CHAPTER XI.

OFFICE OF SPECIAL INQUIRIES AND REPORTS. 1. Imperial Education Conference, 1927.

218. The third Imperial Education Conference* was formally opened by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on the 21st June, 1927. On the preceding day a preliminary meeting had been held at which, after an address by the President of the Board of Education, the Conference proceeded to elect its Chairman, to settle its programme of procedure, and to appoint various Committees.

219. The Duchess of Atholl, D.B.E., M.P., Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Education, was elected Chairman of the Conference; and the Right Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P., Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, presided over certain meetings at which problems specially affecting tropical countries were under discussion. Delegates from the Governments of forty-five countries within the Empire attended the Conference, in addition to representatives of Departments of the Home Government.

220. The final meeting of the Conference was held on 8th July. At this meeting the following message was sent to Your Majesty :

"In bringing to a close the proceedings of the Imperial Education Conference, we, the delegates and other representatives appointed by the various Governments within the Empire, desire to express our loyalty and devotion to the King and our sincere hope that Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen may live long to strengthen the bonds of affection and fidelity which unite under the Crown the peoples and races whom we represent. Our deliberations have strengthened our belief that education should be one of the greatest factors in promoting mutual knowledge and understanding and thereby fostering sentiments of active friendship and goodwill between the different parts of Your Majesty's Dominions."

The following reply to this message was sent by Your Majesty's command:

"I have laid before the King the copy of the resolution passed this morning at the final Meeting of the Imperial Education Conference; and I am commanded to convey to the delegates and representatives the heartfelt thanks of the King and Queen for

* A detailed report of the proceedings has been published and can be purchased from H. M. Stationery Office, price 2s. net.

the expressions of loyalty and devoted good wishes contained. in this communication. His Majesty reciprocates the views of the Conference as to the importance of education in promoting that knowledge so essential to ensure mutual understanding and goodwill among the different parts of His Majesty's Dominions."

221. The Agenda for the Conference had been prepared by the Advisory Committee, who had grouped under five main headings the various subjects suggested for discussion by the several Govern

ments.

These five groups were as follows:

Group A-Education in relation to the pupil's after-career, with special reference to problems of post-primary and vocational education.

Group B-Problems of special interest to tropical or subtropical countries where the population is of more than

one race.

Group C-Rural Education.

Group D-New Ideas and Developments.

Group E-Problems of Administration.

222. Four subjects arising under Group E were referred to Committees, the Reports of these Committees being subsequently adopted by the full Conference.

The Report of the Committee on "Temporary Interchange of Teachers" dealt with certain difficulties in the working of the arrangements devised by the Conference of 1923, and made further proposals for facilitating and encouraging the free movement of teachers of all grades between different parts of the Empire.

The Committee upon "Difficulties arising out of Teachers' Superannuation Schemes and Salary Scales" took up the question of the desirability of such reciprocal action between Governments as had been suggested by the Conference of 1923. In view of the passing of the Teachers' Superannuation Act of 1925 for England and Wales they recommended that the Board of Education should be asked to draw the attention of the Governments concerned to the opportunity which now exists for action in this matter. In accordance with a suggestion from the Colonial Office Conference of 1927 they also proposed an improvement in the present arrangements for superannuation contributions by teachers serving overseas. They also made a recommendation with regard to the reckoning of certain service for salary; this recommendation has now been adopted by the Burnham Committee.

The Committee on "The mutual recognition of Teachers' Certificates" made a proposal for the simplification of standards within groups of Governments as a step towards an eventual equation of standards throughout the Empire.

The Committee on Co-operation between Education Departments" submitted a form for common returns of "Fundamental Statistics" which had been drawn up after correspondence with the various Governments, and made other proposals for the exchange of information between Education Departments.

The Board of Education have brought the recommendations of the Conference on these important subjects before the various Governments.

223. The educational questions included in Groups A, B, and C were found to have not only great practical interest but a strong common element. The need for bringing school life and teaching at every stage into closer touch with "reality" was the text of some and the basis of nearly all the speeches made in these groups of subjects. Their value to the Conference lay largely in the practical suggestions for this purpose which were supplied from individual experience, whether of urban and industrial conditions or of areas in which agriculture is almost the only occupation of the people.

224. There was a general agreement upon the desirability of bringing "primary" and " primary" and "post-primary courses alike into closer touch with the life and environment of the child outside the school, and of providing alternative courses at the post-primary stage, suited to children of practical as well as literary or scientific ability; and particular attention was given to the immense importance of Agriculture in the social economy of the Empire and to the necessary influence of that fact upon the instruction suitable for different stages in the school course. The sessions on Education in Tropical Countries emphasised the need for organising a good and continually improving education for the tropical peoples upon lines designed to bring out the best qualities of their own civilisations and at the same time for providing European education for all those to whom it is likely to be of benefit.

225. The subjects in Group D were considered in special sessions," to which a number of persons possessing special experience were invited as visitors. The subjects in this group included the teaching of history and geography of the Empire, the position of Music in the curriculum, the use in the school of Broadcasting and of the Cinema, the School Medical Service and Physical Exercises, Intelligence Tests and Subnormal Children, and Adult Education.

226. The Conference recommended that the Advisory Committee should continue to act, and that the next Conference should be held in 1931.

2. Assistance rendered to Dominions and Colonies.

227. During the year 1927 the Office of Special Inquiries and Reports was requested to make recommendations for filling thirty-one vacancies in the Crown Colonies, twenty for men and eleven for

women. The Selection Committee met on twenty-eight occasions and made in all forty-two recommendations. The more important posts were the following:-Professors of English Language and Literature, of Mathematics, and of Education, and a Reader in Physics for Raffles College, Singapore; an Inspector of Schools for the Education Department of British Guiana; a Master for the Government Technical School, Accra, Gold Coast; an Assistant Superintendent of Physical Education for the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States; a Principal for the Government Training College, Trinidad; a Headmistress for the Government Girls' School, Kumasi, Gold Coast; a Physical Training Mistress for Kenya, and a Principal for the Secondary School for Girls at Lagos, Nigeria.

During the same period the Office was asked to furnish to Education Departments in the Dominions statements of the qualifications and service of 154 teachers employed or seeking employment overseas. Of these, thirty-four contemplated emigration to Canada and thirty-nine were employed or seeking employment in New Zealand.

3. Educational Pamphlets.

228. The following Educational Pamphlets have been published: (a) A Survey of Technical and Further Education in England and Wales, being a reprint of Chapter I of the Board's Annual Report for 1924-25, Educational Pamphlet No. 49; (b) Some Account of the recent Development of Secondary Schools in England and Wales, a reprint of Chapter I of the Board's Annual Report for 1923-1924, Educational Pamphlet No. 50; (c) School Pictures, being a report on the general principles which should guide the selection of pictures for public elementary schools, Educational Pamphlet No. 52.; (d) Secondary Education in Ontario, Educational Pamphlet No. 53.

4. The Library of the Board of Education.

229. During the year 1927, 2,500 books, pamphlets, etc., were added to the Board's Reference Library, which now contains upwards of 59,000 documents. Of these, 727 were obtained by purchase, 83 were official publications of the Board of Education, and the majority of the remainder were presented by other home Government Departments, or by Dominion, Colonial or foreign Governments, or educational institutions and societies at home and abroad. The number of visitors to the Library increased very considerably, the total in 1927 being 1,250, excluding officers of the Board of Education.

A Subject List of Books and Papers, contained in the Library, on Psychological Tests, has been published (Subject Lists of Books and Papers in the Board of Education Library, No. 3, Psychological Tests, 1927, price 20s.).

5. Scheme for the Exchange of Modern Language Teachers between England and France.

230. For the school year 1926-1927 the Office of Special Inquiries and Reports were asked to find candidates for fifty-eight posts in secondary schools and training colleges in France. Twenty-one Assistants (eight men and thirteen women) were appointed to the secondary school vacancies and thirty-three (six Répétiteurs and twenty-seven Répétitrices) to the vacancies in the training colleges, a total of fiity-four appointments as compared with forty-nine (six men Assistants, fourteen women Assistantes, five Répétiteurs and twenty-four Répétitrices) in 1925-1926. For 1927-1928 there were sixty-one vacancies, of which fifty-five have been filled, viz., eight men and sixteen women assistants, nine répétiteurs and twenty-two répétitrices.

For the school year 1926-1927, fifty-two French Assistants (sixteen men and thirty-six women) were appointed to secondary schools and university fnstitutions in England and Wales. The number of appointments in 1925-1926 was fifty-five, namely, eighteen men and thirty-seven women. For 1927-1928, fifty-three French Assistants, sixteen men and thirty-seven women have been appointed.

It has been found impossible for several years past to fill all the vacancies for men assistants and répétiteurs in France.