APRIL 9, 1914| 
whole has a more pronounced practical or vocational 
bias than in the secondary schools, this being most 
marked in the trade schools and least in the central 
schools. The students in these schools are in nearly 
every case drawn from the elementary schools.’ The 
usual age of admission is twelve or thirteen years, 
the courses lasting three to four years. The fees are 
nominal, ranging from ios. to about 2l. 10s. per 
annum. There is usually a generous supply of 
scholarships with maintenance grants awarded by 
the local education authority. 
(1) Central Schools.—The last Board of Education 
report (i.e. for 1911-12) states that central schools 
have been established only in London and Manchester 
as yet. In London there are thirty-one such schools 
containing forty-two departments, fifteen for boys, 
thirteen for girls, and fourteen ‘‘mixed’’; nineteen 
of these departments have a commercial bias, sixteen 
industrial, and seven a ‘‘dual”’ bias. Manchester has 
six such schools, including three boys’ departments, 
two girls’ departments, and three mixed departments. 
These central schools are intended to attract at 
about the age of twelve or thirteen the best boys or 
girls from the local elementary schools, who have not 
previously been drafted off by means of competitive 
scholarships into the secondary schools. The object 
of the schools is to continue the general education of 
the pupils and at the same time to prepare the chil- 
dren to go directly at about the age of fifteen or 
sixteen into business houses or workshops at the 
completion of the course. The training is to be such, 
however, that it will not prevent the pupil proceeding 
by scholarships or otherwise to a place of higher 
education. 
An examination of the curricula of these schools 
reveals comparatively little difference between them 
and those secondary schools which have definitely 
attempted to introduce vocational work into their pro- 
gramme. A typical central school (with a commercial 
bias) provides throughout the whole course, in addi- 
tion to the ordinary subjects, such as mathematics, 
geography, and history, about four hours a week for 
a modern language, four hours a week to English, 
science two hours, manual training two hours, and 
drawing two hours. In the third and fourth years a 
few hours a week are devoted to shorthand, business 
correspondence, office routine, and typewriting. In 
departments with an industrial bias, about ten to 
twelve hours a week are given to practical work 
(laboratory work, drawing, woodwork, and metal- 
work). No attempt is made to specialise for any one 
particular industry. The practical work for girls con- 
sists of elementary science and housecraft. This type 
of school as a whole, though doing excellent work, 
suffers somewhat in the public estimation through 
it being regarded as inferior in prestige to the 
ordinary secondary school. The training given in the 
central schools is probably better fitted to the after 
circumstances of the majority of boys and girls from 
the elementary schools than is that afforded by the 
usual type of secondary schools. 
(2) Junior Technical Schools and Trade Schools.— 
This class of schools suffers from a bewildering variety 
of names—junior technical schools, trades preparatory 
schools, preé-apprenticeship schools, and trades schools. 
Generally speaking, the junior technical schools pro- 
vide a wider training in general education and in 
theoretical work than the trades schools. Again, 
junior technical schools are understood not to specialise 
for one particular trade, but to provide a training 
enabling a boy to enter any branch of a group of 
industries, such as engineering or the building trades. 
The trades schools specialise more severely than this in 
many cases. Actually, the names of the schools are 
often misleading, so-called ‘trades’? schools being 
NO!-2319, VOL:.93| 
NATURE 
147 
really ‘junior technical”’ schools. At the present time 
the general tendency is in favour of the ‘“junior tech- 
nical school,’’ with its wider educational outlook and 
less severe specialisation, rather than the ‘“ trades” 
school proper. 
There are about sixteen junior technical or trades 
schools in London, with about 800 boys and 3000 girls 
in attendance. In other portions of England and 
Wales there are about twenty such schools, with, say 
1200 pupils, and in Ireland twelve schools with 500 
pupils. Scotland relies upon a system of ‘“supple- 
mentary classes,” which in effect is very similar to 
the ‘‘central schools”’ described earlier. 
The provincial schools are usually designed to pro- 
vide only for the engineering, building, and metat 
trades. Manchester has recently’ established a 
Day Trade School of Dressmaking. London 
trade schools cover a wide field of more or 
less specialised instruction, e.g. furniture and wood- 
working trades, book production, silversmith’s work, 
tailoring, bakery and confectionery, cookery (for 
chefs), and many women’s trades. The net annual 
cost of the trade schools maintained by the London 
County Council is approximately 15]. to 21). a 
student. There is no definite provision, except at 
Cardiff, for instruction in commercial subjects along 
junior technical-school lines. 
The curricula of these schools vary considerably.- 
Broadly speaking, each school allows about three to 
four hours a week for English, three to four hours a 
week for mathematics or arithmetic, and of the re- 
maining time, about one-third is devoted to theoretical 
instruction in the theory or sciences, if any, allied to 
the special trade or industry, and about two-thirds to 
the practice of the trade or practical work (including 
drawing office, workshops, laboratory work, or draw- 
ing) connected with the industry. Considerable atten- 
tion is given to continuing the general education. of 
the pupils, with the result that but for the omission of 
a modern language, the boy of sixteen in the better 
type of junior technical school is educationally on a 
level with the average boy of the same age in the 
secondary school. The physical welfare of the children 
is helped through the agency of organised games and 
gymnastics. The pupils are encouraged to organise 
clubs and societies in order to foster the social life 
and corporate spirit of the schools. 
On the whole this type of school has been very 
successful, especially perhaps the trade schools for 
girls in London. Close contact with the trades and 
industries is secured in many of the schools by the 
formation of ‘‘advisory committees,’ consisting — of 
representatives of employers and of labour. The pupils 
are generally keen upon their work, and the tone of 
the schools is good. There is comparatively little 
difficulty in most cases in securing positions in indus- 
trial life for the boys or girls at the completion of 
their course. The work done in these schools gener- 
ally enables the boy or girl to shorten the period of 
apprenticeship very considerably and to obtain higher 
wages than they would otherwise have secured. 
The success of the relatively few junior technical 
schools or trades schools which have been established 
so far points to the probability of a rapid increase in 
the number of these schools in the immediate future. 
Broadly speaking, about half a million boys and girls 
leave the elementary school each year, less than 
one-tenth of these passing forward. to the secondary 
school, and only about 2000 to the junior technical or 
trades schools. Of the remainder, a considerable pro- 
portion would probably amply repay further systematic 
full-time education, not of the customary literary. type, 
but of a more practical character, such as is given in 
the junior technical or trade schools. One point, 
{ however, must be watched. The Board of Education, 
