2o6 



NA TURE 



\_Jan. 



ordinary schools to the technical instruction at the Central 

 Higher School. 

 (4) Action of British Association and Social Science Congress 

 The Committee were officially informed by the chairman that 

 a resolution had been passed in 1883 by the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science requesting a Special Committee 

 "to consider the desirableness of making representations to the 

 Lords of the Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council on 

 Education in favour of aid being extended toward the fitting-tip 

 of workshops in connection with elementary day schools or 

 evening classes, and of making grants on the results of practical 

 instruction in such workshops under suitable direction." The 

 said Committee waited to see the Report of the Royal Commis- 

 sioners, and expressed their approval of recommendation (if), 

 which practically covers the same ground. The Social Science 

 Congress has made a presentation to the Education Department 

 to a similar effect. 



(5) Recommendations of the Royal Commissioners on Technical 

 Education 



During the deliberations of the Committee the second Report 

 of the Royal Commissioners on Technical Education, containing 

 their recommendations, was published, and the Committee sub- 

 mit, for the information of the Board, the recommendations as 

 to public elementary schools, as follow : — 



(a) That rudimentary drawing be incorporated with writing as 

 a single elementary subject, and that instruction in elementary 

 drawing be continued throughout the standards. That the In- 

 spectors of the Education Department, Whitehall, be responsible 

 for the instruction in drawing. That drawing from casts and 

 models be required as part of the work, and that modelling be 

 encouraged by grant. 



(6) that there be only two class subjects, instead of three, in 

 the lower division of elementary schools, and that the object 

 lessons for teaching elementary science shall include the subject 

 of geography. 



(c) That, after reasonable notice, a school shall not be deemed 

 to be provided with proper "apparatus of elementary instruc- 

 tion " under Article 115 of the Code, unless it have a proper 

 supply of casts and models for drawing. 



(d) That proficiency in the use of tools for working in wood 

 and iron be paid for as a "specific subject,'" arrangements being 

 made for the work being done, so far as practicable, out of 

 school hours. That special grants be made to schools in aid of 

 collections of natural objects, casts, drawings, &c. , suitable for 

 school museums. 



(e) That in rural schools instruction in the principles and facts 

 of agriculture, after suitable introductory object lessons, shall be 

 made obligatory in the upper standards. 1 



(f) That the provision at present confined to Scotland, which 

 prescribes that children under the age of fourteen shall not be 

 allowed to work as full-timers in factories and workshops, unless 

 they have passed in the Fifth Standard, be extended to England 

 and Wales. 



(6) 754* Slojd System of Handicraft in Sweden 

 The Committee have received valuable information respecting 

 a system of instruction in handicraft, which is largely adopted in 

 the elementary schools of Sweden. Two mistresses under this 

 Board, Miss Warren, head mistress of the infants' department of 

 the Carlton Road, Kentish Town, School, and Miss Clarke, 

 head mistress of the infants' department of the Campbell Street, 

 Maida Vale, School, were allowed an extended summer vacation, 

 in order that they might visit Herr Abrahamson's Institution at 

 Naas, near Gothenburg, in Sweden, where instruction is given 

 in handicraft. This institution is established and maintained by 

 Herr Abrahamson on his own estate, for the purpose of training 

 teachers in the system, in order that the teachers may be able 

 to carry it out in their schools. 



The Governments of some other countries were invited to 

 send teachers to Naas to learn the system, and through Miss 

 Lofving, formerly Superintendent of Physical Education under 

 the Board, the invitation was extended to two mistresses of the 

 schools of the Board. Hence the visit of Miss Warren and Miss 

 Clarke during last summer. These mistresses have returned 

 with diplomas received from Herr Salomon, the Director of the 

 " Slojd" Seminarium at N'aas, for having successfully completed 

 the set of articles required for the first course of the system. 

 Miss Warren stated that during the two months leave of 

 1 This recommendation will not apply to London schools. 



absence which had been granted to her and Miss Clarke, they 

 had, at the invitation of Herr Abiahamson, visited his institu- 

 tion, with the object of becoming acquainted with his system of 

 instruction in handicraft. The work done is carried out in 

 wood, and the general term of " Slojd " is applied to it. Work- 

 ing in wood is considered the most useful, as by working in this 

 material the advantages claimed for the system are obtained 

 more easily and completely than by the adoption of any other 

 material. Miss Warren exhibited to the Committee forty articles 

 in wood, selected from the. 100 articles, forming the course of 

 instruction, which she had made during her visit. The system 

 of instruction is divided into what is called the " Naas " system, 

 from the estate on which it is carried out, and the "Artisan" 

 system. The "Naas" system differs from the "Artisan" 

 in that it is not called a trade, the work, mainly in wood, being 

 eat tied out under the superintendence of a teacher, and not being 

 sold. 



The work is done in a room fitted with benches, the room 

 being about the size of one of our smaller halls. Only one 

 teacher is in this room. The tools used all come from England 

 and America. The cost of the tools per child is about 30 kronor, 

 or 32*. 6d. The cost of the wood for 100 models is, in. Sweden, 

 about 15 kronor, or 16s. A complete set of the tools required 

 could be obtained for about 4/. 10s. 



The object of the system is not so much to produce the articles 

 as t" educate and train the child itself. The promoters of the 

 system claim for it five distinct advantages : — 



(1) It produces in a child a love of manual labour. 



(2) It promotes the development and training of a child's 

 hands and fingers. 



(3) The child learns order and exactness. 



(4) It educates a child's observation and perceptive faculties. 



(5) It teaches self-reliance. 



The school hours in Sweden are from 8 a.m. to I p.m., with 

 an interval of a quarter of an hour about eleven o'clock. The 

 instruction in " Slojd " is usually taken in the afternoon. About 

 two and a half hours on three days a week are devoted to this 

 work. "Slojd" is encouraged and paid for by Government, 

 but is not compulsory. Children begin the work at about ten 

 years of age. It is a punishment for a child to be withheld from 

 it. Everything made is a useful article, the making of toys being 

 prohibited. The articles when finished are given to the children 

 as an encouragement. The child who does not succeed in the 

 ordinary subjects of study is frequently encouraged on being suc- 

 cessful in " Slojd." 



(7) The Peripatetic System of Science Teaching in Birmin , ';,"/. 



In the course of their deliberations the Committee have noted 

 and carefully considered the system of science teaching adopted 

 by the Birmingham School Board. This system is sometimes 

 called the " peripatetic" system. '1 he elementary science " is 

 taught in accordance with a syllabus, by a practical demonstrator 

 and assistant (who visit each boys' and girls' department once 

 every fortnight), and by the teacher of the school. The Science 

 Demonstrator for the Board (or an Assistant Demonstrator) 

 gives one lesson fortnightly of about forty minutes' duration to 

 the boys in the Fifth and higher Standards in each school. The 

 lessons are illustrated experimentally by specimens and apparatas 

 carried from school to school in a hand-cart. Between the visits 

 of the Science Demonstrator at least one lesson is given to the 

 same class by the teachers of the respective schools (as a rule by 

 a teacher who was present at the Demonstrator's lesson,, and 

 took full notes of it), and a written examination on the subject- 

 matter of the lesson is also held. The answer, are corrected by 

 the ela^s teacher and submitted to the Demon trator »t his next 

 visit to the school. A general examination in elementary 

 science is held yearly." The syllabus for boys comprises de- 

 monstrations on force, the mechanical powers, machines. 

 parallelogram of forces, &c. ; and that for girls demonstrations 

 on the structure of the human body, circulation and respiration, 

 the organs of digestion, the nervous system, the nature of food 

 and its preparation, apparatus for cooking, how to maintain 

 tlie body in health, the sick room, diseases of children, 



1 1 idenl -, &c. 



(8) Conclusions 



After considering in all its bearings the whole question of the 

 introduction of technical education and training into the schools 

 of the Board, the Committee are of opinion that there is at 

 present too little instruction for boys which is calculated to train 

 and exercise the hand and fingers, so as to fit lads more efficiently 



