extended by acts passed since 1870. Special importance attaches to the act of 1899, creating the board of education as the central agency for all the educational work carried on by the Government, and the education act of 1902, by which the local administration of the system was radically changed.

Immediately after the declaration of war the elementary education (war service superannuation) act, 1914, was passed. This measure gives the necessary authority for fulfilling a promise already made by the board of education that time given by a certificated teacher to military service or other service arising out of war will be counted equally with service in the schools for superannuation purposes. More than a thousand teachers were reported as being subject to the provisions of this act.

At the time the board of education was created, the Government was appropriating for the maintenance of elementary schools in England and Wales about £8,000,000 ($40,000,000) annually. For this purpose alone the annual grants have now reached about £12,000,000 ($60,000,000), while at least £1,200,000 ($6,000,000) additional are disbursed for purposes of secondary and technical education, which have been brought within the province of the board. During the same period the expenditure by local authorities for elementary schools has risen from about £5,000,000 to £14,000,000 ($70,000,000) and they contribute an additional £2,000,000 ($10,000,000) for the purpose of secondary and technical education. These amounts may be taken as the measure of the increase in the provision for the education of the industrial classes of England. This increase has been accompanied by a gradual breaking down of barriers between the State-aided elementary school system and the great body of private schools which formerly were limited to the children of professional classes, the landed gentry, capitalists, etc., so that social unification and the spread of democratic principles have been promoted by the natural growth of the school system established by the law of 1870.

The entire amount allowed for the service of the board of education for the year ending March 31, 1914-15, is £15,245,621 ($74,093,818). This includes the additional grants specified above.

The development fund, created by Parliamentary act of 1909, provides for the disbursement of £500,000 ($2,500,000) annually for five years ending March 31, 1915, plus such sums as may be voted by Parliament. The total amount guaranteed to the fund is £2,900,000 ($14,500,000) up to the end of the financial year 1914-15. The committee appointed to administer the fund estimate £900,000 as the expenditure from this source for purposes of agricultural research and instruction up to March 31, 1916; for forestry appropriations, largely for research and education, £350,000.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

The elementary schools recognized for grants by the board of education enrolled during the present year nearly 6,150,000 pupils and employed 170,000 teachers. In a general survey of the year, the president of the board states that the provision of elementary schools in the country is now adequate to the demand, and in many respects the conduct of the schools and the manner in which the school authorities are providing for the general welfare of the school children are highly satisfactory. The weak points in the system upon which he dwelt are the failure of the schools to retain pupils after the age limit of compulsory attendance is past, and the lack of continuation schools. In regard to the former of these deficiencies Mr. Pease said:

Out of the 600,000 children who leave our elementary schools each year, 35,000 are half timers, 13,000 leave under the age of 13, 176,000 leave at age of 13-on their birthday or thereabouts, 336,000 leave during the age of 13, and only 40,000 remain after the age of 14. The fact that 176,000 leave at the age of 13 shows what an enormous proportion leave the very first moment they have an opportunity of doing so. Although they are to a large extent more alert than they used to be, yet they have just reached the age when they are capable of understanding the reasons and principles of what they are learning and how to apply their knowledge.

In regard to provision for continuing the education of the young, the president of the board said:

The greatest blot on our system is that the great mass of our elementary schools have to submit to losing large numbers of their scholars just when a good teacher could do most for their mental, moral, and physical development. We have a continuation system which is purely voluntary and almost exclusively connected with evening teaching. I want to do justice to evening schools, but I would point out that in regard to the proportion of students under 18 in attendance at evening schools, only 5 per cent between 14 and 18 are estimated to be still in attendance at elementary schools, secondary schools, and other places of full-time education. Of the 2,391,000 left available for evening schools, only 14 per cent, or 334,000, are in nominal attendance during a single year. The percentage of pupils who begin at the beginning of the course and go on continuously is only 53, and while the aggregate student-hours that can be worked by juvenile students is 287,000,000, the actual is 18,500,000.

The local authorities are directly responsible for these evils, but the Government has power to hasten their correction through the control of grants-in-aid.

LEGISLATION.

Early in the year the expectation was entertained that a bill would be introduced providing for the large reform in education foreshadowed last year by the president of the board of education and by Viscount Haldane, the lord chancellor. The bill was not forthcoming. The chief educational measure pertains to financial matters and was embodied in the budget estimates submitted by Mr.

Pease, president of the board. His proposition was twofold; it called for a reorganization of the grants for specific purposes. Eventually the measure was divided, and attention for the time directed wholly to the additional grants. The estimates for the latter received the royal assent July 31, and the portion of the grant for the four months ending December 31, namely, £515,000 ($2,503,000), became immediately available. This amount is to be applied to the relief of local school taxes (the "Necessitous Areas Grant") and to the maintenance of medical inspection, medical treatment, provision of meals, etc. The former purpose absorbs £438,000 of the supplementary vote; the latter, the remaining £77,000, raising the entire amount for the medical service for the current year to £252,000 ($1,127,520).

The "Education (provision of meals) act, 1914," and the "Elementary education (defective and epileptic children) act" were passed just upon the adjournment of Parliament. The former enlarges the powers of local authorities with respect to providing meals, at public expense, for necessitous school children, not only during the time the schools are in session, but in the holidays and vacations also. Under the circumstances it has practically the character of an emergency war-time measure. The second act referred to gives the local authorities increased power in respect to the education of defective children. For this purpose, in extreme cases, such children may be removed from the control of parents who will not consent to have them properly trained.

WELFARE SERVICES.

England affords an impressive example of the combination of central and local authorities in the promotion of welfare services for school children. Like the establishment of the schools themselves, provision for these services rests with the local authorities, but the Government gives financial aid and has had great effect in unifying and directing the services. The report of the chief medical officer shows that with a single exception all the local authorities have established some form of medical inspection of schools and school children in their areas. There are 1,097 medical officers engaged in this work, including 84 women and 300 specialists for the treatment of the eyes, ears, and teeth. Out of the total 318 authorities, 125 are employing school nurses, 48 provide for the X-ray treatment of ringworms, 115 have established their own school clinics, and 300 hospitals are used for the treatment of infantile complaints. In connection with the medical inspection, open-air schools have multiplied, accommodating 945 children; schools for mothers have arisen as a branch of the medical work, and of 200 such schools 33 received during the year grants from the General Government. The pro

vision of meals for necessitous children has been promoted by the medical inspection, which has established the fact that underfeeding is one of the chief causes of physical infirmities in children and of their inability to keep up with their classes. In addition to these services, which are intended for children attending the ordinary schools, the local education authorities maintain 369 special schools for comparatively hopeless cases, such as epileptics, the mentally defective, cripples, deaf and dumb children, and blind children. These services are very costly, and taken in connection with the improvement in the teaching force and in school buildings required by the Government, entail large expenditures upon the local authorities. Hence, the significance of the additional grants for necessitous areas that is, areas that have reached the limit of local school taxes-and the grants-in-aid of the various branches of welfare work.

THE TEACHING SERVICE.

In a speech before the House of Commons on the budget estimates for the current year, Mr. Pease dwelt upon the difficulty of recruiting the teaching service. At least 9,000 new teachers are required annually to fill vacancies, but the training colleges do not send out half this number; in 1912 only 4,007 students passed the final examination entitling them to the Government certificate. The number of young people who enter upon preparation for the training colleges fell from 11,018 in 1906-7 to 4,486 in 1913-14. Among the causes of this threatened dearth of teachers, the chief is the small inducement offered by the service as compared with other occupations that are now within reach of the same class of people. Although there has been a slight increase in the average salaries of teachers during a decade, they have not kept pace with the increased cost of living, and the prospects of promotion are even less than formerly. To these discouragements must be added the length of time required for preparation and the inability of parents to provide for their children during this time, especially when the chance of earning in other vocations is open to them. The deficiency of properly trained teachers affected chiefly the rural schools. Two measures are suggested by the president of the board of education for overcoming this evil: First, the increase of "maintenance allowances" by local authorities. This would relieve the family of the cost of a student's living during the period of preparation. The second measure is the revival, in modified form, of the pupil-teacher system. The latter action has been determined upon. Mr. Pease says:

We have revived the pupil-teacher system in rural districts, but we have done it in a very different way from that which formerly existed. The old pupil-teacher system failed because it was frequently the hopeless case of a tired teacher instructing a tired pupil. This will now be avoided, because the pupil-teacher will not be

allowed to count on the staff, and he may not teach more than half time. We propose to give grants increased from £20 to £42 for pupils living outside the range of secondary schools; the pupils will be taught partly by head teachers and partly by subsidiary central classes.

What may be called the grievance of teachers was emphasized during the year in an address before the National Union of Teachers, to be presently considered.

TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

The interest in the subject of teacher training is emphasized by a review of the history of the training colleges (normal schools) of England, in the current report of the board of education. This review covers two eras, the first extending down to 1890, prior to which all the State-aided training colleges were under private management (chiefly denominational) and were residential schools directing the entire life of the students during the period of training.

In 1890 the Government agreed to recognize, for grants, day training colleges attached to the universities, and the education act of 1902 sanctioned the use of public funds by local authorities for the support of training schools; thus new types of institutions were brought into the field. The spirit and methods of the training were affected by the new institutions, and also by the demands of the times. These changes were reflected in the regulations (code) issued by the Government in 1904, which therefore marks an important stage in this history.

The older regulations outlined a program of secular subjects which was followed by all the colleges and prepared all students for the same official examinations. This uniformity was broken up, partly as a consequence of the relation established between the day training colleges and the universities, and partly by the call for new subjects of instruction. The course of study was thenceforth modified in many ways to meet the needs of individual institutions and students. At present many of the students do not take the official examinations at all, but prepare for university examinations which are accepted by the board of education as equivalent to their own. A second and very important change that has taken place relates to the staff of the institutions. The choice of principals and teachers formerly rested with the managers of a college. Since 1905 the board of education has required that all proposals for appointment to the teaching staff of the colleges, including the post of principal, shall be submitted to it for approval, together with full details as to the qualifications. A reasonable proportion of the staff of a college must be university graduates, and regulations have been made to secure the appointment of women as principals and lecturers in colleges for women or in mixed colleges