ON EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS LIFE. 



289 



work is done by a gardener and a general labourer, whose wages are paid by the local 

 education authority. The whole cost of labour does not fall on the authority, 

 however, for the gardens supply all the potatoes and other vegetables used in preparing 

 the school dinner — -about eighty to ninety staff and pupils dine at school each day. 



In the junior forms only the boys actually work in the garden, but both boys and 

 girls make full use of the grounds and greenhouse as an open-air laboratory. In 

 the senior forms boys and girls are on an equal footing, and make the fullest possible 

 use of both garden and greenhouse, assisting in various cultural operations when 

 necessary, and carrying out regular and systematic work in plant physiology, control 

 of pests, soil physics, etc., in pots and on the land. The time allotted to actual 

 outdoor work at any stage of the course is not specified. Indeed, to do so would be 

 altogether fatal to the meaning and value of the work. The object of the course is 

 to train children in habits of scientific method and to make them useful citizens. It 

 is not the aim of the school to teach the children to raise big crops of potatoes. If 

 the course, however, does help them to grow bumper crops, so much the better. 



In concluding this very brief account of a curriculum that has proved eminently 

 practicable, it is hoped that fellow-teachers will be kindly in their criticisms. 



The work is still in the experimental stage, and many factors exist which make 

 both additions and eliminations difficult. 



But even as it stands it is claimed that educationally it is sound, and that, up 

 to the age of 16 or thereabouts, it meets the needs of every child, whether he be 

 destined to enter a university or to follow the plough. 



Distribution of Time. 



The figures given below show the number of lesson periods per week allotted to 

 each subject. Lesson periods are 40 to 45 minutes. Forms Va and Vb take the 

 Lower Certificate :— 



Special pupils taking Latin may be allowed to omit Drawing or Manual Work or 

 Domestic Science by arrangement with H.M.I. , otherwise the subject is taken after 

 the usual school hours. 



Pupils in Form VI. — i.e. post-Matriculation — work to individual time-tables 

 according to their requirements. 



Domestic Science for Vc girls includes instruction in butter-making and soft 

 cheese-making. This work is linked up with the Science Course. 



1929 U 



