ON ANIMAL BIOLOGY IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 405 



facts of the life of plants and animals should form a regular part of the teaching 

 in every Secondary School. Systematic work in zoology, including dissection 

 of animals and the use of the compound microscope, belongs to a later stage 

 of school life, but the main facts as to the relation of plants and animals to 

 their surroundings, the changes in material and energy involved in their life 

 and growth should form part of a well-balanced school course . . . the want 

 of teachers with wider scientific qualifications is at present the real difficulty 

 in the introduction of biology into school work.' 



Sect. 53. Girls' Schools. Part of par. 3. ' It is important that Hygiene should 

 be well taught in girls' schools . . . the subject .should be taken as late as possible 

 in the school course, preferably at the 16-18 stage, after a course of systematic 

 work in the sciences on which it depends.' 



Sect. 110. Lack of School Training in Science. 2nd par. 'Lack of school 

 training in Science causes not merely a loss of time at the University or Agri- 

 cultural College in acquiring the elementary instead of the special training 

 appropriate to that stage of education, but it induces a certain stiffness of 

 mind and slowness of apprehension that is a great handicap to the technical 

 student approaching science for the first time. ... It is often said by University 

 teachers that they prefer students who have learnt no science at school. This 

 probably means no more than that they prefer the boy of all-round ability who 

 for that very reason has remained on the classical side at school to the sort 

 of boy who gets drafted across to science ; for the type of boy intended for 

 practical life the absence of a school training in the elements of science means 

 a definite loss of time and opportunity in his technical training.' 



' Report of an Inquiry into the Conditions affecting the Teaching of Science in the 

 Secondary Schools for Boys in England.' Board of Education. H.M. Stationery 

 Office, London, 1925. (Price 3d.) 



P. 7. ' The Report of the Prime Minister's Committee on Science emphasised 

 the need for Science teachers " with a wider outlook " (Sect. 74) ; it also urged 

 the desirability of some elementary teaching of Biology as a part of the normal 

 work of the curriculum in boys' schools. . . . Very little has been done to give 

 effect in the schools ' to the latter recommendation. ' In only three of the 

 [39 larger boys'] schools visited is any attempt made to broaden the curriculum 

 from 12 to 16 by the introduction of any Science subject other than chemistry 

 and physics. This is partly due to the specialised character of the degree 

 courses pursued by the teachers at the Universities.' 



P. 8. ' The difficulty is to find teachers of Biology for boys' schools.' 



P. 11. ' Only 9 of the 210 teachers [of science] teach Biology (other than the 

 nature study sometimes taught in the lowest forms).' 



P. 26. ' Two things operate to prevent the introduction of Biological Science 

 into the Advanced Courses of most schools : (a) the lack of properly qualified 

 teachers, and (b) the lack of suitable accommodation and laboratory equipment.' * 



' Report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of the Adolescent.' 

 Board of Education. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1926. (Price 2/-.) 



P. 221. 'It is, however, safe to say that most schemes for courses in elementary 

 science in Modem Schools ^ and Senior classes ' might be grouped round a 

 simple syllabus consisting of : — 



° Accommodation and laboratory equipment suitable for Botany is suitable also 

 for Biology, and the equipment of either is much less costly than that for Physics or 

 Chemistry. The item generally referred to as of outstanding expense is the Micro- 

 scope ; for work up to School Certificate standard a single microscope at a cost of £3 

 will go a long way. Such an instrument is supplied by C. Baker, 244 High Holbom, 

 London. It has a range of magnification from X 20 to X 220, covering ordinary ' low 

 power ' work. 



* i.e. Central Schools. 



' I.e. of Elementary Schools. 



