ON EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS LIFE. 269 



contact with outdoor pursuits to enable them to decide whether they are fitted or 

 not for country life. 



6. The extension of such outdoor studies is not prevented by lack of land in many 

 cases ; 50 per cent, of the schools replying to the questionnaire have access to 

 suitable land, but only 9 per cent, use it. 



7. Development of a school cuiriculum in this practical direction for a section of 

 a school needs encouragement because, while it would help to meet the requirements 

 of the Empire, it is educational in a very wide sense. 



8. There is need of some organisation to encourage overseas life, to link up the 

 secondary schools with those societies which are able to look after the interests of 

 prospective settlers overseas. 



9. Whatever agricultural studies are undertaken at a school, it should be 

 emphasised that the training is not intended to be technical such as is given in an 

 agricultural college, and that they are in no sense to be considered a substitute for a 

 definite apprenticeship on a farm, whether in Great Britain, or in one of the Oversea 

 Dominions. 



10. Manual training as an educational instrument has not hitherto received 

 adequate recognition in the majority of schools. Comparatively few have facilities 

 for metal work, and in the majority of these the work is optional, taken during 

 out-of-school time, f^en usually in the lower forms only, and seldom co-ordinated 

 with other school subjects. 



] 1 . There are a large number of schools eagerly awaiting the production of a 

 practical scheme whereby the curriculum of the school can be broadened and rendered 

 more adaptable to the demands of the Empire without sacrificing any of its educa- 

 tional breadth and efficiency. The chief obstacle to the production of a scheme 

 lies in the lack of interest among those to whom such education might be offered. 

 Many parents, however, would welcome a development of school activities in the 

 direction of more practical studies in workshop, on the land, and in the laboratories, 

 but their wishes are inarticulate, and, so long as there is no general expressed desire, 

 the need is ignored. Public indifference to this need not only holds up progress, but 

 indirectly prevents experiments by those who would like to attempt them. 



The subsequent report for 1925 to 1928 presented fuller evidence of the growth 

 of opinion in favour of agricultural and other outdoor studies in schools, together 

 with some details of experimental courses that were being tried in this direction 

 both at home and abroad. 



In the present report for 1929 the Committee have brought together the chief 

 results of their inquiry over the whole period : 



1. In Section, I. the Committee present some of the chief arguments in favour of 

 a more practical type of education for a large proportion of pupils in secondary 

 schools, stressing particularly the desirability of introducing into schools rural studies 

 as a basis of practical knowledge and experience likely to help the pupil in its after 

 life (p. 2). 



2. In Section II. are discussed some of the difficulties in the way of introducing 

 this type of work, viz. : 



(a) the present examination system which attaches far more marks to book •work 

 than to practical work (p. 3). 



(b) the short supply of teachers competent to undertake it (p. 4). 



3. In Section III. are abstracts from reports issued by Departments of Education 

 of the Oversea Dominions on the same subject (p. 4). 



4. In Section I V. the general conclusions of the Committee (p. 10). 



5. In Section V. the Committee has collected a number of definite schemes for 

 practical work in schools known to be practicable and effective (p. 10). 



SECTION I. 



School Science. 



In the past it has been claimed that physics and chemistry are of fundamental 

 importance, and that without some knowledge of these it is impossible to understand 

 physiological processes of plant or animal life. Hence the adoption, almost univer- 

 sally, of physics and chemistry as the science subjects for the curriculum of boys' 

 secondary schools : and, on account of the crowded time table, these have been, for 

 the most part, the only science subjects taught in boys' schools. Botany has been 



