Report on secondary & technical education in the borough of Plymouth, 1915

Front matter

REPOR

ON

SECONDARY & TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Part I. The Supply Of Secondary Education

By the Act of 1901 County Boroughs were empowered to supply or aid the supply of Secondary Education throughout their area, and generally speaking, these Authorities have shown that they are fully alive to the responsibilities then placed upon them. But the extent of this responsibility is by no means easy to determine. Statistics are wanting as to the numbers for whom provision should be made, the types of schools required, the cost per head of the instruction, and the proportions of the total cost which may reasonably be borne by the parent, the municipality, and the state respectively. Each locality must be content to work out these problems with the data available in its own particular case, aided by such general considerations as the experience of our own or other countries can supply.

The first question which falls to be decided is in regard to the number for whom provision should be made [a) in secondary schools of various grades, ( b ) in non-secondary post elementary schools of different types, and (c) in day technical institutions, training colleges, schools of art, and higher institutions of University College rank.

Omitting for the moment the varieties of instruction given in evening schools and institutions, it is clear that the scholars for (a) and for (b) must be drawn very largely from those who have been in public elementary schools or who have received an equivalent to this elementary education elsewhere, while the student for (c) will be drawn partly from ( b ) but especially from (a). It is, therefore, to the amount of provision of type (a) that attention must first be directed.

Estimates have been made from time to time as to the number of boys and girls in particular areas who are receiving some form of secondary education or for whom some such form should be provided. These estimates vary within somewhat wide limits, depending upon the nature of the area whether rural or urban, county or county borough, well provided with secondary schools or with such provision still in its infancy. The rural counties show the lowest proportions. Thus in Essex in 1909 there were per thousand of the population 4.33 boys and girls in secondary schools, and in Kent 4.44. In Wales in 1904 the proportion was \

4.83. The town proportions which are of more immediate interest in the present case, show much higher figures. Thus in 1904 according to Professor Sadler’s reports, the proportion per thousand in Newcastle-on-Tyne was 8.45, and in Exeter 15.34. These figures are based upon returns relating to secondary schools under public management only : if private secondary schools are included the figures for Newcastle become 12.67, and Exeter 24.8. As Mr. Sadler has pointed out, the figures for Exeter are somewhat higher but all the other figures are lower than those in similar towns in Germany or in the United States (New York excepted).

We shall, therefore, be on safe grounds in placing the figures for Plymouth somewhere between the Newcastle and Exeter figures, i.e., noU less than 10 and not more than 15 per thousand. Let us now compare this with the actual conditions at the present time. From returns kindly supplied by the various secondary schools, I find that in schools under public control or under inspection by the Board of Education there are approximately 1,520 boys and girls equal on a moderate estimate of the population of the borough at 210,000*, as 7.2 per thousand, a proportion decidedly low.

If the pupils in private schools are included, and the number of such pupils over 8 years of age cannot be more than 750, the proportion becomes 10.3 per thousand, a figure again below the proper proportion. It seems therefore clear *

that the number of boys and girls receiving adequate secondary education in the borough should be increased, and that to some considerable extent. Were the proportion per thousand of the population only raised to 12.5 for schools

* The population at the present time is probably nearly 230,000.

under public control or public inspection, the number of pupils would be increased by 1,100. Even if we include among our secondary school population all those who are receiving education in the higher elementary schools, the junior technical schools, and the Regent Street School for the dockyard examination, we decrease this total by some 700, but still leave a compact body of 400 unprovided for. Moreover, as will be easily seen by the figures, for each rise of the proportion per thousand by one unit at least an extra 210 must be added to the secondary school total.

Let us now approach the problem in another fashion. The age for secondary education may roughly be divided into two periods, viz., 13 to 16, and over 16, the former being the period of vital importance. Now it will be found from the census returns of 1911 that there were at that date in what is now the extended borough, 7,858 boys and 7,094 girls between the ages of 13 and 16, and 4,179 boys and 3,538 girls between 16 and 18. I have not been able to obtain the figures for the East Stonehouse area, but at that date there were in Plymouth and Devonport 4,227 boys and 3,078 girls of ages between 13 and 16 in some employment, thus leaving 3,631 boys and 4,016 girls between these ages as without employment. Another table of the census returns classifies the population as at school or without specified occupation, and gives for Plymouth and Devonport totals of 3,161 boys and 4,410 girls between the ages of 13 and 16. These figures differ from those immediately preceding, but are of the same order of magnitude. Without making allowance for the increase in these figures which the inclusion of Stonehouse would produce, it seems clear that there are available for some form of education between 7.500 and 8,000 children. Many of these boys and girls will have been still in attendance at elementary schools*, but there will still be a body of at least 4,000 children who could be receiving some form of education other than elementary. Calculations based on these figures give a ratio of 19 per

* At the present time there are 1,760 boys and 1,540 girls between the ages of 13 and J5 in the elementary schools of the borough.

thousand in the present population. This result is approximately half as much again as the figure suggested in the preceding pages, but it must be remembered we are now including not only those boys and girls available for secondary education but also those who should receive a post elementary education not in secondary but in junior technical schools.

It will, however, be some time before the whole of this potential material can be utilised, and it will be sufficient for the present to estimate the immediate requirements of the borough on a somewhat lower scale, and I would suggest that provision should be made for the secondary education in schools under the Authorities or in intimate relations with it, of not less than 1,800 boys and girls. In the junior technical and commercial schools which are not of secondary school types, provision should similarly be made for not less than 1,200 of both sexes.

THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Secondary education is not a completion of an imperfect elementary education. It is a training to a large extent complete in itself, even though it may be carried further in the Universities or Technical Colleges, or have its beginnings in the elementary school, preparatory school, or kindergarten. It aims at giving a general training in those branches of knowledge which best serve to strengthen the reasoning powers, cultivate the taste, and discipline the character, without definite bias towards preparation for any specific occupation or industry. The more thorough the secondary education is the more ready should the pupil be to assimilate the special knowledge he may require for his life's work Unless this is one of its effects, secondary education is falling short of its ideal.

It follows, therefore, that as different occupations call for their followers at various stages in adolescent life, so secondary education must be of more than one type so as to supply the trained material at the best age for the occupation in question. A secondary school, where the leaving age is normally 18 or 19, will, therefore, have a different curriculum and aim from that of another school, where the leaving age is 16 or 17. We have thus at once two markedly different types of secondary schools. The age distinction draws other distinctions in its train. It is obvious that the parent who can afford to retain the boy or girl at school till 18 or 19 is as a rule better able to bear the burden of education than another whose children must begin to earn their own living at 16. Hence, a differentiation of fees between the two types of school is reasonable, but to secure the possibility that the longer training shall be feasible, irrespective of a parent’s means, it is necessary there should be a system of scholarships by which promising students can be drafted to a school of the particular type to which their ability justifies admission.

Broadly speaking, these two types of secondary school are sufficient, and do not appear to need further differentiation. But in addition to these two types of school, further provision is necessary for those boys and girls whose parents are ready to make some sacrifice in order to enable them to continue their elementary school education for a further period. As a general rule, then, those parents who can retain their children at school till they are 16 years of age or over should be urged, and encouraged, when necessary by scholarships or exhibitions, to send their boys and girls to the secondary schools. But for those who cannot do this, yet can keep their children at school till 15 or over, a certain number of schools with curricula adapted to these special circumstances are required. In Plymouth the great influence of the Dockyard Examination determines one form of this curriculum, the requirements of commercial life another, and the training for home life a third. Further investigation may bring to light additional groups whose wants can be similarly supplied, and such groups are already in evidence in the borough, as the Junior Trade School in Dressmaking clearly shows.

These post-elementary schools are not inferior secondary schools. They are schools with methods and ideals of their own, giving as far as it goes a training complete in itself. Transition from these schools to other secondary schools will be rare, and while it should not be actually impossible, it should not be encouraged by scholarships or exhibitions. Whatever rewards of this character are assigned to these schools should carry on the pupils either to the higher and more specialised work of domestic centres, day technical courses, or evening classes.

Fees should be charged in these schools both to assist in defraying the cost and also to emphasise the value and the voluntary nature of the training, but an ample supply of scholarships should be provided so that no fit boy or girl in the elementary school need cease their education at the critical age of 14.

Scholarships, like the schools, should be of various types. The great majority should simply carry free admission to the schools to which they are assigned. Others to the secondary schools might reasonably carry a small money payment for books when these are not provided by the school, or for travelling.

A few maintenance scholarships are often of great benefit but the difficulty in awarding them satisfactorily is immense. They cannot be wisely granted merely on the results of a competitive examination, nor should they be granted to any one who cannot pass the scholarship examination with credit. The better way is probably to allow such scholarships if awarded at all to be allotted among the more successful candidates by a small enquiry committee who would have before them a statement as to the parent’s means, and other relevant information. The holders of such scholarships should not be specially distinguished from their fellows who have simply gained scholarships of the free place type.

The question of maintenance scholarships becomes more acute when dealing with the transfer of boys or girls from the first grade secondary school to the Universities or Technical College. Whether we like it or not, it seems clear that no undergraduate at Oxford or Cambridge can derive from the University the real benefit it can confer unless he can afford from £130 to £150 a year for three, or possibly four years. Oxford is a little more expensive, and the course relatively longer than Cambridge, i.e., it is possible for a student of good ability to complete his Cambridge course somewhat quicker and at somewhat less cost than his Oxford contemporary. Hence, unless the leaving scholarships to the University are of high value they require supplementing either by the parent or from some fund available for the purpose.

If anything is done in this direction it must be done thoroughly. * It is no good to offer a parent, whose boy has won a £50 scholarship either from his school or at the University an additional £10 or £20 unless the parent can then make up the amount mentioned above. Aid if granted at all must be liberal, and should be promised if necessary for four years. I do not recommend the actual establishment of scholarships of this type*, but I do suggest that the Authority should not preclude the possibility of granting such aid when special circumstances render such a course reasonable.

THE AGE OF ENTRANCE TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL.

It is generally admitted that the school life of a boy or girl in a secondary school should extend over at least a minimum of four years so that if the normal leaving age is 16 then the age of entrance should be not later than 12, if the normal age of leaving is 18 then the age of entrance should be not over 14. I am informed that this latter condition in practice generally obtains in the case of those boys who go to the Plymouth College from the Corporation Grammar School,

* The question is considered further in relation to the proper supply of scholarships in the Borough.

and a similar rule might be brought into being if the Plymouth High School for girls become eligible to receive the selected scholars from the Devonport Municipal Secondary School, the Convent School of Notre Dame, the Corporation Grammar School, or its successor.

It must, however, be repeated that in each case the relative age of 12 and 14 should be looked upon as maximum and beyond that age the transfer of boy or girl from school to * school by means of scholarship should be exceptional and not normal. But the head masters and head mistresses of secondary schools would not be satisfied if the boys and girls did not reach them before 12 or 14 respectively. They very u

rightly desire to have them as early as possible, and there are few secondary schools in the borough or elsewhere which do not in fact possess preparatory schools either as part of their organisation or in close connection with them. The better the reputation of the school the more will parents be ready to send them at an early age to the preparatory or kindergarten departments.

Except in the case of the Higher Elementary and Junior Technical Schools — for which the elementary schools are the direct preparatory departments — all the secondary schools in the borough have a preparatory section to which boys or girls or both are admitted at fees below those normally charged.

This need not be altered, but may require control. It is clear a secondary school ought not to develop its preparatory department to the detriment of the regular work of the school, or to the exclusion of suitably trained children of proper entrance age. But there is no evidence that this abuse has taken root in any of the schools, and it should suffice for the present if the Authority determine that the scholarships it grants giving free tuition in the secondary schools should not be tenable earlier than 11 years of age. Below that age all pupils would, except under very special circustances, be fee paying.

THE PRIVATE SCHOOL AND ITS POSITION.

Before deciding upon the school provision required to supply adequately the demands for secondary education, it seems only reasonable and fair to take into consideration the quantity and quality of the work now undertaken by the various schools in the borough under private control. But the difficulty of estimating their number and value is enormous. Fortunately, for the present purpose, I have been aided by the careful report made in 1904 on Secondary and Intermediate Education in the old borough of Plymouth. That report contains in Appendix A. a list of the proprietary and private schools in the Borough, and a statement as to the number of boarders and day scholars in attendance. I have endeavoured from the list, from the Post Office Directory, and from help kindly given me by many private school teachers, to determine how many such schools now existed in the enlarged Borough. But I found that to prosecute my enquiries into all these schools would occupy time out of all proportion to the value of the results. Taking the lists already mentioned as a guide it is soon seen that many of the schools mentioned in it had ceased to exist. A few declined to give me any definite information. The remainder, containing all the really important schools for the purpose of this enquiry, were classified into two groups, (a) those now under proprietary management, and (b) those still the property of individuals. Taking the latter group first for convenience sake, I found that the bigger schools for boys contained in 1904, 345 pupils, and in October of the present year 350. It will thus be seen that the number of boys in private schools has, during the past eleven years, remained practically stationary. A similar calculation in the case of girls’ schools shows an increase in 1915 over 1904, the number being 346 and 317 respectively, but this increase is largely due to one private school which has been inspected for “ recognition purpose ” by the Board of Education. If that school were excluded, the result would be that in girls’ education or in boys the provision made by private schools is substantially the same in 1915 as in 1904. But when consideration is given to the group of schools in the list under proprietary control the position in 1915 is very different to that in 1904.

One is now the Corporation Grammar School, three others are under the regular inspection of the Board of Education, and two of these are in receipt of grants from -the Board. So far as can be ascertained with accuracy the number of boys in these public and proprietary schools has increased from 239 to 376, and of girls from 477 to 699. It seems impossible to prevent the conclusion that the advantages of the inspection of the Board of Education and the strengthening of public interest in their management has been the main cause of this satisfactory increase. The principal proprietary schools not yet under the inspection of the Board are the St. Boniface College, the St. Dunstan’s Abbey School, and the Beaconfield School belonging to the Ursuline Convent. If, as I have every reason to anticipate, these schools were, after inspection, to be recognised by the Board as “ efficient,” they could with justice be considered as forming part of the available supply of secondary education for the Borough. The guarantee as to “ efficiency ” which such an inspection affords, cannot, I think, be safely dispensed with in the case of any school whose position is to be considered by a public authority.

In the course of my visits to the private schools it was frequently pointed out that schools of this type perform certain functions in regard to secondary education more effectively than can be done in schools under public control. Working as they do with smaller numbers, they are able to give special attention to the individual boy or girl ; directly responsible as they are to the parents of their scholars they can provide their children with the particular training they require ; dependent as they are upon the status of their schools for continued existence they are bound to show a fair degree of success in open examination, and for these reasons they deserve more public appreciation and assistance than they in fact receive. Suggestions were made that the scholarships or free places provided by the Public Authority should be tenable at the privately-owned school, and that the Authority might assist the schools by the provision of laboratories, gymnasiums, baths, playing fields, etc., either free or at a moderate charge. With much of this line of argument, it is impossible not'to sympathise. There can be no doubt that the individual boy or girl may, and in certain cases will, receive more special attention at a private school than at a large school under public control. Such special attention in the case of a delicate or backward child may be of great advantage. Moreover, the private school can if it chooses select its material in a different way from that a publicly controlled school must necessarily adopt.

It is such advantages which justify the existence of private schools, and will for years to come secure their continuance. But these advantages have to be bought at a price both by parents and by the school proprietors. The parents dispense with the safeguards which State inspection and public control afford, and the proprietor must forego the assistance of public funds as the price of educational independence. For really good private schools which have nothing to fear from investigation, the position is sometimes hard, but for the majority of schools it is the only alternative to a more or less painful process of extinction. I do not think that the Authority would be justified in allowing its scholarship or free place holders to enjoy these privileges in a privately-owned school, yet there can be no objection to the Authority permitting the use of its laboratories and other special buildings by private schools on payment of a suitable rent, provided such user can be granted without harm to the schools under the Authority’s control. A private school may be worth preserving, and yet unable to provide itself with the expensive and varied equipment the complexity of modern education renders almost necessary. But the Authority might do more. It cannot legitimately bestow any kind of public recognition on a school unless it has some guarantee other than the ipse dixit of its owner, or a list of school successes, that the education given therein is really sound. But it can, and I think should, afford the school an opportunity of giving this guarantee by offering to pay the cost of inspection by the Board of Education, or by a University, if, after a preliminary enquiry, it considers such inspection necessary.

The private schools in the Borough would then in time be graded into 4 Classes : —

(1) Those — probably the numerical majority — which after preliminary enquiry were either too small or too insignificant to render this inspection necessary.

(2) Those where inspection had been offered and declined.

(3) Those where inspection had been accepted, but recognition as “ efficient ” refused.

(4) Those which had been inspected and declared “ efficient.”

Class 4 Schools would then be looked upon as an integral part of the secondary school provision of the Borough without further question. The schools in Class 3 would then have to be considered on their merits. It might be that recognition as efficient had been refused owing to some remediable defects. If so, when these were set right, the school in question would come under the same category as those in Class 4. The schools in Classes 1 and 2 would not be considered in estimating the secondary school requirements of the area. They would simply be left alone till national consciousness has sufficiently awakened to regularise or reform the position of the private school teacher.

Encouragement should also be accorded to schools of Class 4 to convert their private -ownership into an educational trust on which the Authority could be represented, whenever local circumstances rendered such a favourable solution possible.

THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS UNDER INSPECTION.

These at present seven in number, five are in receipt of grants from the Board, one is a small but good private school. These schools form the effective provision for secondary education which the Authority has first to consider before deciding on any increase to the schools already under its control.

I purpose, therefore, to give a few notes on each school in regard to its position in the educational scheme, its special merits and defects, and the way in which these defects might best be remedied.

It will be seen that such defects are more concerned with the fabric of the schools than with the teachers. The personnel is distinctly good and as far as I could judge most conscientious and devoted, but the work of the teaching staff is, with few exceptions, carried out under great difficulties. The need of new accommodation in more than one instance is painfully apparent, and to supply this need must be one of the more immediate tasks of the Authority.

PLYMOUTH COLLEGE AND MANNAMEAD SCHOOL.

This school, by its position, its history, and its present work, is clearly entitled to be considered the first grade school for boys for the Borough. It is unnecessary at the present day to demonstrate that a first grade school is, both for boys and girls, an integral part of any complete scheme of secondary education. One school for each sex must be available where pupils can remain normally to the age of 18, and where the curriculum is arranged with this as its definite objective. Plymouth is unfortunate when compared with most of the other historic towns of England in having practically no endowed school or ancient educational endowments which might in whole, or in part, supply the needed grades of secondary education in the way which can bo observed at Birmingham or Norwich, to name but a couple of examples.

It has been left for our modern days to fill the gap, and this has been done by peculiarly modern methods. In the case of Plymouth College, and in the corresponding case of the Plymouth High School for Girls, a proprietary company has attempted to provide this type of school. The attempt was a noble one, it has achieved a certain degree of success, in that both schools are in vigorous operation and doing good educational work, but hampered with debt and constantly reminded how precarious is their financial equilibrium. The grant of £500 a year made to the Plymouth College by the Corporation has, I believe, been of the greatest benefit to the school, and has, by the relief it has given, materially contributed to the present degree of excellence the school has attained. Nor has the benefit received been solely on the side of the school. The practical incorporation of the College into the educational system of the Borough, the opening of the College to scholars from schools under the control of the Education Committee, and the inclusion of representatives of the Corporation on the governing body, are valuable benefits to educational efficiency and completeness, and I have no hesitation in recommending that this grant should be continued. But the College still requires extension and development before it can be looked upon as all that the first grade school of the enlarged Borough should really be. The present lack of adequate class room accommodation needs to be supplied in the near future. At least two such class rooms are even now necessary, while the staff in normal times should, for the present number, receive the addition of at least one master. In a school of this type it is not possible to arrange the staffing by the simple process of dividing the total number of boys or girls by an arbitrary factor of 20, 25, or 30. Regard must be had to the character and variety of the subjects taught, bearing in mind that freshness and incisiveness in teaching cannot be secured, unless the teaching staff have time to prepare their instruction and deepen their own knowledge.

I would, therefore, recommend the Authority, when a fitting opportunity arises, to assist the College in providing this addition in personnel and material, for the completion of the present buildings substantially on the lines originally planned should always be the object of the school Governors. It will clearly be impossible for many years to come to raise money or loan to pay off the existing mortgage debt, but its gradual extinction by devoting a certain annual sum to the purpose should not be forgotten, and in this necessary but uninspiring work private benevolence and corporation assistance might go hand in hand.

The Plymouth College and Mannamead School, to give it the former full title, is at present the only first grade school for boys in the Borough. Its nearest rivals would be Kelly College, Tavistock ; Exeter Grammar School ; and Blundell’s School, Tiverton. Clearly none of these can adequately supply the demand from the Borough for the highest form of secondary instruction, and the efficiency of Plymouth College is therefore of vital interest to the Borough.