354 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



(b) What part (if any) not so included is taken with pupils between the 

 ages of 14 and 16 ? 



(2) Of the parts not included, what part (or parts) do you think 



(a) might be advantageously included in the curriculum for pupils 



between 11 and 14 ? 

 (i) might be advantageously included in the curriculum for pupils 



between 14 and 16 ? 



(c) should not be included in the curriculum ? 



(3) What obstacles prevent the inclusion in your curriculum of the 

 section or sections given under {za) above ? 



(4) What obstacles prevent the inclusion in your curriculum of the 

 section or sections given under (26) above ? 



(s) Why would you exclude the section, or sections, given under (2c) 



above ? 

 (6) What textbooks, if any, have you found of assistance in reference to 



the sections you include in your curriculum ? 



(Please give the textbook which has been found of assistance for 



each section.) 



This revised form, together with the detailed analysis of the curriculum 

 proposed by Mr. Wells, was sent to twenty-one secondary schools, including 

 Rugby, Shrewsbury, and Liverpool Collegiate School ; but replies were 

 received from only four boys' schools and five girls' schools. Of these one 

 supplied practically no information. 



The Curriculum in the Elementary Schools. 

 (i) Replies from Infants' Schools to Questions on Grade A. 



The replies revealed a fundamental difference between the method of 

 approach used in the schools and that upon which the inquiry was based. 

 The inquiry had reference to the factual information pupils were expected 

 to acquire ; but the approach commonly adopted in infants' schools is not 

 by way of definite instruction ; the imparting of knowledge is not regarded 

 as of primary importance, and the division of what is taken into subjects is 

 no longer practised. ' Subjects,' wrote the head mistress of a Sunderland 

 infants' school, ' as set out under separate headings, have largely disappeared 

 from the modern infants' school and given place to activities and experiences 

 in a prepared environment.* ' There is a fundamental difference of opinion 

 in regard to the treatment of children aged five to seven ' was the reply of a 

 Birmingham head mistress. ' I feel that children should be provided with 

 opportunities for actual experiences ; any knowledge in the form of facts 

 will be gained through their project work and will be incidental.' This 

 fundamental difference in the way infants' schools are regarded is of primary 

 importance in this inquiry and must be borne in mind when the replies 

 are under consideration. 



Little attention is given to History as such in these schools. It is not 

 taken as a subject, though ' much incidental knowledge of people of other 

 lands and primitive people is gained from Bible stories, fairy stories, 

 fables and myths.' 



Likewise the information included under the heading of Geography is 

 given only incidentally. In the Rhondda, the basis for information was said 

 to be such simple aspects as ' name of home, street, school and town.' In 

 the Sunderland school the instruction in this subject is based upon the 

 teaching of local topography, following on school visits to such places as the 

 seaside and the farm, and conversations about the district. 



