486 



NATURE 



[August i6, 1917 



the good things of life, which should be more 

 widely shared than has hitherto been the 

 case among-st the children and young persons 

 of the country " — to quote his own words. If 

 his Bill eventually becomes an Act embodying the 

 reforms he described in his introductory speech, it 

 will mark a turning-point in English education 

 and will place the nation firmly on the road lead- 

 ing eventually to real educational efficiency. 



But the Bill is at its best only an instalment 

 of what is wanted and what must be secured if 

 our educational system is to be complete. As 

 Mr. Fisher explained in his speech, the Bill does 

 not affect the government of the universities, or 

 of those institutions of secondary, technical, and 

 other higher forms of education which are not main- 

 tained or aided by local education authorities. It 

 does not deal with the scholarship system, the 

 training colleges, or libraries, and the establishment 

 of a satisfactory pensions scheme for teachers in 

 secondary, technical, and other schools at present 

 outside the State scheme of pensions. These 

 pressing matters are, we are told, to be included 

 in separate measures, but in view of the demands 

 which the war must continue to make on the 

 Government and the House of Commons, it is 

 difficult to be optimistic as to the chances of 

 early legislation in the direction of improving and 

 extending our higher education. 



Yet Mr. Fisher's Bill marks a great step for- 

 ward, and it has received, we are glad to know, 

 a general welcome. It assumes the adminis- 

 trative structure erected by the Act of 1902,. and 

 the educational work of the country will continue 

 to be entrusted to the authorities on whom it was 

 devolved by that Act. 



The general framework of the Bill and the 

 specific proposals of the Gktvernment were clearly 

 explained in Mr. Fisher's speech, from which the 

 following summary has been made : — • 



The Government desires : — First, to improve the ad- 

 ministrative orgai;isation of education. 



Secondly, to secure for every boy and girl in this 

 country an elementary school-life, up to the age of 

 fourteen years, which shall be unimpeded by the com- 

 peting claims of industry. 



Thirdly, to establish part-time, day continuation 

 schools, which every young person in the country shall 

 be compelled to attend unless he or she is undergoing 

 some suitable form 'of alternative instruction. 



Fourthly, the development of the higher forms of 

 elementary education and the improvement of the 

 physical condition of the children and young -persons 

 under instruction. 



Fifthly, to consolidate the elementary-school grants; 

 and 



Sixthly, to inake an effective survey of the whole 

 educational provision of the country and to bring pri- 

 vate educational institutions into closer and more con- 

 venient relation to the national system. 



A duty is imposed upon the councils of every county 

 and county borough to provide for the progressive 

 development and comprehensive organisation of educa- 

 tion in their respective areas and to submit schemes 

 to the Board, and in order that this function may 

 adequately be discharged it is proposed to remove the 

 twopenny limit of the amount to be raised for higher 

 forms of education which was imposed bv the \ct of 

 1902. The council of a county or county borough will, 

 NO. 2494, VOL. 99] 



in other words, plan out an educational policy. Before 

 submitting its scheme to the Board the council will be 

 required to consult the authorities having power in the 

 county under Part 3 of the Act of 1902 with reference 

 to the' mode in which and^the extent to which any such 

 authority will co-operate with the county, and the 

 Board will be informed as to the co-operation to be 

 expected from any such authority. 



There are some educational problems which can be 

 most conveniently considered in relation to an area 

 larger than a county or county borough, and by bodies 

 representing a wider constituency. The supply of 

 elementary teachers, for instance, could be best dealt 

 with in relation to the large areas. So, probably, could 

 a scheme for scholarships to be held at the secondary 

 schools or the universities. Or, again, the provision 

 and utilisation of secondary schools might be more 

 scientifically planned and with less fear of overlapping 

 in the large area than in the small area. It is, of 

 course, possible under the existing law for authorities 

 to combine for any one or all of such purposes. 



The Bill provides distinct statutory authority for the 

 formation of bodies which we may call provincial asso- 

 ciations. The Board will be empowered by statute to 

 provide for the establishment of provincial associations 

 after consultation with the authorities concerned, the 

 local education authorities being empowered to delegate 

 administrative and educational functions to these asso- 

 ciations, and conversely the associations being 

 empowered to exercise any function so dele- 

 gated. There will be county and county borough 

 authorities obliged to submit comprehensive schemes of 

 education for their respective areas, and these will be 

 gradually supplemented by provincial associations for 

 those educational purposes which are most conveniently 

 dealt with in relation to areas larger than those of the 

 county and county borough. 



The education given in public elementary schools is 

 not to be considered an end in itself, but a stage in the 

 child's education destined to lead to other stages. Local 

 education authorities,'*under Part 3 of the Local Educa- 

 tion Act of 1902, will be required to make adequate 

 provision, either by special classes or by means of 

 central schools, for what may be termed higher elemen- 

 tary education. The Bill provides not only for the 

 introduction of practical instruction at appropriate 

 stages, but also for the preparation of children for 

 further education in schools other than elementary, and 

 for transference at suitable ages to such schools. 



The Bill includes a series of proposals designed to 

 improve and to strengthen the existing fabric of elemen- 

 tfciry education so as to secure to every child in the king- 

 dom a sound physique and a solid groundwork ot 

 knowledge before the period when the part-time system 

 begins. The establishment of nursery schools for 

 children under five years is encouraged, and the local 

 education authorities are empowered to raise the age 

 at which normal instruction in the elementary schoohi 

 begins to six, as soon as there is an adequate suppl>! 

 of nursery schools for the younger children in the area 



The law, of school attendance is to be amended scj 

 as to abolish all exemptions between the ages of fiv(: 

 and fourteen, and further restriction is to be placeci 

 upon the employment of children during the elemeni 

 tary-school period. The first of these proposals rest' 

 upon the belief that children are introduced to thi' 

 normal instruction of public elementary schools at to<' 

 tender an age. At four or five years sleep and pla;i 

 are far more important than letters, and, wherevel 

 the home is good, the child should be encouraged t> 

 stay with its mother. It is not proposed to compi 

 the provision of nursery schools, but to enabi 

 <iuch schools, attendance at which must be volunlar} 

 to be aided from the rates, and in the development ( 

 ' these schools, which will often be open-air schools, 



