xii FIVE YEARS' RETROSPECT 



in scholastic and psychological tests at the time of beginning their 

 apprenticeships. The investigation was the direct outcome of interest 

 stimulated by the work of this research committee. 



A committee on Vocational Tests made a survey of tests by collecting 

 and analysing these with a view to assisting in the work of vocational 

 guidance. In its final report in 1933 appeared a valuable analysis of the 

 factors involved in mechanical ability. A further investigation into the 

 factors involved in manual dexterity arose out of this. The results 

 obtained are of very great practical importance. 



In 193 1 the Committee on Educational Training for Overseas Life 

 presented its final report, which was mainly concerned with overseas 

 careers for pupils from secondary schools, and contains much information 

 for boys and girls contemplating work in the Dominions. One thousand 

 copies of this report were printed and distributed to all schools and institu- 

 tions in the Empire which had contributed to its compilation. 



A report presented in 1933 reviewed the position which geography 

 occupies in the curricula of the universities of the Empire, particulars 

 being published for Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and 

 Canada. It was shown that geography does not yet occupy the important 

 position in Dominion universities that it does in the universities of the 

 home country. The report was distributed to the universities concerned. 



A committee inquiring into the teaching of General Science in schools 

 reported in 1933 (Annual Report, 1933, p. 312) that there was a general 

 feeling that the traditional science curriculum comprising physics and 

 chemistry had ceased to be adequate, and that biology was being widely 

 introduced. The main difficulty was a shortage of competent teachers of 

 biological subjects. This conclusion was endorsed by a separate com- 

 mittee on the teaching of botany (1932). Research in educational subjects 

 has been continued by committees appointed during the quinquennial 

 period, e.g. one committee reported on Science Teaching in Adult Educa- 

 tion (Annual Report, 1933, p. 330), and other enquiries have dealt with 

 the teaching of anthropology and animal biology in schools and psychology 

 in the universities. It should be added that in 1935 a committee was 

 appointed to report on the teaching of geology in schools. 



The committee appointed in 1927 to enquire into various aspects of 

 Documentary and Educational Films presented a first and very full report 

 on technical questions relating to the use of films in schools which led to 

 a general quickening of interest in this aspect of the use of films. Various 

 members of the committee assisted in the enquiries, which culminated in 

 the Report of the Commission on Educational and Cultural Films (June 

 1932), in which report many abstracts from the committee's first report 

 were included. The Commission's report The Film in National Life 

 advocated the formation of a British Film Institute, a proposal which 

 received effect in October 1933. 



Among other committees which completed their work during the 

 quinquennium, reference is due to the Committee on the Distribution of 

 Bronze Age Implements, whose work took the form of a catalogue now 

 in the charge of the British Museum, where it is available for reference. 



Finally, the Committee on the Chronology of the World Crisis is one 

 of those which remain in being, but its efforts have resulted in the issue 



