NA TURE 



97 



THURSDAY, MAY 30, i! 



INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION IN WALES. 



IT does not often happen, in these days of slow ParHa- 

 mentary progress, that two educational measures, 

 having an important bearing on the industrial and the 

 intellectual welfare of the country, are read a second time 

 within a week of each other. In our last issue we gave 

 some account of Sir Henry Roscoe's Bill for the provision 

 of technical education, and expressed our strong hope 

 that it would pass through the remaining stages this 

 session. No less heartily do we wish success to Mr. 

 Stuart Rendel's Bill for providing intermediate and 

 technical education in Wales, which was read a second 

 time on May 15, after a debate which practically resolved 

 itself into a chorus of approbation. It is, indeed, high 

 time that something should be done. Secondary educa- 

 tion, both in England and Wales, stands sadly in need of 

 organization, but the claims of the Principality (to which 

 the present measure is confined) are far stronger than 

 those of England, so far as the necessity of immediate 

 action is concerned. 



The main grounds on which the special treatment of 

 Wales in this matter is based are to be found stated in 

 the Report of Lord Aberdare's Committee on Intermediate 

 and Higher Education in Wales, which was published in 

 1 88 1. It is there pointed out that the aggregate income 

 of the educational endowments of Wales and Monmouth 

 amounted to little over ^14,000, against a total of more 

 than ;^6oo,ooo for England (excluding Monmouth). Nearly 

 a third of these scanty endowments were to be found 

 in Monmouth. In the matter of these endowments 

 Wales is no better off now than it was then. Since i88i, 

 it is true, the educational resources of Wales have been 

 increased by the grant of ^12,000 a year to the three 

 University Colleges of Aberystwith, Bangor, and Cardiff. 

 But even including this sum, which is really intended for 

 higher education, the educational income of Wales is 

 not nearly so great in proportion to the population as in 

 the case of England, and what there is is so unequally 

 distributed as not to be available where the need is 

 greatest. 



The result is that in many counties of Wales inter- 

 mediate education can hardly be said to exist. The 

 Schools Inquiry Commission estimated that about sixteen 

 boys in every thousand ought to be receiving intermed ate 

 or higher education. The following quotation from the 

 Report to which we have referred will show the destitution 

 which existed in Wales in 1881, and which unfortunately 

 still exists to a great extent to-day : — " Taking the popula- 

 tion of Wales and Monmouthshire to be about 1,570,000, 

 and reducing the estimate in consideration of the excep- 

 tional conditions of Wales from sixteen to ten per 1000, 

 intermediate school accommodation should be provided for 

 15,700 boys, and that number ought to be in attendance. 

 In contrast to this, our returns show accommodation in 

 the public schools for less than 3000, and that accommoda- 

 tion to a great extent unsatisfactory. They also show an 

 attendance of less than 1600." 



This estimate only applies to boys, and the state of the 

 Vol. XL.— No. 1022. 



case as regards girls' education is still worse. Only from 

 two to three hundred girls were in 1881 in schools under 

 any kind of public supervision, and the Committee 

 naturally found great difficulty in devising recommenda- 

 tions which should adequately meet a case where, as they 

 say, " the unsatisfied requirements are so great and the 

 available resources apparently so meagre." Probably, on 

 the whole, intermediate school accommodation ought to 

 be provided for at least fifteen children per 1000 of the 

 population, making a total of 23,500 school places. Less 

 than a fifth of this number were provided in 1881 in 

 schools under any kind of public supervision or control. 



So much for the state of the case. Lord Aberdare's 

 Committee reported in favour of aid being given to Welsh 

 intermediate education both from rates and Imperial 

 grants. Progress, however, in these matters is so slow in 

 England that nothing has hitherto been done to carry 

 out these recommendations except the drafting of a Bill 

 by Mr. Gladstone's Government in 1885. This meafure 

 was essentially the same as Mr. Stuart Rendel's Bill which 

 is now before the public. 



The Bill embodies most of the recommendations of 

 Lord Aberdare's Committee. It proposes to create a 

 Board of Education for Wales, consisting of represen- 

 tatives of County Councils. To this Board schemes 

 are to be submitted by the Council of each county, to 

 meet the educational needs of that district. The plans 

 may include the establishment of new schools, the re- 

 organization of endowments, and the provision of scholar- 

 ships. The Board may approve or alter the plans, and 

 the funds required to carry them into effect are to be raised 

 by a rate not exceeding one halfpenny in the pound — 

 a sum, by the way, which will produce about ^14,000 a year 

 for the whole of Wales. This sum may be met by a 

 Parliamentary grant not greater than the amount raised 

 from the rates, subject to favourable reports upon in- 

 spection. Powers are given to reorganize and utilize 

 existing endowments, and there may no doubt be some 

 difference of opinion as to the extent and nature of the 

 powers in relation to this matter which the Bill proposes 

 to give to the new Board of Education. 



There are a few criticisms which may be made on 

 points of detail. The Board of Education ought un- 

 doubtedly to include not only representatives of the 

 County Councils, but a certain number of educational 

 experts. The County Councils should likewise be em- 

 powered to co-opt men of special knowledge to help in 

 the preparation of their schemes. But on such points 

 the representatives of Wales — a country where, as all who 

 know it well will admit, there is a sincere zeal for educa- 

 tional progress — will not be likely to offer unreasonable 

 opposition. 



On the whole, the Bill is a most important step in 

 advance, leading, as we may hope, ultimately to the or- 

 ganization and supervision of secondary schools through- 

 out the Kingdom, All interested in the advance of 

 scientific and technical teaching know how higher 

 institutions are crippled by want of better teaching in 

 secondary schools. The teachers in technical schools and 

 higher colleges in England constantly complain of the 

 want of preparation of those who come to their institutions 

 from private schools. In Wales much of the work which 

 the University Colleges are now compelled to do ought to 



... F 



