to almost 
that of new single de k . The desk so made would be inferior to 


9 

the new desk made to a better pattern, and therefore it does not 
appear that the adaptation can generally be recommended. Local 
conditions, however, might make such a plan possible in some 
places, where the necessary labor is easily obtainable and where co.st 
must be very rigidly calculated. 

Pictures. 

Every room in the school should have some pictures. Some of 
these are for decoration purely, since we want to give our children 
in the schools something of beauty and color, which unluckily manyof them cannot find in their own poverty stricken homes. Others 
are for use in teaching, and are a most valuable aid to the teacher. 

Of the first class are landscapes, reproductions of famous pictures, 
and photographs of statuary. A fine set of landscapes in color lithography, 
produced in Germany, can be had at six shillings (unframed) 
each. Frames with movable backs can be had, thirty-three bytwenty-six inches, for three shillings and sixpence each.* Reproductions 
of the pictures of great artists will not only decorate the 
class room, but give the children the beginning of an acquaintance 
with the masterpieces of human achievement in beauty. One can 
get, for example, admirable color prints of Turner's pictures of 
Venice or his Fighting Temeraire, in frames. at prices varying from 
five shillings and sixpence to eight shillings and ninepence. Seemann's 
Masterpieces, published by Asher, include photographs of 
friezes from the Parthenon, the Venus of Milo, reliefs from the 
famous Baptistry Door at Florence, thirty-one by twenty-five inches, 
at ninepence unframed and three shillings and sevenpence framed. 

The school should contain also pictures of such places and 
scenery as do not come within the child's own experience. Some of 
the lithographed color landscapes are useful in this connection, such 
as those of Autumn Leaves (Otto), A Daisy Field, Windermere 
(Luther Hooper), to be had framed at about nine shillings each. 
Pictures of the unfamiliar animals must be added to these. The 
Woodbury phototypes, seventeen by nineteen inches, three shillingsand sixpence in frames, are good examples.

Little children should have the simplest pictures in their rooms, 
in fiat color, with simple outlines, and little detail. Cecil Aldin's 
Friezes, Caldecott's Nursery Rhymes, are good examples of what 
they need. They love pictures of the domestic animals. 

In every case pictures should be hung low, so that they can be 
easily seen by the children in the room. The more easily they can 
be handled and their places changed by the teacher the better. 
They may with advantage be moved from room to room at intervals 
of a few months, so that the interest of the children may be roused 
by new pictures in their rooms. The frames with movable backs 
are also very useful for the purpose of changing pictures, either as 
they are wanted to illustrate lessons or because the pupils are no 
longer interested in a picture which they know by heart. 

• From Ashtr & Co.. 13 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 

10 

Buckinghamshire has a voluntary organization, recognized by 
the County Education Committee, which, on receipt of subscriptions 
from school managers (allowed in the yearly estimates), lends pictures 
to a school and changes them yearly. The number of pictures 
sent is proportionate to the subscription. By this excellent plan a 
constant variety is secured, and the interest of the children roused in 
the new picture on the wall. Where this plan is adopted, frames of 
standard sizes might be used, so that the pictures might be forwarded 
unframed and cost of carriage lessened. Frames should be 
simple ; broad dark ones are generally best. White might be used 
for children's pictures. The frame should fit the edge of the picture 
itself, leaving none of the white margin visible. 

Closely connected with the supply of pictures is the use of a goodschool lantern. Many authorities provide these, whilst some have 
organized loan collections of slides for use with them, of which the 
largest is to be found in London. Here during the past few yearsthe lantern has become increasingly popular as an aid to teaching, 
while the list of slides on loan has increased from a few hundred to 
several thousand. 

SERIES R ECOMMENDED. 

Teubner Series (Asher & Co.), four shillings to s1x shilli11gs, unframed. 
Voigtliinder Series (Asher & Co.), two shillings and sixpence to six 
shillings, unframed. 
Caspari Friezes, for small children (Asher & Co.), three shillings and 
sixpence to four shillings and sixpence, unframed. 
Scholars' Cartoons (Haufstiingl), seyen shillings and Sixpence, unframed. 
Britannia Historical Pictures (Arnold), two shillings and sixpence, 
\ll1framed. 
Fitzroy Pictures (G. Bell, Covent Garden), two shillings and sixpence 
to five shillings and sixpence. 

Historical Portraits (Art for Schools Association, Queen Street, 
Bloomsbury, W.C.), one shilling and sixpence to ten shillings 
and sixpence. 

These prices are generally subject to discount. 

School Libraries. 

A good library is an indispensable adjunct to a school. Beyond 
the interest and intellectual stimulus it provides, it offers also a 
training for the right use of leisure, not less important than trainingfor work. · 

Hence it is disappointing to find how very few schools, except in 
the more advanced districts, are well equipped in this respect. In 
many no library exists. One advanced city has libraries only in 
eighty-eight out of one hundred and forty-four senior departments.
ln others there is one for the older scholars only. In some schools a 
library is provided, but is never used, or its use is restricted to the 
top cia s or to the most regular scholar . E\'en in London these 


II 

varieties may be found. That there should be books on loan 

accessible to every child in the school who is able to read, not 

merely as a reward, but as an essential part of his education, is for 

many a distant ideal. What, too, is often overlooked is that the 

books should be such as to arouse a spontaneous interest, graduated 

to the ages of those who shall read them, not the cast off works of 

the last generation, more strongly and less invitingly bound. 

In London provision is made for library books for the children in 

Standard Three and upwards, but facilities may be extended to 

children below the Third Standard. For the annual replenishing of 

the library, expenditure is allowed at the rate of one halfpenny per

head per child in average attendar).ce up to a general limit of twelve-

shillings for each senior department. 

But however good the school library may be, there should be co


operation with the public library. In Sheffield, in seventy-four 

senior departments, four thousand three hundred and seven pupils. 

have borrowed, on an average, two thousand four hundred and 

eighty-five books from the public library per week. In many

London boroughs also such co-operation exists. In Stepney and 

Poplar, for example, the teachers recommend pupils as borrowers on 

forms provided for the purpose, advise as to the selection of books 

from the special catalogue, and co-operate with the librarian in 

ensuring their due return and proper use. 

It is evident, too, that very few authorities make any granttowards the provision of a teachers' reference library in each school ; 
and this is, perhaps. the more necessary just where they are least 
often found-in the rural districts. The London authority not only 
does this, but is forming its own educational circulating library for 
the use of teachers and officers ; and is, moreover, inviting the local 
libraries to place similar pedagogical works upon their shelves. The 
Surrey County Council has also a central reference library for 
teachers, from which books are lent to schools at the rate of one per 
month for each department having less than one hundred and fiftypupils, and two where there are more. 

Some of the best schools, too, have formed a small reference 
library for the use of the older pupils, to train them in the habit of 
consulting larger books of reference. In some cases this can be. 
amalgamated with the teachers' reference library. 

Curriculum. 

The broad outlines of the elementary school curriculum are laicf 
out in the annual Code of Regulations,~' but these permit of considerable 
variety of interpretation, depending mainly upon the 
quality of the teaching staff and the nature of the equipment provided. 
The latter is often the determining factor; the complaints.
that certain work, which would be desirable, cannot be carried out 
from lack of suitable rooms and appliances are very general. 

* See Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools; also Suggestions for 
the Consideration of Teachers. 

12 

Of late years considerable improvements in the methods of teaching 
the long recognized school subjects-writing, arithmetic, English,
history, and geography-have been introduced ; whilst other subjects 
have been added to the curriculum, with the object, on the one 
hand, of making school life more interesting and healthful ; on the 
other, of bringing the knowledge and skill acquired more directlyinto touch with life activities. Thus the teaching of freehand drawing 
has in the best school systems developed into brush drawing,
clay modelling, and design. Nature study is becoming more 
general. An improved system of physical exercises has been introduced, 
with which often goes some instruction in personal hygiene,
in swimming, and in organized games. These changes have raised 
another difficulty, that of the overcrowded curriculum. The solution 
of this problem must be found both by lessening the t1me giVen to 
the older subjects and by introducing a closer co-operation between 
subjects such as history, English, and geography, nature study and 
drawing, arithmetic and domestic science or handicraft, in such a 
way that the teaching of one may help in the comprehension of the 
other. 

In order to provide some preparation for the more specificallyafter-school activities, through subjects and by methods in themselves 
educationally valuable to children, grants are paid by the 
Board of Education for satisfactory courses of instruction in cookery, 
laundry work, combined domestic subjects, handicraft, and, in rural 
districts, gardening and dairy work. But the grants paid do not 
cover the whole cost of such instruction even when provided with 
the minimum of equipment, hence the frequent lack of provision.
Such subjects are usually taught at centres which children from 
neighboring schools attend one half day in each week, and they all 
involve some amount of manual as well as mental training. But 
they have in the past been taught without any connection with the 
other subjects in the curriculum, a defect which some attempts are 
being made to remedy. In London some centres are being allocated 
to the exclusive use of the pupils of one school and placed under 
the control of the head teacher, as in the central elementaryschools ; in others conferences are arranged between the heads of 
the contributory schools and the teachers of these special subject 
centres. The fact that in England, unlike America, handwork, 
except in the form of drawing, is usually non-existent during the 
four or five years between the infant school and the upper classes of 
the elementary school has also attracted attention of late. In manyadvanced schools some form of educational handwork has been 
introduced in those years; and, partly to encourage this, the Board 
of Education has recently arranged that a grant should be paid in a 
limited number of cases for a lighter and less expensive form of 
woodwork than is ordinarily practised. 

HAND! RAFT. 

This subject is confined to boys, and usually consists of some 
form of woodwork, though in some of the larger industrial areas 


metalwork is included. In 1908-9 it was taught to over two 
hundred thousand pupils in nearly three thous·and seven hundred 
schools in England and Wales; yet out of sixty-two autonomous 
counties, no satisfactory provision for its teaching had been made 
in eighteen, including Cornwall, Dorset, Lincoln, Northumberland, 
Nottinghamshire, and the East Riding. Even though the distances 
to be traversed present difficulties in rural districts, the table 
appended shows that this difficulty is not insuperable. 

DoMESTIC SciENCE. 

This, for girls, more than supplies the place wh}ch handicraft 
fills for boys. It includes cookery, taught in 1908-9 to nearly three 
hundred thousand girls ; laundrywork, taught to ninety-three 
thousand ; and combined domestic subjects, comprising cookery,
laundry, and housewifery, taught to sixteen thousand girls in 
England alone. For this last there is usually provided a cottage 
or fiat fitted as a workman's home. Some interesting developments 
are taking place in these subjects. The Hull Education Committee 
has recently decided to provide for girls about to leave school a half 
time course of three and a half months, to include four weeks 
cookery, two weeks laundrywork, and eight weeks in an artizan's 
house ; whilst London has established twelve domestic economy dayschools, where a year's full time training is to be· given to selected 
girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen years. But there are 
still many districts where no facilities are provided for practical 
training in domestic subjects during school years, and few where the 
accommodation is sufficient to provide for all the girls old enough to 
profit by such training. 

An essential part of domestic science is the instruction in 
needlework, which for many years has formed an important, and 
often very irksome, subject in the ordinary school course. The barbarous 
practice, so long continued, of forcing infants to engage in 
needlework drill long before the fine muscles used would have been 
normally developed, is fast dying out ; but in many girls' schools 
slow and obsolete methods and unnecessarily fine stitching are still 

· exacted. The Board of Education has recently permitted the use 
of the sewing machine to be taught in girls' schools, and some 
authorities are already providing machines for this purpose. 

GARDENING. 

This is almost entirely confined to rural districts. In 1908-9 
twenty-eight thousand pupils were receiving instruction in England 
alone in twelve hundred schools, of which one hundred were in 
urban areas. The number of pupils had nearly doubled during the 
previous three years. The Board of Education, writing to the Lancashire 
Education Committee, recently suggested that "the work of 
a rural school should centre round such practical subjects as are 
suited to the occupations of the locality, namely, gardening, handicraft, 
and domestic economy ; and associated with these should be 
subjects teaching the principles underlying the practical instruction, 


14 

such as arithmetic, drawing, and rural science." Yet there has 
been great diversity in the provision made for the teaching of so 
eminently rural a subject as gardening ; for whilst Staffordshire and 
Surrey headed the list in 1908-9 with one hundred and thirty-eightand one hundred and eight schools respectively receiving grants for 
it, Rutland had none.~' 

The following table gives the number of pupils who qualified for 
Board of Education grants in these subjects, in the various areas 
noted, during the year 1908-9. The ppr. (see page 6), the rate in 
pence, and the average attendance of pupils of five years and over are 
given for purposes of comparison. The columns refer respectively 
to cookery, laundry, combined domestic subjects, handicraft, and 
gardening, and the figure in the last column shows what percentagethe sum of these forms of the average attendance. It is suggested 
that even though instruction in these subjects is confined to pupils 
over eleven years of age, this figure gives a good basis of comparison 
as to the extent of provision made under these heads. 

As in the preceding table, considerable variations will be found, 
and there appears no reason why among the counties Berkshire, 
Northumberland, and the East Riding should be so seriously in default. 
Nor are these the worst. Rutland, comparatively wealthy, 
with ppr. 3s. Iod. and nearly three thousand pupils, earned such 
grants on tw, and rejoiced in an education rate of 3·8d., whilst the 
Holland division of Lincolnshire, ppr. 3s. 8d. and rate s·6d., earned 
the e grants on fourteen of its more than nine thousand pupils. In 
the town areas there are also some notable differences. Why should 
Manche ter and Liverpool make worse provision than Reading, and 
West Ham eclipse the wealthier districts below it? And there are 
too many urban areas where no better provision is made than in 
Peterborough, Bury, and Dover, and orne quite prepared to disputewith Dover for the privilege of being the worst. Yet improvementin the past year has been general. Surrey, London, and Manchester 
have increa ed the percentage in the last column by four, E sex by 
six, and Middlesex by 1o·s. Some towns, however, have made little 
progress, and the East Riding has done worse, from ·9 to ·6. Fortunately 
it cannot do much wor e. 

• Among recent developments it m~y be noted that in 1908 9 one hundred and 
nine boys quali~ed _for g;~nts in cooke1y in Essex, E~st u!Tolk, and theN orth Riding,
and fifty-four g1rls m da1ry work, of whom fifty were in Cornwall. 

Average No. of Pupils Receiving Grants (1908-9) in: 
Attendance Domestic Garden-

Area. 
CouNTY AREAS. 
Ppr. Rate. Five Years. Cookery. Laundry. Subjects. Handicraft. ing Per cent. 
Surrey ... 
Gloucestershire 
Essex ... 
... 
... 
... 
5/6 
2/6 
2/8 
Io· I 
I I ·3 
I I ·3 
53,525 
41,696 
59,375 
3,443 
2,oi5 
4,630 
933 
I1042 
260 
-
14I 
-
2,I9I 
I,co2 
68o 
1,824 
892 
1,042 
I 5·6 
I2·2 
I I· I 
Kent ... ... 
Lancashire ... 
West Riding 
... 
... 
... 
3/4 
3/0 
2/8 
Io·9 
9·8 
ro·4 
7I,979 
I27,960 
I65,267 
2,406 
2,992 
3,981 
24I 
345 
537 
-
II 
-
548 
507 
707 
664 
62q 
360 
s·3 
3·6 
3"4 
Berkshire ... ... 
Northumberland ... 
East Riding ... ... 
TowN AREAS (ENGLAN~. 
3/4 
3/2 
3/8 
I I. 5 
ro·5 
T5 
22,664 
42,933 
I7,768 
I4I 
II7 
-
---
-
--
90 
--
164 
260 
roo 
1"3 
.9 
·6 
.... 
Ut 
Homsey 
Reading 
London 
Birkenhead 
... 
... 
... 
... 
... 
... 
... 
... 
7/2 
2/IO 
5/4 
2j1o 
I5.2 
r8·7 
ITO 
r s·5 
6,833 
Io,632 
6o4,842 
I7,876 
776 
960 
40,650 
21I 22 
I96 
626 
33,425 
358 
54 
64 
7,86I 
-
758 
9SI 
57,8r 2 
1,368 
--
20 
-
26·I 
24.4 
23.1 
21"5 
Manchester ... 
West Ham ... 
Liverpool ... 
Stockport ... 
Northampton 
... 
... 
... 
... 
... 
3/6 
I/Io 
3/0 
2/4 
zfz 
I4.9 
22·7 
16·o 
11"2 
19.9 
91 ,roo 
50,517 
II21293 
14,763 
12,566 
6,368 
3,377 
7,936 
1,061 
1,023 
I,209 
2,123 
r,87o 
-
s6 
I69 
--
-
-
7,6I3 
2,7IO 
5,730 
339 
-
14 
-
-
54 
-
r6·8 
I 6·2 
13.9 
9·8 
8·6 
Peterborough ... 2/2 8·8 5,292 360 ---26 T3 
Bury ... ... ... 2j1o 9"4 6,430 234 --176 -5·9 
Dover ... ... 2j1o 1r6 5,527 180 ----3.3 


!6 


So far as the elementary school is concerned, the vocational 
value of such subjects should be subsidiary to their educational 
value, as giving more play to the muscular activitie of childhood 
and, through their direct dealings with concrete matter, providing a 
good basis for intellectual activities. Somewhat similar in nature is 
the increased attention now given to the teaching of elementary 
science in schools-another subject often starved for lack of the 
necessary equipment-together with the rapid growth of late years 
of the nature study movement. rhe same spirit has entered into 
the teaching of other school subjects. London puts aside· about 
five hundred pounds per annum to help in paying the expenses of 
pupils visiting, during school hours, places of educational interest 
having some bearing on the class lessons, and is prepared to expend 
another one hundred pounds per year towards the expenses incidental 
to school journeys on which, during a week or more, pupils 

from certain schools study the topography, geology, history, climatic 
conditions, etc., of some country district. All such work has its 
effect upon the teaching of other parts of the curriculum, the history, 
geography, English, mathematics. No part of the school 
system has felt the effects of this wider view of educational responsibility 
more than the infant school, within the walls of which a 
revolution, still uncompleted, has been silently proceeding these ten 
years past. But all these new developments make heavy calls uponthe skill and intelligence of the teachers, and need a more generous 
equipment than was formerly found necessary. Hence those districts 
where necessary equipment is refused, or where unskilled 
teachers are engaged, are refusing their children a fair chance as 
c;ompared with those of more favored districts, where the e entials 
of satisfactory preparation for modern conditions are more justlyprovided. 

Scholarships. 

· No public authority had power to incur expenditure on scholarships 
prior to the Technical In truction Act of 1891; the Acts of 
1902-3, placing elementary and secondary education in the hands 
of the county and borough councils first explicitly permitted generalschemes to be made. Many varieties of such are now in process of 
evolution. Here we shall deal in the main with cholar hips open 
to pupils in the elementary schools, and not, as in the case of the 
''probationer" scholarships, earmarked for tho e intending to become 
teachers. 

London (average attendance 6so,554) now offers about r,8oo junior 
county scholar hip to pupils between eleven and twelve years of age,
tenable for three years, but renewable for a further two year in the 
case of tho e pupils who show ability to profit by the extension. It 
has been decided that, in view of the generally rising standard of 
attainments of the pupil · in London elementary schools, no definite 
limit shall be placed upon the number to be awarded in future. Nor 
is any distinction of sex to be made; formerly girls had the preference,
in 1907 by seventeen to ten, in rqoR by thirteen to ten ; but it is 


17 

proposed that in future the numbers shall be approximately equal, 
a?d this year, 1910, there have been awarded 865 to boys and 846 to 
g1rls. It is to be noted that in addition to those granted by the 
Council there are about 325 trust fund scholarships open to competition 
by children in London elementary schools. 

Manchester (average attendance 97,068) offers twenty juniorscholarships, tenable for five years, with a varying number of bursaries 
of£10 per annum for two years, limited to boys offourteen to fifteen 
years already in the higher elementaryschools, and ten bursaries of£I o 
for three years awarded to pupils who have obtained foundation 
scholarships at secondary schools. Differentiation here is in favor 
of the boys, who receive twelve of the twenty scholarships, eight of 
the ten bursaries, in addition to all the higher elementary bursaries. 
Liverpool (average attendance 1 I 7,255) offers fifty junior scholarshipsfor two years, renewable for a third or fourth year, and equally 
divided between boys and girls. Ilford (average attendance 9,824) 
gave sixty-one scholarships in 1909. Coventry (average attendance 
141444) gives forty-five; whilst Burnley (average attendance IS1I5I)
provides only twenty. 

As examples of what is being done in the rural areas under the 
county councils, we may note that Lancashire (average attendance 
137,791) offers 350 junior exhibitions restricted to children in the 
elementary schools, and 100 open junior scholarships, all tenable for 
four years ; candidates must be between eleven and thirteen years of 
age. Kent (average attendance 76,840) gives 200 to boys and girls of 
eleven years of age. Warwickshire (average attendance 37,309)
offers twenty-four, whilst Hertfordshire (average attendance 42,7 54) 
provides twenty. 

Though there is some variation in methods of award the written 
competitive examination seems to hold general sway as yet, as for 
example in Lancashire. In some districts, as in Liverpool and 
Warwickshire and Wiltshire, this is followed by an oral examination 
of selected candidates, a method which is said to have given generalsatisfaction ; but here, even more than in the written test, much 
depends upon the conditions under which this is carried out. In 
other places the head teachers of the elementary school have some 
power of recommendation, and it is possible that this is more often 
influential than printed schemes would testify. But in London the 
head teachers are specially instructed to send in for the written 
examination all boys and girls between eleven and twelve years who 
are working in the fifth or higher standard ; the examiners, however, 
in conjunction with the results of this examination, consider the 
position of the pupil at the previous school term examination. 

The amount of the grants made towards maintenance shows 
considerable variation, and this is a matter of vital importance, for 
where these are insufficient one of two things happens ; either the 
children of poor parents fail to compete, or, should they obtain a 
scholarship, relinquish it long before its term has expired. The 
income of the parent also needs consideration, otherwise grants may 
go where they are not needed, or an undue proportion may1go to 


J8 

Lho who can afford to pay for extra tuition for their children preparatory 
to the examination. In London junior cholarship may be 
held by children of parents having incomes up to £ 300 per annum, 
but two-thirds of the lotal must go to those having le s than £I 6o 
per annum. nly the latter obtain grants during the first three 
year~ f £6 per annum ; D r the fourth and fifth years, whilst the e 
receive £ IS per annum, those whose parents' in ome falls between 
£ t6o and £300 gel only £10 per annum. In each ca e free education 
and books are provid d. 

In Manchest r grants for the fiye years range from £1 o to £ 20, 
with £2 10s. increases; but from these the ordinary fees of the 
secondary schools have Lo be paid. In Liverpool the grants made 
are £6, £9, £12 and £ 15 per annum, with free edu ation and half 
the cost of books. The county (Lancashire) is, however, less generou·. 
lt gives free education up lo £b per annum, travelling expenses in 
exce·s of £ 1 per annum, an allowance for b ok not exceeding £I 
per annum, and a maintenance grant only during the third and fourth 
y ars, and then strictly where circum tance render this necessary. 
Hence i L is not surpri ing to hear that the scholarship are frequentlyrelinqui heel. This appears al·o to be the case in \'Viltshire, where, 
in addition to free tuition, £5 only is granted towards maintenance, 
whilst W arwickshire gives £ 10 in addition to travelling expen e . 
Thi · Ia t item i important in rural districts, where some pupil travel 
upwards of len miles to school, whil t others are deterred by di tance 
or difficult access from competing. In Dev n·hire the heads of the 
secondary sch ol · have sugge·ted the pr visi n of conveyances to 
gather the pupils from outlying di Lricts, and the authority has 
promi ·eel to consid r any cheme to that end that may be ubmitted. 
1n other places it ha · been sugge ted that lodging-h uses might b 
r gisterecl near Lhe ·chools, where pupil· coming from a distance 
could reside during the ·chool day-of the week ; but for the e 
maintenance grants would need to be adequate if thi suggestion 
were ad pled. 

The e,•ils of inadequate crrants to which reference ha been made 
ha' c of late bee me acute in relation to oth r Ia ·e of pupils. By 
' , ·tion 20 of th, Regulations for econclary School , 25 per cent. of 
free plac s have to be provided in all secondary h ols re eiving 
grants from Lhe Board f Education. With these, h we\·er, there 
goes no financial help for the poorer pupil·, f r whom Lhey were 
doubtless intended, t wards maintenance, bo k ·, or travelling. 
imilarly, many of the end wed charity, r trust fund, ·cholarships 
provide only free education, or with thi · a quite inadequate money 
grant. Beyond the·e two classes lies another, the exi tence of which 
ha · ·ailed for comment in many part· of the country, made up of 
pupil· who, on account of late cleYelopment or temporary illness, or 
some other rea on, mi ·s the junior scholarships at th early age 
,\L which Lhey are awarded, but whose general abilities are such a to 
justify the b >lief that the · should have recei,·ed one. For all the·e 
cia ~e· Lhe London ounly C unci! propo·e Lhi ·year lo provide 300 
supplemenlar · county ~cholarship· , graduated in value in accordance 


with the income of the parent and the age of the pupil, and tenable 
from thirteen to sixteen years of age.':' 

~ut there has been of late a growing feeling that the education 
provrded at the secondary schools through the scholarships above 
described does not meet all the requirements of the case, and some 
authorities have begun to provide trade scholarships for elementary 
school pupils.+ Of such London has now I 58 available for boys and 
I 68 for girls, and it is hoped that within the next few years, after 
further experience has helped to solve some of the difficult problems 
connected with this question, some 6oo will be available. These are 
tenable for two or three years, and carry maintenance grants varying 
from £6 to £I 5, with free education in such trades as building, 
engi~1eering, book production, silversmithing, etc., for boys, and dressmakmg, 
tailoring, upholstery, millinery, etc., for girls. ln addition 
there are 300 domestic economy scholarships granted to girls of 
fourteen years of age for one year-to be increased in some cases to 
two-with a maintenance grant of £4.t 

Medical Inspection. 

The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, has made 
it compulsory on all local education authorities to provide for the 
medical inspection of school children. The Board of Education at 
present requires that the examination shall include all children 
admitted to the school and all expected to leave during the year.§
As a rule also special case selected by the teachers are seen by the 
school doctors. 

Who should be appointed School Medical Officer? 

The Board of Education has strongly recommended that in 
counties, county boroughs, and where practicable in non-county 
boroughs, the medical officer of health should be appointed school 
medical officer. The former has various responsibilities with regard 
to infectious diseases, school closure, and sanitary condition of 
schools ; he is responsible, too, for the hygiene and sanitary conditions 
of the homes, which are of primary importance to the health 
of the child, but over which the school medical officer, as such, has 
at present no control. It is most desirable, therefore, that the two 
services should be closely co-ordinated, and that the chief responsibility 
for both should, where practicable, rest on one and the same 

* The new scheme for Durham provides for scholarships in proportion of one to 
3,000 of the population for pupils under thirteen years (approximately 250), and one 
to 2o,ooo of population for pupils between thirteen and fifteen (approximately thirty-
five to forty), and this same number will be offered to pupils in secondary schools 
between thirteen and fifteen years of age. 
t It is worthy of note that grants may now be made to parents of children in 
ordinary elementary schools to enable them to keep their children at school beyond 
the age of exemption from school attendance. 

t The Gloucestershire Education Committee has since 1907 been interested in 
such problems and has established a craft school at Brimscombe, whilst several 
counties, as Dorset and Hertfordshire, offer agricultural scholarships. 

§ Minute of Board of Education, June 25th, rgro (Cd. 5231). 


20 

person. When the me:lical officer of health is appointed school 
medical officer, medical inspection is usually carried out by assistants, 
as at Colchester, where an assistant woman medical officer of health 
and school medical officer devotes her whole time to medical inspection 
and work in the schools. 

1n Hertfordshire and Derbyshire the county medical officer of 
health was appointed school medical officer, and the medical officer 
of health of each local sanitary authority assistant school medical 
officer, thus still further co-ordinating the work of the doctor in the 
school and in the home. Though the scheme is said to work well in 
Hertfordshire it has the drawback that medical inspection and super-
Yision of hygiene in the schools are specialized work which the local 
officer may not be particularly well qualified to undertake. 1t is 
noteworthy that the tendency generally among education authorities 
is to abandon the system of part time in favor of that of whole time 
school medical officers,':' and where school clinics are established at 
which treatment is carried out by school medical officers, the plea of 
monotony of work sometimes urged against whole time appointments 
ceases to have any force.+ 

It is well to appoint a duly qualified medical woman for the 
inspection of the girls and infants. Up the end of 1908 sixty-eight 
women had been appointed as school medical officers, or a sistants, 
by local education authorities. 

The Routine of Medical Inspection. 

The Board of Education has issued a chedule of medical inspection, 
which specifies the information that should be obtained by the 
inspector and his assistants. This schedule is being generally followed 
by local education authorities with little alteration.! 

The amount of time given by the medical officer to the examination 
of each child varies enormously under different local authorities. 
At a council school in Coventry the doctor gave an average of twenty 
minutes per child, while in a village of Kent an average of 2'..~ 
minutes only was allowed for the doctor's examination. It would 
seem, from a comparison of instances and reports, that se\·en 
to ten minutes is the time considered necessary in an ordinary 
way for the examination of normal cases, while longer is allowed for 
special cases. A shorter time than this is clearly insufficient for the 
prescribed stock-taking of the special conditions of teeth, nose, 
throat, and eyes, hearing, speech and mental condition, plus examination 
for any abnormal condition of heart, lungs or nervous system, 
even if the formal preliminaries and the weighing, measuring, eye-
testing and examination as to general cleanliness are performed by 

chool nurses or teachers. 

* Annual Report for 1908 of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, 
p. 19. 
t See Report of School Medical Officer, Bradford, 1908, p..p. 
t Annual Report for 1908 of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Ecjucqtion, 
P· 3°· 


21 

The head teachers of each department are usually present at the 
medical examination in addition to undertaking, in many districts, 
part of the preliminary work. This co-operation of the teachers 
though in many ways very desirable is open to grave objections in 
localities where the schools are not fully staffed ; as, for example, 
in Kent, where the staffing is low and where it also appears· 
that the briefest period is given to examination by the medical 
officer. 

Co-operation of Parents. 

There is much to be gained by having parents present at the 
medical examination of their children. It should be recognized that 
in case of a defect being discovered it is the doctor's duty to placehis knowledge at the disposal of the child's parents and convey to 
them a realization of the conditions present. The doctor may then 
point out that treatment is required, but detailed consideration (e.g.,
the recommendation of operation for adenoids) should be left to the 
doctor who will undertake the case. Furthermore, though this is not 
part of his duties, he is sometimes able to point out simple remedies 
for any small ailments discovered, give hints as to the clothing,
which is apt in the case of girls to be excessive in quantity and at 
the same time unhygienic, and give general advice as to hygiene and 
cleanliness. He does this whilst conducting the examination, without 
much loss of time, and were school clinics established where the 
examining doctor also administered treatment, this could be made 
part of his recognized duty, thereby vastly increasing the value of 
the inspection.

In any case, if the parent is present there is greater probabilitythat he or she will go to the trouble and expense of carrying out 
treatment which the doctor's examination has shown to be required. 

The majority of education authorities invite parents to attend; 
some further encourage them by providing a comfortable waitingplace, by having children accompanied by a parent examined first, 
and by generally endeavoring to put them to as little inconvenience 
and loss of time, and to make things as agreeable to them as 
possible. 

The percentage of parents' attendance varies very much from 
place to place. At a school in Lancashire none were present at the 
examination of their children, though all were invited. At a village 
in Warwickshire nearly e\·ery child was attended by a parent. In a 
Coventry school parents attended with their girls but not with their 
boys. In the county of Worcester 61 per cent. of the children 
examined were attended by a parent, and judging by other examples 
this is probably not far above the average. 

Value of Medical Examination. 

There can be no question as to the value of medical examination. 
Prevention is better than cure, and routine inspection brings to light 
many incipient maladies which teachers and parents had not suspected. 
For example, in Worcestershire cases were discovered of incipient 


22 

spinal curvature,* to correct which it rs necessary the desks should 
be high enough and suitably placed. Cases were found of ''dilated 
heart" due to cycling up steep hills, which became normal when on 
the doctor's advice this practice was given up.t Various school 
medical officers have found it necessary to warn parents and teachers 
in cases where a child was being punished for apparent stupidity or 
naughtiness which was really the result of disease or defective eyesight 
or hearing,t also where the condition of the heart rendered the 
child unfit to take part in the ordinary physical exercises,§ or to 
walk or run long distances, carrying a father's dinner.ll 

The discovery of cases of incipient phthisis in time to check the 
development of the disease must also be of great value. 

But apart from these less common and less obvious diseases there 
is a vast amount of preventible ill health among school children for 
which, as the medical inspection has shown, nothing is as a generalrule done. Adenoids, enlarged tonsils, discharging ears, deafness, sore 
eyes, sore heads, and defective teeth are among the ailments commonly 
left untreated, although they are a serious menace to the 
health and efficiency of the children. 
.. 

When children thus suffering are medically examined, it is at 
least pointed out to the parents that treatment should be sought. 

Medical Treatment. 

The percentage of school children found in need of medical treatment 
who actually obtain it varies very much from district to district, 
according to the facilities which exist for it and the amount of 
trouble taken in the matter by the education authority or some 
voluntary society. 

It is reported that in Surrey satisfactory treatment was obtained 
for the children by their parents in 28·3 per cent. of the cases where 
treatment was recommended. 

In Derbyshire 63·6 sought medical advice, and of the eye cases 

33 per cent. provided themselves with spectacles.

In the Lindsay division of Lincolnshire 24·8 per cent. of the 

children were taken to a doctor. 

In several towns and counties there is evidence that the medical 

charities and hospitals have been largely drawn upon for treatment 

by school children as a result of school medical inspection, and in 

some districts it 
is said the work of the private practitioner has 

increased.~ 

Sir George Newman states that in many districts 20 to 6o per cent. 
of the children requiring treatment have been treated; but satisfactory 

* 
Annual Report of School Medical Officer for rgo8, p. 64. 
t Ibid, p. 37. 
t Herts Annual Report of School Medical Officer, rgo8, pp. 26-7, and Bristol 
Report of Education Committee, rgog, p. 63. 
§ Ibid, also Manchester Report of Education Committee, rgo8-g, p. r85. 
Jl Worcester Report of School Medical Officer, rgo8, p. 37. 
, Annual Report for rgo8 of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, 

p. 34· 

23 


as it is that medical inspection should already have produced such 

p~actical results, it cannot be a matter of complacency that there are 

still in our schools in these districts from 40 to 8o per cent. of 

children known to be in need of ameliorative treatment for whom 

nothing is being done. 

The Act of Parliament not only makes medical inspection com


pulsory, but also permits education authorities to make arrange


m~nts for attending to the health and physical condition of the 

children, subject to sanction by the Board of Education. 

Examples of such arrangements already sanctioned by the Board of 
Education are the appointment of school nurses, the free provision of 
sp:ctacles, arrangements with hospitals, dispensaries, or private practitiOners, 
and the establishment of school clinics. 

School Nurses. 

It is hardly possible to over estimate the value of the school 
nurse, and for assistance in medical inspection local education authorities 
have power to appoint nurses without asking permission of the 
Board of Education. Many local authorities employ them specially 
for the examination as regards general cleanliness and condition of 
heads. 

But as an arrangement for attending to the health of the 
children, the Board of Education cordially encourages the appointment 
of school nurses to carry out treatment ''on the understanding 
~hat the nurse will act under the supervision and authority of the 
school medical officer."* 

Sir George Newman, in his report, says: '•Such matters as the 
antiseptic treatment of discharging ears, the maintenance of cleanliness, 
the treatment of sores and minor skin diseases or minor diseases 
of the eye, such as blepharitis and conjunctivitis, and the treatment 
of slight injuries, seem to fall within the scope of the school nurse."+ 
The school nurse can furthermore do much to promote the health of 
the children by visiting the homes, encouraging the parents to 
obtain medical treatment recommended by the school doctor, and 
instructing the mother where home care is needed. 

In certain localities, notably W orcestershire and Bradford, 
children absent from school are reported by the attendance officers 
and brought up for examination by the school medical officer; in 
the latter case at the school clinic. Dr. Mary Williams, in her 
report to the W orcestershire County Council, says : '' There is considerable 
loss of grant from children absent from school on account 
of ill health, and much of this might be prevented if (a) children 
were not allowed to be absent unless really ill, and (b) if the parents 
were compelled to begin to treat the ailment causing absence so soon 
as the children were at home." ! Such prompt examination is 

* Annual Report for rgo8 of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education, 
pp. 26 et seq., g2. 
t I bid. p. 26. 
t First Annual Report of the School Medical Officer, "Worcestershire, rgoS, 

p. 53· 

further a step towards securing that in cases of serious disease the 
child is not being neglected, as too often happens. 

Nurses as Attendance Officers. 

If, as this report suggests, nurses were appointed as attendance 
officers, such officers would be prompt to detect cases of shamming,
would see that treatment prescribed by the doctor was carried out 
without loss of time, and in cases of neglect could give valuable 
evidence in court. There seems to be no reason why such a 
scheme, combining the office of school nurse and attendance officer, 
might not be universally adopted, in rural districts as well as in the 
towns, with very great benefit to the children and a financial gain to 
the ratepayer by the increase of grant, which greater regularity of 
school attendance, due to prevention of both illness and shamming,
would secure. 

Cleansing Schemes. 

At present the school nurse is employed by many education 
authorities to examine children's heads for pediculosis under cleansing 
schemes, and great reforms have thereby been achieved. 1n 
Gloucestershire, W orcestershire, and other districts, parents are 
warned and instructions for cleansing sent when their children's 
heads are found "dirty." After a certain interval each child's head 
is re-examined, if necessary a second and a third time, and if still 
dirty the child is excluded from school. If after a further period the 
child does not return cured, the parents are prosecuted for not sending 
the child to school in a proper condition. In some districts the 
nurses visit the homes and assist the mother to effect the cleansing.

The standard of cleanliness has by such means been greatly 
raised" and the much more extensive operation of cleansing schemes 
is called for. Rural schools often suffer from "dirty heads " as well 
as urban schools.+ For example, in a certain rural Kentish school 
complaint is made that a large proportion of the children are thus 
infected. 

In London an elaborate cleansing scheme is in operation, and up. 
to December, 1909, had been applied to 288 schools, whereby the 
standard of what constitutes cleanline s was raised ; and even with 
this more stringent standard, the percentage of children with verminous 
heads was reduced to 20·9. t 

An interesting experiment was tried in the autumn of 1909 at 
three schools in which there were hot water baths.§

While the children were cleansed at school, the sanitary authority 
undertook the cleansing of home and bedding. The experiment 
was eminently successful, meeting with the approval of children and 

• London County Council, Report of Medical Officer (Education) for 1909, p. 32. 
t Annual Report for 1909 of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, 
p. 29. 
t London County Council, Report of Medical Officer (Education) for 1909, p. 32. 
§ "Chaucer," Bermondsey; "Pulteney," Soho; Finch Street, Whitechapel. 
Ibid, p. 32. 


parents, and in a large proportion of cases effecting what might be 
hoped would prove a permanent cure. 

Where satisfactory cleansing stations for children are not already 
established, that is, stations where there is no risk of their beingassociated in any way with the ordinary verminous person, nor with 
infectious disease contacts, and where their efficient supervision is 
provided for, it is most convenient, effective, and economical to 
establish the cleansing station at the school. A hot water bath and 
vermin destroyer for clothing comprise the necessary apparatus.':' 

School Baths. 

In the interests of health and cleanliness alike it is to be 
hoped that the example of those authorities who have installed 
school baths will be widely followed. 

Dr. Crowley, in his report to the Bradford Education Committee, 
1908, says:

"Good use is made of the six excellent school baths under the 
authority, and the children attend also the public baths. It is difficult 
to speak too highly of the value of the school swimming bath, 
the place and function of which is far from being sufficiently appreciated. 
. . . Swimming baths should be available for all school 
children and reserved exclusively for them. One has only to watch 
the children in the baths to appreciate what an excellent physical 
effect this form of bathing has, and swimming is one of the finest 
forms of physical exercise. No part of the school curriculum is 
more educational. ... How valuable this may be, even for quite 
small children, and how educational to the mothers, may be seen in 
one of the school baths in the city, where the water is let down at 
the end of each week and the little ones splash about to their hearts' 
content. 

" Failing the swimming bath, the shower bath, at any rate, 
should be available in all schools. A system of showers is inexpensive 
to instal, economical to work [provided there is an abundant 
water supply], and a large number of children can be bathed in a 
comparatively short time.... 

"It is important that the part of the building devoted to the 
shower bath should be airy and well lighted, and the dressing room 
should be separated from the bath proper. Such baths must on no 
account be looked upon as installed for dirty children only.... 
Their effect is educational, is a mental and moral one as well as a 
physical, and the school bathing should be looked upon by the 
children as part of the ordinary school curriculum." t 

At Sheffield special arrangements have been made by the Education 
Committee for the school children to attend public swimmingbaths both in and out of school hours. At Sunderland also public 
swimming baths are used by the boys. At Bristol nearly 4,ooo boys 
were taught swimming during the summer of 1908. At Glasgow 

* Ibid. pp. 33· 36. 
t Report of the School Medical Officer, rgo8, to the City of BradforJ Education 
Committee, pp. 45-6. 


26 


spray baths have been fitted in two of the schools, and in Liverpool 
the school children during the summer months use two free openair baths. In London children attend the public swimming baths, 
and a few schools have private baths of their own. 

Spectacles. 

Sanction for the free provision of spectacles to school children, 
out of the rates, was obtained in 1908-9 by twenty-one local authorities.'' 
A large number of other local authorities are endeavoring to 
secure that all children in need of spectacles shall obtain them, whatever 
the position of the family, by means of charitable funds to 
supplement parents' payments. Such funds, however, as in the case 
of London, are apt to fall short in meeting the growing demand. 

Arrangements with Hospitals. 

The sanction by the Board of Education of arrangements under 
which local education authorities pay hospitals or other voluntaryinstitutions for the treatment of some of the miscellaneous assortment 
of diseases and ailments that inspection reveals among school 
children, can only be regarded as a temporary expedient. There are 
a number of reasons why such arrangements are unjust, costly and 
inefficient. It is customary at hospitals to grant treatment free or at 
a nominal charge to the poor. But the Local Education Authorities 
(Medical Treatment) Act, 1909, has made it obligatory for local education 
authorities to make a charge for the treatment given to school 
children, though they need not enforce payment if the parent is 
unable "by reason of circumstances other than his own default," 
or, in other words, poverty, to pay. Under such arrangements, 
therefore, it comes about that instead of facilitating the medical 
treatment of children of school age the inten·ention of the Education 
Authority debars the parents from the benefit of the free use 
of the hospitals for children of school age. This hardship i now 
widely felt in London in consequence of the arrangements made 
between the London County Council and certain hospitals. 

But apart from the perversion of voluntary institution from the 
uses intended by their benefactors, the treatment at a large in titution 
with its neces arily expensive upkeep is absurdly extravagant in 
the case of many of the minor ailments. Hospital treatment is 
suitable for certain diseases and operations, and for these possibly 
their use should be continued in the case of school children. But 
not only is hospital treatment expensive, but what is more important, 
it is u ually ill adapted and inefficient for such conditions as 
sore eyes, di charging ears, ringworm, and skin diseases, which require 
not one \'isit, nor even a weekly visit, but treatment daily, and 
sometimes twice or thrice daily to effect a cure. Moreover, it is hardly 
possible so to organize vi its to hospitals that all the cases recei,·e immediate 
atten't:ion, and the danger to the health of the child, ~md inconvenience 
lo of time, and los of work to the parent entailed by the 

• Annual Report for rgo8 of Chief Medic d Officer of I3oard of Education, p. 93. 

long hours of waiting, are .hardly realized by those sections of the 
community who in illness are attended at their homes by a private 
practitioner. The journeying to and fro moreover is often an eJ:C.pense 
to be considered. 

School Clinics. 

The best method of dealing with the minor ailments, and indeed 
of sorting out all cases for reference to the approptiate agency or 
institution, whether it be hospital, open air school, baths, free dinners, 
playground classes, or whatever health promoting means may be 
available, is the establishment at or near a school or group of schools 
of a health centre or clinic. Here a nurse is in constant attendance 
to treat sore eyes, discharging ears, skin diseases, and such ailments 
generally as require attention daily. A ·doctor is also in attendance 
(at regularly certain times), and all cases are kept under supervisionuntil they are cured. 

.A large and expensive establishment is unnecessary and out of 
place for the school clinic. At the privately established clinic at 
Deptford, in one room dentist, doctor, and nurse all do their work, 
each in their own corner of the room, without in any way hindering 
one another. Another room serves as waiting room for a large 
number of parents and children, since this clinic is not on school 
premises, and the work cannot be carried on here during school 
hours. Where the clinic is on school premises and open during 
school hours even less accommodation is necessary. 

The Board of Education has already sanctioned the establishment 
of clinics by various education authorities ; for example, a fully 
equipped one at Bradford, and arrangements on a smaller scale at 
Brighton, Reading, Abertillery, Southampton and York (for ringworm 
only).':' A dental clinic was established by private generosity 
at Cambridge, and the education authority has since taken it 

over.+ 

School dentists have also been engaged by the London County 

Council 
at Deptford, and by the education authorities at Bradford 

and Norwich. 

At Bradford during the last six months of I 908, 84 I children 
were treated at the clinic, 546 being cured and 29 S retained for 
treatment.! The diseases at that time treated were defective vision 
and diseases of the eye, ringworm, pediculosis, skin diseases, and 

discharging ears. 

The success of school clinics, where established by education 

authorities or by private benefaction has been most marked, and 

they are undoubtedly the most efficient as well as t.he most econ~ 



mical method of treatment for a large class of ailments. Therr 

establishment should be very general. 

• Annual 
Report for 19:J8 of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, 
p. 97· 
t 
Ibid, pp. roo-r. 
t Report of School Medical Officer for 1908, pp. 98, 99· 



Ringworm. 

Clinics for the X-ray treatment of ringworm should also be everywhere 
available in order that this disease may be dealt with in the 
speediest and therefore the most economical manner. The loss of 
grant for children absent with ringworm and their loss of education 
is at present considerable. 

Teeth. 

It is practically certain that unless special measures are taken byeducation authorities little will be done by parents to get treatment 
other than extraction for their children's defective teeth, and inspec 
tion has shown that from 20 to 40 per cent. of the children examined, 
except the babies' classes, have four or more decayed teeth.* 

Perhaps this is the most serious of all the conditions medical 
inspection has brought to light, since debility, indigestion, amemia 
and even phthisis are all traced to decayed teeth. 

Toothbrush clubs have been established in W orcestershire t and 
London,! but we must look in the main to the establishment of 
dental clinics for the remedy of this state of things. At the Deptfordclinic, a voluntary institution, the L.C.C. dentist alreadly alluded to 
has his equipment, and is at work on certain days and hours, stoppingand otherwise attending to the teeth of the children from the elementary 
schools of the neighborhood. A dental clinic is also to be 
established at the St. George's Dispensary, Surrey Row, Blackfriars, 
for children from the neighboring schools. 

Breathing and Physical Exercises. 

In the treatment of adenoids, so common in our schools, operation 
alone is not sufficient, but proper breathing must also be taught.§
At the school clinic established by private benefaction at Deptford a 
teacher is frequently in attendance to train such children, and her 
work has met with great success. Such teaching may also be given 
by an instructor who goes round to the schools and shows the 
teachers how to give breathing and physical exercises. Special 
exercises may also benefit children with a tendency to spinal curvature. 
But physical training should not be restricted to the ailing. 
Breathing and physical exercises and the cultivation of hygienic 
habits generally, as in handkerchief drill, are of the greatest value in 
promoting the health and vigor of children from the infant classes 
upwards, and the extension of their judicious use both as preventiveand curative means is much to be advocated. 

Home Conditions. 

But for large numbers of ailing children no treatment by doctor, 
nurse or teacher will alone suffice. It is their home conditions 
which are at fault. Lessons to parents, and children too, as to right 

*Annual Report for 1908 of Chief Medic:> I Officer of the Board of Education, p. 53· 

t Worcestershire Aftercare Committee Report, p. 6. 

! Report of Medical Officer (Education) for 1909, p. 16. 

§ Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education, pp. 58-g. 


29 


feedincr, the value of open windows, cleanliness and uch matters maydo much. But there are still many to whom a different mode of 
living, or more nourishment than the p::m~nts can afford to givethem, are e entia! for improvement in health. 

The Open Air School. 

One of the mo t promising of all fonw of treatment for ailments 

and eli ·ea es uch as amemia, incipient phthisis, nen·ou·ne· , mal


nutrition and creneral debility with its numerou manifestati ns, 

which doctoring alone cannot cure, i the open air schooL 

·The idea was introduced from Germany, and the fir·t Encr!ish 

open air hool was e tablished in 1907 by the London County

Council, who kept three uch schools open in the summer· of 1908 

and 1909. 

In 1908 open air schools were set up also at Braclforcl, Halifax 

and Norwich. 

The e schools were recognized under the Elementary Education 
(Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, thereby securing that 
admi sion hall be by the election of the medical officer of the local 
education authority, that th~ children are taught in small classes, 
that hours of instruction shall be short, that the curriculum 
include m::mual training, and that the school can be kept openduring ordinary chool holiday-. There might, however, be diHicultie 
in establi hing uch chools permanently in number sufficient 
to the need under this Act. 

Except in London it i not u ually hard to obtain a suitable ite 
within the area of the local education authority. 

In ch osing a site the main points to bear in mind are the desirability 
of plenty of fre hair and as much sunshine as possible, h althy 
soil, plentiful water supply, and pleasant surrounding ; a small wood is 
an attractive feature in connection with some of the outdo r classes. 

The buildings should be slight and airy, since the classes are held 
in the open air, but verandahs, sheds, or e\·en class rooms are needed 
for protection in rain or strong sunshme. It is necessary to have 
kitchen , bathrooms, offices, and rooms for the teachers. school doctor 
and nur e attached to the open air schooL 

D~sks and seat are not used so much as in ordinary school . It 
is best to have single de ks, and they should be easily portable. The 
seats or chairs must have proper backs, since most of the children are 
delicate. 

E very child should be given some form of hammock chair for the 
afternoon rest which forms so important a part of the curriculum. 
The ordinary deck chairs sometimes used arc not suitable, as they do 
not allow a sufficiently recumbent po ition.~' 

As regards the size of the school it eems to be generally agreed 
that a school for about one hundred and twenty i more economical 
and more generally satisfactory than several smaller one . It i said 
to be a great advantage to have children of all sizes at the same 

• Annual Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education, 1908, p. 123. 

school, provided they are sufficiently numerous for suitable classification, 
and with the larger school it is worth while to provide for the 
daily attendance of a nurse, which is nearly always required for some 
of the cases. 

Though certificate from the school medical officer is essential for 
admission to open air schools under the 1899 Act, the London County 
Council in 1909 further limited admission by strictly requiring certain 
payments (from Is. to 3s. per week) from the parents, with the result 
that a large number of the children selected were afterwards rejected * 
and their places filled by children less in need of such treatment, but 
for whom their parents were able to contribute. 

At Bradford it was advocated that no such condition should be 
made, suitability for admission to be the ground of selection irrespective 
of the social position or ability of parents to contribute.t 

At both the Bradford and London schools the children attend 
daily, in time for breakfast, and leave again after tea ; they therefore 
receive three good meals. One to two hours sleep or rest in the 
afternoon is always insisted on. Strict cleanliness is required, and 
baths are usually given. It should, especially in summer, be possible 
to give every child a daily bath as part of the treatment. Shower 
baths are advocated for this purpose. It is strongly urged t that the 
children should take part in the domestic work of the school, even at 
the expense of some inconvenience to the adult helpers, for this and 
the gardening work do much to enhance the family feeling which is 
so desirable in a school of this kind. §

All classes are small and of short duration to avoid mental 
fatigue. They are usually given in the open air, and practicaldemonstration is much used. For example, in the geography lesson 
miniature rivers, lakes, and mountains may be constructed, and 
arithmetic is taught by the taking of actual measurements. A large 
part of the class time is occupied with such subjects II as nature study, 
local history, geography, practical arithmetic, school journeys,
physical exercises, organized games, and visits to museums, with 
lessons upon them. Time is also allowed for ordinary play.

All reports show the immense benefit derived by the children 
from sojourn in open air schools,~ both in mental and moral tone, 
and in physical effect, measured by general bearing, the cure of ailments, 
increase in weight, and increased proportion of ha:moglobin 
in the blood. It was found at Charlottenburg, the pioneer of openair schools, during the first three years, that delicate children after a 
spell there, notwithstanding the small amount of time given to lessons, 
were able not only to take their proper place, but often to pass 

• London County Council Report of Medical Officer (Education) for 1909, p. 87. 
t Report of School Medical Officer to Bradford Education Committee, December, 
1908, p. 79, etc. 
t Annual Report for 1908 of the Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education, 

p. 126. 
§ Ibid, p. 127. II Ibid, p. 124. 
, For example, Annual Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education 
for 1go8; Report of School Medical Officer for 1908, Bradford; London CountyCouncil, Report of School Medical Officer for 1909. 


31 

their school mates on their return to the ordinary schools ; and in 

England the teachers testify that the results on the work are 

excellent.* 

It appears from reports that the period for which children are 

kept at the open air school is not always long enough. The London 

County Council School Medical Officer, in his report, urges that the 

London schools should be kept open all the year round, as at Brad


ford; and this would be an economy, as providing a number of per


manent school places instead of merely temporary ones. 

There are children who are unfit to attend any but open air 

schools and a large number whom a temporary sojourn in such 

schools w~uld enormously benefit ; it is therefore to be hoped that 

the extensiOn of this form of school will be rapid.

The estahlishment of residential open air schools in addition to 

the day school is also greatly needed. 

Both Dr. Kerr and Dr. Crowley urge the provision also of special

"tuberculosis" schools or sanatoria, which should be permanently 

open and carried out on open air school lines. 

An.other experiment is being tried by the London CountyCouncil, who have decided to maintain for three years a special 
tuberculosis school in connection with the ?addington Dispensaryfor t?e Prevention of Consumption, where children suffering from or 
predisposed to tuberculosis, or in an infective environment, or discharged 
from sanatoria or convalescent homes can be educated. 
The majority of these children are not fit to attend the ordinary 
schools, and all will benefit by the open windows, hygienic measures, 
and special adaptation of the work to their physical condition. t 

Playground Classes. 
So great has been the success of the open air school that experiment 
has been made in utilizing school playgrounds for open air 
classes. In the autumn of r909 this was tried in six London CountyCouncil schools, in some cases specially delicate children beingselected, in others whole standards, or all standards in rotation being 
taken irrespective of health conditions. 
The results in both types of open air class appear to have been 
good.
In the case of the delicate children, the classes were arranged on 
lines similar to those of the open air schools, and were held continuously 
out of doors. Such classes are not, however, an adequatesubstitute for the open air school, with its organized feeding, rest, 
and longer hours out of doors, though considerable benefit was 
derived by the children. 
Where ordinary classes, not selected for health reasons, as at 
Stockwell Road School, occupied the playground in succession, 
excellent results were also attained. In addition to ordinary class 

* Annual Report of Chief Medical Officer to Board of Education for rgo8, 
p. !28. 
t See London County Council Minutes, March rst, rgro, p. 465, and London 
County Council, Report of School Medical Officer for 1909, p. 94· 


32 


work, phy ical exerci e and bre:tthing e:<en:i~e~ were arranged for. 
Dr. Kerr ·ays: ''The alertnes and bracing effect of the d:ty in the 
open was quite notice:tble on the following days, and an importantnegative re ·ult was that the discipline of the school did not suffer in 
any way."* \Vi th reference to this type of playground class the 
report continue· btcr: "Its pecial function is to act a a kind of 
tonic to the ordinary drawback of cla sroom work, uch as the 
fatigue and inattentiYene resulting from a Yitiated atmosphere and 
want of sufficient 1110\'ement. The direct curative effect on delicate 
children i likely to be eli appointing. TypeD [rotation of classes] 

eems more suited for the boy of aYerage or fair physical condition 
than for the ickly or debilit:tted ; but one day in ten in the open 
air, although better th:tn none at all, is insufficient to meet his 
needs. It seem · preferable that each standard should ha\'e one 
whole day in ten rather than one se·sion every fifth day, but it 
would be better till if one whole day in each week could be spentin the open air." I 

Holiday Colonies. 

Little has yet been done in Engbnd in the way of organizingholiday colonies which are a feature in some C ntinental countries, 
notably 3weden. where whole clas es of town children, torrether with 
their teachers, migrate for part of the ummer to the country.
Manchester ha · made an experiment in this direction by establi hing 
a country sch ol,t which was opened in June, 1904, a" a voluntaryin titution, and later taken oYer by the education authority. Cla ses 
of forty children are tran ferred to thi chool for a fortnight each 
during the summer months. 

Vacation Schools. 

During the summer of IQIO the London County Council have 
opened two Yacation school · in poor district during the holidays. 
Such a school was fir L tarted nine years ago at the Pa smore 
Edw:trds Settlement. 

"The aim," ay i\fiss D. :\1. \Vard,§ "of the Yacation school is 
twofold: (1) to draw the children out of the loating, demoralizinglife of the street·, anti give them whole ome and happy occupation 
under an orclerecl, but sympathetic, control ; and (2) to give them 
different occupation from their ordinary :.chool work of the re t of 
the year. Hence our in ·i tence on all form;, of manual work, on 
phy;,ical exercise , dancing, and games."

The teacher;, at the Pas;,more Edward;, vacation chool are 
mainly student who ha,·e finished their cour e at the trainingcollege and some secondary school and kindergarten teachers and 
drill in ·tructor . The classes include carpentering, cobbling, woodwook, 
cookery, ba ket making, drill, and game . 

• 
London ounty Council, Report o[ ;\1edical Officer (Education) [or 1909, p. 92. 
t 1 bid. p. 93· ! ,\nnual l{eport o[ Education ommittee, 1908-9, pp. 74-82. 
§ The School Ch1ld, October, 1910, p. 12. 

33 

There is great competitiOn among the children of the neighborhood 
for admission to the school, which is by ticket, the head 
teachers of the elementary school assisting in the selection of 
children specially in need of the vacation school. Some of the 
children have been to the school three or four years running.'·' 

The Bristol Education Committee made a grant to a voluntaryvacation school in the ummer of rqo8. i 

Though mo~t needed in conge ted centres of population, the 
vacation chool may be a ource of great pleasure and benefit to the 
children in rural district also a wa hown by the vacation chool 
at N en-port, E sex.! 

School Feeding. 

Among the various forms of remedial treatment school feeding 
takes an important place. 

It has long been known that in the poor districts of our cities 
many children came to school in such a condition from want of food 
that they were quite unfit to do any lessons. 

School teachers and other kindly people therefore began organizing 
breakfast and dinners for the tan·ing children. The Education 
(Provision of !\leal ) Act, 1906, enabled such local authoritie as 
adopted the Act to proYide meal for school children out of the rate 
so long as their expenditure did not exceed a halfpenny rate. Up to 
1909 ro o\·er one hundred local education authorities appear to haYe 
adopted the .-\ct and drawn on the rates for school feeding,§ and 
many other local authorities are either expending Yoluntary fund 
on thi 11·ork or ha\·ing their scholars fed by voluntary agencie . 
During 1908-q r r 6,840 children were reported to the Board of Education 
as receiYing meals through the education authorities in 
England and \Vales. \I 

London, haYing fed a large number of childrert by means of 
voluntary funds, adopted the .-\ct early in 1909, and during 1908-9 
an aYerage of 39,632 children were fed weekly. 

Though malnutrition is frequently reported hy the scho::>l 
doctors, this condition is difficult of diagnosis and may be due to 
improper feeding and other causes. a \\·ell as insufficient feeding;
but it is no longer necessary to point out that there are largenumber· of families where the wage earner is unemployed, or 
receives such i01v wages that it is impos·ible, IYith the most careful 
management, for him to feed all his children adequately. Rowntree's 
standard,~ allowing an average of three shillings for an adult 
and two hillings and threepence for a child for food materials, in 
addition to all other necess:ny expenses, such as rent, fuel, and 

* The School ChiU, October, 1910, p. 12. 
t Report, Bristol Education Committee, :.\Iarch, 1909, p. 21. 
t See "Or1r Vill~ge \'acation School," by ;\Irs. Carl ;\!eyer, in the Bntish 
Htaltlz 
Rn•uw, ~hv. 1910. 
§ Report on \\'orking of Education (Provi;ion of :\Ieals) Act. 1909, pp. ~6-9. 

il I bid. p. 21. 
,-B. cebohm Rowntree. "Po,·erty: a Study of Town Life," p. ICj. 



34 

clothing, is a low one, as is also the standard taken by the London 
County Council organizers in their report on twelve necessitous 
schools,* allowing fifteen shillings per week for a standard family of 
two adults and four children, after deducting all outgoings on rent 
and thrift ; and it may be assumed that families whose true incomes 
from all sources fall below this standard are unable to obtain sufficient 
food. There will be few education authorities-in fact it maybe asserted that there will be none-who have not children in need 
of school feeding by reason of poverty alone ; and there are other 
causes which often make school meals requisite, such as distance of 
children's homes from the school, especially in the rural districts, 
absence of parents, as when the mother, whether or no widowed, 
goes out to work, or when the mother is dead, inability of the 
parents, through illness or any other cause, to prepare suitable home 
meals, or special delicacy of children making it advisable to allow 

milk or cad liver oil as an extra. 

Among the local authorities who are feeding school children 
there is great variety in the kind of meal given and in the manner 
of giving it. Under the purely voluntary system it was often considered 
that a basin of soup on certain days in the week met all 
requirements. 

The larger local education authorities have now for the most part 
drawn up menus, usually with the assistance of school medical officer 
or domestic economy superintendent, allowing for the best value in 
proteids, fats and other needful constituents, and arranging for a 
different meal at least on each day of the week, and usually limiting 
soup meals to twice weekly. 

Education authorities have adopted various plans for providing 
their school dinners, such as arranging with a large contractor or 
with local caterers, or having the meals cooked on the premises where 
they are served. All these methods are being tried for different 
London schools. 

But the plan which appears to be both most satisfactory and most 

economical, i3 the establishment of large central kitchens under the 

direct control of the education authority. Bradford, Manchester, 

Bristol, Middlesborough, and Bury are among the towns which have 

adopted this plan.

At Bristol a large kitchen and store room was adapted and equip


ment installed at a cost of some £344 at the end of 1908, and over 

two thousand dinners daily can be supplied at a total cost of three 

farthings each, another three farthings being expended for administra


tion. The menus cover a wide range of variety, and are nourishing

and appetizing, though it must not be supposed that a really sufficient 

meal can be provided without greater expenditure on food materials. 

The food is distributed, usually in cans which keep it quite hot, 

to the different feeding centres. At Manchester and Bristol trades-

men's carts are utilized for the purpose, at Bury the corporation 

trams distribute the food. 

• London County Council Report on " Home Circumstances of the Children in 
Twelve Necessitous Schools." 

35 


The children are served either in the schools, in halls or other 
premises hired for the purpose, or at restaurants. 

The latter plan must almost invariably be condemned, as 
satisfactory arrangements can very rarely be made to keep the 
children entirely apart from miscellaneous customers, or to ensure 
adequate supervision both of the children and of the food supplied 
to them. 

Feeding in mission halls, chapels, and other hired premises maybe satisfactory if the hall or room is really suitable, well lighted,
warmed and aired, clean and cheerful, but there are many attendant 
drawbacks, children often having to cross crowded thoroughfares to 
get to their dinners and wait about in all weathers, and moreover 
the halls actually used, and the attendance necessarily engaged with 
the halls, are too often by no means satisfactory or suitable. 

Feeding on school premises does away with the drawbacks of 
promiscuous company, dangerous crossing of streets, and waitingabout, but in many of the schools there is at present no suitable 
accommodation for school dinners. It may be hoped that in future 
dining rooms may become an essential part of the school premises 
and "table manners, materials provided" part of the curriculum; and 
in the meantime many of our schools have spacious halls where meals 
can with proper organization be served without interference with 
ordinary school work. 

In addition to helpers who serve food, lay the tables, wash up, etc., 
supervisors should always be appointed, as the school dinner maybecome highly educational or thoroughly demoralizing according to 
the manner in which it is conducted. Wherever they are willing to 
assist, teachers are the best supervisors, and some education authorities, 
for example Bristol, have secured their co-operation, without makingsuch service compulsory, extra payment being made for supervisionof the dinners. Monitors and monitresses from among the children 
can hand round the food and help generally at the dinners. 

To make the meal as educational and civilizing as possible clean 

white table cloths should be supplied. Education authorities can 

hardly be expected to provide flowers unless they can be grown in 

the school gardens, but they may encourage friends to adorn the 

tables with them. 

Payment for school dinners can be recovered under the Act from 

the parents where they are able to pay, but this provision has not 

been largely enforced. Were arrangements made, and the dinners 

conducted in such a fashion that no parent could object to his child 

being so fed, there would probably be many well-to-do parents who 

would be glad to pay and so avail themselves of school dinners for 

their children. This is especially the case in rural districts where 

children come one, two or even four miles to school, and thus on five 

days of the week dine off the bread with jam~ dripping or butter 

which they bring with them, and eat wandenng about the play


ground or lanes. At Easebourne, near Midhurst, Lord Egmont pro


vides a hot dinner at school during the winter months for children 

residing more than one mile from the school, and such a system 


needs to be extensively adopted by rural education authorities if the 
full advantages of country rearing are to be enjoyed by the children 
of agricultural workers and rural artizans. 

The Place of the Voluntary Worker. 

The work of volunteers has been enlisted by many local education 
authorities to "arrange for the individual treatment of poor children 
by voluntary agencies or otherwise."':' The London County Council 
have made it part of the duty of the children's care committees 
established by them "to endeavor to induce parents to obtain the 
advice and treatment recommended in the medical register of the 
school." t The Somerset County Council have utilized the district 
education committees for a similar purp,ose.t It is inadvisable and 
in the end costly to employ volunteers for work which the nurse 
or health visitor is alone fitted to undertake, unless the authority 
is able to ensure that its voluntary helpers are duly qualified bythe necessary training. Jf trained and organized, volunteers might 
find a permaiJent place in the scheme of public assistance, and 
render most valuable service by giving expert advice on feeding 
and hygiene generally in the homes. Meantime the co-operation of 
the intelligent though untrained worker can be turned to account 
in following medical inspection, by interviewing. visiting, and revisiting 
the parents, and endeavoring to overcome any prejudice, 
indolence or ignor:tnce on their part ~Yhich stands in the way of 
the doctor's recommendations being carried out. In initiating a 
new scheme, such as the present one to care extensively for the 
health of our future citizens, a large amount of patient attention to 
each individual case is necessary, which may well be undertaken by 
anyone possessed of tact and sufficient intelligence to carry out 
instructions. Time is thus gained for plans to mature and to receive 
full consideration before the official organism \\'hich may eventually be 
necessary for their permanent and harmonious working is completely 
.developed. 

*Annual Report for 1 9~8 of Ch'd :\ledic.d Uffice1 of Board of Education, p. 9+· 
t London County Council llandbook f,,r Care Committees, p. rg, ~o. 1 ,33~. 
~-S. King&. Son. 
t Annual Report for 1908 of Chief :\ledic:1l Officer of BoarJ of Education, p. 9<.