5. School Supply and Improvement of Premises. 28. During the twelve months ended 31st March, 1927, the Board approved under Section 18 of the Education Act, 1921, the provision of 94 new schools in England and Wales, of which 13 were voluntary schools; proposals for the enlargement of 47 council schools and 5 voluntary schools were also approved. These figures show a decrease on the figures for the year ended 31st March, 1926, which is probably accounted for by the fact that during the greater part of 1926 development in many parts of the country was impeded by the coal stoppage and other economic difficulties. Since the termination of the stoppage there has been great building activity, as is evidenced by the fact that of the new capital expenditure amounting to nearly three and a half millions proposed by local authorities and approved by the Board for the twelve months ended 31st March, 1927, about 40 per cent. was approved in the last quarter of the year, while for the nine months ended 31st December, 1927, further capital expenditure to the extent of about three millions has been approved. In addition, a large amount of building by voluntary managers has been approved. The migration of population due to new housing developments, the opening of new collieries and other causes, has continued to raise urgent problems of school accommodation in many areas, and roughly half of the new capital expenditure proposed by authorities was attributable to this cause, though in determining the nature and extent of the accommodation to be provided constant regard has been had to the possibility of dealing at the same time with local problems of organisation, large classes and "black list" schools. The building proposed by voluntary managers has been primarily concerned with the improvement and replacement of existing premises. 29. During the twelve months ended 31st March, 1927, 83 new council schools and 14 new voluntary schools were opened, a total of 97. On the other hand, 46 council schools and 55 voluntary schools were closed, a total of 101, or a net decrease of 4. In addition, 32 voluntary schools were transferred to the local education authority. 30. As explained in our report for 1924, the Board issued to local authorities lists of defective school premises, those for urban authorities being issued early in 1925 and those for county authorities about six months later. Detailed reports setting out the defects in individual schools were also generally issued. Though the inclusion of a school in the lists was to be regarded as a challenge rather than a final decision, the criticisms of the premises have generally been accepted as reasonable and have received close consideration by authorities and also by the managers of voluntary schools and diocesan bodies. In certain instances it has been found possible to secure the removal of a school from the "black list" at small expense though often at the cost of a drastic reduction in the numbers and scope of the school. More often the problems involved have proved to be difficult and to need lengthy consideration, especially as they frequently involve important questions as to the re-organisation of other elementary schools in the district. Moreover, voluntary bodies need time in which to arrive at some estimate of the cost of proposals and the possibility of raising the money. There are, however, ample signs of progress. The programmes of authorities provide for dealing with the great bulk of the council schools on the "black list" as well as for the replacement or reconstruction of a number of voluntary schools which the managers have proposed to close or to transfer to the authority. The President in his statement on 24th March in the House of Commons, without laying down any hard or fast dates, expressed the opinion that every authority should proceed on the assumption that all schools on List A and the bulk of those on List B should have been dealt with by the end of the programme period. The position in regard to voluntary schools is not quite so clear. Managers are naturally reluctant to make any statement as to their intentions until they have satisfied themselves as to what is architecturally and financially possible; and even where it is evident that a school will have to be abandoned the importance of an early announcement of the fact has not always been realised. There is, however, no present reason for regarding the position as unsatisfactory; on the contrary, there is much evidence from all parts of the country that the problems involved are being seriously faced. Moreover, central and diocesan authorities have been active not only in advising the managers of individual schools, but in formulating policies covering all schools in a given area and in raising the funds requisite for putting them into effect. Almost of necessity the results of this activity have been slow in emerging, but during 1927 the effect of the efforts of local authorities and voluntary managers were apparent. Up to the 31st December, 1927, in about 700 cases the school has actually been removed from the "black list" or plans for the purpose have been finally approved by the Board. In the case of the worst schools, namely, those on List A, the number of schools so dealt with amounted to about 35 per cent. 6. Size of Classes. 31. In July, 1927, the Board issued a statement (List 44) showing, amongst other things, for the area of each local authority the number of classes of various sizes on 31st March, 1926. As explained in our report for 1923-24, the Board issued in February, 1924, a circular urging the elimination of classes with more than 50 pupils on the books and also the reduction to 40 of classes for children over 11. So far as classes over 50 are concerned considerable progress was made at first, the numbers being reduced during the twelve months ended 31st March, 1925, from 24,972 to 21,345. During, however, the two years ended 31st March, 1927, the numbers were only further reduced to 20,212, of which 15,914 were in council schools and 4,298 in voluntary schools. 32. The recent check to progress, though much to be regretted, is not difficult of explanation. The initial decrease was mainly due to the appointment of additional teachers and to the redistribution of pupils between classes. The extent, however, to which these remedies can be applied is strictly limited. Speaking generally, the appointment of additional teachers is dependent upon the existence of vacant teaching spaces, since to put two teachers instead of one in a single classroom is often of very doubtful educational advantage. Further, classes ought not to be made of a uniform size without regard to the age and attainments of the pupils. In particular places some gradual relief is to be anticipated from the falling birth-rate and migration of population to other areas. On the other hand, in many areas during the last two years the infants' departments have been embarrassed by exceptional numbers due to the heavy birth-rate immediately after the war. Moreover, the migration of population to new housing areas, while it may have afforded some slight relief to the areas from which the population has moved, has involved great difficulties on the housing estates themselves. Experience has shown that it is extremely difficult for authorities to foresee sufficiently long beforehand the number of children for whom accommodation will be required. Not only can houses generally be erected more quickly than schools, but housing authorities have shown a natural tendency to give a preference in the allocation of houses to parents with families. These families are generally young and consequently the school population is not only, for the time being at any rate, exceptionally large, but includes an abnormal proportion of young children. It is for these reasons that during the last two years, while the number of classes over 50 containing pupils of 11 years of age and over has decreased from 1,978 to 1,370, the number of large classes containing only children under 11 has increased from 13,462 to 15,212. Further progress must, in the main, be dependent on the provision of additional teaching space; as has already been noted, building operations were in many places impeded by the economic difficulties of 1926, but as the large amount of new school provision approved by the Board in the last two years becomes available, steady improvement may confidently be anticipated. In his statement to the House of Commons on 24th March, the President pointed out that in dealing with the programmes of authorities the Board must have regard to the extent to which they are likely to be effective in eliminating classes of over 50 by the end of the programme period, and that this should be the end definitely to be aimed at. 33. In view of the circumstances explained above it is hardly to be anticipated that rapid progress would have been made during the period under review with the reduction to 40, and not merely to 50, of classes for pupils over 11. It is accordingly perhaps not unsatisfactory to find that, in addition to a decrease of about onethird in classes over 50 for older pupils, there has also been a slight fall, from 8,115 to 7,769, in the classes containing over 40, but not over 50, of these older pupils. Plans for the reconstruction and reorganisation of existing premises and for new premises are being based on the assumption that classes for pupils over 11 will be limited to 40, and accordingly, as these developments mature, substantial progress may be expected. 7. Teaching Staff. 34. As explained in the report for 1926, in the Code for 1926 the Board replaced the detailed provisions of previous Codes in regard to staffing of individual schools by a single provision that an authority must maintain an approved establishment of suitable teachers for their area and satisfy the Board, if required, as to its distribution. This provision was first operative for the year commencing 1st April, 1927. Authorities were asked to submit beforehand estimates of the establishments likely to be required for the year. Their establishments included the whole of the staff to be employed by the authority, that is to say, not only the teachers to be employed in particular schools, but also the teachers to be employed in separate practical instruction centres, supply teachers and peripatetic teachers. It is as yet too early to ascertain what relation the number of teachers actually employed bears to the approved establishments, which amounted in the aggregate to about 168,450 teachers, but it may be anticipated that the numbers of teachers actually employed will fall appreciably below this figure, since the establishment approved for an area generally represents, not the average number of teachers likely to be actually employed during the year, but rather the number of teaching posts expected to be required, including usually provision for new schools to be opened during the year. No allowance is generally made for casual vacancies. On the other hand, provision is generally included for supply teachers needed to fill casual vacancies and for the temporary replacement of teachers absent through sickness. On 31st March, 1927, the number of certificated, uncertificated and supplementary teachers employed in schools was 162,242, as compared with 162,205 on 31st March, 1925.* But during the period there was an appreciable improvement in the number of qualified teachers, since the number of certificated teachers increased by 1,104, and that of uncertificated teachers by 125, whilst the number of supplementary teachers decreased by 1,192. 8. Suggestions for Teachers. 35. In 1927 the Board issued a new edition of their "Handbook of Suggestions for the consideration of teachers and others concerned in the work of Public Elementary Schools." The general aims and * See Table 9 of the Statistics, page 124. content of the volume are the same as those of earlier editions, but the matter has been brought up-to-date in view of the Report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of the Adolescent and in the light of other developments. An appendix is added containing, with the permission of the London County Council, an extract from a Memorandum by Dr. Cyril Burt on Backward Children; a second appendix contains a brief sketch of the origin, aims and activities of the League of Nations. The volume does not pretend to be an exhaustive compendium of the subjects to be taught or the methods to be adopted in teaching, but it is an attempt to bring together a body of opinion and practical experience of which, it is hoped, teachers will take advantage as their opportunities permit. While the volume remains, as its title makes clear, essentially a body of suggestions intended to stimulate thought, its importance has been increased with the withdrawal from the Code of 1926 of all detailed reference to curriculum, since it now represents the main channel for the expression of the Board's views on the subject. 9. School Registers and Records. 36. The maintenance of reliable records of individual pupils in public elementary schools is necessary not only for the efficient conduct of a school but also for the proper administration of the law of school attendance and for the supply of statistics needed for central and local administration. Up to 1926 a schedule to the Code contained detailed provisions as to the keeping of registers and records. This schedule was omitted from the Code of 1926, but in accordance with powers taken in it, the Board issued in 1927 a separate Memorandum* setting out their requirements on substantially the same lines. 10. Certified Efficient Schools, Poor Law Schools, and Canal Boat Children. 37. The number of certified efficient schools in England on the list for inspection on 31st March, 1927, was twenty-two, three schools having been removed from the list during the year. The one certified efficient school in Wales was removed from the list during the year. On the same date the number of schools maintained by Boards of Guardians, or combinations of Boards of Guardians, including the Metropolitan Asylums Board, was as follows: Poor Law Schools (i.e., schools maintained by Guardians of District Schools (i.e., schools maintained by the Managers Schools of the Metropolitan Asylums Board *Administrative Memorandum No, 51. 43 5 10 |