ON MENTAL AND PHYSICAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN EDUCATION. 179 



The Committee would draw attention to the grave need of some 

 standardisation in the matter both of diagnosis and subsequent treat- 

 ment. A study of the replies will show: — ■ 



1. That the actual standards of admission to the schools vary very 

 greatly in different parts of the country, for, whilst in some cases the 

 return of a child from the Special school to the Ordinary school is said 

 to be very frequent, in others it never occurs. One Medical Officer 

 frankly says that he should regard return as indicating an error in 

 diagnosis in the first instance. 



2. That this varying standard is accompanied by great variety in 

 methods of testing. Both teachers and doctors find great difficulty 

 with border-line cases, and it is clear that much careful research is 

 necessary in order that it may be possible to decide with some measure 

 of certainty between backwardness and mental defect. 



3. That the number of late entries into Special schools is dispro- 

 portionately large. This may be in part due to the recent provision of 

 such schools in some areas, and in part to the natural desire of parents 

 and teachers to avoid the stigma which seems to attach to the Special 

 school. 



4. That the number of children who remain in the Special schools 

 until the full statutory age is very small. This is apparently not due 

 to transfers to the ordinary school, but to the fact that the children are 

 allowed to leave school earlier than is necessary. 



5. That the attempt to teach the three E's is a lamentable failure, 

 whilst the amount of time given to manual training is in many cases 

 altogether inadequate. If the greater part of school time were devoted 

 to hand work of distinctly useful character, probably much better results 

 would be achieved. Work in the three R's might in many cases 

 actually be confined to such as arose out of the manual work, where it 

 would have an obvious meaning and use. 



6. In deciding this and other educational problems diagnosis of a 

 scientific character seems essential. A wider acquaintance among 

 teachers with modern psychological methods is desirable, especially in 

 the interest of backward and mentally defective children. 



7. There is no apparent relation between diagnosis and treatment in 

 the Special schools. This is no doubt due to want of precise knowledge 

 on types of mental defect in relation to the general problem of educa- 

 bility. Research on this point seems to the Committee both possible 

 and urgently needed. 



8. That special provision for backward and delicate children on the 

 Mannheim plan seems urgently necessary. This would be possible in 

 most districts in which Special schools for the mentally deficient are 

 organised. 



A third questionnaire was circulated fairly widely amongst teachers 

 in elementary schools in the hope of finding out how far the Medical 

 Officers and the Teachers were in agreement on the subject of mental 

 deficiency: — . 



1. Under what circumstances do you decide to submit a child to the Medical 

 Officer as being, in your view, unfitted to profit by the ordinary instruc- 

 tion in your school ? • 



n 2 



