756 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION I. 
regarded as forming an integral part of the curriculum : the necessity for correla- 
tion to prevent overlapping and waste of effort. 
(6) The importance of elasticity and freedom: attention to be paid to the 
‘culture’ aspect of the training. Recognition of the value of group and research 
work. Versatility and resourcefulness more important than technique. 
(c) Consideration of the types of teachers available : the importance of equality 
of status and treatment. 
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 
The following Report and Paper were read :-— 
1. Report on the Distribution and Value of Scholarships, &c., held by 
University Students.—See Reports, p. 306. 
2. The Working of the Education Act, 1902. 
By Sir Hersert GeorcEe ForDHAM. 
This paper gave the author’s conclusions more particularly derived from 
his experience of the working of the Act gained as Chairman of the Cambridge- 
shire County Council and of the County Education Committee. With regard to 
the administrative machinery set up under Section 19 of the Act, it may be 
considered a satisfactory experiment in local government, and has probably been 
most effective under those schemes which maintain the preponderance in Educa- 
tion Committees of members representing County and Borough Councils, with 
an adequate, but not excessive, proportion of selected educationalists from 
outside those bodies. As to executive machinery, the author considers 
that the Clerk of the County Council should have general supervision. He 
should be the legal and technical adviser, and arrange the Committee’s proceed- 
ings, minutes, and correspondence; while the head of the Education Office 
should have a quasi-independence in all matters which are essentially educational 
in their character, including, of course, everything touching schools and their 
inspection, and the teaching staff, having the assistance of the County Architect 
and the County Medical Officers, in addition to his own special staff. The con- 
centration of the supervision of school attendance and kindred matters on a 
few thoroughly efficient and active officers is important. Under such a system 
the County of Cambridge has held the first position among the counties of 
England and Wales in the matter of attendance in elementary schools for three 
successive years. Second only to the constructive work in respect of the new 
machinery came the difficult task of examining the position and abilities of the 
whole teaching staff found in the schools taken over on the ‘appointed day,’ 
and the grading of these and all future appointments on settled scales of pay, 
with complete schemes for increments, advancement, transfers, and special 
qualifications. Training colleges have yet to be dealt with on some systematic 
basis, but facilities for training of teachers at all periods of their career in 
special subjects have been largely provided, and are of great value from various 
points of view. The author attaches great importance to the Committee itself, 
or a special sub-committee, directly considering all cases of remuneration, 
change of status, and of schools and departments which at all depart from the 
ordinary routine. It is desirable that all reports of H.M. Inspectors should 
be laid before a sub-committee, if only that close touch may be kept both with 
the schools and the views of the inspectorate, and that these reports should be 
controlled by following reports from the County or Borough Inspector. After 
the study of the teaching staff, that of the fabric and surroundings of each school 
was a very laborious proceeding, and one which is by no means yet terminated. 
Lighting, heating, sanitation generally, and the general repair and improve- 
ment of the buildings, outbuildings, and playgrounds are always subjects of 
much concern. A great deal has been achieved in remedying the most serious 
defect, but there is much to do. Defective heating has been found a very 
serious evil. The question of small schools and their maintenance in thinly 
