The Duke of Devonshire on Technical Education

Abstract

AT Eastbourne on Saturday last the Duke of Devonshire addressed the students of the art and technical classes, and in the course of his remarks he referred to educational questions of more than local interest. His remarks upon proprietary and private schools call attention to what is probably the weakest link in our educational system. In order to qualify for an assistant mastership in an elementary school, it is necessary for a teacher to serve a term of years, during which period his knowledge of the theory and practice of teaching is periodically tested; but in our private and proprietary schools any one can be a teacher, whether he possesses qualifications or not. In other words, the elementary school teacher must prove his efficiency, while the teacher in the middle-class schools—the respectable proprietary establishments—may or may not be competent to impart instruction. The result is that some of our higher-grade primary schools are the best organised and equipped institutions for teaching elementary science in the country, while the science which figures in the prospectuses of many private schools is entirely unworthy of the name. Unfortunately, the sons of artisans and shopkeepers are compelled to leave school at an early age, and so cannot take full advantage of the facilities provided by the higher-grade schools. On the other hand we have the private schools where the age of leaving is later, but there the facilities for scientific instruction are inadequate. The general result is that only a small proportion, either of the artisan class or of the sons of commercial men, receive technical instruction. It is, of course, not suggested that all private schools are inefficient, but a large proportion of them are, when considered as schools in which science is taught; and the Duke of Devonshire has done a public service in pointing out the need of subjecting them to some system of supervision.