322 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1912. 
less curt terms. A considerable number of schools misunderstood the 
meaning of ‘ curriculum’ and ‘ time-table.’ These misunderstandings 
necessitated the writing of many additional letters of explanation, the 
replies to which were in the majority of cases satisfactory. 
Homes and Schools. 
As many of the institutions approached made use of the elementary 
day schools of the parishes in which they were situated, a distinction 
has been drawn between Homes in which the children are merely 
boarded and fed and Schools which in addition provide for education 
in their own buildings. 
The returns include:—Dead letters, 8; Schools not included in 
inquiry, 10; Schools reported closed, 13; Homes answering, 243; 
Schools answering, 92; leaving 175 circulars to which no answers were 
received. 
Of the 175 not answering, 148 were identified and 27 could not 
be traced, probably owing to the misfortune that one sheet of the list 
of schools supplied by the C.O.S. had been mislaid. Sixty-eight of 
the 148 which were identified are schools certified by the Local Govern- 
ment Board. 
Homes for Children under the Control of the Poor Law Authorities. 
In 1906 a Departmental Committee was appointed by the Board 
of Education to report upon the ‘ Educational work in Poor Law 
schools and in the 23 schools certified under the Poor Law (Certified 
Schools) Act, 1862, which are inspected by the Board of Education.’ 
lt appears from the Report that there are sixty thousand children 
under the charge of the Poor Law. The schools under inspection by 
the Board of Education include:—Workhouse schools, 15; District 
schools, 7; Metropolitan Asylums Board schools, 6; Separate schools, 
41; and Certified schools, 23, in connection with not more than 108 
Unions. There are in England and Wales over 600 Unions; 269 
schools are certified for the reception of Poor-Law children. ‘ Of these 
23 are on the list of schools inspected by the Board of Education at 
the request of the Local Government Board; 20 others are inspected 
because they are Public Elementary schools under section 15 of the 
Education Act, 1893; and 1 under the Elementary Education (Defective 
and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899. So far as we are aware, the 
remaining 208 are not subject to any educational inspection at all.’ 
(Departmental Report, 1908.) 
Scope of the Inquiry. 
The Committee have assumed that it is not necessary to inquire 
into the conditions of schools which are under official recognition—that 
is, into schools under the inspection of (1) the Board of Education ; 
(2) Local Education Authorities, as these are inspected and reported 
on by his Majesty’s Inspectors and by those of the Authorities. 
