11. A number of committees were at work during the year. Reference has already been made to the Report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of the Adolescent issued in December, 1926; since then the Committee have been engaged on a reference on the supply and selection of school books. The Adult Education Committee was reconstituted for a further period of two years from 1st August, 1927, under the Chairmanship of Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, K.C.M.G., C.B., in succession to the Rev. R. St. J. Parry, D.D., who found it necessary, owing to other calls upon his time, to resign from the Committee. We take this opportunity of expressing to him our grateful thanks for the very valuable services which he has rendered. In October the Committee's report on "Pioneer Work and other Developments in Adult Education" was published, and the Committee is now reviewing in the light of experience, the aims and purposes of the different types of adult education, the needs they are designed to satisfy, and the suitability of the methods employed. As indicated in our last report, the Malcolm Committee presented an important report dealing with the second part of their terms of reference-the adequacy of the arrangements for enabling young persons to enter into and retain suitable employment-and in Chapter VI below we summarise the action so far taken on their recommendations. The Public Libraries Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Frederic Kenyon, G.B.E., K.C.B., reported in May, and the Bishop of St. David's Committee, appointed in 1925, to inquire into the question of Welsh in the educational system of Wales, completed its labours in August last. The Departmental Committee presided over by Mr. J. Q. Lamb, M.P., has not yet issued its report upon the problems which it was asked to consider affecting the training of rural teachers, but, as we relate in Chapter VII of our report, it has, as a matter of urgency, presented its proposals for the framing of the syllabus of an examination for rural pupil-teachers and other persons serving in country schools. Other committees which have been sitting during the year include Sir John Eldon Bankes' committee on Rural Education in Wales, the committee considering certain problems of mental deficiency, and the departmental committee appointed to report upon questions connected with the examination of part-time students in continuation, commercial and technical schools. The chairmanship of the last-named committee has been undertaken by the Duchess of Atholl in succession to the Hon. E. Cadogan, C.B., M.P., on the latter's appointment as a member of the Statutory Commission on the Government of India.

Reference must also be made, in view of the Board's responsibility for the administration of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Bethnal Green Museum, to the Royal Commission on State Museums and Galleries appointed by Your Majesty in July last.

12. The record of the year would not be complete without reference to the Conference convened at the Caxton Hall on 8th June, 1927, by the President of the Board of Education, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Education for Northern Ireland, to consider the question of providing instruction for children and young people in the aims and objects of the League of Nations. The Conference was attended by some 600 representatives of local education authorities in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and was convened in pursuance of the undertaking to call a conference of education authorities to discuss this matter, which was given on behalf of Your Majesty's Government at the Seventh Assembly of the League of Nations in September, 1926. The following resolution was moved and carried unanimously :

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That this Conference welcomes the steps which are being taken to give the children and the youth of this country a knowledge of the development of international relations, and of the work and aims of the League of Nations, and requests the Board of Education, the Scottish Education Department, and the Ministry of Education for Northern Ireland, to circulate to the Local Education Authorities a report of the proceedings of the Conference in order that they may consider the matter further in consultation with the teaching profession."

A report of the proceedings of the Conference was published and copies circulated to the League of Nations and to all local education authorities. It is relevant here to note that the policy embodied in the resolution of the Conference was endorsed by the Association of Education Committees at their annual meeting, which was held immediately after the Conference.

13. Changes have again been made in the arrangement of our report. In the first place, the devotion of the initial chapter to a general survey of a particular subject of current educational interest has been discontinued, as it appeared that such subjects could more conveniently and appropriately be dealt with in the series of educational pamphlets which the Board issue. Secondly, in accordance with an announcement which the President made in reply to a question in the House of Commons on 29th July last, it is proposed that in future the report shall relate to the twelve months ended 31st December, and shall be issued in conjunction with the Annual Statistics of Public Education. The present report, therefore, covers the period 1st August, 1926, to 31st December, 1927, and is combined in one volume with the statistics for the year 1926-27. This arrangement, which has been rendered possible by the extended use of mechanical devices in the compilation of statistics, has the advantage of presenting the record of the year's work together with the statistical information bearing upon that work, without disturbing the continuity of the text by the inclusion of a number of tabular statements.

CHAPTER I.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

14. During the period under review the activities of the Board, of local authorities, and of school managers have been mainly directed to the same problems as in the two preceding years, namely, better provision for the education of older pupils, the improvement or replacement of defective school premises and the elimination of over-large classes. Though these problems need in practice to be constantly considered together, it will be convenient to treat them separately for the purpose of this report.

I. Instruction of Older Pupils.

15. The most important event during the period under review was the publication in December, 1926, of the Report of the Consultative Committee on "The Education of the Adolescent." The Education Act, 1918, by requiring all children to remain at school until the end of the term in which they reach the age of 14 and by making it the duty of the local education authority to make adequate provision for the practical and advanced instruction of the older scholars, led to increased attention being devoted to the need for improving the education provided for older scholars in elementary schools, and in 1924 the Board asked the Consultative Committee :(i) To consider and report upon the organisation, objective and curriculum of courses of study suitable for children who will remain in full-time attendance at schools, other than secondary schools, up to the age of 15, regard being had on the one hand to the requirements of a good general education and the desirability of providing a reasonable variety of curriculum, so far as is practicable, for children of varying tastes and abilities, and, on the other, to the probable occupations of the pupils in commerce, industry and agriculture.

(ii) Incidentally thereto, to advise as to the arrangements which should be made (a) for testing the attainments of the pupils at the end of their course; (b) for facilitating in suitable cases the transfer of individual pupils to secondary schools at an age above the normal age of admission.

16. The fact that the Committee devoted two-and-a-half years to their inquiry and that during that time they met on torty-six occasions and examined ninety-five witnesses affords some evidence of the interest and care which they devoted to their inquiry and their report has been generally accepted as a most valuable and constructive contribution to the solution of the educational problems.

involved and one which is bound to have an increasing effect on educational development. The report has already been so widely read and considered that it should suffice here to summarise very briefly its main recommendations :

(a) Primary education should be regarded as ending at about the age of 11+. At that age pupils from primary schools should normally be transferred to a different school or, failing that, to a different type of education from that given to pupils under the age of 11+. This second or post-primary stage, which for many pupils would end at 16+, for some at 18 or 19, but for the majority at 14+ or 15+, should as far as possible be regarded as a single whole within which there will be a variety of types of education, but which will generally be controlled by the common aim of providing for the needs of children who are entering and passing through the stage of adolescence.

(b) Having regard to the country as a whole, many more children should pass to secondary schools (the Committee suggest that in future they should be called "Grammar " schools) in the current sense of the term. But it is necessary that the post-primary stage of education should also include other types of post-primary schools in which the curricula will vary according to the age up to which the majority of the pupils remain at school and the different interests and abilities of the children.

(c) In addition to junior technical schools, these alternative types of school, for which the name "Modern" school is suggested, should be of one or other of the following types: (i) Schools of the type of the existing selective central schools which give at least a four-year course from the age of 11 with a "realistic" or practical trend in the last two years.

(ii) Schools of the type of the existing non-selective central schools which may either be the only central school in the area or may exist side by side with selective central schools and cater for those children who do not secure admission to such schools.

(d) The general characteristics of these modern schools would be:

(i) They will plan their courses for a period of three or four years, and these courses will accordingly be simpler and more limited in scope than those in "grammar" schools, which are planned for five or more years.

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(ii) Though the subjects included in the curriculum of modern schools will be much the same as those in grammar" schools, more time and attention will be devoted to handwork and similar pursuits in the former.

(iii) While the courses of instruction in modern schools in the last two years should not be vocational, the treatment of the subjects of the curriculum should be practical in the broadest sense and brought directly into relation with the facts of everyday life. The courses of instruction, though not merely vocational or utilitarian, should be used to connect the school work with the interests arising from the social and industrial environment of the pupils.

(e) Junior technical schools and junior art departments should be encouraged where local needs provide an adequate demand.

Arrangements should be made for transferring children who show ability to profit by "secondary " education beyond the age of 15+ from modern to " grammar " schools at the age of 12 or 13. Conversely, arrangements should be made for transferring pupils from "grammar " to modern schools or junior technical schools.

(g) The qualifications of teachers and standards of staffing should approximate to those required in corresponding forms of "grammar" schools. The premises and equipment should similarly approximate so far as finance permits.

(h) While all children should enter some type of post-primary school at 11+ it will be necessary to discover the type most suitable to a child's abilities and interests. For this purpose a written examination should be held and also wherever possible an oral examination. A written psychological test might also be employed in dealing with border-line cases.

(2) A new Leaving Examination should be framed to meet the needs of pupils in selective and non-selective modern schools, but in order to allow further time for the free development of such schools this special examination should not be established for at least three years and the syllabus for it should be carefully adjusted to the needs of broad and variable curricula. Whatever the leaving age may be this examination should be designed to be taken by pupils at the age of 15+ and the presentation of pupils should be wholly optional both in respect of the individual pupil and of the school as a whole.