SECTION L.— EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 



MODERN MOVEMENTS IN 

 EDUCATION. 



ADDRESS BY 



. C. W. KIMMINS, M.A., D.Sc, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



The meeting of the British Association in South Africa in 1905 was in 

 many ways a memorable one. The Education Section was particularly 

 fortunate in having as its president a remarkably distinguished scholar, 

 Sir Richard Jebb, whose presidential address on ' University Education 

 and National Life ' made a profound impression on the crowded audiences 

 who heard it at Cape Town and later on at Johannesburg. The papers 

 read at this meeting dealt with a great variety of subjects, including ' The 

 Teaching of Science,' ' Technical Education in a New Country,' ' The 

 Teaching of Modern Languages,' ' Manual Instruction,' ' The Teaching of 

 Agriculture,' ' Rural Education,' ' Recent Improvements in the Education 

 of Infants,' and the renowned Dr. Murray, of dictionary fame, delighted 

 us all with his paper on ' The World of Words.' The English visitors were 

 deeply interested in the important papers read by well-known directors 

 of education in this country on such subjects as ' Cape Education,' ' Native 

 Education,' ' Progress of Education in the Transvaal,' ' Education in the 

 Orange River Colony,' ' Education in Rhodesia,' ' Education on the Veldt,' 

 and ' The Higher Education of Women in South Africa.' 



The progress in education of recent years has been positively 

 bewildering — greater, in fact, than at any period of our history — and it 

 occurred to me, in thinking of an appropriate subject on which to address 

 you, that it might not be without interest to deal briefly with some of 

 the more important movements which have emerged during the interval 

 which has elapsed since the former meeting in South Africa. In doing 

 this I will avoid matters of local interest and treat only of those of general 

 application in educational procedure. 



One of the most significant movements is the change of attitude towards 

 the mental development of the very young child. Until comparatively 

 recently, the physical condition of the child up to the age of six years was 

 the only matter that appeared to need serious attention. Educationists 

 and psychologists now, however, at long last, fully realise that the period 

 from two to six years of age is far and away the most important of the 

 child's life. In other words, there must be a really sound foundation if a 

 satisfactory superstructure is to result in the child's development. The 

 mental as well as the physical welfare of the young child must receive 

 adequate attention. The reliable evidence we possess that many of the 

 cases of serious mental trouble in later life may be traced to unwise 



