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 BOARD OF EDUCATIOX. 
 
 REPORTS 
 
 ON 
 
 CHILDREN UNDER FIVE 
 YEARS OF AGE 
 
 IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
 
 BY WOMEN INSPECTORS 
 
 OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 
 
 fftrcscntcD to botb Ibouscs of iparliament bg (Iomman^ of Ibis /iBajestB. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, 
 
 BY WYMAN & SONS, LIMITED, FETTER LANE, E.C. 
 
 And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from 
 
 WYMAN & SONS, Ltd., Fetter Lane, E.G., and 
 
 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or 
 
 OLIVER & BOYD, Edinburgh ; or 
 E. PONSONBY, 116, Grafton Street, Dublin. 
 
 [Cd. 2726.] 
 
 1905. 
 
 77^ £^^^ -
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory Memorandum by the Chief Inspector of 
 
 Elementary Schools ------ i. — iii. 
 
 Form issued to Women Inspectors for the purposes of 
 
 the Enquiry - 1 — 4 
 
 Miss Munday's Report 5 — 34 
 
 „ Bathurst's Report 35 — 93 
 
 „ Callis's Report 95—125 
 
 ;, Heale's Report 127—140 
 
 ., Harrington's Report ----- -141 — 155
 
 '^^ 
 
 L\5 
 Introductory Memorandum 
 
 BY THE 
 
 / S 2. / 2. 
 
 Chief Inspector of Public Elementary Schools. 
 
 It was decided to employ some of the Women Inspectors of 
 the Board from April 1st, 1904, in an inquiry relative to the age of 
 admission of infants to Public Elementary Schools and the curri- 
 culum suitable for very young children. A form of inquiry was 
 discussed and general lines of investigation laid down. The results 
 of visits of inspection directed to this special object and extending 
 over nearly twelve months are appended in the reports of the five 
 Women Inspectors who took part in the inquiry. One of these, 
 who has since retired, only visited some schools in one of the large 
 County Boroughs during a few months : her report contains some 
 , interesting expressions of personal opinion and a record of im- 
 pressions on educational and social matters not confined to the 
 range of the proposed inquiry. 
 
 There has been a careful examination of some thousands of 
 children. Various tests were devised, and each of the investigators 
 had slightly different methods. It will be seen that there is com- 
 plete unanimity that the children between the ages of three and 
 five get practically no intellectual advantage from school 
 instruction. 
 
 The Inspectors agree that the mechanical teaching in many 
 infant schools seems to dull rather than awaken the little power 
 of imagination and independent observation which these infants 
 possess. Children say what they think the teacher would like 
 them to say ; if asked to draw anything they Hke, they attempt 
 the reproduction of some school copy previously set; the 
 wearisome iteration of the same work makes them all of one 
 pattern ; they become apathetic ; the actual knowledge acquired 
 is not beneficial. 
 
 The children admitted later can in six months or a year reach 
 the same standard of attainment as those who have been in the 
 school for two years previously. They may speak in more homely 
 fashion and be a little less glib in phrases, but the fluency of the 
 others is unnatural. The late comer uses his own words and not 
 the teacher's. He reads with a greater grasp of the sense, if less 
 mechanical mastery of single words ; he therefore reads with more 
 readiness and expression, and he phrases better. In number he 
 does not count by ones as the drilled child has been taught to do, 
 and he therefore gets a better grasp of arithmetical processes. 
 Even in subjects like writing and dictation or drawing, he shows 
 very little inferiority to the rest after a short time. 
 
 8525. 8000— Wt. 1 139. 9/05. Wy. & S. 353In A
 
 ii Introductory Memorandum. 
 
 It has always boon claimed that the children admitted later are 
 less easy to discipline. Even this seems doubtful, for these 
 children very soon fall into the order of the school. ' 
 
 Some of the inspectors comment upon the rigidity of the disci- 
 pline in many of the schools. It is pointed out that if they 
 lived their natural life these little mites would not be sitting for 
 an hour on end and for the greater part of the day. The undue 
 size of the classes makes greater freedom very difficult, and smaller 
 schools are often found to be better in this respect than large ones. 
 The child in the large class is drilled to a listless quiet under the 
 order " Sit still while teacher talks." 
 
 It will be generally agreed that the evidence is very strong 
 against attempts at formal instruction for any children under 
 five. Where the same Inspector visited schools in certain towns in 
 South Wales, and in London, she found that in the former 
 there was a much freer curriculum, and she had no hesitation in 
 saying that there was a marked difference in the alertness of the 
 children. Going from London she was very agreeably surprised 
 to find the superiority of a more elastic programme. 
 
 There is little doubt in the minds of all these Inspectors that 
 these little children should have no formal instruction in the three 
 R's, but plenty of opportunities for free expression : they must 
 learn to talk before they learn to read ; to understand before they 
 learn number by heart ; and to use arms and fingers freely and 
 boldly before they hold pen or pencil to trace letters. Needlework 
 is bad for little eyes and cramps little fingers. 
 
 Further, although Kindergarten teachers are praised, so-called 
 Kindergarten occupations are condemned as being contrary to 
 the spirit of Froebel when taught mechanically to large classes. 
 They are often, says one Inspector, distinguished by absence of 
 occupation, for the children do a line or a stitch or add a brick by 
 word of command, and then sit still for five minutes while the 
 teacher goes round the class to ensure perfect accuracy ; mean- 
 while all interest is killed in the child who may only touch his 
 material to order. 
 
 If no intellectual result is obtained, should children under five 
 be excluded from school altogether ? This question is answered 
 in the affirmative if the children have good homes and careful 
 mothers, but if the homes are poor and the mothers have to work 
 the answer must be doubtful. In spite of the drawbacks of school, 
 it is found that in very poor localities the physique of the children 
 is improved by the new regularity of their life. Though fault 
 may be found with the school, yet in the slums, where mothers 
 have to leave their children and go to work, to attend school is 
 ])etter for the babies than to stay away. 
 
 It would seem that a new form of school is necessary for poor 
 cliildren. The better parents should be discouraged from sending 
 the children before five, while the poorer who must do so, should 
 send them to nursery schools rather than schools of instruction.
 
 Irdroductory Memorandum. iii 
 
 '* No formal instruction " is the burden of all the recommendations, 
 " but more play, more sleep, more free conversation, story-telling 
 and observation." The aim of the big town Infant School is too 
 often to produce children who at the age of six and a half have 
 mastered the mechanical difl&culties of Standard I work. It should 
 be to produce children well developed physically, full of interest 
 and alertness mentally, and ready to grapple with difl&culties 
 intelligently. 
 
 I In this connection there is a general agreement that the best in- 
 formed teacher is not necessarily the best baby-minder. In London 
 Schools, where almost every teacher is trained and certificated, the 
 results are declared to be inferior to those Schools in which the 
 teachers may not have distinguished themselves in examination, 
 but are motherly girls. In the present dearth of teachers great 
 relief could be obtained at once if it were understood that the 
 ordinary Training College course fitted students for upper classes 
 but was unnecessary for the teachers of babies. It is desirable 
 that there should be a special training for Infant teachers, but 
 under present circumstances might not two Supplementary 
 Teachers of good motherly instincts be as good for sixty babies 
 between three and five years of age as one clever ex-collegian ? 
 These girls who would stay for a few years before marriage would 
 not expect or need so high a salary as the teacher trained for a life 
 profession. 
 
 In making this suggestion there is no desire to depreciate the 
 zeal and devotion of the present Infant teachers. They have had 
 unduly large classes of very young children ; they have had little 
 guidance from the Code ; and have thought themselves obliged to 
 show " results " of their teaching. They have always worked with 
 a kindness and self-sacrifice which cannot be too highly praised. 
 
 The question of underfed children cannot fail to be touched in 
 the course of such an inquiry. It is interesting to find a general 
 agreement that it is unsuitable rather than insufiicient feeding that 
 is responsible for sickly children. Want of sufficient sleep — neglect 
 of personal cleanliness — badly ventilated homes are contributory 
 causes of the low physical standard reached. 
 
 Many interesting suggestions are made in the reports as to the 
 length of lessons and the amount of recreation, the character of 
 the premises and desks, the interchange of rooms, the better pro- 
 vision of offices, etc., and these suggestions coming from experienced 
 Inspectors will deserve the careful attention of Local Educational 
 Authorities. The wider question as to the character which schools 
 for children under five should assume, if indeed any institution for 
 teaching is needed, will require the fullest consideration of the 
 Board of Education and of Local Education Authorities. 
 
 Cyril Jackson.
 
 [Form issued to Women Insp<;clors for the purposes of the Enquiry ] 
 
 Form 61. 
 BOARD OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Name of School 
 
 Town. Countrij. Suburban. or Nondescript. 
 
 Approximate number of Infants (a) Over 5 years of age. 
 
 (b) Under 5 years of age. 
 
 A. CHILDREN 8ENT TO SCHOOL UNDER 5 YEARS OF AGE. 
 
 1. Staff. 
 
 i. Have they a special teacher of their own 1 
 
 ii. If not does she also teach (a) older infants 1 
 
 (b) children in standards? 
 iii. What is her Code Status? 
 
 iv. Has she special training and qualifications? 
 Remarks. 
 
 2. School Hours. 
 
 i. What are the total school hours daily ? 
 ii. What intervals are given for recreation ? 
 iii. What is the lenglh of lessons? 
 iv. How long at a time are the children kept sitting? 
 V. How far is free movement checked by rigid discipline ? 
 
 Remarks.
 
 3. Curriculum. 
 
 a. What amount of time weekly 
 
 i.s given to each of the following- 
 subjects ? 
 
 i. Physical Exercises. 
 
 ii. Manual Employment or 
 Kindergarten occupations. 
 
 iii. Kindergarten games. 
 
 iv. Playing with toys, &,c. 
 
 V. Telling stories to the 
 children. 
 
 vi. Conversations in which the 
 children are taught to 
 express themselves. 
 
 vii. Lessons to cultivate powers 
 of observation. 
 
 viii. Drawing (a) free. 
 
 (1)) on squares. 
 
 ix. Learning words or letters. 
 
 X. Number. 
 
 xi. Writing in sand. 
 
 on boards, 
 on slates. 
 
 xii. Sewing. 
 
 xiii. Songs and recitations. 
 
 b. Is the time table framed so as 
 
 to minimize fatigue 1 
 
 Is the type of lesson suitable 
 i. 
 
 111. 
 
 iv. 
 v. 
 
 IX. 
 X. 
 
 xi. 
 
 xii. 
 xiii. 
 
 Kemarks.
 
 4. Premises. 
 
 i. Have these children a separate room 1 
 ii. Is their room sunny and well ventilated ? 
 iii. Are the exits conveniently i)lacod 1 
 iv. Are arrangements made for the children to sleep 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 5. School Hygiene. 
 
 i. Is interest taken in the children's physical development 1 
 
 ii. Have they breathing exercises '( 
 
 iii. Is attention jjaid to eyesight ? 
 
 iv. Are desks well lighted ? 
 
 V. Have the seats proper backs 1 
 
 vi. Is there space in the room for movement ? 
 
 vii. Are any lessons taken in the open air 1 
 
 viii. What provision is made for recreation (a) indoors 1 
 
 (1)) in the open air 'i 
 
 ix. Do the children suffer from un^uital)lo fond 1 
 Remarks. 
 
 6. Classification. 
 
 How are the children classified (a) by age 
 
 (b) by attainments 1 
 
 Remarks.
 
 4 
 
 B. CHILDREN WHO AKE NOT SENT TO SCHOOL TILL 
 THEY HAVE llEACHED :> YEARS OF AGE. 
 
 i. Are they less orderly than those who have been sent to school 
 
 earlier ? 
 ii. Are they less quick in learning reading, writing, and number'? 
 
 iii. Are they more observant or less ? 
 
 iv. Do they shew more originality ? 
 
 V. Have they better or worse powers of expression ? 
 
 C. CHILDREN IN STANDARD I. 
 
 Is there any evidence that the attainments of children who have 
 come to school under 5 years of age are higher than of those sent later ? 
 
 D. What are the reasons why the children have been sent to school 
 under 5 years of age — e.g. poverty of parents, occupation of mothers "? 
 
 E. Have the teachers expressed opinions on above points 
 
 (especially R. C. and D.) 
 
 Signed Date of Vint 190.
 
 MIS^ MUNDAY'S REPOKT. 
 
 I was diiected to inquire into the education of infants 
 between the ages of three and seven years. The following report 
 is based on information obtained at visits to schools of various 
 types in parts of London and one of the neighbouring counties. 
 Staff. — Children under five years C'f age attending school in Lon- 
 don have generally a room to themselves, and also a special teacher 
 or teachers to teach them. In the Council schools these are prac- 
 tically always trained certificated teachers, though in the suburbs 
 when the baby classes are very small pupil teachers are occasionally 
 in charge of the class. In voluntary schools the status of the 
 teachers shows more variety, assistants as Article 50, pupil 
 teachers and supplementary teachers all being employed for the 
 youngest class. 
 
 It is rather remarkable to find there are so few teachers in Lon- 
 don schools who hold the higher Froebel certificate, or who have 
 been trained at the Froebel Institute. Head mistresses at present 
 seem rather afraid of employing them, they fear they would be 
 unable to cope with large numbers ; would not understand the 
 routine of an elementary school, and would therefore be unable 
 to take the children through the school from babies to Standard J . 
 inclusive, in all subjects provided on the Time Table. 
 
 In Council Schools there is no interchange of rooms or classes, 
 with the exception of pupil teachers giving occasional criticism 
 lessons, so that a class of children may begin with one teacher as 
 babies and have no other till they enter the senior schools four 
 years later. Interchange of classes and rooms is much more com- 
 mon in voluntary schools for various reasons. 
 
 School Hours. — The total school hours usually consist of five to 
 approximate to those of older children who are generally responsible 
 for bringing and fetching the younger ones to and from school 
 
 Recreation. — The intervals for recreation are also in most cases 
 the same as for older infants, viz., the time stated in the Code — 
 fifteen minutes in the morning session and ten minutes in the after- 
 noon, though the playtime does not necessarily coincide with that 
 of the other classes. 
 
 Some schools, however, provide for a longer recreation time, 
 from twenty to thirty minutes in one instance ; but it is rare to 
 find the babies having this in more than one break or trip to the 
 playground, even during the finest weather. 
 
 Length of Lessons. — Three arrangements may be said to have 
 vogue in the babies' classes of the London schools. 
 
 (a.) The time table is the same as that provided for older 
 infants, the lessons coinciding in length (thirty to forty- 
 five minutes) and type, with those of the other classes. 
 (6.) The time table resembles that for older classes, with a 
 footnote stating that drills and singing are taken between 
 the lessons to vary and brighten the work. 
 
 8525. B
 
 6 Miss Mundaifs Report. 
 
 (c.) An entirely different time table is provided for the 
 / babies, with short lessons of fifteen to twenty minutes dura- 
 
 tion sandwiched with varied exercises, games or singing. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to state that the first arrangement is a 
 most pernicious one, physically and mentally injurious for children 
 three to five years of age, especially with regard to the long periods 
 they have to be kept sitting. 
 
 The second arrangement is hardly more satisfactory, as one 
 often finds that the drill and singing thus inserted in the time table 
 are too often omitted, and that the breaks thus left to chance 
 rarely cause the children to leave their places on the gallery, with- 
 out doing which no real change of posture and actual movement 
 can take place properly. , 
 
 The third plan of providing entirely separate time tables for 
 children under five, with the needs of young cliildren kept in view, is 
 by far the best, and head mistresses are now generally providing them 
 
 The length of time children are kept sitting varies considerably. 
 In some schools it is as much as an hour at a time, or more. In 
 all infant schools more time is spent in sitting than in any other 
 posture, though if children three to five years of age be watched 
 when quite free this is the posture they will use least, at any rate 
 in the morning. 
 
 Happily rigid mental discipline rarely exists now in tlie babies' 
 classes, that is to say individual efforts, and results in the 
 acquisition of set amounts of work in a given time are not 
 expected of these tiny scholars, and individual tests aiid examina- 
 tions by Inspectors, or even by the head mistress are not the 
 rule now in our baby rooms. 
 
 The same cannot be said of Physical Discipline, which is 
 certainlv too rigid for children of tender years. Individual free 
 movement within limit is allowed, but a few teachers are still under 
 the impression that arms should be folded to order at three years 
 of age, and that happy mites visiting the land of Nod on a sultry 
 afternoon should be briskly awakened if a visitor arrive to inspect 
 the class or check the register; but it is only fair to say that on 
 the whole a freer nursery spirit is beginning to prevail, and tiiat 
 in many of our schools when the classes are not too large the 
 babies' lot is a bright and happy one. 
 
 The chief faults in the organisation and curriculum of the baby 
 rooms are too often the large size of the classes, the 'lack of 
 sufficient physical exercise, insuflicient changes of posture, air, 
 scene, and teachers, the repression of originality in the individual, 
 the instructional type of teaching which prevails instead of the 
 educational, and the use of unsuitable occupations which cause too 
 long a strain on the muscles and nerves of the body, especially 
 when done to drills. Writing and drawing on ordinary lined or 
 squared foolscap paper, threading and sewing with small im- 
 plements often in poorly lighted rooms, are all mentally and 
 physically injiu'ious for children between the ages of three and five.
 
 Miss Munday^s Report. 
 
 Gurriculum. — This, of course, varies considerably in various 
 types of schools, but in almost all, approximates fairly to that 
 provided for older infants, for the following reasons : 
 
 1. Children of three years of age attending school are grant 
 
 earning, hence teachers have felt that some visible in- 
 struction must be given to provide a return to the rate- 
 payers and the school authorities for the expenditure on 
 them. The easiest way to do this has been to provide 
 instruction on the same lines as that given to older children 
 only in somewhat smaller and more diluted doses. 
 
 2. It has hitherto been generally conceded and argued that chil- 
 
 dren gain in mental power by attendance at school before 
 five, hence teachers have been anxious to instruct as early 
 as possible, hoping thus to provide a better standard I. 
 child at seven than if the child had come to school first 
 at five. 
 
 3. Various examinations, inspections, and — the despair of all 
 
 real educationalists — exhibitions of scholars' work have 
 
 led to the demand for products or fruits when the child 
 
 has barely emerged from the seedling stages. 
 
 It would be impossible to give instances of the almost endless 
 
 varieties of curricula in the time table of babies' classes. Two are 
 
 given, one a type of the worst sort in existence, the other one of 
 
 the best under the existing conditions. 
 
 Unsatisfactory Types. 
 Time Table similar for all Classes. 
 
 Exercise. 50 minutes. 
 
 K.G. Occupations 1 hour, 50 minutes. 
 
 K.G. Games | hour. 
 
 Playing with toys. None. 
 
 Telling tales. None, except in Scrip- 
 ture lesson. 
 Conversational lesson. None. 
 
 Observation lessons, 1 hour, viz. : — 
 
 Two \ hour lessons. 
 P^ . Boys 3| hours) Squared 
 
 ^' Grrla f hours j paper chiefly 
 
 Learning words or letters, 4^ hours. 
 
 Number 2J hours. 
 
 Writing 2 hours. 
 
 Sewing. None for 3 year olds. 
 
 Sewing 3 hours for 4-5 year olds with 
 
 No. 6 needles. 
 Songs and recitations, 1 hour 30 
 
 minutes, including Scripture. 
 Recreation 15 minutes, a.m., 10 
 
 minutes, p.m. 
 N.B. Reading in upper classes very 
 
 poor, below par, in spite of long time 
 
 devoted to subject in all classes. 
 
 Satisfactory Types. [_,' 
 
 Separate Time Table for Babies' Class. 
 
 Various, chiefly marching in hall. 
 K.G. Occupations 2 hours 55 minutes. 
 K.G. Games 40 minutes. 
 To^-s. Reserved for wet weather 
 
 sufficient in number for each baby. 
 Tales. \ hour, secular ; \ hour re- 
 ligious. 
 Conversational lesson, 40 minutes, 2 
 
 lessons of 20 minutes. 
 Observation lesson, 40 minutes, viz. : — 
 
 2 lessons of 20 minutes. 
 Drawing 1 hour 30 minutes, boys and 
 
 gills, quite free. Blackboard and 
 
 miUboards. 
 Learning words or letters, 2 lessons of 
 
 20 minutes length. 
 Number 1 hour 20 minutes. 
 Writing. None. 
 Sewing. None. 
 
 Neither sewing nor driUs. 
 
 Songs and recitations, 50 minutes 
 secular, 50 minutes rehgious. 
 
 Recreation, \ hour each session, some- 
 times more. 
 
 N.B. All subjects vei;y good, above 
 average in upper classes of school. 
 
 3525. 
 
 D 2
 
 8 Miss Munday's Report. 
 
 Premises. — In the schools visited for the purpose of this inquiry 
 in London all except four have a separate room or in some cases 
 two rooms for the use of the children under five. This is so far 
 satisfactory, though in some cases the rooms are very small. In 
 situation and aspect, however, they leave much to be desired. 
 Many are due north, or north-east, thus practically sunless. The 
 windows are few and generally placed high to prevent the sun's 
 rays, if any, penetrating inside, or the children from seeing shrubs 
 or flowers, if any, outside. They are often on the street side in- 
 stead of the playground side of the building, so that the air from 
 the street may enter and the noise of passing vehicles annoy as 
 much as possible teachers and taught. Occasionally the baby room 
 is the farthest from the playground and offices, necessitating the 
 opening and closing of sometimes as many as five doors when the 
 children pass in and out. 
 
 The furniture of our infant babies' room still chiefly consists of a 
 huge gallery constructed to hold nominally forty to sixty children, 
 but often containing as many as eighty at the end of the educa- 
 tional year, or if classes have to be put together owing to the lack 
 of sufficiency of staff. In some cases the gallery occupies the chief 
 amount of floor space and necessarily reduces the cubic air space of 
 the room, to say nothing of the accumulation of rubbish which 
 takes place on the floor beneath, generally unget-atable to floor 
 cleaners. When this type of baby room obtains, the class can have 
 little scope or space for movements of any right kind, and if the 
 school has no hall, or has a hall but the babies' class does not use 
 it, as is too often the case, the children suffer physically and quite 
 unnecessarily. 
 
 A few schools are adopting the better plan of providing a large 
 room with ample level floor space, low kindergarten desks and 
 blackboards all round for the babies to draw upon, in various ways. 
 
 Arrangements for sleeping, either cots or frames, are provided 
 in a few schools, but in some are never used owing to the danger 
 of spreading dirt, infectious and contagious diseases through their 
 use. Four head mistresses informed me that they used to have 
 arrangements for sleeping in the baby rooms, but that they had to 
 have them removed for sanitary reasons. One head mistress told 
 me that she would like a cot in the baby room, but when I asked 
 her if she would put her own little girl, present at school, to rest 
 in it after certain other children had used it, she replied rather 
 indignantly and inconsistently, " most certainly not." 
 
 Though sleeping cots are not provided in the majority of baby 
 rooms, children, especially in very poor neighbourhoods, sleep 
 when they need to ; sometimes comfortably on the floor in a corner 
 free from draughts and covered with their own coat ; or in their 
 seats with head pillowed on their arm, and as they are not likely 
 to adopt exactly the same posture twice there is no danger of their 
 becoming crooked or suffering from spinal curvature as some people 
 allege, especially as their afternoon naps are, as a rule, of very short
 
 Miss Munday's Report. 9 
 
 duration. Should babies sleep for a long time in the afternoon, 
 except in exceptionally hot weather, teachers state that as a rule 
 it is because they are ailing or sickening for some infectious illness. 
 
 School Hygiene. — The attention of all thoughtful people has been 
 aroused by the state of the physique of the children of the nation, 
 especially in the poor areas of our large towns, and most educational 
 authorities are considering ways and means for improving the 
 present state of things. In the council schools of London duly 
 certificated nurses visit to inspect the children and report on their 
 physical condition. At present their work is practically confined 
 to inspection for the purposes of seeing whether the children are 
 clean, or are suffering from ringworm or other skin trouble of a 
 contagious nature. The experiment has proved so successful, 
 that in all probability the number of nurses will in the future be 
 largely increased and their scope or functions enlarged. Their 
 presence and work are certainly very much valued bv the large 
 class of careful, clean parents, who send their children to elementary 
 schools. In many voluntary schools the parish or district nurses 
 perform the same offices for the children attending these schools as 
 the council's nurses, or arrangements are made by which all cases 
 of small ailments needing advice or care are treated at the parish 
 dispensary, upon the recommendation of the head teacher. 
 
 The majority of the younger classes in infant schools have not 
 at present adopted breathing exercises, and in some cases when 
 they have they are not very successful or useful. Teachers state 
 that mouth breathing is on the increase, and parents are too often 
 -careless, indifferent, or even wilfully neglectful in taking the proper 
 steps to remedy this defect, though it causes children to be deaf, 
 inarticulate in speech, and, for these two reasons, dull and backward 
 at school. 
 
 Though some attention is being given to the eyesight of the 
 scholars in the senior departments of our schools in London, very 
 little is bemg done for those in infant schools ; it is, of course, 
 difiicult to test the eyesight of children imder five, but certainly 
 more attention should be paid to the conditions under which 
 yomig children pass the five hours of school life daily, such as 
 rooms, aspect, lighting, materials, and chiefly kindergarten occu- 
 pations in which they are engaged, many of which are most harmful 
 and injurious to the sight. 
 
 The majority of baby rooms in the council schools have a fair 
 amount of floor space, but not many rooms can accommodate 
 the whole of the class at a time for a romp or game. It is as- 
 tonishing to find how very little the halls or playgrounds are used 
 by the babies. The inquiry shows that of the schools visited 
 some baby classes never use the hall ; that others use it once 
 or twice a week at the most ; that a few use it once daily, and 
 only a very small minority use it t'mce daily. Out of twenty-two 
 schools visited in the months of June, July, and September, 19(>4,
 
 10 Miss Mundaifs Report. 
 
 during which exceptionally fine weather was experienced m London, 
 the following facts were ascertained : — 
 
 The baby classes in eight schools used the playground daily, 
 weather permitting. The baby classes in eight schools used the 
 playground only occasionally, chiefly for drills. The baby classes 
 in six schools never used the playground for either drill or games. 
 
 The baby rooms in voluntary schools are often badly off for 
 floor space, but on the whole more use is made of the playground 
 to give the children changes of air, scene and posture, for lessons, 
 games and drills. 
 
 Recreation. — ^Most of the council schools possess a hall and play- 
 ground and most of the voluntary schools, the latter for the purposes 
 of recreation, and as a rule the children spend the time stated 
 in the Code in the playground for recreation, weather permitting. 
 It is the exception, however, for the children under five to have 
 a longer time allowed for free play in the open air than the older 
 ones. In most cases this is because some teachers are under the 
 mistaken impression that they may not allow more time on the 
 time table than fifteen minutes per three hours' session and ten 
 minutes per two hours' ; or they prefer not to provide a separate 
 time table for the younger classes ; or agaia they fear the noise 
 of the babies at play will interfere with the work of the older 
 children. When the weather is unfavourable the hall is generally 
 substituted for the playground for the purposes of recreation, 
 but it is the exception to find it used for quite free play, and when 
 the numbers are very large, it would be almost impossible for 
 it to be so used. 
 
 Do Children Suffer from Unsuitable Food ? 
 
 The feeding of children is such an important subject and is 
 attracting so much attention at present, that I obtained as much 
 information on the subject from the head mistresses, many of 
 whom have spent more than a score of years in their schools and 
 therefore have a very intimate knowledge of the localities in which 
 they work and of the homes from which the children come. 
 
 I will, therefore, give some of their experiences and opinions 
 on the subject, as I venture to think they will be more interesting 
 and accurate than my own could be, culled from a day's visit 
 in often quite an unknown district or locaHty. 
 
 In two-thirds of the schools visited the head mistresses stated 
 there was no reason to doubt that the children were well fed and 
 well cared for ; one expressed the opinion that occasionally she 
 found that children suffered from over-feeding, and she had had 
 to call the mother's attention to the matter. 
 
 In the remaining third, however, the head mistresses stated 
 that a sad state of things existed ; that many of the children 
 suffered from unsuitable food practically all the year round, whilst 
 during the winter months they also suffered from an insufficient 
 quantity.
 
 Miss Munday's Report. 11 
 
 One head mistress states that about a fourth of her scholars 
 suffer from unsuitable food, and this through ignorance and neglect 
 rather than through poverty. Frequently, the various children 
 in a family will be given a halfpenny each to provide their dirmer. 
 Childlike they expend this on sweets of a most unwholesome kind, 
 when for the same sum they might obtain a bowl of nourishing 
 soup and bread at the cookery kitchen. The head mistress has 
 made a point of investigating the cause of sickness in the children, 
 and almost invariably traces it to this " sweet eating " taking 
 the place of a wholesome nourishing meal. 
 
 Two head mistresses, one in North and one in South London, 
 state that about a third of their scholars suffer from unsuitable 
 food, chiefly through the laziness of their mothers, not because 
 these go to work and therefore have but little time for cooking, 
 liut because they prefer to spend the morning in bed or gossiping, 
 rather than in preparmg food. 
 
 Another head mistress states that a proportion of the children 
 suffer from unsuitable and insufficient food. Snacks of strongly 
 tlavoured fried fish and potatoes form the staple articles of diet 
 and are the most appreciated, with unwholesome sweets and 
 germ-laden ice-creams as luxuries. 
 
 One -third of the scholars suffer from lack of the right kind of 
 food in another school, and bread and milk breakfasts are pro- 
 vided by the staff for the poorest. The teachers state that some 
 children show a dislike to milk at first, showing they have little 
 or no acquamtance with it as an article of diet. 
 
 Another head mistress has had much practical experience with 
 the diet of her scholars. She and a large staff have a hot lunch 
 provided daily at school by contract ; the portions thus sent in 
 are generally more than the teachers need. They therefore select 
 a number of the poorest and most starved of their scholars and 
 offer them a meal. Too often the reply is, " No, thank you, I 
 don't like it." To further queries, " Are you hungry ? " " Yes." 
 " Then what would you like for dinner ? " comes the rather start- 
 ling announcement, " Fried fish or taters," or " Black sausages 
 and pickles." 
 
 Apropos of pickles, another mistress states from experience 
 that they figure largely in the diet of quite young children. At- 
 tracted one day by the strong odour proceeding from the paper 
 containing the lunch of one of her three year old babies, she inves- 
 tigated the contents, to find they consisted of a sandwich, viz., 
 two piecels of bread, and between them pickled onions ! 
 
 In another school raw onions have to be forbidden as rehshes 
 with bread, on account of the unpleasant smell they leave in the 
 rooms during the morning. 
 
 Yet other head mistresses state that the food of the majority 
 of their scholars is unsuitable practically all the year round, and 
 insufficient in the winter months when the parents are out of
 
 12 Miss Munday's Report. 
 
 work. New bread, tea, fried fish, and pounds of sweets form the 
 chief articles of food. 
 
 Many head mistresses state that the mothers of their scholars 
 cook only once a week — on Sunday- — that on this day the children 
 really eat too much, and in addition to a plentiful hot dinner 
 eat muffins or fish for tea, and sweets. They are in consequence 
 often absent from school, or ill, on the Monday. Towards the 
 end of the week the wages have been spent, the pawnshop is visited, 
 or money borrowed otherwise at exorbitant rates of interest, 
 the children fare as best they can on a penny or a halfpenny given 
 them to buy their dinners. It is also stated that in many cases 
 this way of living is not the result of ignorance, because the mothers 
 have been educated, often in the schools their children now attend, 
 and have received instruction in domestic economy, cookery, 
 and laundry. This is attributed to laziness and the cravmg for 
 drink and pleasure unfortunately increasing among women, and 
 the innate conservatism of the very poorest which prevents them 
 from improving on what their parents have done before them. 
 
 A cursory inspection of the dust bins put out in the street in 
 readiness for the dust carts is instructive when considering this 
 question. In the suburbs, in the streets inhabited by the careful 
 clerk and better class artisan, well-sifted cinders and no cooked 
 food thrown away as waste characterise the bins. In the slum 
 areas, on the contrary, large unsifted cinders may be seen, with, 
 in addition, cold potatoes and pieces of bread — thrown away. 
 On one occasion every dust bin except one in a street contained 
 cold food thus wasted. In the same street at nearly every door- 
 way stood dirty unkempt women gossiping with each other, thus 
 proving that the food was not thrown away because they went 
 to work and for lack of time to cook it ; their ages also (they looked 
 mostly between eighteen and thirty) showed they must have 
 learnt and known better things. 
 
 The same thriftlessness thus exhibited in the dietary of the 
 very poor also extends to their clothing. Next to lack of food, 
 lack of boots in winter is one of the chief obstacles to children 
 coming to school, and one of the most difficult with which teachers 
 have to deal. In one sense it is more difficult to deal with than 
 food — for the food can be given at school to ensure the children 
 really having it. Boots and other clothing, on the other hand, 
 are too often sold or pawned, in many cases to buy drink for one 
 or other of the parents. 
 
 The making or mending of clothing is practically unknown 
 in poorer areas ; the mothers preferring to buy cheap flashy new 
 ready-made articles or soiled second-hand finery to making new 
 garments. 
 
 One head mistress of a girls' school desirous of making her needle- 
 work lessons as instructive and useful as possible for the poor 
 class of girls in attendance, brought stockings for them to mend 
 as soon as they had learnt darning properly. Great was their
 
 Miss Munday^s Report. 13 
 
 astonishment on learning, firstly, that these articles of apparel 
 were ever intended to be mended, and secondly, that there was 
 any connection between the darn on their piece of webbing pro- 
 vided at school and such a thing as a stocking. Questioning 
 eUcited the fact that it is the custom of the neighbourhood to 
 buy one pair of stockings at 2d. or 2|d. the pair, and to wear 
 the same unmended and unwashed till the stocking's foot no 
 longer exists and then to expend another 2d. on a new pair. 
 
 Cases also are not unknown to teachers and visiting nurses 
 inspecting children, of mothers having sewn the garments on the 
 children instead of taking the trouble to put on hooks and eyes. 
 
 The first class infants of a school in a slum area in the heart 
 of one of the black regions named in Mr. Booth's book, were asked 
 the following question and asked to write out the answer. " Sup- 
 posing mother were too busy to give you any dinner at home, and 
 she gave you a penny to go and buy your own dinner, what would 
 you buy ? " The choice of the forty-six children is appended. 
 13 chose fish and potatoes. 1 chose Christmas pudding. 
 
 5 
 
 
 fish. 
 
 
 , apple pie. 
 
 5 
 
 
 potatoes. 
 
 
 , jam roll. 
 
 2 
 
 
 peas and potatoes. 
 
 
 ,, jam tart. 
 
 3 
 
 
 peas pudding. 
 
 
 , rice. 
 
 5 
 
 
 soup. 
 
 
 , cheese. 
 
 2 
 
 
 meat and potatoes 
 
 
 , apples. 
 
 4 
 
 
 pudding. 
 
 
 
 The inquiry therefore seems confined to the following facts 
 shown clearly by the recent report on physical deterioration ; 
 firstly, that children in the better neighbourhoods are well and 
 suitably fed ; secondly, that in the poorer localities a large number 
 suffer from the effects of unsuitable diet ; while a smaller pro- 
 portion of these not only suffer from food of an unsuitable kind, 
 but actually have an insufficient quantity in the winter months 
 when work is scarce for their parents. 
 
 Benefits to Children of attendance at School. 
 
 As well as consulting teachers as to the progress and develop 
 ment, physical, mental and moral, of children attending infant 
 schools, I have tried to obtain the opinion of parents on the subject. 
 Many of their criticisms have been valuable and instructive. Most 
 of the mothers of the better class children state that their children 
 improve in some ivays when going to school ; they become more 
 vigorous and self-reliant, learn habits of quickness and punctuality 
 for fear of being late or absent, and have a wholesome appetite for 
 meals. This last trait in young school children is due to the fact 
 that going to and from school gives open air exercise, while requests 
 for biscuits, friiit, sweets, during the morning, too often acceded to 
 at home, except by the mothers of a Spartan type, are impossible 
 at school. Hence results a better appetite for dinner. The home 
 life is arranged with more scrupulous regularity and all this tends
 
 14 Miss Munday^s Report. 
 
 to improve the children physically. Other mothers complain that 
 going to school brings a succession of ailments, illnesses, and dirt 
 in its train, resulting in a weakening of the child's physique, occa- 
 sionally causing permanent injury to one or other of the senses. 
 
 Some also allege that the children's physical needs are not suffi- 
 ciently attended to ; that they are allowed to play without putting 
 on their coats, or that after play they retain their outdoor clothes 
 tiU they go home, thus making them liable to cold ; that they have 
 to sit too close together on galleries, and sometimes in desks too 
 small for them ; that the offices are too far and unprotected from 
 the main buildings in cold or wet weather ; and chiefly that in- 
 sufficient super\dsion is exercised in the playground, so that rough 
 and rude children bully and knock down the weaker ones, and that 
 they become nervous, restless, and excitable, eat insufficiently, and 
 talk in their sleep. 
 
 Some also state that their young children, especially little boys, 
 complain bitterly about having to sit still at school or in desks 
 " for such a long time " ; one mother said her little girl in ah infant 
 school showed great distress and fear of not passing the governess' 
 examination and therefore not being promoted to the girls' depart- 
 ment in July. On being comforted and told that it would not 
 matter much as she had a very nice teacher of whom she was very 
 fond in her present school, she said, " Oh, yes ; but the desk I sit in 
 is so small it hurts me so, and I know I shall grow a lot in the 
 holidays, so it will hurt me more if I have to go back there," Yet 
 another clean, small child sent to a new and well equipped school 
 at five told her mother, " Oh, mother, do take me away. There is 
 such a lot of children, I havn't room to sit, and they do smell so 
 nasty." 
 
 Asked as to their children's mental progress, the parents, especially 
 those educated in the small private schools (much more common 
 in the last generation than at present) wonder at the slowness with 
 which their children learn the 3 R.'s, especially reading and spelling; 
 at the paucity of their recitations, both secular and religious ; at 
 their ignorance of the meaning of words and phrases which parrot- 
 like they repeat, and at their bad pronunciation and ungrammatical 
 speech. On the other hand they are delighted with the artistic 
 mechanical productions of their children, especially in the various 
 branches of drawing, which they say they could not produce them- 
 selves now, and certainly could never have done at their ages. 
 
 With regard to the moral results or efiects on the children attend- 
 ing many of the elementary schools, especially some of those that 
 are free, there is no doubt, among many of the best and most thought- 
 ful mothers, grave dissatisfaction. After carefully training their 
 little ones in habits of cleanliness, decency, polite speech, and 
 reverence, they are horrified to find them coming home dirty in 
 I>ody and irreverent in language and in habits. In great distress 
 they change the school, sometimes going to the expense of house 
 changing for the purpose. Experience has taught them that, as
 
 Miss Munday's Report. 15 
 
 a rule, the larger the school and the larger the playground, the 
 worse are the moral effects. In despair they keep their children 
 at home another year or six months, trusting that the older they are 
 the less liable they will be to copy what is evil ; or they implore the 
 teachers not to allow their children out to play in recreation time, 
 as they see that it is chiefly then the mischief occurs. Their con- 
 clusions on this matter are verified when their observant children 
 inform them that governess and the assistants' little girls are never 
 allowed in the playground with the other children. As a last 
 resource they take them to a small volmitary or private school, 
 where for a small fee they find their children do not deteriorate 
 morally whilst they make good progress intelligently. One such 
 school owes its popularity with this type of mothers, in spite of old 
 fashioned buildings and apparatus, chiefly because it possesses 
 no playground, and charges a small fee, and there is no doubt 
 that were the local authority to abolish playgrounds and playtime, 
 in school buildings and curriculum, there would be a feeling of intense 
 joy and satisfaction among a certain number of the mothers of the 
 children attending our elementary schools. It is this type of parent 
 who prefers a small school and who dreads the abolition of fees. 
 
 With the poorer mothers, as a rule quite uneducated themselves, 
 the school and its staff is for them a comfort and delight. To it 
 they bring their children as soon or sooner than they are three 
 years of age, if the teachers are kind enough to accommodate them. 
 They gladly leave them to be not only taught, but trained in good 
 habits, cleaned, clothed, and fed, if they are necessitous. Their 
 only criticism is a kind of awesome wonder, when finding six children 
 beyond their powers of discipline and management, they see teachers 
 can control sixty or more, and that their Tommy, absolutely dis- 
 obedient and defiant at home, is as docile and amenable as a lamb 
 when within the school precincts. They are surprised and delighted 
 Avith their offspring's progress, when they take the trouble to think 
 about the matter at all, and their chief wish, especially where babies 
 are concerned, is that the school doors might never close for holi- 
 day purposes. 
 
 Among parents of a better class the tendency is to wish to keep 
 the child awav from school as long as possible, chiefly on moral 
 grounds, while among the poorer class there is an increasing desire 
 to send them as early as the authorities will take them. 
 
 Children who have not attended School till Five Years of Age. 
 
 Physical Development. — In good neighbourhoods very little or no 
 difference may be noticed. The late comers have just as fine a 
 physique or better than those sent to school early. Tiie teachers 
 working in these schools on the whole prefer that the children should 
 come late : they say that if children come as babies they only attend 
 in a desultory fashion, they are kept at home on the slightest pre- 
 text of illness. If the weather be wet or cold they are kept at home ;
 
 16 Miss Munday's Report. 
 
 if, on the other hand, it be exceptionally fine they are kept away to 
 go out with their mothers. They thus get into bad habits of de- 
 sultory attendance, and it is difficult to make them attend regularly 
 at five years of age when the law compels them to do so. 
 
 In very poor neighbourhoods, on the contrary, attendance at 
 school of young children makes a marked improvement in their 
 physique, and the poorer the district the more striking is the im- 
 provement shown. This must be due to the same reasons which 
 cause prisoners in gaols and convicts in prisons to improve physically 
 during their terms of imprisonment. This can hardly be due to 
 diet ; in the case of school children it is due to the comparative 
 cleanliness and regularity of the life that attendance at school 
 brings with it. One has only to walk through a slum street on a 
 Saturday, or during school holidays, to see the difference in the 
 condition of the children on these occasions and on a school day. 
 Attendance at school insures that the child gets up at a regular 
 hour, is washed to some extent, as a rule has a meal of some descrip- 
 tion before leaving home, and a lunch to eat at school. Its day will 
 be spent in a varied and regular manner in a temperature suitable 
 to the season. Should it be seen to be suffering from ailment or 
 disease or lack of sufficient food or clothing, it will probably be 
 relieved by some voluntary charitable agency. There is, therefore, 
 no manner of doubt as to the fact that in poor neighbourhoods 
 children improve physically, except perhaps in the matter of eye- 
 sight, by attendance at school. 
 
 Moral Development. — In well-to-do districts, Avhen children come 
 from good homes teachers say they have little difficulty in training 
 children morally. They have some trouble occasionally with those 
 who have the misfortune to be the solitary arrows in the family 
 quiver, and are therefore petted and spoilt at home, or with the 
 youngest child in a large family who is generally treated as a baby 
 much longer than necessary ; but they soon copy the manners of the 
 other children and obediently follow the rules and routine of the 
 school and benefit by its discipline. 
 
 In poorer localities attendance at school has a marked influence 
 on the habits and morals of the children, and in good schools the 
 time in the baby room is chiefly devoted to the eradication of bad 
 habits and the teaching of, and training in, good ones. Here, 
 neglected children coming to school at five, or older, are a real trial 
 to their teachers, as, being older, training is more troublesome and 
 bad traits more difficult to eradicate than in younger children. 
 Head mistresses and teachers are unanimous in testifying to the 
 value of attendance at school as early as possible in these neigh- 
 bourhoods for the purpose of moral teaching and training. 
 
 Mental Development. — In considering this third kind of develop- 
 ment opinions varied considerably, but it was easier to apply direct 
 tests in order to arrive at some definite conclusions than when con- 
 sidering physical and moral progress.
 
 Miss Munday's Report. 17 
 
 Of the head mistresses who felt they were able to give decided 
 opinions, seven stated the late comers were decidedly slower in 
 learning ; eight stated they were decidedly slower at first, but equal 
 after a short time ; fifteen stated there was no difference between 
 early and late comers ; three stated the late comers were quicker 
 than the babies. In connection with the consideration of the 
 children's mental development exercises were given to test the 
 difference, if any, between the early and late comers in such things 
 as observation, originality, and expression. Some rather startling 
 and interesting conclusions may be drawn from the result. 
 
 1 . That London children have very little originality, and even v' 
 
 less power of observation. 
 
 2. That there is practically no difference between the early 
 
 and late comers, or, in other words, children attending 
 elementary schools seem to gain nothing in observation 
 and originality though they have slightly better mechani- 
 cal powers of expression. 
 
 3. That locality has very little to do with both these character- 
 
 istics, and in many cases the slum children are more obser- 
 vant and more original than the well-to-do residents in 
 more comfortable surroundings. 
 
 4. That fine buildings and equipment have much less influence 
 
 on the children than one would suppose, but personality 
 a great deal more. 
 
 Various tests were given, of which the following were the most 
 satisfactory. 
 
 To test observation the cliildren in Standard I. were asked to 
 write down the number of teachers or rooms in their school, or in 
 cases of very small schools the number of doors in the buildings. 
 Out of 1,782 children who worked this test only 543 or less than one- 
 third put down the correct number, though in some cases teachers 
 and scholars assembled in the hall as many as five times daily. 
 
 To test originality the children were asked to choose as a present, 
 either an apple, sweets, or anything in the world they might like 
 as a gift. Out of 1,734 answers only 578 children thought of putting ^\ 
 down a special present, and 1,156 contented themselves with writing • * 
 down the suggested articles, apples or sweets. 
 
 Observation Tests. 
 Test I. 
 Early Comers. Late Comers. 
 
 Children tested 890 : Number Children tested 890 : Number 
 right 271. right 272. 
 
 Test II. 
 Children tested 400 : number Children tested 400 : Number 
 right 119. right 153. 
 
 Test for Originality. 
 Children tested 532 : number Children tested 532 : number 
 original 288, original 290.
 
 18 Miss Munday's Report. 
 
 Though the above tests show a slight advantage to the late comer, 
 especially as the first test must have been easier to children who 
 had spent a long time at school than those joining later, there is a 
 very slight advantage on the side of the early comer Vv^here mechani- 
 cal quality is considered. Though on the whole less observant, 
 less original than the home or street developed child, the papers of 
 the early comers were on the whole better written, or drawn, and 
 better spelt than those of the late comers. The above results 
 seem to show that as regards children seven years of age, whether 
 admitted before or after five, their previous attendance at school 
 does practically nothing to awaken originality or to cultivate 
 observation, and that where variation does occur it is in favour of 
 those children who were admitted late. On the other hand, mechani- 
 cal accuracy is more pronounced in the case of children ^vith a long 
 school record. It was a noticeable fact that when giving the test 
 to a class of early comers, especially if they had had the same teachef 
 for a long time, the children seemed more anxious and concerned 
 to write what they thought their teacher would like them to put 
 rather than what they really thought or liked. 
 
 Children in Standard' I . 
 
 The next point in inquiry was to ascertain as far as possible if 
 the children in Standard I. who had begun their education early 
 showed higher attainments than those not beginning attendance 
 till five years of age. 
 
 In talking over the matter with head mistresses before proceed- 
 ing to any investigation or examination, they stated that the early 
 comers were almost invariably the best scholars, and that this was 
 shown in several ways : — 
 
 (a) That the first or best division in an infant school consisted 
 
 chiefly of early comers. 
 (6) That their examination papers were generally the best. 
 
 (c) That the older children in the school, viz., the laggards 
 
 or those completing their eighth year before admission 
 into the senior departments, consisted chiefly of late 
 comers. 
 
 (d) That those children promoted to the senior school in a 
 
 backward condition and forced to repeat the work of 
 Standard I. consisted chiefly of children who had not 
 begun their examination before five. 
 
 As much evidence as possible therefore was obtained on these 
 four points. 
 
 Careful examination into the past history of the children in 
 Standard I., and comparison between the early and late comers in the 
 two divisions of Standard I., showed that at the end of the school
 
 Miss Munday''s Report. 19 
 
 year, when the children had had equal chances, very little difference 
 was to be seen. Indeed, when re-classification after examination 
 had been frequent during the year, very often the lower di\'ision 
 contained just as many early comers as the upper. 
 
 In other schools where the head mistresses divide their standard 
 into boys' and girls' divisions, or again alphabetically, so as to have 
 both equal in number, but not in attainments, though there is a 
 decided difference in the attainments of the early and late comers 
 for the first six months of the education year, after that the 
 difference becomes less and less marked, till it frequently happens 
 the latest comers are among the best children in the class when 
 promoted to the senior department. 
 
 The examination papers, when procurable, showed a similar 
 state of things. There was in every case a very marked difference 
 between the papers of the early and late comers after the first term 
 in Standard I., indeed in many cases at this early stage of the work 
 it was not unusual to find the lower divisions or late comers not 
 able yet to attack a first standard reader. At the end of six months, 
 however, a comparison of the two. sets of papers showed much less 
 inequality, though in some cases the test given by the head mis- 
 tress had still to be an easier one than that set to the first division. 
 At the third or last examination the papers showed, as a rule, very 
 little difference. 
 
 In judging by these two tests, the different cases varied very 
 considerably, according to circumstances, and the general result 
 must be taken from the whole rather than from isolated instances, 
 some of which consisted of the usual exceptions proving the rule. 
 
 In one school with a good proportion of late comers the head 
 mistress planned to give them the best teacher and the sunniest 
 room. The class under these good conditions made such rapid 
 strides that it far surpassed in attainments and examination 
 results the other divisions of early comers, who happened to have 
 a weak teacher. In another school the early comers had all the 
 advantages : small numbers, a sunny room, a bright teacher, while 
 the corresponding division of the standard, viz., the late comers, 
 had had a succession of no less than five supply teachers during the 
 year. 
 
 In the majority of cases the children responded to what was 
 expected of them. Head mistresses with a high aim, naturally 
 obtained more than those with a low one. Those with foresight 
 and well laid plans, gained success where those without such met 
 with failure. 
 
 For the elucidation and confirmation of the third and fourth 
 points valuable statistics were easily obtainable from the transfer 
 forms (where procurable) supplied by the council and sent to the 
 s3nior departments with the children promoted. The facts gained
 
 20 Miss Munday''s Report. 
 
 from these were rather startling, and quite upset the original theory 
 that what may be called the laggards and the repeaters consist 
 chiefly of children who have begun their education late. 
 
 The term " laggards " is here used to designate those children 
 who on their eighth birthday were still on the roll of the Infant 
 School, while by " repeaters " are meant those children who having 
 spent a year in Staiidaid I. in the Infant School between the ages 
 of 6^ and 7i, had to repeat the work of the same Standard when 
 promoted to the senior departments. 
 
 After deducting the names of those children admitted during 
 the year and whose past history it was therefore impossible to 
 trace, also of those physically and mentally deficient, who on leaving 
 the infant department would be drafted to special schools, the 
 histories of the remainder were carefully considered. 
 
 The past history of 400 eight-year old infants showed that out 
 of this number 246 had been at school since three or four years of 
 age, while 154 had not come till five or more. This works out 
 roughly to 61 ' 5 per cent, and 385 per cent, respectively. Curiously 
 enough the percentages of the repeaters work out to the same 
 within a decimal point, viz., out of 450 traced 275 were in the infant 
 school as babies and 175 did not attend till five. 
 
 These statistics are certainly surprising, and not at all what one 
 would expect. They lead one to ask — 
 
 (a) Whether a sufficient number has been taken to make this 
 evidence conclusive. 
 
 (6) Whether other towns shew a similar state of things to exist. 
 
 (c) If conclusive, whether they point to faulty systems of 
 classification and promotion in our infant schools, or to 
 wrong methods of education in the same. 
 
 The children trained belonged to various types of school and 
 locality, and the statistics yield practically the same results, viz.. 
 that there are laggards and repeaters in the well-to-do suburbs 
 as well as in the slum areas. It would seem to show that at this 
 stage good food and comfortable environments have less to do 
 with the mental powers and attainments of the child than one would 
 suppose. 
 
 All head mistresses are unanimous in stating that those children 
 who enter school for the first time at six years of age or older are 
 a trial, not so much because they cannot learn quickly but because 
 if justice is to be done to them special arrangements have to be made 
 by which they are taken and taught separately till able to join the 
 children of their ages in class. This disorganises the routine of a 
 school, be it large or small, and unless very liberally staffed is an 
 unjust arrangement to those children who have been sent when the 
 law ordains, and who have first claim on the time and attention of 
 the teachers.
 
 Mias Munday''s Report. 21 
 
 For tho purposes of tlio inquiry some schools of a semi- 
 rural tyjie were visited and compared with London and suburl)an 
 ones. The presence of very young children is not nearly such an 
 acute problem in the country as in London, especially in the slum 
 areas. 
 
 An analysis of 800 admissions in the schools visited gives the 
 following statistics. 
 
 Ages at which children are admitted, viz. : — 
 
 Three Years. Four Years. Five Years. 
 
 24 
 
 29 
 
 47 
 
 25 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 50 
 
 32 
 
 40 
 
 28 
 
 19 
 
 43 
 
 38 
 
 25 
 
 39 
 
 36 
 
 8 
 
 30 
 
 62 
 
 19 
 
 39 
 
 42 
 
 177 
 
 290 
 
 333 
 
 58% 
 
 42% 
 
 From these 800 cases one sees that roughly 58 per cent, are ad- 
 mitted before five and of these only 22 per cent, are three. In 
 one school only was it found that children under three were ad- 
 mitted, and here as many as ten had been present during the school 
 year. In London, especially in poor crowded districts, the number 
 would be very different, 70, 80, and 90 per cent, being in most cases 
 on the roll before five, and the larger number of these enrolled at 
 three or even present before that age. 
 
 This is due chiefly to the fact that the children have much farther 
 to travel to school than in London, two and a half miles seemed 
 the longest school journey undertaken. 
 
 It is rather a curious fact that at one village where children 
 belonging to estates are comfortably driven to and from school 
 in gigs and traps, etc., and hot cocoa, etc., is provided at a well- 
 ordered institute close to the school for a midday repast at a trifling 
 cost, the children come later than in any other village visited. 
 
 Staff. — In all the schools visited the staff was sufficient in number 
 (a marked contrast to London), adequately qualified, and 
 sympathetic with young children. In two out of those schools 
 visited the babies' teacher was a supplementary teacher, but in 
 both cases the classes were very small, and both teachers were 
 of a sensible and superior type. 
 
 Premises. — These for the most part are very good indeed, and 
 in capital condition and repair. 
 
 8525. C
 
 22 Miss Munday^s Report. 
 
 In only one school was there no separate room foi the babies, 
 but as the children under five numbered only five the absence 
 of a separate room was not so apparent as it would have been 
 with a larger number. 
 
 Most of the baby rooms are large, light, and airy, with ample 
 level floor space and movable kindergarten desks. Two rooms 
 only were fitted with large galleries, but the authorities are arrang- 
 ing for their removal, the substitution of level floor space and dual 
 desks. Two of the baby rooms have been very recently built, 
 one indeed has only been completed this week. I regret to find 
 that these have no southern aspect and the windows are placed 
 unnecessarily high. 
 
 It seems extraordinary to me what pains local authorities and 
 architects take to exclude the sun when planning and building 
 schools. If building a house for themselves and their families 
 they arrange that at any rate, the nurseries and schoolrooms 
 shall be light and sunny, while doctors are loud in their advocacy 
 of the sun as a valuable necessity for children if they are to grow 
 up strong and healthy, and large sums are paid to nursemaids 
 for the chief purpose of taking out the young children of the rich 
 in the sun for as many hours per day as possible. Yet all con- 
 cerned strive to exclude the sun from the buildings erected at 
 large cost to house during their term of school life the children 
 of the poor. 
 
 Hundreds, nay, thousands of the children of this sunny realm 
 of England, children belonging to an empire on which the sun 
 never sets, are condemned to spend their school days in rooms 
 in which the sun never shines. With all due deference and respect 
 to those persons now advocating the giving of food costing money 
 to children when necessary, why, when this question is so thorny 
 and difficult, should they not devote their energies first to the 
 provision of sun-food to the children freely and perfectly in the 
 schools and playgrounds which the law of the land compels them 
 to attend from the age of five to fourteen ? 
 
 None of the baby rooms or classes were in the slightest degree 
 overcrowded, and this in spite of the fact that April is the last 
 month of the educational year. This proved a marked contrast 
 to the stacked galleries and overcrowded baby rooms noticeable 
 in London Council schools in July. 
 
 E^ery school had also a good percentage of Standard VIT. on 
 the roll, some of whom had even passed their fourteentli birthday. 
 This is also a marked contrast to the ordinary London schools, 
 when Standard VII. in many cases in July does not reach 5 per 
 cent, of the roll except when " artificial " promotion has been 
 resorted to. 
 
 *" No dou])t tills satisfactory state of tilings is due to the 
 
 Educational Autliority having sensibly chosen April for the end
 
 Miss Mundaifs Report. 23 
 
 of the school year, as spring is the favourite time with mothers 
 for sending little ones to school for the first time, and spring is 
 also the time for the commencing of agricultural or other business 
 activities when firms are glad to take on additional hands. 
 
 The treatment of the children under five is rendered difficult 
 in many schools by some of the older late-coming infants of five 
 or six being taught in the baby room with the little ones. The 
 teacher of the babies naturally devotes much of her time to these 
 older ones in order to fit them quickly for promotion, and mean- 
 time the babies suffer from lack of attention and the lack 
 of sufficient movement and exercise. This mixture of babies 
 and older late comers in the baby room is one of the evils arising 
 from slackness in enforcing school attendance, now rapidly im- 
 proving in the country, and the false idea that some teachers 
 possess that every child at whatever age it joins should spend a 
 year in each class of the school, which causes children to lag 
 and mark time and ultimately be seven or eight years of age 
 before entering Standard I. 
 
 School Hygiene. — The children seen m all the schools looked 
 remarkably strong and healthy. In two schools families were 
 shown me of puny dirty children, due to both parents being 
 drunkards. One of the cases is under the surveillance of the 
 officers for the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 
 and the father has suffered imprisonment for neglect. 
 
 In another, school dinners are provided free or for payments from 
 the scholars during the winter months, not so much because the 
 children suffer from insufficient or unsuitable food as the 
 distance that many of them have to journey to school prevents their 
 going home at midday, and managers and teachers think it advis- 
 able to provide hot food for those thus needing it. 
 
 At present no school visited is under medical supervision, though 
 one or two were before being taken over by the authority. I under- 
 stand the matter is receiving the attention of the County 
 
 Council. 
 
 Curriculum. — The tendency of the more recently provided time 
 tables is for shorter lessons for the younger infants, and in the 
 best schools separate arrangements are made for the babies with 
 good results. Needlework and knitting and their attendant drills 
 are practically absent from the teaching of children under five. 
 
 In some cases, however, much attention needs to be paid to the 
 time tables for the babies with a view to rendering them more 
 interesting. There is need for more movement, more variety, and 
 more attention to the development of observation and speech. 
 As the classes are all of a reasonable size there is nothing to prevent 
 this being done, and thus rendering the teaching more individual 
 and less mechanical. 
 
 A noticeable feature of the curriculum was the excellent physical 
 exercises of the cliildren. In all schools visited except one, the 
 drill was capitally done, generally in the open air and with keen- 
 
 8525. c g
 
 24 Miss Munday^s Jieport. 
 
 no.RS, Hish, and ovidont enjoyment hy both teachers and taught. 
 T here is no doubt that the country child, judging from the^apecimens 
 seen, drills nmch better than the London infant. 
 
 Physical Exercises. — In one school the arrangements for drill are 
 worth noting. In this case the time devoted to drill is more than 
 double what the Code ordains, viz., two hours fifteen minutes 
 weekly. The older infants performed the exercises of tlie old 
 model course to music with pleasing zest and spirit. Turning to 
 the other part of the work done, not only was there no falling 
 off in the attainments of the scholars in the three R.'s and 
 other subjects because less time had been devoted to 
 
 them, but this was the only school visited where 
 
 the ages were satisfactory ; and also in the tests given to show 
 powers of observation and originality, the children scored a 
 
 higher average than that of the other schools. This would 
 
 show rather conclusively that a due and right attention to the 
 development of the bodies of young children tends at the same time 
 to improve and quicken the mental faculties, so that more education 
 can take place and more instruction can be imparted in less time 
 than when the physical side of the child's development is 
 neglected. 
 
 Attainments. — There is no evidence whatever that the attain- 
 ments of children are higher when it is seen they have begun their 
 school career early. In the tests given to try the children's 
 powers of observation the results show them to be practically 
 equal. In originality the late comers have a slight advantage. 
 Very similar results are obtainable in the country to those noticed 
 in London children. 
 
 The Standard I. children in the schools visited were mostly 
 
 taught in the senior department. Both in these classes and in 
 Class I. of the infant school the children were very " old." With 
 one exception the ages of the majority of the children in Standard I. 
 were one or two years higher than they should be. In one infant 
 school every cliild in Class I., infants', was either seven or eight years 
 old. In this case building enlargements had hindered the transfer, 
 but the obvious remedy to prevent these children " marking time " 
 would have been to take the same syllabus of work for them as that 
 given in the Standard I. of the senior department. 
 
 The same hindrance to educational progress is also as likely 
 to occur from the practice of payment by number or grades as in 
 former years by payment by result. Whereas the latter often 
 caused the children to be unduly pressed, it is likely the former will 
 cause the scholars to be unduly retarded. 
 
 When I asked one mistress why a dozen or so of bright but ' old 
 infants had not been promoted to Standard I. she frankly told me 
 that the presence of that dozen on the roll just pulled up the average 
 of the school a grade higher than if they were absent, and this meant 
 a matter of £20 more salary per annum to her Obv'ously the 
 arrangements which allow of such temptation in the paths of teachers
 
 Miss Munday^s Report. 25 
 
 are not right, and with some thought and care might be prevented 
 by the Education Authority. It was a significant fact that of the 
 seven children in Standard VII. in the senior school all with one 
 exception had received part of their education in other schools. 
 
 It is a good sign that the teachers are as a rule sensible to the 
 present state of things with regard to the ages and hope to improve 
 matters. A great deal of it is due to the poor percentage of atten- 
 dance which has hitherto been reached in the locality, and which the 
 local authority, attendance officers, and teachers are all striving to 
 improve and with good results. No amount of work on the teachers' 
 part can have any effect if the children are not present to receive 
 the instruction provided. When the council have succeeded in 
 enrolHng every child at five and insisting on regularity of attendance 
 after that age, the ages will right themselves. The infant 
 schools will benefit by having no children over seven, except those 
 physically or mentally unfit for promotion, of which there seem 
 remarkably few in the country, and the organisation of both senior 
 and infant departments will be improved. The babies' classes will 
 chiefly consist of children below five, for which a simpler curri- 
 culum and more physical movements can be arranged if the teachers 
 in charge be not chiefly occupied in teaching late comers five and a 
 half, six, or seven years old who have joined late and know nothing ; 
 and every child will have its chance of reaching and spending a 
 whole year in Standard VII., which is the most valuable of all, or 
 of competing for some scholarships earlier m its school career. 
 
 Judging from the schools visited, and the work seen, the outlook 
 for the country schools is a hopeful one, pointing to good 
 work done in the past, seen by the type and work of the Standard 
 VII. child, and to intelligent knowledge of the needs of the 
 present and future, seen by the zeal displayed in arousing interests 
 in education and compelling attendance at school, and lastly by 
 the provision of suitable premises and sufficient and efficient teach- 
 ing stpff for the children when sent to school. 
 
 Eyesight {London and Cowntrij). 
 
 In departments recently visited by the oculist the numbers of 
 children whose eyesight had been considered very defective was 
 taken, nine departments gave the total of 224 defective -sighted 
 children. Owing to the large numbers of transfers it was impossible 
 to obtain a correct estimate as to whether the children had begun 
 school attendance before or after five. The chief fact that the 
 investigation brought forth Avas that the number of girls with bad 
 sight was very much in excess of that of the boys ; out of the total 
 number taken — 224 — 78 were boys and 146 girls, nearly twice as 
 many. The two schools with the largest numbers of defective- 
 sighted children were those whose infant departments are very dull, 
 sunless, old-fashioned, with seats mostly back to the light.
 
 2G Miss Munday's Report. 
 
 As needlework and knitting are the only occupations indulged 
 in by girls and not by boys, the above facts seem to point to this 
 subject as the probable cause of the mischief. 
 
 As the repeated injunctions by the Board of Education in the 
 Code and elsewhere as to the danger of the employment of too fine 
 materials and implements, the teaching of too small stitches, and 
 the spending of too much time in the occupation are, to a great 
 extent, disregarded, the following recommendations might perhaps 
 improve matters : — 
 
 (a) That no needlework or knitting be taught to children 
 
 before they enter the six year old class. 
 (6) That fine materials and small implements be forbidden to 
 beginners. 
 
 (c) That from six to seven not more than one and a half to two 
 
 hours be given weekly to the subject. 
 
 (d) That no specimens or garments worked in infant schools be 
 
 shown at exhibitions of school work. 
 
 In the country schools visited the eyesight was particularly good. 
 Perhaps the good, well-built, well-lighted rooms had something to 
 do with this. In the eight schools visited there were not more than 
 ten cases of bad sight, and two of these were from London children 
 in homes. 
 
 The schools visited may have been exceptions, but certainly in 
 these the eyesight was most satisfactory. 
 
 Needlework and drills for children under five were also practically 
 unknown in these country schools. 
 
 After examining in detail the various points dealt with on Form 
 61 it will not be out of place, perhaps, to try and summarize 
 conclusions from the evidence thus obtained. 
 
 From evidence taken it appears : — 
 
 1. That children under five have practically the same treatment 
 
 as regards staff and school hours as that given to older 
 infants. 
 
 2. That the curriculum for the younger infants is very similar 
 
 to that provided for older ones. 
 
 3. That the premises in which they arc taught, though improv- 
 
 ing, are far from ideal, and that in many council schools 
 the babies use the halls and playground less than the other 
 classes, and not more, as one would expect. 
 
 4. That very little attention is paid to school hygiene, con- 
 
 sidering the importance of the subject, and that no statis- 
 tics respecting the physical condition of children on the 
 roll are taken or kept. 
 
 5. That the children of the respectable, thrifty parents are 
 
 on the whole well fed, well clothed, and well cared for, 
 but have more indulgences in the form of luxuries and 
 amusements than the children of the professional 
 classes.
 
 Miss Mwiday^s Report. 27 
 
 6. Tliat the children of the poor, in or Ijordering on the shim 
 
 areas, are to a very great extent unsuitably fed, and during 
 the winter months many of them actually suffer from 
 insufficient food. 
 
 7. That when this state of things exists the evidence of mana- 
 
 gers and teachers shows that it is due more to wastefulness, 
 thriftlessness, laziness, and drunkenness on the part of the 
 parents of the children rather than to ignorance, lack of 
 work, or dearness of food materials. 
 
 8. That in the opinion of managers, teachers, and parents, 
 
 children in poor neighbourhoods decidedly benefit physi- 
 cally and morally by attendance at school before the age 
 of five, even in schools possessing only fair educational 
 merits. 
 
 9. That in the opinion of parents in good neighbourhoods, 
 
 unless the school be small and good, the better class child 
 often deteriorates physically and morally by an early 
 attendance. 
 
 10. That attendance at school between the ages of three and five 
 in both foor and yood neighbonrhonds has practicaUy no 
 value on the child'' s mental and intellectual powers. 
 
 1 1 . That children coming only at five are, on the whole, not less 
 orderly, not less quick in learning the three R.'s, and more 
 observant and original than children coming at three. 
 
 12. That those from good homes as a rule deteriorate in speech, 
 
 but that those from poor ones improve. 
 
 13. That locality, food, buildings, equipment, and status of 
 teacher have very little effect at this stage on the mental 
 capacities of the child, but that personality has. Thus 
 arranged in order of merit the results showed — 
 
 (a) That the self and home or street developed child 
 
 is the most observant and original. 
 
 (6) That the child attending a small school, with 
 
 many teachers, though not highly qualified on 
 
 paper, comes next in order. 
 
 {c) That last in order comes the child brought up in a 
 
 huge class, in a barrack school, and who has 
 
 therefore had but one-sixtieth of a teacher's 
 
 attention (and that perhaps the same adult) for 
 
 every hour of the four years of its life in the 
 
 infant school. 
 
 N.B. — Of course these are generalisations on the whole. There 
 
 are small schools painfully mechanical and dreary. There 
 
 are larger schools and classes where bright and vigorous 
 
 teachers endowed with personal magnetism and love of 
 
 children draw out wonderfully the powers of their scholars, 
 
 in spite of huge niunbers. 1 do not wish for one moment 
 
 to infer that every small school is perfect, and every large 
 
 one a failure, or that because buildings and equipment
 
 23 Miss Munday^s Report. 
 
 seem to have little influence on young children, that the 
 best possible of such should not be provided by authorities 
 for the children under their care, but authorities sometimes 
 forget that fine buildings, modern equipment, and highly 
 qualified teachers will not of themselves guarantee that 
 the children educated therein will receive the best educa- 
 tion in the highest requirement, namely, personal character, 
 and that conversely because a building is out of date that 
 is not a reason that it may not give within its walls an 
 education of the highest possible type to the scholar attend- 
 ing it. 
 
 14, That though there is a great difference in the attainments 
 of early and late comers if tested and compared at the ages 
 of six, if even when in the Standard I. class at the beginning 
 of the educational year, this difference gradually lessens 
 towards the end of the year, and when children are ready 
 for promotion has practically disappeared. 
 
 15. Lastly, statistics show that the older children in infant 
 schools and those who, through backwardness, have to 
 repeat Standard I. work in the senior department are not 
 those who began their education late, but that in both 
 returns they consist of no less than 61 per cent, of children 
 who were on the roll of a school at three or four years of 
 age. 
 
 Suggestions for the Consideration of the Board of Education 
 Concerning the Future Treatment of Children Attending School before 
 
 the Age of Five. 
 
 The inquiry seems to point to mistakes in the present treatment 
 of children under five. Instead of the promotion of self-develop- 
 ment under safe, liealthy, or happy conditions being the aim and 
 rule of those in charge of these young minds, the chief aim has 
 been instruction, with the result that the child with the least so- 
 called educational advantages proves itself mentally more alert 
 and vigorous at seven than the one who has spent five hours per 
 day, five times weekly, under the care of an up-to-date educational 
 authority. 
 
 The fact is that the home developed child to a great extent 
 educates himself, and, in the course of a day, uses many adults to 
 this end. 
 
 His powers of speech have ample practice as he prattles unre- 
 strainedly all day to his mother. He will probably accompany 
 her on her shopping expeditions to the baker and butcher and 
 greengrocer, each of whom is likely to make some observations 
 from which the child profits directly or indirectly. He will come 
 into contact with some animal life by stroking the baker's cat, 
 jjattiug the butcher's dog, and listening to the greengrocer's canary, 
 lie will liave suiue useful kindergarten occupation by helping his
 
 Miss Munday^s Report. 29 
 
 mother to shell the peas for dinner. Or if a healthy, active child 
 he will have to run to and fro while out, thus exercising his limbs 
 and muscles and employing and lilling his lungs. In the afternoon, 
 if sleepy, he has a comfortable nap. When he awakes he probably 
 finds a visitor has arrived, quite ready and anxious to answer his 
 interminable questions, and to tell him stories and show him 
 pictures. 
 
 The little scholar, however, finds himself at nine o'clock one of 
 sixty or more units ; he may spend the whole day without a direct 
 personal remark being addressed to himself, and, if a shy reserved 
 child, without opening his lips except for simultaneous answering 
 or repetition ; except for the short fifteen minutes' play in the 
 playground, he will only be familiar with one room and its contents 
 out of the huge bmldings. He may catch a glimpse of the head 
 mistress as she hurries in once perhaps during .the session to obtain 
 some return from the registers. With the exception of occasionally 
 standing up for a short interval of drill or singing he will have sat 
 in the gallery till very tired of the posture. If he has the mis- 
 fortune to be one of the middle children in the gallery stack he 
 will not be the fortunate one to be brought out to make an on 
 teacher's blackboard or to handle and smell the solitary apple 
 used for the object lesson. He will probably touch nice things 
 in the shape of bricks and beads, but the chief value of such hand- 
 ling, alas, lies in the practice of the virtues of self -repression and 
 obedience, for the touching and arrangement thereof are done 
 strictly to order. 
 
 After considering the two instances it is not surprising that 
 the home developed child, though he has not directly learnt any 
 of the three R.'s, is the better educated of the two. 
 
 Staff. — The more highly educated the mind the farther it is 
 from the sphere of baby intelligence and understanding, hence 
 very highly qualified and intellectual persons are, as a rule, the least 
 likely to deal best with young children. That they do sometimes 
 succeed is not due to their training and learning, but rather in 
 spite of it, and because they approach their charges not as learned 
 students of Bain or Herbert Spencer but as the elder sisters of 
 Tom, Dick, and Harry. Persons need not therefore be highly 
 trained or qualified experts to educate babies, but preferably 
 young bright girls without high attainments, fond of children, 
 sympathetic, nice mannered and sweet-voiced, patient and firm, 
 with the idea of ministry and service to the children as their 
 chief aim rather than the teaching of them. 
 
 The children in the nursery from three to five should be simply 
 minded, kept from harm and danger, allowed to develop on their 
 own lines and in their own way, under gentle discipline, guidance, 
 and control, in the open air whenever weather jiermits. All teaching 
 of the three R.'s should be abolished, except incidentally as a 
 form of occupation, to pass the time induitrs, when a succession 
 of wet and cold dayij [ revents out of duors employment.
 
 ;u) 
 
 Miss Mundaifs Report. 
 
 ReU(jion:i and Moral 
 Exercises. 
 
 The chief aim of the guardians should be to instil good manners 
 and improve and enlarge the children's speech and vocabulary. 
 
 In good neighbourhoods the nurseries might be opened only in 
 the morning, but in poor localities for the usual school hours. 
 
 Curriculum.— ^Oi the five hours, at least half the time should 
 be spent, weather permitting, out of doors. After the first forty - 
 five or fifty minutes indoors, necessary as a rest and change for 
 those children who have walked some way to school, an exchange 
 of twenty minutes in and twenty minutes out has been found to 
 work well. Should the playground be unusable on account of 
 weather, the hall may be substituted as a change of air and scene. 
 
 The time out of doors will best be spent in free and guided play, 
 exercises, drill, games, and attending to plants and animals. Such 
 pets as cats, rabbits, parrots, canaries, pigeons, doves, bowls of gold- 
 fish and more ambitious aquaria, may all be kept in London schools 
 and help to take the place of " Mary's lamb " to the city child. 
 
 The time left for indoors occupation will only allow, fortunately, 
 of a very simple curriculum. This may be divided into four parts. 
 
 Prayers and hymns, always said and 
 sung with the utmost reverence and 
 sometimes by individuals as well as 
 by guardian and class ; and pre- 
 ceded and followed b}^ a short 
 interval of silence. Talks and stories, 
 religious and secular, to aim at form- 
 ing good characters and manners. 
 Free play. 
 Guided games (made in England not 
 
 Germany). 
 The use of balls, hoops, skipping ropes, 
 
 ninepins. 
 Simple cricket, football. 
 Very simple drill, marching, hopping, 
 
 nmning, jumping, 
 (a) Conversation (individual). 
 (6) Recitation (individual). 
 
 (c) Songs (individual). 
 
 (d) Stories. 
 
 (a) By guardian. 
 
 (b) By children, 
 (e) The Alphabet. 
 
 Knowledge of the names of 
 capital letters separately 
 and in their order. 
 /Self help in dressing, undressuig, fetch- 
 ing, carryhig, tending animals, plants. 
 -^The use of ball, bricks, doll, sa?id tray, 
 and blackboard and chalk, picture 
 \ book. 
 
 \j Physical Exercises. 
 
 Ju the open air whenever 
 possible. 
 
 Language Exercises. 
 (a) In Primary Schools the 
 
 mother tongue. 
 (6) In High School Khider- 
 
 gartens a second language 
 
 as well. 
 Taught while children rest 
 
 in seats. 
 
 Manual Exercises.
 
 Miss Mundai/s Report. '31 
 
 The chief attention should be given to the mother tongue, and 
 the children should be encouraged to speak and suig correctly, indi- 
 vidually, and with pure pronunciation without hesitation or shyness. 
 One of the differences between American and English children 
 noticed by the members of the Mosely Commission was the clear 
 unaffected speech of the American scholars when addressed by 
 teachers and visitors in their classes, compared to the shy mumbling 
 often characteristic of English children in elementary schools. 
 Great attention to the speech of the children is also given in French 
 schools. 
 
 This may be attained in several ways : — 
 
 (a) By encouraging and engaging children in individual con- 
 versation. 
 
 (6) By recitations and songs by individuals. 
 
 (c) By the telling of stories, religious and secular, each one 
 introducing new words and phrases to enlarge the children's 
 vocabulary. 
 
 {d) By encouraging the children to tell stories. 
 
 In some schools oral composition has been introduced hi the two 
 upper classes of the infant school, but not hitherto with children 
 of five or younger, yet there is no reason why this should not be done. 
 
 I recently asked a baby two years and seven months old to tell 
 me a story ; nothing daunted she held forth thus : — 
 
 " Once there was four big lions, then there came a big moo cow, 
 and the big moo cow did eat up the four big lions." 
 
 Here was a complete story in three sentences, and quite 
 original, for the adult with her had certainly insufficient imagina- 
 tion to make a moo cow eat one, let alone four big hons. 
 
 It will be noticed that in the above curriculum the three R's, 
 sewing, drawing (except from blackboard), kindergarten games 
 and occupations, are all abolished. 
 
 The inquiry shows that children beginnmg the three R.'s late 
 attain just as great a proficiency in them at seven as those spending 
 weary hours over them between three and five, and that 
 Kindergarten games and occupations as practised in the 
 majority of infant schools are merely following the letter of 
 Froebellian teaching and not his spirit, and their abolition would, 
 I feel sure, be an educational gain, while medical men state that 
 sewing and drawing injure many muscles of hand and eye — 
 especially when done to drill or with small implements. 
 
 I once made a suggestion to a head mistress about some small 
 matters and she replied, " Oh, yes, so and so would be much better 
 for the children, but the teachers would not like it." 
 
 On another occasion when I asked the head mistress if the baby
 
 32 Miss Mundaifs Report. 
 
 class ever used the hall, she replied, " All the other classes do once 
 a week, but the babies do not, they would make it untidy." 
 
 Yet in both these schools where the spirit of Froebel teaching 
 was absent, kindergarten occupations and games occupied a 
 prominent place on the time table of the schools. 
 
 I once asked three bright children, five and six years of age, during 
 their first term at a high school kindergarten how they liked it. 
 " Oh, we do like the mornings so much," they all said. " It is 
 fun ; we do real lessons. But the afternoons are horrid, we only 
 do that stupid kindergarten, and we hate it." 
 
 While the writings of Froebel are excellent and should be studied 
 by all teachers for the spirit of the teaching they contain and the 
 love and knowledge of the child mind they evince, his actual pro- 
 cedure in teaching and his use of the various " Gifts " are no longer 
 suited to the present age, and had he lived in the present century 
 and seen the variety and excellence of school books, materials, and 
 toys and games, I feel sure he would never have invented his 
 " Gifts " or games. They should be as obsolete as quill pens in 
 schools. 
 
 Premises {Room). — The ideal nursery should consist of a large, 
 airy room, with level floor space. It should have a southern aspect, 
 windows on two sides, low, to within twenty inches of floor, with 
 Venetian shutters to exclude the sun when too strong, but to allow 
 of the air entering. It should possess a door leading direct into 
 the playground, but with a sheltering screen or porch. The covered 
 playground and offices should be easily accessible. 
 
 Close to and in direct communication with main room would 
 be a lobby, containing the clothes stands and lavatory basins twenty 
 inches from the ground for the children to wash their hands. 
 
 Furniture. — Round two or more sides of the wall from the floor 
 up to twenty inches high would be lockers, one for each two children 
 accommodated in the room. These would be six to eight inches 
 in depth. On these would rest small blackboards on which the 
 children would draw. The window and locker ledges would serve 
 also to stand pots of plants and flowers. 
 
 The lockers would contain the children's toys, etc., to train them 
 to share places and things amicably. 
 
 The contents would be such things as the following : - 
 Tin plates on which to eat their lunch tidily. 
 Balls, boxes of bricks, dolls, picture books. 
 The dolls and picture books would be different in each locker, 
 and children might change lockens weekly, or monthly, to give 
 them variety. Ml things should be fetched from and returned to 
 lockers tidily by the children. 
 
 Each child should possess a separate chair, with arms and an 
 adjustable back, in order to be upright or sloped to allow of the
 
 Miss Mundmfs Rpporf. 33 
 
 child to sleep in a semi-reeumbent posture if tired. These chairs 
 should also contain a table flap in front of child on which to stand 
 its toys, and they should be light so as to be easily moved from 
 place and taken into the playground if necessary. 
 
 Other articles of furniture would be guardian's chair, table, and 
 cupboard, and, of course, a piano or pianette would be useful. 
 
 The number of children a guardian could train and manage 
 under these conditions would, I think, be about twenty-five to 
 thirty. 
 
 Although the ordinary baby rooms in our schools differ very 
 considerably from the one just sketched, yet there is no reason why 
 they could not be altered and improved at no great cost. Most 
 of them woidd contain a fair level floor space if the larger cum- 
 bersome galleries were removed. Chairs, lockers, and blackboards 
 could then be easily provided. 
 
 I see also no great difficulty in the provision of suitable guardians 
 to mind and train young children. There are hundreds of young 
 girls, bright, fond of children and teaching, but who loathe the 
 idea of qualifying as teachers because of the examinations they must 
 pass before being eligible for posts. These would, I think, prove 
 ideal baby minders. The only training and qualification they 
 would require would be a few months spent in a baby room such as 
 I have sketched, to prove their aptitude and capacity for the work, 
 and to learn the ways and means best suited to carrying out the 
 simple curriculum. 
 
 Such arrangements for treating the children from three to five 
 would also have the advantage of freeing gradually some hundreds 
 of trained certificated assistants to fill the vacant posts in the ele- 
 mentary schools of London, many of which are suffering from a 
 serious dearth of teachers. 
 
 ScJiool Hygiene. — The admission register should contain space 
 for recording the child's physique when admitted. Such record 
 should show what illnesses the child has had and what, if any, 
 ailments or weaknesses it may be suffering from. Height and 
 weight measurements should be taken on admission, on the child's 
 birthdays, and at other intervals. Sight should also be tested 
 and recorded as soon as the child knows the alphabet. Before 
 the child is acquainted with these symbols, such testing is im- 
 poss'ble. 
 
 The nurses which have proved so valuable will probably be 
 increased and their sphere and scope of work enlarged. They should 
 visit and warn the parents should the children be seen to be 
 suffering from wrong diet, insufficient sleep, or unsuitable or 
 insufficient clothing, adenoids, deafness, and deficient sight. 
 
 Buildings should also be improved in the matters especially 
 of aspect, heating, lighting, and ventilation. It is generally allowed 
 now that a southern aspect is the most desirable in London, for as 
 the Italian proverb states, " Where the sun does not enter the 
 doctor does."
 
 34 Miss Munday^s Report. 
 
 Lastly all apparatus and occupations and exercises should bo 
 so planned as not to prove injurious to any of the children's senses, 
 muscles, or nerves. 
 
 Perhaps some critics may think that children brought up thus 
 freely and happily for one or two years will fret and prove undis- 
 ciplined when subjected to the ordinary school routine at five. A 
 sudden transition to a dreary curriculum and time table would 
 certainly prove irksome, but for children between the ages of five 
 and seven shorter hours and more exercise can well be arranged 
 without loss to the three R's, as has been proved by interesting 
 experiments carried on in various schools. 
 
 In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to the many teachers 
 who have, by their kindness, experience, and courtesy, helped me to 
 investigate the various points upon which the Board of Education 
 desired information with respect to this inquiry, and without whose 
 time and help in the patient investigation of records or statistics 
 any complete and satisfactory report would have been impossible, 
 
 Rosalie A. Munday. 
 March, 1905.
 
 MISS BATIIURST'S REPORT. 
 
 Note by the Board of Education.-— TAis Report contains 
 many statements the accuracy of which is, at least, open to 
 question, and it has therefore been found necessary to insert 
 footnotes to some of the more serious of these statements in 
 order that impressions should not be conveyed to the reader 
 which are incorrect in fact and unfair to individuals or local 
 authorities. For the same reason the names of schools, places, and 
 persons are omitted. With the exception of these otnissions the 
 document is printed as it was received from, or revised in proof by, 
 Miss Bathurst. 
 
 I beg to submit a report upon iafant schools with special refer- 
 ence to children of five years old and under. 
 I have divided ray subject into three groups. 
 
 1. The system as it exists in town schools, giving special 
 
 attention to \ 
 
 2. The system as it exists in country schools, giving special 
 
 attention to the schools in — — and -.'^ 
 
 3. Remarks and suggestions on the system as a whole. 
 
 I also venture to enclose a pamphlet by Miss Wise of Man- 
 chester, with whose views I have much in common. 
 
 \st Group. Town Schools. 
 
 In connection with town schools, I have visited this year some 
 
 fifty-five infant schools in — — '^ while in the previous six 
 
 years I have seen some hundreds of schools in , , 
 
 , , and '^ also in the near neigh- 
 bourhood of .'^ I have also visited a few schools for well- 
 to-do children conducted on Kindergarten principles. 
 
 By the kindness of Mr. — , Secretary to the ■ — 
 
 Education Committee, I have been able to study minutely the con- 
 ditions of one average infant school in -:^ I only regret 
 
 that ill-health prevented this special inquiry being carried to a 
 conclusion. 
 
 My original plan was as follows : — 
 
 To choose an average and therefore representative slum school. 
 
 To give every possible detail as to the home conditions, physical 
 health and school surrounding of every individual child in it. 
 
 To compare this one school with other schools visited under 
 ordinary conditions — to point out differences and likenesses and 
 generally to obtain information on which recommendations for 
 improvement might be based. 
 
 I give the results as far as I have been able to go, 
 
 1 A large county borough is uauicd . 
 
 ■' Two rural counties are named. 
 
 ^ These are all names of large county boroughs and urban districts, 
 
 * A large county 1 lorough.
 
 36 il/is^Q Bafh}i,rsf'.<i Report. 
 
 . — On Mr. 's recommendation the special 
 
 school chosen was . His attendance officers were good 
 
 enough to give me information as to the occupation of the parent 
 and home condition of every individual child on the books. For 
 this purpose I prepared a special list of questions and I give the 
 results exactly as they appear in the Appendix. One question sug- 
 gested by me was omitted for obvious reasons in the returns — it 
 concerned the sobriety of the parents — on this point I am therefore 
 only able to give my smaller personal experience. The returns 
 represent investigation into 183 families and concern 221 children, 
 excluding those whose parents were publicans. In all they con- 
 cern a total of 1,415 persons, connected with one school. 
 
 Besides these returns I personally visited some sixty homes 
 from which the children attending this school were drawn, and I 
 personally assisted the doctor in an individual though hurried 
 examination of the baby class. (Fifty-six children present — time 
 occupied one and a half hours.) 
 
 I intended to connect the last two sets of inquiry — that is the 
 child's state of health with its home conditions, in order to ascer- 
 tain whether the child from the poorer home or the one-roomed 
 household was less well nourished physically or less alert men- 
 tally than the other children. 
 
 But on comparing results, the returns represented conditions of 
 so similar a character for all the children concerned that I thought 
 the labour involved would be superfluous. 
 
 The difference between a well- nourished or ill-nourished child 
 is almost always due to the money earned going in drink for the 
 parent instead of food for the child. 
 
 Of the fifty- five other infant schools visited in , 
 
 some sixteen were inspected in the ordinary way, and some thirty- 
 nine for the purpose of making a special inquiry. 
 
 For the latter a special result form was provided and a specimen 
 is enclosed for information, together with the form drawn up by 
 myself for tabulating results. See Appendix, page 61 seq. The 
 Board of Education will note that the form provides for the regis- 
 tration of every detail of school life, time allotted to the various 
 lessons — ages of the children — and all questions o-e sanitation, 
 ventilation, accommodation, methods and staff. These subjects 
 will be treated under the three heads already given, beginning 
 with Group 1, town schools, while both Groups 1 and 2 will be 
 sub-divided under {n) Premises (/') Physical condition of children 
 {(•) Curriculum and inspection. 
 
 Town Schools. — Under this head it is necessary to place 
 
 by itself. The conditions which hold here are exceptional, 
 
 and many of my criticisms would be uncalled for if applied else- 
 where. 
 
 In public elementary schools under voluntary agencies 
 
 existed very early in the last century.^ A large number of these 
 
 1 This statement is open to question. Few, if any, of the present Volun- 
 tary School buildings in the city named were in existence Ijoforc 1850.
 
 Miss Bathursfs Report. 37 
 
 early buildings have been handed over to the local authority — 
 some of them were not orginally built for educational purposes and 
 are ill adapted for such purposes now. 
 
 The population is, I understand, diminishing in some localities 
 where factories are slowly replacing sites hitherto occupied by 
 dwelling houses. In these cases the local authority is naturally 
 loath to improve buildings which a few years hence may not be 
 required at all — while the increase in the value of the sites makes 
 such alteration cost an extravagant price. 
 
 For these and other reasons the buildings of the larger number of 
 infant schools are very unsatisfactory. 
 
 Little class room accommodation exists — ventilation is generally, 
 and the heating apparatus constantly, insufficient. A most un- 
 suitable type of desk survives in nearly every school ; the lighting 
 is often inadequate — gas has to be lighted occasionally during 
 school hours in May and June — while the streets are paved with 
 granite " sets," and the consequent noise from passing vehicles 
 completely drowns at times the sound of the teacher's voice. 
 
 These circumstances, combined with the constant fog and de- 
 pressing climate, make school life unusually difficult and dreary, 
 and greatly increase the strain which the work of inspection 
 involves. 
 
 I will now proceed to discuss the various points in order, beginning 
 with premises. 
 
 Premises. 
 
 Offices. — In many buildings the offices are too close to the school. 
 In one case the offices for all departments are underneath the baby 
 room. The smell comes through the floor. 
 
 In another the playground is below the level of the street. It is 
 lighted by side lights of narrow depth, and is surrounded by the 
 offices of the school which ventilate into it. 
 
 The main school room is immediately over this playground. 
 
 Even when the arrangements are good it is questionable whether 
 sufficient care is taken to exclude the public. 
 
 In this connection I recall a school in where the head 
 
 mistress told me that she was obliged to leave the door from the 
 street into the playground unlocked for half an hour after the 
 opening of the school, to admit late comers. 
 
 That a neighbouring doss house where tramps were accommodated 
 took advantage of this fact and used the offices. That the little 
 children came back frightened by finding such tramps inside the 
 office?. 
 
 A case occurred while she was talking. I myself saw a most 
 filthy and low type of tramp cross the playground on his way to the 
 street. 
 
 S.V2.-,. I)
 
 88 Miss Bathurst's Report. 
 
 I understand that police protection is only given for short periods 
 if complaint is made, and that this chronic source of danger has no 
 permanent remedy. It is noticeable that women teachers are 
 foolishly shy in reporting such cases to men inspectors. 
 
 Playgrounds. — The playgrounds are very poor and few of them 
 are paved. 
 
 Ventilation. — Ventilation is, as a rule, inadequate. A large 
 number of schools have windows that will not open below, and my 
 personal experience is that the smell of dirty clothes never escapes 
 when windows can only be opened above. 
 
 If every window in every school were made to open, the increase 
 in draught would, in my opinion, be more of an advantage than 
 disadvantage to the public health. 
 
 On this point the teachers themselves are slow to realise that the 
 warmth associated with a close atmosphere is a source of ill- 
 health. Cold is a more obtrusively uncomfortable sensation than 
 drowsiness caused by bad air. 
 
 Fireguards. — The carelessness in providing these is extraordinary 
 and the small number of accidents is miraculous. 
 
 The remedy requires to be brought before inspectors, managers 
 and teachers in some strongly worded compulsory form. 
 
 At one school in — — a child in the baby class was burned to 
 death. 
 
 When the mistress applied for fireguards, the clerk of the 
 
 -School Board sent one guard for that one fireplace ; some 
 
 600 children attended the school and some seven other fireplaces 
 were unprovided for. 
 
 In no school does any provision exist for extinguishing flames 
 There are no rugs and no blankets and no remedies for simple 
 burns, scalds or cuts. An ambulance cupboard should be part of 
 the necessary apparatus of every school. 
 
 Again, both in town and country, children are admitted to school 
 before there is any responsible person on the premises. At 
 
 , between 8 and 9 a.m., I have found several children 
 
 standing round an unguarded fireplace drying their dripping 
 clothes : the caretaker was the only other person on the premises 
 and the school contained several rooms. 
 
 Water Supply. — In town schools, included, this 
 
 seems to be satisfactory, but the same drinking cups are in use for 
 all the children, and this practice is open to grave objection. 
 
 Accommodation. — On this point I give extracts from two school 
 reports. 
 
 Council School. — Accommodation for thirty- 
 two without floor space in class room. On books the 
 numbers reached eighty-one, while sixty-two children were 
 present. The desks intended for five children were holding 
 eight, and remainder of the children were writing on the 
 knees.
 
 Miss Bathursfs Report. 39 
 
 Wesleyan Class. — A class room to accom- 
 modate thirty children contained sixty-three at the last 
 inspection. 
 
 Other cases of overcrowding abound. One difficulty is universal. 
 The accommodation is considered sufficient by the Board of 
 Education if the average attendance throughout the year does not 
 exceed certain regulations;^ but about Whitsuntide a rush of 
 children begins, and at the hottest time of the year such children 
 are packed together in rooms far too small to hold them, and con- 
 taining, as in above cases, no sufficient desk accommodation. 
 
 I think it highly desirable to make the provision of extra rooms 
 and teachers obligatory on the local authority between May and 
 August. 
 
 Some system of supply teachers or voluntary help could surely 
 be organised when the need is of so regular and recurrent a nature, 
 moreover the admittance of new children is very upsetting 
 to the work of a class which has been in existence since the previous 
 September. 
 
 Desks. — In my Table it appears that twenty out of thirty-nine 
 schools have no backs to the desks used by those above the baby 
 class, the larger number have no footrests, and many are quite 
 unsuited to the size of the child. Thousands of children are 
 using desks that are too high or too low for them, the seats having 
 no backs and no footrests.-^ Hundreds of children are using seats 
 not provided with desks at all. 
 
 The discomfort must be great, while in some cases the conse- 
 quences are serious. If a desk is too high the child raises its 
 shoulder to reach the surface on which it writes, and I can 
 
 remember an infant school at "' where the desks 
 
 reached the necks of the babies who therefore were writing on sur- 
 faces which they could not see. 
 
 Another result with a high desk is very common. The child stands 
 up and leans over the desk in a stooping position throughout the 
 writing lesson, or again, it raises itself by sitting on one of its own 
 feet : in all such cases the position adopted is undesirable. With- 
 out desks children are obliged to use slates instead of paper and are 
 bent double when writing on their knees, while a second common 
 and pernicious practice is to place children standing up back to 
 back, writing on slates, with one arm round the slate to support 
 it and the whole back bent crooked in consequence while the 
 lesson lasts. 
 
 This injudicious position is adopted to prevent " copying " 
 but the remedy is far worse than the evil, especially with infants. 
 
 ^ This statement appears to be made in ignorance of the i)rovision.s of . 
 the Code ; see specially Article 19 in the CJode for 1904. 
 
 '^ This statement cannot be accepted as true of the area under 
 consideration. 
 
 ■' A small place in a rural county is named 
 
 8525. T> o
 
 40 Miss Bathursfs Report. 
 
 In spite of these strictures many desks are, in my opinion, con- 
 demned unnecessarily. In the country it proved an easy matter 
 to get alterations made by a local carpenter. Desks and seats 
 could often be unscrewed from the iron frame and rescrewed nearer 
 to one another. Backs and footrests could be added, or blocks of 
 wood inserted between the framework and seat, or framework 
 and desk, to raise either to the level required. 
 
 As almost the whole of the schools in — appear to 
 
 require re-desking, I do not understand why the local authority 
 does not keep its own staff of workmen, and before obtaining new 
 desks get expert opinion as to whether the old ones are not capable 
 of re-adjustment. 
 
 Blackboards. — Please see remarks under country schools. 
 
 Free Space. — Very little provision exists for this in — . 
 
 In my Table it appears that fifteen out of thirty-nine schools have 
 none at all. 
 
 Heating Apparatus. — This is constantly inadequate, ]jut the 
 absence of thermometers or entries in log books about the tempera- 
 ture, make exact statements impossible : moreover, in 
 
 my work began when the cold weather was practically over. The 
 lack of proper heating apparatus increases the dislike to open 
 windows already commented upon. It is very desirable that both 
 managers and teachers should not associate a warm room with the 
 exclusion of fresh air. 
 
 The next group of subjects is connected more or less directly 
 with the health of the children, viz. : The amount of standing, 
 the position when sitting (apart from that which the type of desk 
 renders unavoidable), and the question of drill. 
 
 Standing. — It is customary in ■ to make the children 
 
 stand up for the reading lessons ; by some mistake, one of the in- 
 spectors had advocated this on the ground that it was idle to sit 
 down.^ A motionless attitude for fifteen, twenty and thirty minutes 
 on end is most fatiguing, and if one considers that this is adopted 
 when standing on desks and on seats as well as on the floor, the 
 evil is obviously increased. Accidents from falling off the seats are 
 
 not unknown. I saw one very bad case — (see also 's 
 
 evidence on this point, page 12). 
 
 Again, at , the same class was kept standing through- 
 out religious instruction and for the two following lessons. It 
 is quite common to meet with teachers who have not noticed 
 that the same children are standing for two consecutive lessons. 
 
 (See also my remarks under country schools.) 
 
 Insufficient attention is given to the fact that out of school these 
 children are always on their feet and that, except as a relief from 
 sitting, standing should not be compulsory for more than a few 
 minutes at a time. 
 
 ' The Board of Education are endeavouring to obtain confirmation of this 
 statement, which appears to rest upon hearsay evidence.
 
 Miss Bathursfs Meport. 41 
 
 Kneeling on seats should also be discouraged, it is an unnecessarily 
 fatiguing attitude. 
 
 Position when sitting. — I will again refer to my remarks on country 
 schools and I would add that far more latitude is desirable on this 
 point. The best teacher will have no rule, she will maintain dis- 
 cipline by keeping the attention of her class, but in the interests of 
 the larger number of teachers some general recommendations may 
 be helpful. 
 
 I would recommend "hands on knees" as a harmless attitude, 
 and I would discourage " crossing arms " or " arms behind " — 
 the one position narrows the chest, and the other forces the chin 
 forward and rounds the shoulders. I would deal summarily with 
 the habit of making children sit with their " hands on their heads." 
 
 This position is constantly enforced in on children who 
 
 are waiting for the teacher's attention. Even for five minutes the 
 position is one of sheer cruelty. 
 
 Another position, that of " hands out " is far too rigorously 
 enforced. With a view to checking simultaneous answers and 
 as an aid in maintaining order generally, it is customary to insist 
 upon every child raising its arm when asked a question. The 
 attitude is m6ant to indicate that the answer is known. But if 
 an eager and clever child replies verbally a rebuff follows — " I 
 didn't ask you to speak. Put your hand out — that is naughty," 
 and so on. Babies of three years old are drilled in this way, and 
 such a method at such an age turns children into little machines. 
 
 After a very few public snubs the sensitive child sinks into a 
 silence which his future school career will not terid to break. The 
 superficial " order " this plan produces is insufficient compensa- 
 tion for the interest extinguished, and the class is reduced to a 
 uniform outward goodness in which originality or self expression 
 has no part. 
 
 Drilling.— T^he use of any sort of dumb-bell is bad for infants. 
 In one school those in use for children of six years old weighed 
 six ounces a pair. I had them weighed in a neighbouring shop. 
 (See also remarks under Country Schools.) 
 
 I would, however, add that the scheme for drill in 
 
 is the best I have yet seen. The physical drill instructor has been 
 careful to exclude exercises likely to be harmful to little girls, and 
 the only fault I find is that work intended for Class 1 only, is at- 
 tempted at four and five years old. 
 
 Inspection and Curriculum. 
 
 Before proceeding to discuss the curriculum in detail, I would 
 call special attention to the duplicate system of inspection under 
 
 which the teachers and children of are suffering. Here, 
 
 although the Government provides its own inspectors, the local 
 authority provides a second set for practically the same purposes. 
 
 I have myself been the fifth inspector sent to visit one unfui- 
 tunate school in one week.
 
 4.2 Miss Bathurst's Report. 
 
 I heard on good autliority of another where thirteen separate 
 mspectors had inspected a school in the same space of time, i.e., 
 one week.i 
 
 The effect of this incessant mspection is, in my opinion, most 
 harmful. 
 
 The teachers have no freedom and no opportmiity of attempting 
 experiments- — they are harassed by the desire to please all — and 
 usually fail to please any of their advisers. 
 
 The inspection consists far too largely of testing results, and 
 the schools are judged by results'- rather than by more reasonable 
 methods. 
 
 Of the two sets of inspectors those under the local authority 
 carry most weight, as upon their verdict depends the promotion, 
 pay and prospects generally of the staff. Both sets of inspectors 
 sign the time-tables. 
 
 I ought, perhaps, to explain that Government inspectors have 
 hitherto signed these if they satisfy the conditions of the Elemen- 
 tary Education Act, 1870, and their signature is given to that 
 effect only.^ This the teachers do not understand. They, assume 
 that the signature expresses also satisfaction with the distribution 
 of the time at their disposal, whereas technically it merely certifies 
 that the requisite number of subjects are taught.^ 
 
 Indirectly, however, inspectors are responsible for the distri- 
 bution of the time among the various subjects, as it is they who 
 fix the standard of attainments expected from each class. 
 
 I am of opinion that the standard fixed in — is too 
 
 high. It cannot be attained on a big class system without the 
 expenditure of too great a share of time on each subject. On 
 these points I have spoken further under the question of Staff. 
 But at present we undoubtedly pay too big a price for the com- 
 modity of learning to read, we sacrifice intelligence to obtain at- 
 tainments. 
 
 In proof of this I appeal to the time-tables, which affect the 
 school life of 10,001 children. 
 
 Out of 39 schools visited : — 
 20 schools have lessons lasting 30 to 35 minutes on end. 
 5 schools have lessons lasting 40 to 45 minutes on end. 
 19 schools have needlework lessons lasting one hour on end, 
 10 schools give from 4 to 5 hours a week to " reading ; " this means 
 a quarter of the whole time the school is open. 
 
 ^The facts are these. The local authority in this city lias only three 
 " visitors " in each division, and there are only six officers on the regular 
 Goveriuiient Start", of whom no more than three would visit even the 
 largest school. Itencc it is unlikely that even as many as six persons 
 wouldin one week officially visit the school : that they should all insi)ectit 
 is most improbable : that thirteen should do so is imi)ossih]e. 
 
 -Tliis has not ))een so for some time past {see Code jMssi/n) so far as the 
 Board of Education is concerned. 
 
 ■■ Tliese statements must not be accejjted as correct.
 
 Hiss Bathiirst's Report. 43 
 
 14 schools have needle threading as an occupation. 
 
 18 schools give two hours or less (mostly less) to occupations. 
 20 schools have no backs to the seats used by those above the baby 
 
 class. This usually represents three-quarters of the school. 
 
 Others are not fully supplied. 
 2 schools have no backs to the seats used by the baby class. 
 In 15 schools the head teachers believe the food to be unsuitable, 
 
 insufficient, or both. 
 
 15 schools have no space for games 
 None have any sleeping accommodation. 
 
 Games are practically unknown outside the baby classes. A 
 few are going to start these under the combined influence of Miss 
 — — (Kindergarten Inspector) and myself. Otherwise recreation 
 is that allowed in schools for older scliolars, i.e., twenty -five to 
 thirty minutes per day. 
 
 (In a school at — the baby class did not go into the play- 
 ground with the other children. " It took too long to get babies 
 in and out of the room.") 
 9 baby classes are in charge of teachers under Article 68. 
 15 baby classes are in charge of certified teachers. 
 Remainder are in charge of teachers under Articles 50 and 51. 
 Only one teacher had any further qualification. 
 
 Let us now examine these results in detail. 
 
 19 out of 39 schools devote 50 minutes or one hour on end to 
 needlework. This subject is often begun at four and five years old, 
 and little children sitting on seats without backs, whose feet cannot 
 reach the floor, are kept in the constrained position necessary for 
 needlework for no object whatever except to satisfy the requirements 
 of the inspector. 
 
 In every school two lessons per day in two out of the three R's 
 is a common occurrence. In several cases three lessons per day 
 on the same subject appears. The baby class of three year old 
 children is not exempt. The reason for the arrangement is always 
 the same, " Inspectors require such and such results," or " Half 
 the children only attend half the day, unless two lessons are pro- 
 vided for, they will learn nothing at all." 
 
 Such a plan penalises the child who attends all day, and dis- 
 plays the old prejudice that education consists in learning to read, 
 write, and count, and all time spent otherwise is wasted. 
 
 With children of three years old I am mclined to say that all 
 time spent in reading, writing and counting is wasted, as, if left 
 to themselves till six years old they will master in a few months 
 the attainments now acquired by a painful process between three 
 and six. At this age they can co-operate with their teachers and 
 if properly employed previously Avill have had sufficient interest 
 aroused in " things " to desire to know more. Reading would 
 be a step to the desired knowledge and the child would do its best 
 to learn. As it is we destroy all desire to read in imparting tlie 
 power to read.
 
 44 
 
 Miss Bathur8t*s Report 
 
 " To awaken an interest in things " sounds somewhat colloquial 
 for an official report, but constant contact with Froebelian phrases 
 unaccompanied by the Froebelian spirit arouses aversion to such 
 expressions as " developing the spontaneous activity of the child." 
 As for Kindergarten, it represents to many people a certain number 
 of gifts or occupations — it is associated with " boxes of cubes " — 
 " paper folding " and so on — they forget it is not the thing used, but 
 the spirit in wliich it is u^ed, which makes a Kindergarten. Froebel 
 used the concrete to illustrate the abstract and led the child by an 
 orderly sequence to a desired goal, leaving his followers free to 
 evolve for themselves the best manner of using the material within 
 their reach. 
 
 If this is so we can have a Kindergarten which possesses no 
 single gift called after his name, and conversely we can have the 
 gifts without the Foebelian spirit. In practice, although the gifts 
 are to be found in nearly every elementary school, the knowledge 
 of how to use them is exceedingly rare. 
 
 In consequence of this " Kindergarten " gets a bad name, it is 
 seen under a totally wrong aspect and judged by its failures. Until 
 both teachers and inspectors have been trained in kindergarten 
 methods the distribution of kindergarten apparatus will have little 
 effect. 
 
 I now enclose the time table of a baby class in a secondary 
 school. 
 
 Kindergarten. — 
 
 School. 
 
 Edster Term 1904. 
 
 9.30 
 10. 
 10.15 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Tuesday. Wednesday. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Picture 
 Lesson 
 
 1 
 •p. ■ ! Nature 
 Drawing , Lenson 
 
 1 
 
 K.G. Songs 
 and talk 
 
 Ball Songs 
 and Practice 
 
 Drill 
 
 Drill 
 
 Ball Drill 
 
 9.45 Singing 
 with Class V. 
 
 Ball Drill 
 
 Gifts 
 III and IV. 
 
 Matting 
 
 Stick-laying 
 
 Story 
 
 Sewing 
 
 10.45 
 
 Play and 
 Lunch 
 
 Play and 
 Lunch 
 
 Play and 
 
 Lunch 
 
 Play and 
 Lunch 
 
 Play and 
 Lunch 
 
 11.15 
 
 liru.sh-work 
 
 Singing ^ 
 with Class V. 
 
 Paper- 
 folding 
 
 Cutting-out 
 with Class V. 
 
 Clav 
 
 Modelling 
 
 with Class V. 
 
 12. 1 Games 
 
 Games 
 
 Games 
 
 Games 
 
 Ball Games
 
 Miss Baihui'sfs Report. 45 
 
 I am informed that no cliild begins to learn to read till six years 
 old. 
 
 I myself heard the result, six months later. They were quite 
 equal to those of the average elementary school child, but the 
 class was small (some eight children) and of course every child 
 was well fed and clothed. 
 
 I noted, however, that the handwriting was very inferior to that 
 of children in elementary schools until about the age of ten or 
 eleven, then the results were perfectly satisfactory. I gather from this 
 fact that we are inclined to press for perfection at too early an age. 
 The number lesson given here was also most interesting and 
 suggestive. 
 
 This subject is usually very badly taught in schools. 
 
 Long sums involving " thousands " in the answers are set down 
 and worked mechanically, concrete material is rarely used, and 
 little mites of four and five are drilled in endless tables, recited 
 in a sing-song voice. A few schools occasionally use cubes or 
 counters, but no one seems to realise that the concrete material can 
 be varied to an infinite extent, and that to manipulate figures up to 
 twenty in every possible way is a more educative process than 
 the treating of higher numbers, with which a child's mind is wholly 
 unfamiliar. 
 
 I used to supply lists of concrete material to teachers, " leaves, 
 stones, shells, spills, bricks," etc., to try to force them out of the 
 mechanical drill into which they unconsciously drift. 
 
 With regard to occupations my time table tells its own tale. In- 
 stead of being the centre they are the "etc.," to school life : but 
 the chief difference between the real kindergarten system and 
 our own consists in '' Discipline." 
 
 Self-government is the moving principle in a good secondary 
 school. There the children elect their own captains and obey them 
 with enthusiasm. In our system self-government has no place. 
 Rigid military order, the carrying out of, in many cases, senseless 
 and reiterated commands constitutes discipline. Too often caning 
 appears in the background,^ and out of school when the motive of 
 fear is no longer operative, there is nothing to replace it in the 
 child's life. The system is cumulative in its effects, and passes from 
 one generation to another. A child who has been slapped, slaps in 
 its turn. 
 
 In I know from an eye witness that twenty to thirty in- 
 fants were caned for unpunctuality, not one of whom could read the 
 clock. I am not at liberty to give my authority, but a similar case 
 came before me in . I was also told by one of the mis- 
 tresses that although caning was forbidden by the Education 
 Committee, resort to it was universal. Besides this, outside 
 evidence on the poini: was given me by — in — . 
 
 ^ The Board of Education have for some years stated that caning is not 
 pemitted in infants' departments.
 
 46 Miss Bathurst's Report. 
 
 Three of lier children attended Higher Grade 
 
 School. The little girl aged nine came home to dinner one day last 
 December white and frightened. She said an inspector was coming 
 to examine the school and that if she failed to pass her examination 
 she would be caned. She could eat nothing, and although she 
 passed her examination she has been ill ever since ; in fact she 
 was at a convalescent home for weeks afterwards and was still 
 
 unable to attend school in , 189 . 
 
 Occasionally the child would come in to see me, she always stood 
 absolutely motionless and thanked me like a speaking tube for 
 any little present, but never moved an inch until I suggested her 
 running away to play. I was seriously alraid that fear had made 
 her half-witted. The mother said that the same child had often been 
 caned for unpunctuality and that it was not her fault as she had 
 to take a younger child to the infant department. This younger 
 one would get frightened at trams or animals and stand still in the 
 road — on these occasions it was impossible to get him on. 
 
 The boy in the infant department had also been caned, and he 
 was suffering from concussion of the brain at Christmas, as he fell 
 off the seat on which he was made to stand. (See my remarks 
 
 on standing.) went to the teacher to complain about 
 
 the caning. Miss said, " Oh ! of course, we do tell the children 
 
 that if they don't pass they will be caned, but we don't m.ean your 
 little girl, she is a good little girl, we only mean the idle ones." 
 
 — very sensibly remarked, " The idle ones will not care, 
 
 and the sensitive ones will care so much that it will make them ill." 
 
 In spite of these facts, I am of opinion that at least four of the 
 infant schools I visited did not allow corporal punishment in any 
 form. 
 
 Nevertheless, in most infant schools — I use the words advisedly — 
 the discipline expected results in a terrible and inhuman system. 
 
 Little children are subjected to military rather than maternal 
 influences, and neither in their home life nor in school do they 
 come in contact with love and sympathy and all that is entailed 
 by the word " motherliness." Individuality is crushed out, spon- 
 taneous questions are checked, and at three years old children are 
 forced to follow a routine only suitable to a far later age. 
 
 We all acknowledge the necessity for order and obedience, but 
 this type of order and the lack of all self-government leads even- 
 tually to intellectual stagnation. When questions are not asked 
 unsolved difficulties accumulate, statements that are learnt by 
 heart pass for understanding, and the idleness produced by accept- 
 ing other people's thoughts results in contentment in not knowing. 
 
 I most earnestly believe that much of the stupidity and lack of 
 initiative complained of in domestic servants is due primarily to 
 our infant school system. We are destroying intelligence on a 
 wholesale scale by our infant school methods. It tells more hardly 
 on the girls than on the boys, as from the time they can walk their 
 playtime is curtailed by minding the baby. This occupation leaves
 
 Miss Bathurst's Report. 47 
 
 little opportunity for experiments or discovery on their own ac- 
 count or for the valuable education involved in getting into and 
 out of scrapes. 
 
 These opinions are however so contrary to those usually held, 
 that I would protect myself from the charge of exaggeration by 
 specific details. 
 
 I feel that the word discipline conveys something to a man's 
 mind which is wholly bad for little children. Inspectors appear 
 to dissociate discipline from the work of the school. 
 
 To me discipline is merely a means to an end. Sitting " still " 
 may be pleasanter for me but it is not in itself a more moral pro- 
 ceeding than fidgetting. The latter is the necessary consequence 
 of a dull lesson on an intelligent child. 
 
 Yet school reports often criticise the teaching as poor and add 
 that the discipline is satisfactory. 
 
 Can the discipline be satisfactory when the teaching is unsuccess- 
 ful ? If discipline is the result of interest aroused in the child's 
 mind the teaching and the order are part of the same thing. 
 
 Again, inspectors would theoretically disclaim the expectation 
 of results which I have attributed to them. 
 
 Yet see lleport, March, 1893, on , — ■, 
 
 . " The second and third classes are backward." The 
 
 head mistress assures me that nearly every child had been admitted 
 that year. They were all five years old or under. 
 
 The Report on says, " The methods are right but 
 
 I see no results."^ The baby time table of this school allowed 
 two lessons on the three R.'s on several days a week. This meant 
 forty minutes per day for three year old children in Arithmetic. 
 
 Another report says, " Discipline in Class 3 is only good when 
 under the immediate supervision of the head mistress." The 
 latter told me that while the inspector talked to her she was obliged 
 to leave her class to itself. Ought we to expect children of from 
 three to five years old to sit still and continue to occupy them- 
 selves when unsupervised ? 
 
 In this connection I would comment on the action taken by the 
 
 Local Authority with regard to age for promotion and 
 
 time for closing school. 
 
 The Council inspectors insist on children who will be seven years 
 old before the close of the school year — say nine months after- 
 wards — going up in July to the school for older scholars. 
 
 I most strongly deprecate this plan and its resulting pressure 
 in the early years of school life. 
 
 Again, a rule now exists making the time of closing identical for 
 infants and for elder scholars. The teachers are unanimous in 
 complaining of the fatigue and difficulty of keeping school going till 
 
 * No report to this effect can be found in the Office records of the school 
 named for the last five years. The nearest that can be found, says : " The 
 methods of instruction are correct and successful. It would be better if the 
 teachers would work more quietly."
 
 ■is Miss Bathursfs Report. 
 
 4.15 and 4.30. I think the Code should make it compulsory that 
 all time spent in school, above the regulation hours given in the 
 Code, should be spent in games and physical exercises. 
 
 I also note that the excessive clerical work now imposed by the 
 local authority upon the teachers — such as filling up forms, making 
 returns, reporting on eye sight, etc., seriously interferes with their 
 freedom to supervise the children. 
 
 On behalf of the teachers I must also give my opinion about the 
 methods employed in elementary schools. I have quite come to 
 the conclusion that the best methods do not produce the highest 
 attainments, and therefore so long as inspectors judge schools by 
 their output it is useless to expect the teachers to employ better 
 methods. 
 
 Example. — The children in many cases in — — read better 
 
 than I can remember elsewhere. But the method of instruction 
 is one of pure repetition, sometimes of one word, sometimes of one 
 letter. 
 
 Another illustration supporting this view occurred in ■- — . 
 
 The school had received excellent reports, yet the mistress in charge 
 of the baby class made the babies (all of them three and four years 
 old) say the letter X 120 times without stopping. This happened 
 in my presence. 
 
 I allow that this case is exceptional, but I maintain that in spite 
 of progress, repetition is the staple means of conveying so-called 
 instruction to infants. 
 
 In — , where far better methods are attempted, the results 
 
 are not so high. 
 
 In using the word results I mean the actual attainments of a 
 child of six in power to read, write and do sums, and I believe that 
 this is greater when taught in a big class by repetition than by self- 
 help. 
 
 The individual attention required for the latter system cannot 
 be given in big classes. 
 
 In some country schools when the class is small and a separate 
 teacher is provided, the self help system acts admirably both in 
 results and in encouraging intelligence, but intelligent methods 
 and big classes are not compatible. 
 
 This of course brings us to the question of staff. The same 
 regulations exist for infant and other schools, and yet the younger 
 the child the greater the need of individual help. With the present 
 scarcity of teachers the one remedy appears to be that embodied 
 in Summary and Suggestions (see end of Report). 
 
 I am also fully convinced that it is of no use to attempt to force 
 the pace of the poor child before seven years old because it is going 
 to leave school at fourteen. Only harm results in such efforts. 
 Until a child's first teeth are cut and its little limbs are strong it is 
 unfit to be taught on a class system. Individual children can 
 learn unconsciously much earlier at their mother's knee — but to 
 compare school and home results under such different circum- 
 stances is wholly misleading.
 
 Miss Bathurst's Romrt. 
 
 49 
 
 The Board of Education will, perhaps, have observed that no 
 information has appeared in reference to the last page of the result 
 form.^ 
 
 The omission is unavoidable. 
 
 To question 9 on page 3, " Do the children suffer from unsuit- 
 able food ? " the teachers gave such vague replies that no statis- 
 tical evidence could be based upon them. My experience points 
 to a certain callousness in teachers. They get accustomed lo 
 misery and assume that a child is not ill if it attends regularly and 
 does not complain. 
 
 For meals actually given, see list. 
 
 The distribution of free dinners was commenced last year early in 
 
 , and the following list shows the schools at which the 
 
 dinners were supplied, together with the number of dinners given : — 
 
 School. 
 
 Dept. 
 
 No of 
 Dinners. 
 
 School. 
 
 Dept. 
 
 No. of 
 Dinners. 
 
 _ 
 
 B. 
 
 8,283 
 
 _ 
 
 I. 
 
 5,178 
 
 — 
 
 G. 
 
 4,313 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 6,518 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 3,909 
 
 — 
 
 G. 
 
 4,449 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 2,951 
 
 — ■ 
 
 I. 
 
 2,187 
 
 — 
 
 G. 
 
 6,177 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 1,610 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 3,280 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 8,261 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 4,214 
 
 
 I. 
 
 4,526 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 2,250 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 7,163 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 3,341 
 
 — 
 
 Jr. B. 
 
 3,618 
 
 — 
 
 G. 
 
 3,031 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 3,803 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 1,935 
 
 — 
 
 G. 
 
 1,818 
 
 — 
 
 Jr.G. 
 
 1,571 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 1,469 
 
 — 
 
 I. 
 
 1,623 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 5,249 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 1,856 
 
 -— 
 
 I. 
 
 2,284 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 4,988 
 
 — 
 
 B. 
 
 5,623 
 
 — 
 
 L 
 
 1,129 
 
 — 
 
 Mx. 
 
 12,537 
 
 __ 
 
 B 
 
 1,370 
 1,290 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 a 
 
 Total - . . 139,072 
 
 ■"-" 
 
 G. 
 
 5,268 
 
 
 the number of meals is no criterion of the number requiring 
 meals. 
 
 One common complaint was that of monotony — the same thing 
 is supplied every day, it consists of pea soup and hunks of bread. 
 Evidence exists of even the hungriest children turning from it by 
 the end of the winter. It was served in an unappetising way out of a 
 bath, no trouble was taken to arrange for temporary table cloths. 
 No voluntary agency existed such as Dr. Airy describes in his 
 evidence before the Commission. 
 
 Obviously free meals could be made both more appetising by 
 variety and more educative in good manners, if ladies could superin- 
 tend the meals. It is rather hard on a caretaker who is inade- 
 quately remunerated, and on the teachers who are overworked, 
 to be kept in school for this purpose. 
 
 (1) bee page 1 of this volume, where the Form of Questions is set out.
 
 50 Miss Batliurst's Report. 
 
 Mr. told me the great difficulty with " variety " was 
 
 the carelessness of caretakers. The things were badly cooked, 
 burnt, etc. 
 
 May I add here that I attribute the misery and starvation from 
 which 50 to 75 per cent, of the children are suffering to neglect 
 rather than poverty, and I believe the parents could usually 
 afEord to pay for the meals given, though I am equally sure that 
 they will not do so except under coercion. 
 
 In my opinion both the food and clothing of the children should 
 be matters about which the teachers and inspectors could interfere. 
 {See Regulations for Schools in Brussels.) 
 
 In fact the proper clothing of school children requires almost as 
 much attention as the feeding question: 
 
 In a mistress told me that no girl in the room had any- 
 thing on except her dress — it was a pouring wet day, but for this 
 reason it was impossible to attempt to dry their clothes. 
 
 In appearance the slum children of are the most 
 
 wretched I have ever seen — palpably starved and filthily dirty. 
 Their feet are either shod with clogs or in very bad boots. To 
 the clogs I take exception on the score of (a) weight (6) position of 
 the body when the heel is worn down. I am told, however, that 
 clogs are a sign of respectability, and that they keep the feet dry. 
 Personally I prefer to see children going bare foot. 
 
 Acje for Admittance. — The question depends chiefly on the home 
 of the child. The child from the bad home had better come early, 
 the child from the good home can come late. 
 
 Under existing circumstances of inspection and instruction 
 children who come late do not reach the standard expected by six 
 years old. The evidence supplied by " books " is hardly satis- 
 factory, many a child can write who can do nothing else. 
 
 Teachers are more or less unanimous in saying that regular 
 instruction before five is not for the benefit of the children, but to 
 satisfy inspectors. Many of them told me that the most brilliant 
 babies seemed to get dull by the time they reached the school for 
 older scholars. Nevertheless, the larger number of teachers ad- 
 vocate an early admittance, they say the child gets into order 
 sooner. 
 
 The Board of Education will understand that I personally 
 attach little importance to such a view, as I regard it as part and 
 parcel of a system I would fain see modified to a revolutionary 
 extent. {Sec Summary and Suggestions.) 
 
 Perhaps the following notes for a few single schools, all taken in 
 one week, may convey better than the general report how many 
 of the evils referred to can usually be found in any one school. 
 
 These notes were for my personal guidance and omit all details 
 not requiring criticism, the Board of Education must therefore 
 understand that only one side, the had one, is put before them. 
 
 School, . — 120 on books. Admitted at 
 
 three years old. H.T, prefers it. Homes bad. About forty
 
 Miss Bathurst's Report, 51 
 
 mothers go to work. Forty children have free dinners. Clogs. 
 Crossing arms. Arms behind. Hands on heads. Desks high up 
 to chests. Arms round paper when writing. Class 2 standing 
 up three lessons running. Twelve are short-sighted. Twenty- 
 eight out of sixty-two have had toothache. Drill inflicted. No 
 toys. Long lessons twenty-five and thirty minutes. Babies' 
 time-table the same as for others.^ 
 
 School, — . .—Books 101. 
 
 Forty have dinners. Thirty-one babies on books. Teacher 
 prefers early admittance. " Very rough if they come at five," 
 but no use in instructing before five. No toys. Verminous look- 
 ing lot. One case, mother earns 5s. a week selling rags, pays 3s. 6d. 
 for rent. Father only returns at intervals, gives her a few shillings, 
 and leaves because meals are not good enough. 
 
 School- — ■ — . — Six mothers only go out to 
 
 work. No free dinners, some twelve require such. Occup. : four — 
 but no toys. Sore heads more prevalent than toothache or bad 
 eyes or ears. No vermin. No fireguard. 
 
 School, . — Books 92. Arms on 
 
 heads and crossed. Standing on seats. No free dinners. Very 
 few mothers work. Better class. Thread needles as an occupa- 
 tion. H.T. would like a play-room and not to teach till after five. 
 Kepetition fourteen and more times. 
 
 School, . — Books 129. Nineteen mothers 
 
 go to work. No free dinners. Desks all dual holding three. 
 Eleven children on forms, who kneel on floor to write. Reading 
 backwards, one page again and again. Eyesight. One child in class 
 came with sore eyes, nine have since had ditto. Darkness. Gas 
 often lighted all day. Ventilation awful. Children often come 
 crying to school a.m. saying they have had " no tea." Babies 
 are drilled and thread needles as an occupation. Examined in 
 needlework by Council inspector. 
 
 School, —Books 181. Intelligent H.T. Fifty mothers 
 
 work, plus theatrical ones who work at night. Babies are ques- 
 tioned by Board examiner at three years old. Government inspector 
 a year ago said children were to stand for whole lessons. Babies 
 half asleep at last exercise p.m. Taken in all subjects. Many 
 underfed. Arranged in ages by Council inspector. Needlework 
 lessons last one hour. Toys wanted. Complaint of the many 
 inspectors. I am the fifth in one week. 
 
 School, — Books 176. Fourteen mothers go to work. 
 
 No free dinners. Twelve machine at home. Babies drilled. 
 Much repetition. Awful darkness.^ Awful ventilation.^ Dirty 
 looking lot. Helpless H.T. Silly schemes. Children of four writing 
 figures up to " 70." 
 
 ' These statements are not in accord with reports of the Board's 
 Inspectoi's — reports made since Misa Bathurst visited the schools.
 
 52 Miss Bathurst's Report 
 
 I subsequently discovered that a child's evidence as to whether 
 its mother went to work was unreliable, and that the teachers 
 could only "guess approximately." For these reasons I would 
 discount as evidence the above notes on " mothers at work." The 
 table given by " attendance officers results " is the only dependable 
 one. 
 
 2nd Group. — Country Schools. 
 Premises. 
 
 Offices. — In the country these are usually arranged (a) on a pail 
 system (6) or an ordinary cesspool exists. To the former there can 
 be no objection, slight difficulties occur with inefficient caretakers, 
 but none with which managers cannot cope. 
 
 One case, however, near , was disgracefully arranged, the 
 
 office itself touched the school wall, the entrance was through 
 the coal-hole, and when the pails were emptied they had to be 
 carried through the school. 
 
 The cesspool arrangement has very great drawbacks, especially 
 if placed too near to the school, or when insufficient care is taken 
 to have it cleaned out regularly. 
 
 But on carefully examining the names of some 100 country 
 
 schools placed on my list in and — — , and on the assumption 
 
 that the cesspool arrangement is to pass muster, it is satisfactory 
 to find that only four schools seem to call for special mention. 
 
 A.t Infants' School the children attend till eight 
 
 years old, and the boys' urinal faces the girls offices. This is 
 apparently allowed under the Board of Education regulations.^ I 
 think these regulations should be reconsidered. Great care should 
 be taken to make children careful on such matters, it is an impor- 
 tant part of their training, and what is once a matter of use becomes 
 later in life a matter of abuse. 
 
 A more difficult matter is the misuse of offices. At , 
 
 , these were in a terrible condition, the floor, playground 
 
 and seats were disgracefully used. Quite insufficient supervision 
 is given in playgrounds, and the boys are allowed to misbehave them- 
 selves unchecked. The head teachers always appear shocked when 
 the matter is complained of. but the daily supervision required to 
 prevent it is absent. 
 
 Awain, some teachers keep the doors locked — example, 
 
 Infant and Infant — only, as a rule, allowing children to go 
 
 out at stated intervals. This is a very dangerous practice to the 
 health of children drawn from houses where the parents are careless 
 and ignorant. I have often noticed that pupil teachers and in- 
 
 ' This is not so. The Bnildinp;- Rules of the Board naturally do not 
 exi)ressly forbid arrangements wJiicIi arc obviously improper. When cases 
 such as the one referred to are brought to tlie notice of the Board the 
 persons resi»onsible are at once required to remedy the evils complained of.
 
 Miss BathursCs Report. 53 
 
 experienced teachers allow children to cry before discovering they 
 wish to leave the room. On these points teachers require very 
 definite instructions and should be taught the importance of such 
 matters before being allowed to supervise a class. 
 
 Playgrounds. — Most schools possess them, but the teachers do 
 not sufficiently profit by them in taking classes out of doors. A 
 dread that the inspector may object, or " results " be less high, 
 seems to prevail. 
 
 Water Supply. — In country schools this is a great difficulty. In 
 
 schools round no arrangement seems possible except that 
 
 of collecting rain water. Tanks are not kept clean and sore throats 
 are complained of fairly often. But I cannot give exact statistics 
 on this matter. 
 
 Infant School had no water supply at all.^ 
 
 Fireguards. — For lack of them accidents have occurred in two 
 
 schools on my list in ^ In both cases the managers had 
 
 ignored the strongest possible recommendations in log books. It 
 is habitual to allow children to have their midday meal unsuper- 
 vised inside the school premises. I have found children alone at 
 midday with an unguarded tortoise stove. 
 
 On no subject are managers more careless, and an immense num- 
 ber of the schools I visit lack protection. 
 
 Over these matters inspectors have no control, and their recom- 
 mendations can be ignored for indefinite periods. 
 
 For suggestions under this heading see my remarks on Town 
 Schools. 
 
 Physical Condition of Children. 
 
 I have constantly been told when inquiring about the health of 
 delicate looking children, that they were illegitimate. 
 
 In most schools one or more families in the village appear to be 
 underfed, the children can often be picked out from each class 
 throughout the school. Reasons given are, as a rule, drunkenness 
 of one or other parent. 
 
 Teeth. — Out of ten schools visited in December, 1903, 112 children 
 out of 237 between the ages of five and seven had suffered from 
 toothache. The children's evidence was supported by that of the 
 head teachers, but I was not able to examine their mouths and I 
 had to depend upon the accuracy of the answers given to my ques- 
 tions. 
 
 One school was exempt from toothache. The parents of the 
 
 children were in the employ of the Duke of , and all 
 
 were well fed. 
 
 1 The school in question has a dilapidated pump from which a certain 
 amount of water is procured for cleaning purposes. The preinises, which 
 are very bad, are to be closed as soon as the new school, now being provided, 
 is completed. 
 
 2 A rural County. 
 
 §525. E
 
 54 Misg Bathursfs Eeport. 
 
 Eyesight. — Too little care is taken about eyesight. Managers 
 are often remiss in not providing blinds for south windows. 
 Children constantly sit with the sun in their eyes, and excessive 
 glare is a more common evil .than deficient lighting. A considerable 
 number of children require spectacles or advice about their eyes, 
 and many of the occupations are calculated to cause great strain 
 upon the sight. 
 
 I take special exception to the common practice of making babies 
 of three years old thread needles as an occupation. It is quite usual 
 to see this done for twenty minutes on end. It is true that the 
 needles are large — the size of bodkins — ^but it is wholly undesirable 
 to focus the eyes on a point of light for twenty minutes on end at 
 any age. 
 
 On this point I refer the Board to the statistics given under 
 Town Schools. 
 
 Blackboards. — Teachers are careless or ignorant when using 
 these. The children are placed (a) too much underneath, (h) too 
 far away from the board to read it easily. 
 
 Many teachers form the words indistinctly and use letters of too 
 small a size, while they are in the habit of taking blue or purple 
 chalks, a most difficult colour to distinguish on a black background. 
 
 Again, they use blackboards already ruled in squares, and the 
 effect of reading on a squared backgroimd from a long distance is 
 very dazzling. 
 
 Desks. — The number of schools with insufficient desk accom- 
 modation is enormous. Babies are constantly made to write on 
 their knees, using slates, and their backs bent double. 
 
 Warmth. — Thermometers are often omitted from school furni- 
 ture, but I remember several instances of schools where the thermo- 
 meter registered down to thirty-two degrees in cold weather. 
 
 Examples. , where the children sometimes cried 
 
 with cold. , near . It 
 
 is customary to delay lighting fires till late in the autunm, and 
 I have constantly been imable to spend a day in a school without 
 the comfort of a fur coat. 
 
 Ventilation. — As a rule inadequate. 
 
 Wet Clothes. — I have only once met with a country school where 
 means existed for drying the wet clothes of children coming from 
 a distance. Such provision should be compulsory. 
 
 Sleeping Accommodation. — I have never seen provision for this 
 in any country school. The babies, however, always go to sleep 
 in the hot summer afternoons. They fall forwards with their 
 heads on their arms and their backs curved, remaining in this posi- 
 tion an hour or two hours on end ; the attitude must be a fruitful 
 cause of curvature of the spine.
 
 Miss Bathurst^s Report. 55 
 
 Position in School. — ^Inspectors and teachers are largely in 
 favour of making children sit with the arms crossed. It is, of 
 course, w0ll known that the proportion of the length of the arm to 
 that of the body varies very much from childhood to manhood. One 
 inspector told me that it was a very comfortable position. He had 
 not apparently noticed that a baby of three years old can only — 
 because of the shortness of its arms — cross them on its chest. A 
 consumptive tendency and narrow chests must be much en- 
 couraged by this pernicious habit. 
 
 A strained position and motionless attitude is very bad for little 
 children, and when this particular position is adopted another is a 
 constant accompaniment. The child is made to rest its elbows on 
 the desk, this hunches the shoulders to a level with the ears, and 
 the maximum of discomfort must be attained. One reason for 
 this universal evil is the old one of " preparation for the inspector," 
 He requires " hands out " for answering his questions, and a fetish 
 is also made of the uniform tidiness of a class in this attitude. 
 
 Standing. — Far too much standing prevails. At 
 
 ■ Infant School the time tables provided that the babies 
 
 of three years old should stand once a week on little squares ruled 
 on the ground for one hour and twenty minutes on end.^ 
 
 Perhaps the Board of Education would like to see the log book 
 entries here. {See (dso Town Schools.) 
 
 Drilling. — In shire children of five and under were often 
 
 drilled with tiny dumb bells weighing some three ounces. They 
 were ornamented with little bells and gave a cheerful tinkle when 
 in use. 
 
 Drill specialists are unanimously of opinion that no child should 
 be subjected to any regular system of drill before seven years old. 
 In all infant schools I would replace drill by games — ^jumping, 
 marching, etc. {See again the note on Town Schools.) 
 
 Slates. — The evil of spitting on slates is universally recognised, 
 but by no means universally abolished. 
 
 Staff. — The best infant teachers I have ever seen have been 
 country teachers, and one or two of them were under Article 68. 
 
 Teaching is a gift, not an acquirement, especially where little 
 children are concerned. But in spite of the immense praise due to 
 a few teachers, I have no doubt whatever that on a big scale the 
 infants in country schools are neglected. 
 
 In many cases no separate room exists. A child monitress — 
 sometimes one under school age who is illegally employed (Ex. 
 
 , near ) or a very inexperienced teacher, under 
 
 Article 68, is responsible. 
 
 1 No such provision is, or was, in the Time Table of the school 
 named, so far as the Board of Education can discover, 
 
 8525. E 2
 
 56 Miss Bathursfs Eeport. 
 
 The curriculum is much the same as that of town schools, except 
 that where no assistance is given, the children are left to amuse 
 themselves for indefinite periods scribbling on slates. 
 
 The case of an infant class in a separate room where a master is 
 in charge of the mixed department is often deserving of sympathy. 
 
 The teacher, usually again under Article 68, has neither ex- 
 perience nor initiative for drawing up her own time tables, and the 
 master looks upon the class purely as a preparation for his own 
 department. He insists on a monotonous grind at the three R's., 
 and owns himself entirely out of sympathy with the phonic method 
 of learning to read or kmdergarten generally. I have known this 
 happen with masters who did very good work in the mixed de- 
 partment. 
 
 The lack of a woman's influence in country schools is more 
 marked than in town schools where it is always possible that one 
 manager may be a lady. Here men inspectors and masters with 
 the best intentions produce far too rigid and mechanical a cur- 
 riculum. 
 
 In ^ an excellent scheme exists for sending the country 
 
 infant teacher for a fortnight at a time to an School. The 
 
 County Council adopted it, and an informal examination was some- 
 times associated with it and expenses were largely paid by the 
 local authority. 
 
 The difference one fortnight of help made to an isolated country 
 teacher was very marked and the time spent was rarely wasted. 
 
 I might mention here that toys have been introduced into many 
 
 of the country schools of late years. This matter could 
 
 often be dealt with unofficially before the Education Act came into 
 force. The suggestion that the richer children in a place should 
 send discarded toys to the babies at the school, met with consider- 
 able response. When the regulations msist on giving instruction 
 in the alphabet, I used to tell the children that next time I came 
 I should examine the dolls. The desire that their particular doll 
 should do them credit proved an incentive to its teacher to learn 
 the letters demanded by the scrupulous ratepayer. 
 
 But from the moment that the schools came under the local 
 authority difficulties and red tapism arose. Voluntary help was 
 choked off, and the provision of " dolls " under " school apparatus " 
 in the requisition lists brought the inspector who had recommended 
 such wilful waste of the public money into collision with the County 
 Council. 
 
 I was officially informed that I had " ordered " what I had only 
 *' recommended," and managers were instructed that schools 
 existed for educational and not recreative purposes. 
 
 1 A rural comity. 
 - The county town.
 
 Mis'i Batharsfs Report. 57 
 
 With regard to infants in country schools I would, however, refer 
 to the remarks at the end of my report, and I also append the copy 
 
 ■of a letter from an — shire teacher who had asked me to come 
 
 and inspect her school. We have never met, so the letter is purely 
 impersonal. 
 
 " Very many thanks for your kind and sympathetic letter. Am so sorry 
 you are leaving the district for it is indeed important there should be more 
 women inspectors, especially for infants. Since I became an infant teacher 
 more than twenty-five years ago, I have had visits from about twenty different 
 inspectors, and I can truly say that only two had an idea what a little child 
 
 was like. (One was Mr. ). I suppose it is the law of nature. If 
 
 a man could really understand an infant he would be a mother and not a 
 father. I love my infants to be real children and not machines, for the 
 longer I live the more convinced T am of this, the older one grows the more 
 one looks back to childhood's days. How necessary then to make that a 
 happy time for the mind to dwell upon. It was stupid of me not to write 
 to ask you to visit us before this, for I have so often wished to have you see 
 my children's bright and happy little faces, and doubly disappointing after 
 screwing up courage to AVi'ite, to find it too late to have you." 
 
 As stated in Summary I am warmly in sympathy with the sug- 
 'gestion for medical inspection and the instruction of teachers on 
 matters connected with health. 
 
 Summary and Recommendations. 
 
 My whole professional experience leads me to the following con- 
 clusions. 
 
 It is desirable to distinguish between country and town children 
 for purposes of admittance. 
 
 I would exclude comitry children from school until seven years 
 old. At that age I should admit for half time, and if the numbers 
 exceeded twelve I should divide the children into two sections, 
 — one attending a.m., the other p.m., each section by this means 
 would receive greater attention. 
 
 Miss Fry, 239, Marylebone Road, London, W., has a scheme 
 for introducing organised outside help in country schools under 
 Article 68. 
 
 Such assistance would be invaluable to country teachers^ and 
 many daughters of squires and clergymen would be only too glad 
 to give regular assistance in classes on gardening, botany, etc., if 
 they were aware that it would be welcomed. 
 
 At present country teachers are constantly either left to work 
 single handed, or are given the quite inexpert assistance of a child of 
 fourteen. The wages paid to these children rarely exceed Js 6d. 
 a week, and by the time the child becomes useful she goes elsewhere 
 to get better pay. 
 
 The result is that the smaller children are left to a constantly 
 changing staff and the whole of their subsequent school life is 
 -affected injuriously in consequence. 
 S8-27. 5,000. 11/05. Wy. &S. 419.3»-.
 
 58 Miss Bathurst^s Report. 
 
 Moreover, the present system of forcing children of from three to 
 five years old to attend school for five hours a day, deprives them of 
 fresh air, inculcates a dislike to learning, and results in teaching 
 them, in many cases, to do nothing but sit still. This process i& 
 more stupefying than educative and is liable to encourage an 
 unin quiring habit of mind later in life. 
 
 On the other hand — the social conditions in large to\TOS, over- 
 crowding, drunkenness, employment of mothers, etc., make home 
 a place where, in many cases, the worst possible habits are learned, 
 and such habits have to be unlearned at school. 
 
 For these reasons it appears advisable to leave the existing laws 
 in force where town children are concerned ; this means that 
 admittance cannot be refused at three years old and becomes 
 compulsory at five.^ 
 
 I should, however, alter the name " school " and change it to 
 that of " national nursery." 
 
 The nursery system as far as I can judge would entail less rather 
 than greater expense than the existing system, while the same' 
 buildings, etc., could be utilised. 
 
 I attach, however, great importance to the change of name. 
 
 With the word school certain associations exist in the minds of 
 managers, and the child is sacrificed to that association. To 
 quote Dr. Gray : " We suit the child to the curriculum mstead of the 
 curriculum to the child." 
 
 In my opinion some such scheme as the followmg is advisable for 
 all town schools. 
 
 I will assume that I am speaking of future buildings and a future 
 system, but I am convinced that existing town schools could be 
 easily adapted to the purpose and that existing teachers would very 
 trladly adopt the greater number of my views were they at liberty 
 to do so. 
 
 The centre of my nursery system should be the play room. 
 
 The floor should be of blocl^ed wood capable of being cleaned b}^ 
 some dry process. The space in the centre should be left clear. 
 
 Round the walls kindergarten desks could be placed and above 
 these in tiers should be a series of hammock beds. Hammocks 
 are less likely to harbour vermm than any other type of bed. 
 
 These could be arranged like the berths of a steamer or the luggage 
 racks in a train, and the iron framework should fold back 
 so that it might be flat against the wall when not m use. A flap 
 
 ^The local authority is now (since ^liss Bathurst wrote the above 
 authorised by the Board of Education to exclude children under five years- 
 of age, if it thinks fit. It cannot, and has never been able to, coippel the^ 
 attendance of any child until it has reached the age of five.
 
 Miss BathuTSt'ii Report. 5J> 
 
 of netting should belong to each hammock to fold over the child and. 
 fasten against the wall, thus preventing all danger of falling out. 
 
 One corner of the room could have a zinc floor and a miniature 
 sea shore, with sand, etc. A few of the old board schools are 
 already provided with this. 
 
 In place of the present certificate I would substitute an 
 alternative certificate to rank with it in importance and recog- 
 nised by the Board of Education. It should certify that the 
 teacher possesses the qualifications and experience of a hospital 
 nurse combined with a knowledge of Froebelian methods. 
 
 Under the head teacher I would place a new type of 68, for 
 whom the combined recognition of the head teacher and 
 inspector should be required yearly. 
 
 Blackboards should only be used for recreative purposes, and 
 books, except picture books, should be banished. 
 
 All children should remain in the nursery enjoying play occupa- 
 tions and sleep in an atmosphere of freedom till six years old. 
 
 At six I would admit each child for one hour per day into the 
 neighbouring school. I am assuming that my nursery and school 
 are under one roof. This should not consist of an hour on end, 
 but be split up into three periods of twenty minutes each, and only 
 ten children at a time should be under the tuition of one teacher. 
 
 If that teacher were employed under the present Art. 68 she would 
 though occupied five hours a day, instruct fifty children as com- 
 pared with her present allowance of thirty. 
 
 I maintain that the national purse Avould gain, and that one-tenth 
 of her assistance for one hour would benefit each of the ten children 
 far more than one-thirtieth of her attention for five hours a day,, 
 as under the present arrangement. 
 
 At seven years old the same system could be continued, but the 
 time for instruction might be increased to two hours. 
 
 At eight years of age lessons might last for three hours — and at 
 nine the child could join the regular school for full time. 
 
 In each case these children would return to the playroom and 
 be occupied under supervision for the remainder of the day. 
 
 I maintain that this family life — this mixing together of children 
 from three to eight years old, is capable of far*^more humanising and 
 educative results than the present routine. 
 
 If some local authority'^was willing to try the experiment I 
 have no hesitation in saying that others would follow.
 
 60 Jl/is6' Bathursfs Report. 
 
 I would most urgently press upon those in authority that nature 
 and nurture alike point out women as more fitted than men to deal 
 with the details of a httle child's life, and I would plead for the 
 appointment of women inspectors — especially those with a medical 
 or the Froebel certificate — to supervise the infant schools of this 
 ■country. 
 
 With the best possible intentions men have failed to make our 
 infant schools a success. 
 
 The suggestions for medical mspection and instruction in hygiene 
 for teachers in the Report on Physical Deterioration have my 
 warmest support, but I should like to see women doctors employed 
 in infant schools.
 
 Miss Bathurst's Report. 61 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The medical examination of the children is, in my opinion, the least satis- 
 factory part of my report. 
 
 This is in no sense a reflection upon Dr. , whose time is much taken 
 
 up, but the possible time at his disposal was so limited that practically only IJ 
 minutes each could be given to the children, — this included getting them 
 out of their seats and up and down the steps of a gallery. 
 
 For more accurate work it would be necessary to undress the child, and it 
 was impossible to test eyes or examine ears. Only the most obtrusive de- 
 fects could be registered in the time. 
 
 I should like to have discovered how many defects each child affected was 
 suffering from. As, however, a medical examination is now recommended 
 by the Inter- Departmental Enquiry, my personal experience may prove of 
 value. 
 
 At first the babies objected to any examination, and tears were the result 
 of insistence. I accordingly sent for a bag of sugarplums, and each child 
 received one before returning to its place. The effect was instantaneous. 
 The babies eagerly hurried to the doctor, opened their mouths and showed 
 their legs with smiles and haste, and claimed a sugarplum as ample reward 
 for any inconvenience. 
 
 Results — twenty -seven girls, twenty-nine boys. Total fifty -six. Sevm- 
 teen were in a good condition, fifteen were in a fairly good condition, fourteen 
 were registered as poor, bad, or very bad, and remainder have no mark under 
 nourishment. 
 
 I can only plead the extreme difficulty of filling up tne tables at the rate 
 mentioned in excuse for the omission. 
 
 Seventeen cases of bad teeth were registered, two of them with well 
 nourished children who appear under that column as good. 
 
 In every case the hair was full of nits from vermin. I only remember one 
 exception. 
 
 Fairly good is by no means a high standard or even a satisfactory one. 
 In one's own class in life the children here registered as fairly good would be 
 considered delicate and requiring care. 
 
 Eleven cases of rickets occur. 
 
 In studying School I have adopted the following plan. After 
 
 obtaining details from the attendance officer I submitted the statistics to 
 a friend, drawing up a table on which I asked him to tabulate results. 
 
 This table and results, also the conclusions he draws from them, are given 
 in appendix. 
 
 Besides this, and quite independently I give my impressions of the homes 
 I actually saw. 
 
 The conclusions at which he and I arrive are practically identical. This 
 is satisfactory, as a general impression when unchecked by statistics ia often 
 erroneous — the bad cases making proportionately a greater impression 
 on one's mind.
 
 62 
 
 Miss Baihurst^s Report 
 
 Girls. All of them Three and Fofir Years Old. 
 
 No. ! 
 
 Hair, i 
 
 Teoth. 1 
 
 Nourishment. 
 
 Cloiuiny. 
 
 General condition. 
 
 1 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Thin. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 Anaemic. 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 V.B. 
 
 Poor, anaemic. 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Ba*l. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 RicKetty. 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 F. 
 
 Ricketty. 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 F. 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 
 
 3oys. N( 
 
 ). 1 Aged Five, j 
 
 Remainder Three and Four. 
 
 No. 
 
 Hair. 
 
 Teeth. 
 
 Nourishment. 
 
 Clothing, 
 
 General condition. 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 Filthy. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Poor. 
 
 G. 
 
 Poor. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Poor. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 Dirty. 
 
 Squints. 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Filthy. 
 
 
 F.G. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 Low type. 
 
 10 
 
 
 G 
 
 Very bad. 
 
 
 Ophthalmia. 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 18 
 
 
 V. bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 19 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 F. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Ansemio, rickets. 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 Double squint. 
 
 24 
 
 Poor. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Skin disease. 
 
 25 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 F.G. 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 
 Anspmio. 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 Bad. 
 
 Bad. 
 
 
 Glands.
 
 Miss BaihursCs Report. 63 
 
 The homes of the children who attend School present three 
 
 distinct types : (1) the Jewish, (2) the Italian, (3) the English. The latter 
 were distributed between (a) workmen's dwellings, (6) ordinary lodging houses. 
 The Jewish children were well fed without exception, but both they and 
 their homes were extremely dirty. 
 
 The Italians were in some cases positively clean. In all cases they com- 
 pared most favourably with the English and Jewish homes. They appetired 
 to bo drawn very largely from Italian country districts. 
 
 The English houses were, without exception, in a deplorable condition. 
 I visited the workmen's dwellings at 11.30 a.m. on Monday, June 13th. 
 The following state of things was universal. 
 
 Every window shut, ^o one dressed. Room littered with food, rags 
 and dirt. Mothers' hair down their backs. Many children at home dressed 
 in chemises. Visitors, one to three in number, in each house. Wages vary- 
 ing from 27s. to 18s., never leaf. 
 
 In the houses those containing two rooms had usually stone floors and 
 contained boxes, one table, one chair, one cradle, though wages sometimes 
 reached £3 a week. Ketail trade was the common pursmt, buying (or steal- 
 ing) dogs, cats, rats, plants and flowers, and reselling these articles. 
 
 One-roomed houses visited contained perhaps six families. Even here 
 wages reached ISa. per week. Occupation, selling artificial flowers, grinding 
 organs, etc. 
 
 Out of the forty houses visited that day I registered the following details. 
 
 Two mothers dead drunk. One is usually away at work mid-day, and 
 leaves pennies with a boy of ten. With these he caters for the rest of the 
 family. 
 
 Another mother rises 6 a.m., gets back from work to breakfast, dresses 
 children for school, returns again mid-day, feeds them and locks up house 
 till 6 p.m. At six she re-admits children and gives them tea. Earns 13s. or 
 143. ; husband gets Qs. 
 
 Came across a baby alone in a room on a bed, fire lighted. 
 
 Attendance officers were welcomed by parents, and seemed to be intimately 
 acquainted with all their worries. They took the liberty of throwing open 
 the windows when we arrived, and in no case did the act appear to cause 
 any feeling of resentment. The air was so abominable that until a window 
 was opened it was impossible to breathe. In a few cases the stench was 
 sufficient to cause retching, and I was obliged to carry on conversation at 
 the door. The attendance officers assure me that although houses at lower 
 
 rents with good communication to the centre of are available, 
 
 the people prefer these one and two-roomed dwellings. They say a com- 
 munistic life results from it. One woman owns a mangle, another a wash 
 tub, etc., and the whole street use that one article, l^ivacy and cleanli- 
 ness — even modesty — appeared unknown. 
 
 The workmen's dwellmgs excepted, all the houses were in the most 
 scandalous condition for lack of repair. Large holes in stairs, floors and 
 plaster. Paper in streamers and black with damp, etc. 
 
 1 understand that the land is in the hands of some railway company previous 
 to laying down railway lines. Meanwhile the landlords have sub-let, and 
 middlemen are getting their pound of flesh, regardless of health or decency. 
 
 But on these points I have only liearsay information. 
 
 The district in question lies immediately round SchooL 
 
 The conclusions I draw are very definite. 
 
 The children are starved in the case of perhaps one-third of those in attend- 
 ance. All are filthy ; the parents are ignorant, and drink is universal ; 
 but the actual wages earned are so high, and, in the case of my table, so regular, 
 that the most crying need appears to be some enforcement of pai-ental re- 
 sponsibility. Much as 1 sympathise with Article 35:^ of the Report on Rnysical 
 deterioration of School Children, the clauses 348 and 'o(i2, horn my personal 
 experience, deserve the strongest support. The parent must be forced 
 tjo support hia own child. Some means of both feedmg the child and 
 recovering the coat must be found.
 
 64 
 
 Miss Bathurst^s Report. 
 
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 i4: , Miss BathursCs Report. 
 
 Conclusions Drawn from the Foregoing Table. 
 
 The total number of families treated is 183. 
 
 Tiieir weekly earnings amount to £212 ISs. lOd., or an average per week 
 of £1 3s. 3d. 
 
 The families consist of 1,063, and their parents 352, making a total of 1,415 
 persons. 
 
 Of these families 198 children attend the mixed department, and 221 
 the infants' department ; a total of 419. 
 
 From the weekly earnings of £1 3s. 3d. they pay in rent an average of 3s. Sd . 
 
 They are distributed among 006 rooms, and, with the parents, show an 
 avprage of 2 -33 persons to each room. 
 
 The average family is 5 • 8 children. 
 
 Of the 183 families, 63, or more than one-third, have not more than two 
 rooms each family. 
 
 These 63 families are composed of 120 parents, 334 children ; 454 persons. 
 
 Tnese are distributed among 121 rooms — an average of 3*75 persons lu 
 each room. 
 
 Of these 63 families the average wages of each is £1 Os. 4d., and the average 
 number in the family 5*3 children. 
 
 Thu'ty-one of these families are in the enjoyment of steady work. 
 
 (The total of 183 families show 86 in steady work, 62 intermittent). 
 
 It appears, therefore, that one-third of the families have only the accom- 
 modation of two rooms each, with an average of 3 • 75 persons to each room ; 
 that the average number (5-3) of the family is not so great as the average 
 of the total families (5*8), that their average wage is not tar below the general 
 average (20s. 4d. to 23s. 3d.), and therefore that the money is not spent 
 in adding comfort or health to their homes. 
 
 Note. — Tlte following Supplementary Report was written by 
 Miss Bathiirst wken her retirement from tJte service of the 
 Board was immediately impending and was sent in by Iter on, 
 or immediately after, the day of her retirement. 
 
 AltJiough much of the Report is irrelevant to the subject 
 with which Miss Bathiirst was requested to deal, the Board 
 think it desirable that tJtese expressions of Miss Bathurst's 
 opinions sJtould be publisJied, accompanied by a warning of 
 the same character as that wliich it was necessary to address to 
 readers of the earlier Report {see Note on page 35). 
 
 "Supplementary Report" on Infant Schools by 
 Miss Bathurst. 
 
 My interest in Infant Schools centres chiefly round (a) ques- 
 tions of health, (6) the necessity for recreation, (c) the evils pro- 
 duced by our present system of inspection. 
 
 As explained in my former more technical report, I believe 
 that the need for national nurseries is an urgent one, but 1 am
 
 Miss BatJmrst^s Report. "75 
 
 fixtreinely doubtful whether the freedom of the gutter is not pre- 
 ferable to a school curriculum such as the Board of Education 
 enforces,^ and I am quite convinced that fresh air is of more im- 
 portance than attainments, and that the mortality among little 
 children is largely increased by attendance in ill-ventilated class- 
 rooms. In fact for all children under seven years of age women 
 generally, and not men, should be made responsible. We re- 
 quire nurses rather than teachers, and lady doctors rather than 
 inspectors. These opinions have raised so much opposition^ that 
 before leaving the service I wish to place on record the principles 
 I have preached, the policy to which I adhere, and the evils 
 which I have discovered. 
 
 The children of this country have been sacrificed, first to the 
 policy of the Board of Education, who have placed the infants 
 solely in the hands and at the mercy of men inspectors, secondly 
 to the financial needs of managers, thirdly to the selfishness of 
 the overworked mothers. The evil has been aggravated by the 
 ignorance of some and by the incapacity of other teachers, but of the 
 three causes specified, the first has been the most far-reaching in 
 its evil effects. By appointing men inspectors and placing the 
 six women inspectors in subordinate positions where their views, 
 if heard at all, could be ignored, the whole atmosphere of infant 
 schools has been made into that of a forcing house for the schools 
 for older scholars. In most districts whenever the attainments 
 are satisfactory very good reports are given, and many indica- 
 tions exist which point to great ignorance or indifference on the 
 part of inspectors and teachers as to the methods employed in 
 reaching the standard they consider desirable. In making this 
 as:ertion I would wish to accentuate the fact that I speak chiefly 
 
 of . I have noticed the same thing in every district where I 
 
 have worked, but not to the same extent, and not on the same whole- 
 sale scale. In especially it appeared to me that methods 
 
 rather than results were valued ; but even there the greater 
 insight into the spirit of Kindergarten teaching was hindered 
 and hampered by the masculine love of uniformity and order, 
 and the discipline expected was maintained at the expense of 
 much healthy, valuable, and, as far as the children's welfare was 
 concerned, necessary freedom. 
 
 I am convinced that many inspectors do not read the time- 
 tables. They do, as a rule, examine the summary, and the time- 
 
 ^ The Board " enforces " no curriculum for Infant Schools. See concluding 
 paragraph of /xticle 1 of the Code for 1904, and the still Wider freedom given 
 in the Code for 1905. 
 
 - If the ' opposition ' referred to is that of the Board of Education tliey 
 must disclaim opposition to opinions the existence of which was unknown 
 to them.
 
 t6 Miss Bathurst^s Report. 
 
 table passes muster if that summary contains the requisite subjects 
 of reading, writing, arithmetic, and needlework : yet to read a 
 time-table, including discussion with the head teacher, will not 
 occupy more than fifteen minutes of the day. Practice conveys 
 a knowledge of detail without the expenditure of much time, and 
 with a bad time-table the most capable teacher is sadly thwarted 
 in her efforts to benefit the children. But, apart from the time- 
 tables, I am at a loss to explain certain obvious facts without 
 reflecting openly on the policy of the Board of Education and 
 the hopeless position in which that policy places a conscientious 
 inspector. I refer to well-known facts. 
 
 Unsatisfactory reports mean friction with managers, unpopu- 
 larity with teachers, and even political influence to remove the 
 obnoxious critic. Moreover, if the Board of Education fails, as 
 it so often fails, to support their own inspector, the influence of 
 that inspector suffers throughout the district. I can recall a 
 remark of an old and experienced inspector on this point, it is 
 simple enough, but it conveys a deplorable weakness in our system. 
 '' We have to consider whether the Board of Education will sup- 
 port ^ us," that is, we^ cannot condemn a school which has sufi&- 
 cient influence at headquarters to fight the condemnation : moreover 
 it is notorious that until a ruling of June, 1904, examiners of the 
 Board of Education not infrequently omitted portions of reports 
 sent in by H.M. Inspectors and even Chief Inspectors without 
 referring the reports back to H.M. Inspectors. It is by 
 influences such as these surely that the following reports come 
 into existence. " The discipline and instruction are very satis- 
 factory indeed." In the school where this was entered as the 
 last report I noted as follows : — (a) Children sit with arms on 
 beads, (6) children stand on seats, (c) needlework is begun at four 
 years old, and the lesson is carried on by placing mites of girls 
 on desks to sit with curved backs and no support, {d) a child is 
 put to tell tales of anyone who moves or speaks in the teacher's 
 absence, (e) class I. had four arithmetic lessons per day on Mon- 
 days, called by different names. Number, Notation, &c., three arith- 
 metic lessons per day on every other day of the week, (/) the babies 
 did fifty minutes' arithmetic once a week in four separate lessons, 
 {g) at five years old five hours a week were given to reading. 
 
 Next to the evil of political influence comes the question of 
 administrative organisation. Under the present regime the work 
 
 ' It is ncccsHary that the closing of a sciioul and its conse(iuent removal 
 I'roni the Grant List, must 1)6 the act in tlie last resort of the Board of 
 Education and not of any individual officer of the Board. C.i the rc'i^ort 
 of an Inspector local authorities or managers may be required to show 
 cause why a particular school sliould not be closed, but the Board must 
 hear all the parties interested, ascertain all the relevant facts and decide 
 on principles which should be of general application, not on the opinion 
 of a single Inspector.
 
 Miss Bathurst's Report. 77 
 
 of inspection is necessarily largely done by subordinate otticcid, 
 these inspectors outnumber H.M. Inspectors by four to one: 
 as a rule they .write " suggested reports " ^ on the schools visited ; 
 but H.M. Inspector is ultimately responsible for the form such 
 a report takes and the opinions it expresses. The reports of the 
 schools are therefore not necessarily even drafted by the inspector 
 who visited the school, and every report runs a fourfold chance of 
 " changes " before it reaches the school, only surviving in its 
 original form if sufficiently adaptable to suit the taste of a many- 
 headed critic. At the risk of appearing impertinent I will specify 
 in detail the dangers to which it is exposed, (a) It is usually 
 written by a subordinate official. He pays what is known as 
 the I. (2) visit, or the second visit of inspection. He is free to 
 consult the official who visited at I. (1), or not, as he chooses. 
 (6) He is not an independent critic, he is a reflecter of his chief's 
 policy. He strives to say what he is expected to say, to think 
 what he is expected to think of the school ; he cannot, from official 
 loyalty, trust to his own impressions, (c) He sends the report to 
 H.M. Inspector, who alters it or not without reference as a rule 
 to the writer, (d) It then goes before an Examiner at the Board 
 of Education ; if the Examiner follows " precedent " he can, if he 
 desires an alteration, suggest it to H.M. Inspector ; this is called 
 " referring back." But, as already stated, on some occasions 
 reports have been simply altered, amended, or portions omitted^ 
 without such reference and the report has reached the school with 
 that omission, without the knowledge of the writer or the inspec- 
 tor responsible for the district. 
 
 One famous case occurred to me personally some two years 
 ago, when the inspector responsible for the district had accepted 
 my " suggested report." One of the reasons given for the altera- 
 tion by the junior examiner was, " That he did not wish to offend 
 the philantiiropic nobleman." There was a peer among the 
 managers.- 
 
 These things may appear to be a digression when my instruc- 
 tions are to report upon the condition of infant schools, but in 
 my opinion the condition of infant schools, especially in the North 
 of England, is most perniciously influenced by reports and inspec- 
 tion, and their improvement is hopeless unless these questions are 
 considered and the recurrence of such influences made impossible. 
 
 The defence of the present system lies, of course, in the necessity 
 for some sort of discipline amongst civil servants such as inspectors, 
 
 ' A note on the course of procedure followed by Inspectors in framing 
 reports to the Board will be found on page 92. It is enough to say here 
 that the duties of a Sub-Inspector are not accurately described in this 
 paragraph. 
 
 ■^ See note on pp. 92, 93.
 
 78 Miss Bathursfs Report. 
 
 but I am convinced that if a person is fit to inspect ^ he or she 
 should be also fit to report on a school, and that similarity of 
 views, obtained by reflecting the opinion of a chief, are less ex- 
 hilarating in kind and less inspiring to the teacher than those 
 of personal conviction. Smaller areas under independent in- 
 spectors with more freedom of intercourse and means of exchang- 
 ing ideas between them would produce better effects than the 
 present arrangement. As it is, the work is done by " reflectors," 
 not by inspectors, and it is inevitable that the subordinate officials 
 who pay by far the larger proportion of visits to the schools should 
 consider primarily what will coincide with their chief's theories 
 rather than what will prove of assistance to the teacher or 
 advantage to the children. 
 
 On one occasion a manager said to me : "I like your reports ; 
 there's nothing in them." I had not written the report in ques- 
 tion, and this leads me to another result of doing work without 
 the responsibility such work should bring. H.Mj Inspector, with 
 the best intentions, does not always catch his subordinate's 
 meaning, and he then frames reports of so general a character 
 that they serve the double purpose of not committing him to a 
 judgment, and satisfying managers who might resent reflections 
 on the results of their management. Such reports are always 
 satisfactory to the permanent officials of the Board of Education, 
 no friction can arise from them. 
 
 The schools are still suffering from these arrangements, for 
 the ruling of June 1904 rectified one evil only. Examiners are no 
 longer allowed to alter the reports unknown to the inspector 
 responsible for the district. 
 
 In my former report I drew attention to what I believe to be 
 the chief differences between the supporters of the Kindergarten 
 and our own system. We insist^' on definite instruction in the 
 three R's. They decline to begin anything of the kind till the 
 child is six years old. 
 
 We insist upon military, they lepend upon maternal discipline. 
 
 spoke as follows to me on this subject : — " I 
 
 have said that the babies shouldj at least learn their 
 letters, they are in the baby class a whole year.'' My view 
 is expressed by the single word " Why ? " What possible object 
 is there in teaching letters, figures, or numbers to children under 
 five years of age ? I would substitute for such a sentiment : 
 
 ^ Tliere seems some confusion here between tlic duties of H.M. Inspector, 
 who is responsible to the Board for reporting on the schools within his 
 district, and the duties of his subordinates who supply hiiu with materials 
 for a report to be used as his own knowledge of the school derived from 
 previous or subsequent visits may suggest. 
 
 ^ The Code expressly states that ** one or more" of the ordinary subjects 
 can be omitted in any class in which the Board are satisfied that there is 
 good reason for the oraission.
 
 Miss Bat'.'ursCs Report. 79 
 
 " They shall at least be kept warm, be made happy, and learn 
 unconsciously to want to leam." 
 
 I noticed another significant entry in his handwriting in a log- 
 book : " The babies should learn to sit still and attend." Atten 
 tion at three years old is a physical impossibility. With individual 
 attention, sitting on his mother's lap, a child will sometimes be 
 induced to look at pictures for ten minutes on end, but he turns 
 the pages at his own sweet will, and gabbles, unreproved, his own 
 delightful version of their meaning. 
 
 Compare this with the class system. 
 
 One picture only is provided at a time and is made to do duty 
 for many days in the year. It is stuck on a blackboard. It 
 cannot be handled, often it cannot be clearly seen. The talking 
 is done by the teacher, not by the child, the subject and meaning 
 are fixed by her explanation, and only one child at a time may 
 respond to a question. The others must sit motionless, and with 
 arms tightly crossed on their tiny narrow chests waiting for the 
 notice that in many cases never comes. This appearance of atten- 
 tion, or a sentence learnt by heart and reproduced to impress 
 the inspector, will never persuade me that the school system is 
 right or natural. In my opinion the longing to escape school, 
 and most of the cases known as " truancy," are developed in 
 the most, not the least, intelligent children. The constant repe- 
 tition and repressive discipline imposed at school are more irksome 
 to an original than to a stupid child. 
 
 I will now ask the attention of the Board of Education to the 
 time-tables themselves, and before proceeding to a detailed ex- 
 amination and criticism of the contents, I enclose a categorical 
 table for reference. 2^2,3 if? 
 
 My statistics concern t 8 ,1 ^6 children, and may therefore be 
 regarded as representative of ^ generally. 
 
 I may add that not more than one dozen at most of the 93 schools 
 visited by me were properly ventilated, that only about one-fourth 
 of the children were sitting in suitable desks, and that the condition 
 of the offices, nearness to class-rooms, &c., is a matter of such 
 urgent importance, that I greatly regret that the money spent on 
 Scholarships by the Education Committee should not have been 
 devoted to making the buildings more sanitary, and the children and 
 teachers mo~ : ",omf ortable. 
 
 Out of 93 infant schools visited : — 
 
 51 schools have lessons lasting 30 minutes to 35 minutes on end. 
 7 schools have lessons lasting 40 minutes to 45 minutes on end. 
 1 school has lessons lasting an hour on end. 
 
 ^ A large County Borough.
 
 ^ Miss Bathursfs Report. 
 
 In 45 schools the Needlework lessons last from 45 minutes to 
 1 hour on end. \ 
 
 18 schools give from 4 to 5 hours a week to Reading. 
 
 53 other schools give over 2| hours per week to Reading. 
 
 33 schools have Needle-threading as an occupation. 
 
 (A few have stopped this in consequence of my representations. ) 
 
 46 schools give 2| hours or less to Occupations in a lueek. 
 
 Roughly speaking, 50 schools have the larger number of seats 
 without backs. 
 
 51 schools have either no space or insufficient space for games or 
 movement. 
 
 13 baby classes are in charge of Teachers under Article 68. 
 
 Many other teachers under Article 68 act as Assistants. 
 
 Only 33 baby classes are in charge of Certificated Teachers. 
 
 For 45 schools out of the 93, I obtain the following statistics re 
 excessive inspection : — 
 
 Between January and October, that is in nine months, with 
 intervals for Easter, Whitsun, and the summer holidays : — 
 
 5 schools had been inspected 15 to 17 times inclusive. 
 10 schools had been inspected 12 to 14 times inclusive. 
 14 schools had been inspected 10 to 11 times inclusive. 
 14 schools had been inspected 7, 8, and 9 times inclusive. 
 
 3 schools had been inspected 6 times. 
 
 In examining this table the Board of Education should bear in 
 mind that the schools are only open five days a week, and secular 
 instruction is only compulsory for 20 hours a week, therefore, 
 when any given subject is taught for 2^ hours per week, it means on 
 an average half an hour per day. If the primary object in Infant 
 Schools is to keep little children warm, happy, and beneficially 
 employed, if the aim is to encourage or plant the desire to know, then 
 Kindergarten, rather than the power to read, write, and do Standard I. 
 sums, should be encouraged. Yet half of the schools visited only 
 give on an average half an hour per day, many of them give less, 
 to Kindergarten occupations, while that half hour is often passed in 
 so wooden and uneducational a way that little benefit results from it. 
 The same occupation or drawing is done again and again in order 
 that specimens of more or less perfect work may be produced for the 
 inspector. Even games are of the most joyless character, and 
 babies stand solemnly in a ring striving to carry out the teacher's 
 directions with strained attention. " It has to be perfect for the 
 " inspector at the end of the month," was the harassed explanation^ 
 
 ' This cannot ))e true ot the Board's Inspectors, for their visits are now 
 paid without notice. They do not, of course, expect to find perfection.
 
 Miss BathursVs Refort. 81 
 
 offered to me by one of the many overstrained and uneducated 
 women so often placed in charge of the youngest children. 
 
 Again, whenever five hours is given per week to reading, one- 
 fourth of the whole time the school is open for secular instruction 
 is involved: and this means either two lessons per day of 
 30 minutes each, or three lessons per day of 20 minutes each on 
 the same subject. 
 
 I note that (a) at three years old two lessons per day are usual in 
 the three Rs, (6) that children of four years old are not considerrd 
 babies in the bigger schools ; in the smaller schools children of three 
 and four can be found in the same class, (c) that as a rule children 
 of five years old are worse off than those of six. * The grind here is 
 often terrific. 
 
 Of the methods adopted in teaching Arithmetic and the standard 
 imposed for Writing I have spoken sufficiently in my previous 
 leport. Further inquiry revealed an enormous number of schools 
 where three Arithmetic lessons per day were the rule, and in one 
 school of which I have already given particulars four lessons in this 
 subject were given on Mondays. I received the impression that the 
 Government Inspectors were not always consistently advocating 
 any one system. The schools that had lately been visited by one 
 man would spend long hours on " tables," another usually inspected 
 by someone else would insist on mental arithmetic, and so on. The 
 teachers appeared to have no settled convictions as to method 
 themselves, and the lack of concrete material was very marked. 
 Again, the lessons are often too long, half the schools teach 
 Needlework for three-quarters of an hour or an hour on end. With 
 big classes, the giving out and collecting of material is wearisome to 
 teachers, and they prefer to do it seldom and for a longer period 
 than that recommended in the Code. The subject is often begun at 
 four years old, and one-third of the schools insist on taking needle- 
 threading as an occupation. 
 
 The cruelty of forcing children of this age to sit in a cramped 
 position, using their undeveloped nerves and muscles, is recog- 
 nised in every book on school hygiene. The teachers would be 
 thankful to postpone instruction till later, but so long as speci- 
 mens of work are asked for, examined, and criticised by men in- 
 spectors the present system will continue. The evil in is 
 
 increased by the lack of proper desks. The children have usually 
 no support for their backs, the rooms are often cold and dark, and 
 the inspector has no childish recollection of his own to rouse pity 
 for the poor pricked little fingers or aching eyes. The constant 
 glances at the clock during Needlework lessons from older infants 
 is in itself sufficient indication to a sympathetic observer of the 
 strain from which they are suffering. 
 
 I now choose several schools, and I beg for special attention 
 (a) to the stress laiduipon attainments in the reports themselves ;
 
 82 Miss BathursCs Report. 
 
 (6) to the glaring ignorance of child life betrayed by the points 
 I noticed. I have not repeated what I have already discussed 
 as to the consequences to the child of forcing it to sit in certain 
 positions, but it may be worth while to accentuate my former 
 report by insistence on certain so-called trivial points : — 
 
 To sit with one's hands on one's head is a strain on the heart. 
 
 To stand motionless for 20 minutes is most fatiguing. 
 
 To sit with crossed arms narrows the chest. 
 
 To stand or drill upon seats is dangerous. 
 
 The occupation of threading needles is injurious to eyesight. 
 
 To do needlework at all is most trying to an active-minded 
 
 child, until 6 or 7 years old. 
 To do it for 45 minutes on end is most injudicious before about 
 
 10 years old. 
 
 The child loses nothing by postponing such lessons till later in life. 
 
 The same faults occurred in school after school, and I have 
 deliberately copied the same details over and over again, as I 
 think repetition may be the means of drawing attention to the 
 subject in a way which a statement so short as that of the table 
 already given may fail to effect. 
 
 School, 1904, Report: " The school is conducted with much 
 
 " care and kindness, and most of the work is good. The arithmetic 
 " of the first class is a weak point, and the leading of that class is 
 " only fairly satisfactory." Points noted on my visit : (a) Babies 
 have only just had a separate time-table. They now do the same 
 thing every day at the same hour for 15 minutes at a time. Two 
 lessons per day on each of the three Rs. At five and six years old 
 two lessons per day, as a rule, in each of the three Rs. No occupations 
 a.m. Standing on seats. Drilling on seats. (A sick child, often 
 in the infirmary, made to drill sitting down.) Folding arms when 
 not occupied by hand work. At four years old needlework lessons 
 of three-quarters of an hour's length are given. No windows 
 open below. Head teacher longs for this to be altered. Only 
 babies have backs to seats. 
 
 School. — Report : " This excellent school." Points I noted : 
 
 Needlework lessons 1 hour. On one day per week the babies have 
 three writing lessons. Children made to stand on seats. (Accident 
 occurred in my presence.) Hands on heads. Crossing arms. 
 
 School. — Report : " Much of the work is praiseworthy. The 
 
 " singing is particularly good. Reading is the weak subject." 
 Points I noted : Needlework lessons of an hour's length begin at four 
 years old. A row of children sitting in darkness for this. Drawing, 
 ditto. Child put to tell talcs in teacher's absence. Ventilation 
 
 bad. No windows open below. Copy of Mr. entry at last 
 
 visit : " Small class-room has 61 babies. Desk accommodation 
 " and benches for 40. Thermometer at 11 a.m. 52 deg." Im- 
 possible to take lessons out of doors. Officw too close to the school.
 
 Miss Bathursfs Report. <S3 
 
 School. — Report : " The school is in the front rank 
 
 "of the infant schools of ^ ." Facts noted: 
 
 Needle-threading goes on at three years old, though the head 
 teacher hates it. Twice a week children have two Arithmetic 
 lessons per day. Three times a week children have two reading 
 lessons per day. Crossing arms. All classes examined quarterly 
 except babies. In their third term babies under four are semi- 
 examined, semi-inspected by inspectors. 
 
 School. — Report : " The order is good and the instruction is 
 
 " very fairly successful." Facts noted : Children sit with hands 
 on heads. They stand on seats. Regular drill inflicted on the 
 youngest. Needle-threading before four years old. One class 
 of five year olds has three reading lessons per day once a week. 
 One class has a lesson from 2.35 till 3.50 with the playground 
 interval. Needlework (50-minute lessons) begun at four years 
 old. Ventilation shocking. Except in baby room no window 
 opens below. One class has desks intended for four children. 
 Five children are crammed into each desk. 
 
 School. — Report : " Teaching bright and energetic. 
 
 The discipline is not equally satisfactory. This is partly due 
 " no doubt to the bad construction of the main room." In my 
 opinion the discipline of this school was quite sufficiently strict. 
 The head teacher, who has now left, assured me that the inspector 
 came in the afternoon when the children were tired, kept one 
 class an hour at reading, and then asked for an object lesson. 
 May I add here that where an infant class is attached to a mixed 
 school, and therefore visited on the same day as the mixed school, 
 it is usual for inspectors to postpone visiting it till the after- 
 noon. Yet little children are less fit than older ones for examin- 
 ation tests at this time of day, and it leaves the impression on 
 the teacher's mind that infants are of less importance and not 
 worth his attention equally with order scholars. 
 
 In another school of which I feel it safer to suppress the name, 
 I copy (a) report, (h) my notes, (c) the remarks of the teacher. She 
 was unusually communicative, and her experience is correspond- 
 ingly valuable. Report : " The order is good and the work is 
 " generally good. The first class does very well, the second class is 
 " a good deal inferior." (Note five years olds. K.B.) The babies' 
 class is well managed but badly housed. This school was visited 
 between August 21st and October 7th, 1904. My notes are as 
 follows: "An admirable illustration of the report I have just 
 "sent in. Judged on results? The whole system is one 
 " of repetition. Every child was standing on the seat repeat- 
 " ing each word of its book simultaneously three or four 
 "times. Noise deafening. Nothing else attempted. I most firmly 
 " believe they will learn to read this way and satisfy H.M.I. But 
 " at what a price ! Does no one inquire how much intelligence 
 " is destroyed, how much aversion to literature created." Head 
 
 ' A large L'ouuty Borough,
 
 84 Miss Bathurst*s Report. 
 
 teacher's communication : " Four years ago I made a kinder- 
 " garten time-table and started that system, thought of the child, 
 " ignored rote replies and inspectors. Result was a report that 
 " nearly brought my dismissal." She now works for inspectors 
 against her principles and gets praise. I also noted as usual venti- 
 lation fearful, building crowded. No window opens below. No 
 free'^space. Close to a tramline. Seventeen visits of inspection 
 since January 1904. 
 
 Council School. — Report : " Continues satisfactory on the 
 
 " whole. The children have yet to learn to keep up their attention 
 " and to answer only when permitted." My notes are : " Hands 
 on heads. Standing on seats. Arms crossed. Threading needles 
 as an occupation. Duplicate lessons. Babies treated as if 10 years 
 old. Faultless order from H.M. Inspector's point of view. Fifteen 
 visits of inspection since January 1904." 
 
 Wesley an School. — Report : "In the first and second 
 
 " classes the discipline is very good, and the results are quite 
 " satisfactory. The babies cannot be properly taught on these 
 " premises." My own notes : — " A teacher who will give more 
 " than a fourth of her time to arithmetic and half her whole time 
 " to reading and arithmetic together has no idea in life except 
 " that instruction in the three Rs constitutes education, and that 
 " H.M. Inspector must be satisfied whether it is good for the child 
 " or not." 
 
 School. — Log-book entry, 1904 : " Reading and arithmetic 
 
 " below the first class require special attention." Head teacher 
 tells me this refers (as I know it must) to children of three, four, 
 and five years old. As usual, I noted needle-threading as an 
 occupation. Standing on seats. Standing whole lessons. Crossing 
 arms. While the babies have to learn to count up to 60. The 
 school had had 15 visits of inspection since January. 
 
 School. — Report : " This department also is much too full, 
 
 " but the organisation and discipline are so good, and the teachers 
 " so energetic, that the difficulties are to a great extent overcome, 
 " and the general efficiency of the school is highly creditable." 
 My notes are : Most taking head teacher, who says she is no ad- 
 vocate for discipline, and that H.M. Inspector never mentions 
 the word. No wonder. Discipline is rigid enough for a military 
 review. Hands on heads. Standing on seats. Standing for 
 whole lessons. Arms crossed. Babies motionless. Some of the 
 babies were perched on a form unable to reach floor with their feet. 
 Very bad desks, hardly any with backs. Nine visits of inspec- 
 tion since January. 
 
 School. — Log-book entry : " Order in some of the classes 
 
 " is not good," and, on the 1903, " progress of the children 
 
 " is very satisfactory except the arithmetic of Standard I. and Class 
 I." My notes are : Needlework lessons last an hour. Drawing 
 ditto. Hands on heads. Children standing for whole lessons. 
 Crossing aims.
 
 Miss Bat1mrst''s Report. 85 
 
 British School. — (Children under five are excluded.) Old 
 
 report : " The first and second class are satisfactorily taught. 
 *' The babie=i' class is entrusted to a girl from the mixed school, 
 " and the result is not good." My own notes are : " It is as bad a 
 class for method as I know. When I entered the school Standard I. 
 was repeating one letter. It kept it up some 20 times roughly. 
 Then came single words repeated countless times in succession. 
 Majority of children were sharing each other's books. Desks 
 intended for five held in every case seven, and in many cases eight 
 children. At my first visit the over-crowding was still greater. I 
 cannot understand why this school should continue to be recognised 
 with its present incompetent staff and unsuitable premises. Venti- 
 lation awful. In one case two panes of glass tilt open a little. 
 As for space, there is no room to sit, much less to move. Twelve 
 
 visits of inspection, counting one from Mr. .^" 
 
 -School — Report, 1904 : " The infant school is a pleasant 
 
 " place. The schoolrooms are made most attractive, and the children 
 " are very responsive. The methods are intelligent, and progress is 
 " correspondingly good. The reading of the first class and the occu- 
 " pations are of exceptional value." My own notes are : — " Delightful 
 head teacher to talk to, is apparently aware of the evils of the 
 present system, but must be totally ignorant on questions of health. 
 The report also must be based on attainments. There is no know- 
 ledge of physical questions. No motherliness. It may be a pleasant 
 school to examine, it is not a pleasant place to inspect. Four 
 year old classes are made to stand up 25 minutes on end motionless. 
 Reading was done by repetition seme 12 to 20 times per word. 
 (Ccmpare with methods of report.) Children kept standing on 
 seats. Arms tightly crossed at three and four years old, and 
 elbows placed on desks in front so children could not lean against 
 the backs of the seats, and their shoulders were hunched up nearly 
 
 to the level of their ears. Very big classes. Last one 
 
 teacher had 100 babies in her charge. 
 
 Over and over again the same routine is followed. Over and 
 over again the same personal criticisms are noted for my own 
 guidance. In my present independent position I may venture to 
 copy such notes as they occur. What is said of one school with 
 very few exceptions applies to all. 
 
 " Distinctly a man's school with its love of rigid, square-like 
 uniformity, its discouragement of what deviates, what is spon- 
 taneous, childish or individual. The schemes are intelligent and 
 the time-table sensible, but in practice everything is hampered by 
 the inherited accepted routine re discipline, and inf^istence upon 
 answers being given in whole sentences, &c. Everything is rote-like 
 in practice though free in theory. Some first-rate clay modelling 
 is done, yet no teachers gave really interesting lessons, and the 
 strictness with which Standard I. was treated for faults in 
 grammar, led to irresponsiveness when questioned." 
 
 ^ The Secretary of the Education Committee of the Tovra Council. 
 
 852.5. B> ' ^
 
 86 Miss BathursCs Report. 
 
 In my notes again occurs : " Always the same story. Oh, for 
 " nurses and women and a little rare commonsense ! " And again, 
 " All spontaneous interest is deliberately crushed, a fearful baby 
 " class, rigid grind, not a word like a story, not a scrap of life." 
 
 In another school, July 1903 log-book entry is : " All going on 
 well, despite very hot weather ; more desks are required." My notes 
 are as follows : Another marked instance of my disagreement 
 with infant methods. Here the repetition of single words is 
 overwhelmingly gieat. That is the method. Countless times 
 one word. Every class does it. I am convinced the head teacher 
 is hard-woiking and conscientious to an even unusual degree. She 
 was teaching herself, but it is a terrible school. Children are 
 treated like machines. They don't budge an eyelid. Only severity 
 can produce such results in such an atmosphere. Ventilation 
 shocking. Babies who don't look three were made to stand thirty 
 minutes, without stirring, for singing and recitation. When stand- 
 ing the toes of each foot had to be parallel to those of the other. 
 To stand with parallel feet is most difficult, the child must fall 
 if it sways beyond an inch each side. Very dangerous unguarded 
 grates. One room has no desks. Forty children sit on forms. 
 Legs dangling six inches from the floor in some cases. Talk with 
 head teacher : result, a sudden thaw. She hates the system she 
 has adopted. She thinks it wrong to teach the three Rs before 
 seven years old. Conclusion I have arrived at. Such infant schools 
 would profit if every inspector were removed, myself included. 
 Better no good inspector than this multitude of men all striving 
 for attainments, all ignorant of the most elementary laws of health. 
 It is as bad in its way as the factory system. 
 
 In another school I enter the fact that the children don't stand 
 
 on the seats. Date is . I had been working since , and 
 
 remark that I believe that this is the first school where I have not 
 found children in this dangerous position. 
 
 I have now come to the last school of which I propose to give 
 details. It forms a convenient point for opening the discussion 
 on questions contained on page 4 of the report form. The details 
 are as follows, copied straight from my notes : — 
 
 School. — Report : " Much good work is done and careful 
 
 preparation is made. Discipline is weak in the first and tliird 
 classes and as a consequence instruction suffers. The second 
 *' class does well both in discipline and instruction." My notes 
 are : " This is a marvellous and missionary school. The head teacher 
 does not deserve a word of criticism, one should take one's shoes 
 off one's fe3t, it is holy ground. Two-thirds of the children 
 are starved, and unfit to learn, no shoes or stockings on many. 
 Great care in making them wash, saw soap and towels given out. 
 It is such a treat to wash that the head teacher has to look out to 
 prevent children coming d'rty to school on purpose ! Oh ! for 
 more of this spirit. I can forgive all details, for the place is motherly, 
 and such a place is "right." With reference to starvation, Miss '
 
 Miss Bathurst^s Report. ' 87 
 
 (local authority inspector) and the head teacher gave me the figures, 
 and the head teacher added the following information : she appears to 
 know the individual circumstances of her children. " The larger 
 number live in furnished rooms, for which rent is 1.?. a day, paid 
 daily, or they are turned out. Some people live by renting whole 
 houses and letting single rooms at this rate. The children of these 
 sub-landlords also attend the school. Many (head teacher thinks 
 more than half) of patents go to prison at intervals. Half of such 
 parents are women. Some children seem better off when their 
 parents are in prison. Most of them object to the workhouse. 
 She knows of a case where two children slept in a public w.c. all 
 night to avoid it, the father was in prison." 
 
 This evidence is interesting, because, as a rule, the teachers in 
 live either outside the town, or in any case some distance 
 
 from the closely-packed slum neighbourhoods in which the 
 poorest schools lie. They have no knowledge of the individual 
 parents, and invariably assured me that they either " did not 
 know" or supposed the reasons were " so and so," when asked the 
 questions on page 4. For example, to the questicn, " How many 
 mothers are at work ? " one mcst capable head teacher replied 
 " All." There were 120 children on the books, so, allowing for a 
 few brothers and sisteis, from 100 to 110 mothers were involved. 
 At my request, she came round the school with me, and by putting 
 the question in every sort of way to every individual child their 
 answers reduced us to the conclusion that only twenty mothers 
 went out to work. On whose evidence w^as I to reply ? The 
 children were all seven years of age, or under, chiefly under. Their 
 evidence would not be accepted in any law court, and much older 
 children do not know at what place their parents aie employed 
 or what work they do. The head teacher allowed she could only 
 give a conjectural reply herself, and I was wholly unable to depend 
 upon conjecture as evidence. 
 
 Besides this difficulty, which occuired everywhere, the follow- 
 ing explanation is due from me. The blamed me in 
 
 scathing terms for my first report on two grounds : (1) That T had 
 discovered nothing new^ ; (2) That I leave page 4, the most important 
 page of all, a blank. But page 4 is concerned with children in 
 Standard I. It depends upon the existence of a Standard I. I 
 have, I think, only seen two, or at most three infant schools in 
 
 which contained a Standard I. at all, and in one of these 
 
 children under five were refused admittance. I was forbidden- 
 to see any school not an infants' school, and permission to do so 
 only reached me late in September. I had, therefore, only fifteen 
 days on which to collect the information required. Previous to 
 this date, my instructions were, on the one hand, to obtain certain 
 
 1 The officer in question states that no such criticism or remark was made 
 by him. 
 
 ^ It must be stated moi^t distinctly that no such instructions were given. 
 
 8525. G 2
 
 88 Miss BatlmrsCs Re/port. 
 
 information, and on the other, I was forbidden to go to the only 
 places where it was obtainable.i Again, even those fifteen days 
 were, in my opinion, wasted time. The schools were, without 
 exception, just beginning the school year. The attainments of 
 children who have only been in a standard one month are not 
 easily gauged. A far better plan would have been as follows : 
 To ask every head teacher for one day before the end of the school 
 year to (a) separate the Standard I. into two blocks, (I) those who 
 came to school before five, (2) those who came to school at or after 
 five : to test them in the three R's, and to give their own verdict 
 whether the attainments were higher or lower in either division. 
 These statistics would have covered a sufficient number of children 
 for some definite conclusion to be drawn, and the teacher can do 
 this work far better than any Inspector. 
 
 The value of that conclusion would have depended on what 
 the Board of Education considers " education " to be. Judging 
 from the questions themselves, " attainments only " constitute educa- 
 tion, and judged on attainments, I think that late comers would 
 have failed to satisfy its requirements. But in many schools, the 
 head teachers gave as their opinion that the answers to these 
 questions depended entirely on the homes of the children. I 
 refer the Board of Education to my previous report, which sub- 
 sequent inquiry has not modified. 
 
 T endeavoured to carry out the wishes of the Board of Education 
 between September 20th and October 7th on the following system, 
 taking schools for older scholars. I went to each standard in suc- 
 cession. I divided the children of each -into two groups : those who 
 had attended an infant school before five, and those who had not, in 
 every case the head-master or headmistress assisted me throughout 
 the day. We took every standard in each school, and our greatest 
 difficulty arose when attempting the separation of early comers and 
 late comers. Half the children had not attended the infant school, to 
 which the school for older scholars was attached, and the registers 
 could, therefore not be consulted, for it was impossble to send to eight, 
 ten, or more schools for their registers. Many children of 12 and 14 
 did not know when or where they had previously gone to school . The 
 })arents were occasionally able to supplement our information, but 
 most certainly we could not consider it, in many cases, as reliable. 
 With this unreliable division we then started to work. The masters 
 and mistresses kindly checked my conclusion, and the children's 
 irjterest was obtained by making the set who were not tested vote 
 for either division. As a rule, the teachers, children, and I arrived 
 at identical marks. 
 
 We then tried to discover why the children had not come to 
 school before five. This could only be done in whispers when 
 dealing with Standard I., as a perfect epidemic of identical replies 
 ensued if one child overheard a promising one from its neighbour. 
 
 > It must again be said on the part of the Board that there is no, 
 foundation whatever for this statement.
 
 Miss Baihurst's Report. 89 
 
 I found, on the whole, that children who attended school before 
 five did better in Standard I. than those who had only been at school 
 a year or a little over ; but that in Standards VI. and VII. those 
 who had come to school late appeared to have the advantage. One 
 
 head teacher at Street Girls' made an interesting comment 
 
 based on her own experience. " Children who show exceptional 
 intelligence at a very early age often suffer at about 11 years old 
 from strain. St. Vitus' dance will appear. This is not unusual." 
 This evidence was given before the testing of attainments began. I 
 must add, however, that I found it necessary to discover the ages of 
 the children, and, even at 13 and 14 years old, I came to the con- 
 clusion that those who had not come to school till after five, and 
 were apparently doing better work in consequence, were usually on 
 an average eight months or so older than the children with whom I 
 was comparing them. If I had been able to test a larger number 
 of children, I could tell better whether this was true on a big scale. 
 As it was, I could only deal with, roughly, some 1,500 children. 
 [These are in addition to the 18,000 already mentioned.] We some- 
 times took 30 minutes before a class could be satisfactorily separated 
 into the groups specified, the actual test work could then be done 
 very quickly. To sum up — in my opinion, my statistics are value- 
 less because they cover so small a ground. 
 
 ' I now come back to the question of the parents who go out 
 to work. I must repeat what 1 said in my former report, 
 namely, that only attendance officers can give the figures 
 involved. I did not feel at liberty to ask Mr. — — for the services 
 of his staff, though he was good enough to give me the statistics 
 already forwarded to the Board of Education, which must have 
 entailed a week's work for many individuals. They concern, 
 as stated, some 1,415 persons connected with the children attend- 
 ing one school, and I would add the following deduction 
 from the figures given. The midday meal supplied to the children 
 at home by their parents or caretakers consisted usually of either 
 hot potatoes or cold tea and dry bread. The former fell to the 
 lot of children whose mothers were at work, and when food was 
 supplied midday by a paid outsider. It is noticeable that the 
 person thus paid was willing to take the trouble to cook something 
 which the unemployed mothers were not. In another important 
 way the work of mothers appears to benefit the children, there is 
 no law to compel the father to provide sufficient food for them, 
 and he often gives but a fraction of his wages for this purpose 
 even if his neglect lands him in the law court the compulsory 
 allowance is very small. 
 
 The mother on the contrary seems to spend a far larger pro- 
 portion of her earnings on food and her economic independence is 
 consequently of great service to the children. Ideally the mother 
 is required to keep the home in order, but where money is soldy
 
 90 
 
 Miss Bathursi's Report. 
 
 at the disposal of the husband, and he is a drunkard, the best of 
 mothers cannot prevent him from starving the family. 
 
 The last point on which I propose to touch is that of the medica^ 
 examination of the children. In my last report I mentioned that 
 I hoped to see all the children of one representative slum school 
 examined by the medical officer. Ill-health prevented my doing 
 this for more than the baby class, consisting of fifty-four infants. 
 In September I was able to continue this work. The doctor em- 
 ployed by the local authority accompanied me, and we investigated 
 very quickly, giving less than one minute to each child, the re- 
 mainder of the school. Everything had been re-arranged in the 
 interval. The number on the books was now 200, as compared 
 with 223. Class 1 had been promoted to the school for older 
 scholars. The baby class was now Class 3, and the new baby class 
 consisted largely of new admissions. I drew up beforehand a table 
 
 in this form, which enabled me to register Dr. 's verdict at the 
 
 greatest possible speed : — 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Ape. 
 
 Hair. 
 
 Eyes. 
 
 Teeth. 
 
 Nourish- 
 ment. 
 
 Rickets. 
 
 Clothes. 
 
 Amount. Quality. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 One hundred and twenty-seven children were thus added to 
 the original 54. For details of the 54 my former report must be 
 consulted. In this one I deal only with these 127 children. I append 
 
 Dr. remarks and his own suggestions. It seems to me only fair 
 
 to give these, but I must allow that I do not draw the same con- 
 clusions as he does with regard to (5), and I am obliged to add some 
 serious reflections. I hope the Board of Education will believe that 
 
 these are totally impersonal. Dr. was most courteous and 
 
 helpful, and I am grateful for the valuable assistance he gave 
 me. 
 
 Ninety-eight out of the 127 children had some defect of serious 
 importance. If requested by the Board, I will copy out the sta- 
 tistics for each child. 
 
 Among these 98 children I include cases where hair and clothes 
 were particularly bad. If clothes only were involved, I leave the 
 child out as satisfactory. 
 
 Eight cases of skin disease appear under Remarks, and 37 cases 
 of glands, while the words anaemic or ill-fed are incessant. The 
 skin disease was, I understood, infectious. Why were those children 
 allowed to attend school ? The conclusion I draw is decided. 
 
 The teachers in are paid on the average attendance. This 
 
 must not exceed the accommodation of the school. If the school 
 accommodation equals 200, and the numbers in attendance equal 
 220, thj taach'r's salary is unaffected : but if it falls below the 
 average attendance for any reason, her salary suffers.^
 
 Miss BatJmrst's Report. 01 
 
 Under such regulations it cannot always be easy to secure the 
 exclusion of children suffering from infectious diseases. If it is 
 done, the mistress might, under certain conditions, lose a well- 
 deserved portion of her salary, and the local authority might lose 
 the government grant payable on each unit of attendance. 
 
 I bring this report to a conclusion by appending a copy of the 
 medical certificate of a doctor in : — 
 
 "Having been asked for my opinion, I have no hesitation in saying 
 that it is positively injurious to a child to commence any system of 
 school education at the age of three. Neither letters nor numbers 
 should be taught until after five years of age. Though lessons from 
 (five omitted. — K. B.) to six years of age should not exceed one hour 
 per day, it should be of the nature of kindergarten only. From six 
 to seven years of age two hours is sufficient. 
 
 L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., L.L.A., 
 
 Senior Physician to the Infirmary." 
 
 " Dear Miss Bathurst, 
 
 I enclose a note of the actual facts observed in our joint 
 inspection of the infants at School. 
 
 With regard to conclusions, I think these ought to be drawn 
 by you as the Government's agent in making the inquiry, but 
 as it is really difficult to interpret facts sometimes I append several 
 suggestions for your consideration when writing your report. 
 My statement of jacts you can do what you please with, my sug- 
 gestions you must think over, and, if used, adopt as your own. 
 It has given me pleasure to be of any use to you. 
 
 On (2) and (5). Is not this an evidence of injudicious or improper 
 feeding in early childhood, combined with the want of ability 
 of a very young child to fend for itself or get adequate exercise 
 and fresh air ? 
 
 (5.) What is improper feeding in a very young child becomes 
 suitable in a few years. The school life of young children pre- 
 sumably does not affect their health or developrnent adversehj. 
 (I refer to babies and all classes above and in the Infant Depart- 
 ment.) (It is to this conclusion that I take exception, no evidence 
 was befoie us about the health of babies who did net attend 
 school, and no inference could, in my opinion, be drawn in con- 
 sequence.) 
 
 (3.) That the children attending school are not drawn 
 
 from the class where abject poverty obtains as the rule. 
 
 (4.) That tuberculosis, or rather the tendency to tuberculosis 
 from hereditary taint, is present to a serious extent. 
 
 (2.) That rickets is very common in , but that in many 
 
 , cases there seems to be an almost natural cure. 
 
 Dr. , 
 
 Medical Officer."
 
 92 Miss Bathursfs Re-port. 
 
 " Infant Department, School. 
 
 The cliildren were inspected somewhat rapidly, but the follow- 
 ing points were carefully noted : — 
 
 Condition of (a) teeth, (6) eyes and eyelids, (c) hair, {d) cervical 
 g'ands, presence or absence of rickets or skin disease or evidence 
 of tubercular taint or tendency, general nutrition, evidence of 
 anajmia, amount and suitability and condition and cleanliness 
 of clothing. 
 
 Speaking generally one noted : — 
 
 1. That a large proportion of the children had bad teeth. 
 
 2. That among the babies specially rickets was very pre- 
 
 valent. 
 
 3. That as a rule the children were fairly well clad and nour- 
 
 ished. 
 
 4. That a number of children were of tuberculous or scro- 
 
 fulous type. 
 
 5. That the babies were the least satisfactory as a whole 
 
 and the children improved with age. 
 Some of the children were typically underfed, anaemic, wispy- 
 haired, verminous, and dirty, but this was the exception. There 
 were also noted a number of cases of impetigo, but no ringworm 
 and almost no other skin disease. A great number of the children 
 had enlarged cervical glands from one cause and another, and 
 had the children been older, one would like to have examined the 
 throat, probably many of them have enlarged tonsils or adenoids. 
 
 (Signed) — — 
 Medical Officer." 
 
 J\^ote hy the Board of Education on the method and jiroeednre of 
 Reporting hy Inspector, 
 
 There are not enough District Inspectors to enable each of the 20,000 
 schools in England and Wales to be visited every year by one of them, 
 but the statements on page 76 in I'egard to the duties of Sub-Inspectors are 
 not true of the i^ractice prior to July, 1904. Two visits were })aid in the 
 year, often by different officers. H.]\I. Inspector himself paid the second 
 visit in doubtful cases, if he could not do so in all. His staff entered full 
 particulars of their inspection on what is known as a lAesult Form. At 
 the second visit the first Result Form would usually be in the hands of the 
 membi^r of the staff visiting, and on the second Ilesult Form he ^\■ould 
 generally, but not always, suggest a draft for the Report. H.M. Ins})ector 
 then collated the Result Forms — he almost invju'iably had previously 
 visited the school and fi'equently had further knowledge of the school 
 circumstances and the teachers than the officer visiting. He also knew the 
 special bent of different members of his stalF, and was thereby enabled to 
 standai'dise the final reports for the schools of the district. 
 
 It is untrue that a Sulj-Inspector writes on the Result Form anything 
 but the facts he sees, and if he submits to his Insjjector a draft for a Report, 
 it is /i/.s inference from the facts. H.M. Inspector m'^dit draw different 
 conclusions as to which of the facts deserved to be reported on. If he had 
 no special reason to the contrary, he might adopt his Sub-Insjicctor's draft 
 report as his own.
 
 3IisH Batliuvi-it'a Report. 93 
 
 It is always possible that the reports furnished by the subordinate to 
 the District Inspector may lack sonietliing in accuracy of statement or 
 reasonableness of tone which the knowledge and experience of the 
 Inspector may lead him to correct. The report to which this note is 
 appended may suggest to the reader circumstances under which such 
 action by an Inspector might be desirable in order to prevent inaccurate or 
 prejudiced representations of fact going forth to the public with the 
 sanction of the Board. 
 
 It is not the case that before June 1904 it was the practice for 
 Junior Examiners to alter reports without reference to the Inspectors who 
 had furnislied them. The case referred to on pp. 77, 78 is not accurately 
 described. The action of the Junior Examiner to which reference is there 
 made was admittedly irregular and his apologies Avere offered to the 
 Inspector. The words quoted were never used nor is there any founda- 
 tion for the suggestion that the existence of a peer among the managers 
 of the school in cpiestion in any way affected the treatment of the matter 
 by the Board.
 
 MISS CALLIS'S REPORT. 
 
 I was instructed to carry out an enquiry into the work of 
 infant schools, more especially as affecting children between three 
 and five years of age: the manner of their training and the 
 resulting advantages or disadvantages. 
 
 This Enquiry I carried out in Barry, CardifE, Newport, and 
 Swansea during April, May and June, and in London in the 
 Greenwich District during the last four months of 1904. 
 Additional interest was thus given to my work since the schools 
 visited in Wales differed markedly from those visited in 
 London. In writing this report, some amount of comparison 
 between these schools has been unavoidable. Broadly speaking 
 the differences are the result of the greater freedom from 
 restriction enjoyed by the schools in Barry, Cardiff, and Swansea, 
 leading to greater variety in the types of schools and in their 
 internal working as compared with the hampering conditions 
 imposed by the late London School Board which have tended to 
 kill initiative and originality and to deaden enthusiasm. 
 
 The discipline in the Barry schools struck me forcibly as 
 having something of the nature of the new spirit of school discipline 
 existing in American schools as described by Mr. Herbert P. Rath- 
 bone in the Reports of the Mosely Educational Commission and at 
 greater length in Volume X. of the Special Reports issued by the 
 Board of Education. There is, too, in many of the schools in the 
 boroughs named above a wider application of Frcebelian principles 
 producing Kindergarten schools of a sensible type ; seen at their 
 best in the town of Barry, which has been described as standing " in 
 the fore-front of all educational enterprise in the Principality." 
 
 Further differences come out in the details of Forms 61. 
 
 Carricidum (see Form 01. A.o). 
 
 Table A. (page 118) gives an analysis of the time-tables in use for 
 
 children of three to five years in thirty-eight schools. The figures are 
 
 approximate only since lessons are curtailed to allow of marching, 
 
 singing, etc., in all well managed schools. There is in this respect 
 
 a wide difference between school and school as to the employment 
 
 •of children between lessons. In some, five minutes from the 
 
 'beginning and end of each lesson are taken for rest, song, talk 
 
 > or marching ; in others the children pass from one lesson to another 
 
 "without a break and with nothing to relieve the monotony. Head 
 
 teachers, when consulted about this matter, invariably say, " They 
 
 are supposed to have singing and exercises between all lessons." 
 
 But, as many teachers who are placed in charge of the babies have 
 
 not sufficient insight into child nature, it is more often forgotten 
 
 than not. 
 
 Equally wide differences appear in the amount of time allotted 
 ito the various subjects enumerated in A. 3 of Form (il. Thus
 
 9G Miss Callis's Report. 
 
 in one London Infant School 5G5 minutes per week are devoted 
 to the three R's and 380 minutes to all other subjects, including 
 physical exercises and manual work. In another London 
 Infant School 175 minutes per week to the three R's and 965 
 minutes to remaining subjects. Both are large schools with fine 
 halls, yet the former school time-table showed only twenty-five 
 minutes set apart for physical exercises for three year old children, 
 while in the latter they had 350 minutes. 
 
 Still further to emphasise these differences I have given at the 
 end of Table A. the average number of minutes given to each sub- 
 ject per week and per class in those of the Welsh Council Schools 
 which I visited and in the London Council Schools for purposes of 
 comparison. The comparison is, I think, both interesting and in- 
 structive. The Barry Borough Council have now successfully worked 
 their infant schools on kindergarten lines for some time and the dis- 
 tribution of time shewn by their time-tables is, in my opinion, far 
 more rational than that obtaining in the majority of London schools. 
 They are essentially infant schools for infants, and at the same 
 time would compare most favourably with the best London 
 schools as regards the attainments of children of the same 
 age. 
 
 I should say that the aim of the infant school in London is to 
 produce children who have already at six and a half years of age 
 or thereabouts, mastered the work which properly belongs to 
 Standard I. of the senior school ; not primarily to help children 
 to develop naturally and healthily according to the laws of their 
 own being. Naturally enough this aim satisfies the senior schools. 
 It is a fact that Class I., infants, averaging six and a half years 
 of age, are, when promoted to some senior schools, examined in 
 Standard I. work and failing to do themselves or their teachers 
 justice are said " to know nothing." I have had this examination 
 work shown to me to instance the backward state of children 
 sent up from the infant school. 
 
 This aim influences the curriculum of the infant school and 
 accounts for the large proportion of time given to the three R.'s 
 and the disproportionately small time given to physical training, 
 manual work, stories, and conversation. In schools where the 
 head teacher, having the courage of her convictions, has arranged 
 
 a more sensible course for children under five as in the 
 
 School already referred to, there is no falling off in the attain- 
 ments of children between six and seven, but there is, I should say, 
 distinct gain in intelligence and vital interest in work. 
 
 And this is also very true of the Barry schools and some of the 
 Cardiff and Swansea schools, where the children are robust, vigorous 
 and alive. Partly, of course, this is due to natural advantages of 
 position, nearness to sea and country, but partly to the nature of 
 the schoolwork. 
 
 The time-tables for children under five present certain common 
 features in each district : —
 
 Miss CalUs's Report. 97 
 
 In Barry, Cardiff and Swansea one finds : 
 
 1. A story or nature lesson every morning generally at the 
 
 beginning of secular instruction. 
 
 2. One lesson for games every morning and at least one for 
 
 manual work. 
 
 3. In some schools the place of the three R's for babies is 
 
 taken by talks, drawing, and games. 
 
 4. The afternoon is, as a rule, given entirely to occupations, 
 
 singing, recitation, and games. 
 
 5. Needlework is rarely taken with children of five, 
 n London one finds : 
 
 1. The morning devoted mainly to the three R's with a 
 
 fourth lesson for singing, object lesson, or recitation. 
 
 2. The afternoon divided between object lessons, manual 
 
 work, needle work drills (omitted in some schools), singing 
 or recitation, and further instruction in the three R's. 
 
 3. Kindergarten games once or twice a week and a short 
 
 story lesson on Friday afternoons. 
 
 In the Barry and Cardiff Schools the main features of the work 
 are the story and nature lessons with their correlated occupations. 
 
 In London the three R's bulk largely, and too little time 
 s given to " expression " lessons. 
 
 Should Children wider Five be taught the three R^s ? 
 I think not, because : — 
 
 1. It is misplaced energy : the question is not whether at 
 
 this age children can be made to learn letters, etc., by 
 dint of praiseworthy ingenuity and unlimited patience 
 on the part of the teacher ; but whether at this age 
 they should be concerned with symbols when they have 
 so little knowledge of real things— when they ought 
 to be mainly occupied with growing and with establishing 
 relations between themselves and the world around, 
 chiefly the world of nature. 
 
 2. By the time Standard I. is reached the evidence shows 
 
 that the child who starts the three R's at five is as forward 
 
 by the time he reaches seven or eight years of age as 
 
 the one who starts at three, if properly taught ; and 
 
 that the work is less tedious. 
 
 I was told by several good teachers that a child of five could 
 
 be taught to read simple words in six months providing he was 
 
 of average intelligence. 
 
 Writing presents no difficulty at this age, especially if the children 
 have been allowed to draw. 
 
 The actual amount of arithmetic which can be properly taught 
 to infants is small, and is limited by their inability to grasp ideas 
 of numbers of any magnitude. 
 
 Further the faculty of memory is not well established earlier 
 than from five to seven years of age.
 
 98 Miss Callis's Report. T~ 
 
 ' Should Children under Five he taught Needlework. 
 
 I think needlework should not be taught at all before seven 
 years of age. I am sure that children in Standard I. could do 
 exactly the same exercises in needlework now required of them 
 if they were not taught to sew before reaching Standard I. The 
 degree of muscular co-ordination needed for the " making of a 
 stitch " with needle properly held and thimble in position is beyond 
 the stage of development reached by the nervous system of a 
 child of five. 
 
 The chief objection is of course the strain on eyesight. My 
 opinion is that the needle-threading drill taken with babies en- 
 courages, if it does not actually cause, strabismus. An oculist 
 of wide experience whom I consulted about this matter writes as 
 follows : — 
 
 " 1. Squint almost always occurs before the age of five. All eyes, especially 
 squinting eyes, should be tested from time to time, and the deftctivc ones 
 attended to. 
 
 " 2. It is not momentary near work so much as 2irolonged near work which 
 encourages strabismus ; twelve minutes' work at twelve inches (the closest 
 at which contimious work should be attempted) would be more likely to 
 induce or accentuate strabismus tha,n half a minute at six inches. Even 
 momentary use of the eyes at closer than six inches should be forbidden. 
 
 " 3. Short sight is what is mo«t to he dreaded in school work. It is in 
 most cases avoidable even where there is strong hereditary tendency by in- 
 sisting on good light, good print, etc., never work nearer than twelve inches, 
 frequent relaxation of focus of eyes {e.g., looking at blackboard or a distant 
 object), very moderate use of the eyes. Ko near work at all if the child is 
 ill. Sitting upright and avoiding hanging the head down and crouching 
 and stoojiing over work." 
 
 I have quoted at some length these opinions of a specialist because 
 I think they support my contention that children under five should 
 not be taught the three R's nor yet needlework. So long as children 
 are put to books and to needlework at this age will their eyesight 
 suf!er, because teachers do not see that they assume suitable hygienic 
 positions at work and check the natural tendency to relieve strain 
 by looking away from their books or their work by the command, 
 " Keep your eyes on your books." Fortunately nature safeguards 
 her own interests by making little children restless and prone to 
 look at everything going on around them instead of gazing at their 
 books. 
 
 Lastly, by postponing formal instruction in the three R's to a 
 later period, we should simplify the organisation of infant schools 
 and render the work of the teacher easier. All children of five 
 would be ready to start at the same point, having spent the period 
 between three and five either at school or at home in getting know- 
 ledge of things at first hand ; in exercising growing powers of 
 body and mind naturally, and in learning how to talk ; which 
 last should be the natural prelude to learning how to read. 
 At present we try to teach children to read before they can 
 talk.
 
 Miss Callis's Report. 99 
 
 There is, so far as I can see, no danger at present of our pro- 
 longing unduly the kindergarten stage in infant schools : rather is 
 there a danger of hurrying the children out of it too quickly in the 
 haste to prepare them for scholarships or for senior schools. 
 
 I wish to emphasise in the strongest possible way what I be- 
 lieve to be at present a real danger in the schools of the L.C.C. viz. : — 
 the system of transferring from the irfant to the senior depart- 
 ments a^^c/tii(Zre7i as a i-ideivho will be seven years of a<je before 
 ^ tJie end of the next educational year: i.e., that in July, 1904, all 
 children Avould practically be transferred to senior departments 
 who had reached their sixth birthday. In some districts in London, 
 considerable pressure is, I understand, brought to bear upon infants' 
 mistresses to enforce this rule. Obviously many children are 
 totally unfit at this early age to stand the strain of the more exact- 
 ing conditions of senior schools. Many children of seven and even 
 of eight years of age are " Infants " still as far as brain develop- 
 ment goes. 
 
 It is during the " Infant " age that children are liable to various 
 infantile diseases of an infectious character, such as, measles, whoop- 
 ing cough, scarlet fever, mumps, chicken pox, etc. Children re- 
 covering from any one of these are, for varying periods of time, 
 unfit to undergo any strain mental or physical and for a time " lose 
 ground." This should be taken into account in deciding when a 
 child is fit to be transferred to the senior department. 
 
 In the poorest districts where many children are ill-nourished 
 and undersized it is even more important to prolong the period in 
 the infant school, until the completion of the seventh year. It would 
 be advisable in such schools to determine, by some simple methods, 
 such as I saw used by Dr. Eichholz in a very poor school, what 
 percentage of children were below par mentally and physically 
 (for the two generally go together), for the percentage of cases to be 
 recorded in the Log-Book for reference, and for the work to be 
 arranged and judged accordingly. 
 
 Further, the very rapid rate of brain-growth at this age should be 
 borne in mind. If the brain practically attains full size and weight 
 by about seven or eight years of age — it is obviously of the utmost 
 importance that no undue strain should be put upon it during this 
 period of rapid growth. Yet without some undue pressure the 
 majority of elementary school children cannot be prepared to 
 enter Standard I. in senior schools at six to six and a half year^ of 
 age. 
 
 Sojne faults in the present system of training little children. 
 1. The children have to sit still in desks or on galleries far too 
 long at a stretch and they have too few opportunities for movement 
 and for play. Children of three and four under normal healthy 
 
 + The amended rule reads "all children who will be seven before the end 
 of the first half of the next educational year."
 
 100 Miss Callis's Report. 
 
 conditions are always running about and dislike sitting still ; it is 
 not natural that these activities of the developing child should be 
 ruthlessly checked and thwarted. The result of hindering develop- 
 ment on natural lines is to produce either the dull apathetic child 
 or the ' naughty ' child. 
 
 2. There is no resting time in many class-rooms : the children 
 are ' talked at ' throughout the school period, the unfortunate 
 baby-teacher wears out herself and her charges by this never-ending 
 stream of talk. And this is another fruitful source of the apathy so 
 conmion in our schools. 
 
 3. The mental activity of the children is often starved for lack 
 of sufficient material on which to exercise their powers of observa- 
 tion and of opportunity to handle objects and toys even when 
 they have been provided. Everyone is familiar with the beautiful 
 large toys provided in many schools which are kept behind glass 
 doors or in cupboards. 
 
 Suggestions as to curriculum suitable for children between three and 
 Jive years of age. 
 
 Since at three a child's activities are chiefly physical, all work 
 should come to him in the form of play — formal instruction being 
 banished from this stage — and education be carried on by means 
 of games, songs, stories, manual work, etc., and by giving the 
 child unlimited means of expressing himself in speech, action, use 
 of materials and in play. 
 
 All handwork suggested for children under five, should deal with 
 comparatively large and simple things — small sticks, small beads, 
 thread laying and fraying are unsuitable. Bricks larger than the 
 blocks in Froebel's " Gifts " might be provided in larger quantities, 
 with which the children could build together on the floor. Draw- 
 ing, sand- work, ball games and clay-modelling are all good. If 
 the baby room be freed from its gallery, blackboards or slates 
 could be placed round the walls for drawing. 
 
 Use should be made of everything in the child's surroundings 
 likely to be of interest to him ; it should be the teacher's business 
 to surround him with whatever is possible in the world of nature 
 in which he is likely to be interested. 
 
 As an instance of what can be done to interest even children 
 young as these in things around them I quote the following list of 
 conversational lessons taken with babies of three to five between 
 Christmas and the beginning of July in a Barry Council 
 School. No special scheme was prepared except by the 
 teacher week by week, and the objects taken were all such as 
 could be kept in the classroom in a more or less natural state or be 
 seen in the neighbourhood of the school.
 
 Miss Callis's Report. 
 
 101 
 
 Cock and hen 
 
 Duck and swan 
 
 Sea gull 
 
 Pigeon and dove 
 
 Blackbird 
 
 Rook 
 
 Owl 
 
 Robin 
 
 Snail (land) 
 
 Snail (water) 
 
 Tadpoles and spawn 
 
 Water-beetle 
 
 Tadpoles 
 
 Caddis worm 
 
 Fish, minnow 
 
 Farmyard 
 
 Hyacinth bulb 
 
 Buds 
 
 Hazel catkins 
 
 Snowdrop 
 
 Daffodil 
 
 Primrose 
 
 Hyacinth grown in water 
 
 Our aquarium 
 
 Cowslip 
 
 Bluebell. 
 
 A Barry Borough Council Infant School. 
 
 
 Time Table Jor Bal 
 
 ics of three i/rurs old. 
 
 
 Time. 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Wednes- 
 day. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Friday. 
 
 9.0-9.30 
 
 
 Hymn and 
 
 Registrat"on. 
 
 
 
 9.30-10.0 
 10.0-10.30 
 
 Story 
 
 Games (in 
 Hall) 
 
 Games (in 
 
 Hall) 
 Nature talk 
 
 Picture talk 
 Drawing 
 
 Nature talk 
 Drawing 
 
 Games (in 
 Hall) 
 Story 
 
 10.30-10.45 
 
 
 Recre 
 
 ation 
 
 
 
 10.45-11.15 
 11.15-11.30 
 11.30-12.0 
 
 Drawing 
 Singing 
 Building 
 
 Beads 
 
 Singing 
 
 Colouring 
 outlines 
 
 Games 
 
 Stick-laying 
 
 h hour 
 
 S^ingiig 
 
 (i hour) 
 
 Games 
 
 Heads 
 (h liour) 
 Singing 
 (1 hour) 
 
 Building 
 Singing 
 DraAviug 
 
 2.0-2.30 
 
 Games 
 
 2.30-3.0 Clay-model - 
 1 lino- 
 
 3.0-3.15 
 
 3.15-3.45 
 
 3.45-4.0 
 
 Sand 
 
 Drawing 
 Gift I 
 
 Games (m 
 
 Hall) 
 Clay-model- 
 
 linsr. 
 
 Recreation 
 
 Tablets Buildinjr 
 
 Hymn and dismisf=al 
 
 Colouring 
 Picture talk 
 
 Sand 
 
 Marching 
 
 or games 
 
 Clay-model- 
 
 'ling 
 
 Games 
 
 Note : — During warm weather the babies spend evei-y afternoon from 
 3.0 p.m. in the field opposite the scliool, 
 
 8525. H
 
 102 Miss CalUs's Report. 
 
 A Barry Borough Council Infant School. 
 
 Time Tabic for Cliildnn. oj 4i to 5 years. 
 
 MONl^AY. 
 
 9.0-9.80 
 
 9.30-10.0 
 10.0-10.30 
 
 Story 
 Readinj' 
 
 TUKSPAV. 
 
 Hymns and 
 
 Nature 
 Modellin- 
 
 Wednes- 
 day 
 
 Prayers. 
 
 Number 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Friday, 
 
 Games (in 
 Hall) 
 
 Singing (in j Nature 
 Hall) I lesson 
 
 Reading 
 Writing 
 
 10.30-10.45 
 
 10.45-11.15 
 11.15-11.30 
 11.30-12.0 
 
 Writing 
 Singing 
 
 Recre 
 
 ation. 
 
 Numbtr i lieudin 
 
 Ganies (in Writing 
 
 Hall) 
 Recitation j Recitation 
 
 Clay- model- 
 ling 
 Recitation 
 
 Singing (in 
 Hall) 
 Drill 
 
 Manual 
 Work 
 
 Reauiug JSlauual 
 
 work 
 
 2.0-2.30 
 
 
 Conver 
 
 sation. 
 
 
 
 2.30-3.0 
 
 Colouring 
 
 Free draw- 
 ing 
 
 Drawing 
 
 Writing 
 
 Colouring 
 
 3.0-3.15 
 
 
 Reore 
 
 ation. 
 
 Paper -fold- 
 ing 
 
 Prayers 
 
 
 
 3.15-3.50 
 
 Clay-model- 
 ling 
 
 Gift III 
 Hymn and 
 
 Drf wing 
 
 Story or 
 Game 
 
 3.50-4.0 
 
 
 
 Specimen Day's Work for Children under Five, taken from th'i Tim'^- 
 
 Table in use in a London County Council Infant School. 
 
 9 - 9.40 Prayer, hymn and scripture lesson. 
 
 9.40- 9.55 Care and observation of natural objects (drawing in connection). 
 
 10 -10.15 Marching and other phy.sical exercises. 
 
 10-15-10.45 Conversation. (Subject fur the month.) 
 
 10.45-11.0 Recreation. 
 
 11.0 -11. .30 Varied occu2)atiuns. 
 
 11.30-11.55 Games. 
 
 11.55-12.0 Dismissal. 
 
 2. - 2.15 Marching and registration. 
 
 2.15- 2..50 Varied occupations. 
 
 2.50- 3.0 llccreation. 
 
 3.0 - 3.30 (}ame.s and story or toys and free play, 
 
 3,30- 4,0 Varied occupations.
 
 Miss Cnllis's Report. 103 
 
 Notes Appended to ohove Time Tt/hle : — 
 
 1. A finger play or song at the beginning or end of each lesson. 
 
 2. Five or ten minutes at the end of a long afternoon lesson to be left 
 to the children for free use of the material in hand. 
 
 3. Groups of children to play with toys in a separate room under care of 
 a teacher. 
 
 4. Groups of children for " gardening " under the care of the head or 
 some other teacher at least forty-five minutes per week, according to the 
 weather. i ; 
 
 5. Groups of children for walks with a teacher to — —- Park for 
 
 home-lore and nature lessons. 
 
 Staff (see Form Gl, ^.1.) 
 
 Staff employed in these thirty -eight schools in teaching children 
 under five. — 
 
 For the twenty-one schools in Barry, Cardiff, Newport and 
 Swansea having 2,768 children under five on roll there were : — 
 nine certificated teachers ; seven trained kmdergartners ; thirty- 
 one assistant teachers ; six supplementary teachers. 
 
 In London seventeen schools having 1,381 children under 
 five on roll : — nineteen trained certificated teachers ; two un- 
 trained certificated teachers ; three supplementary teachers ; 
 2 Article 50's ; three pupil-teachers. 
 
 The seven trained kindergarten teachers were in the four schools 
 under the Barry Council — ^they were trained at the Froebel 
 Institute, Cheltenham Ladies' College, Dulwich High School K.G. 
 Department, Bedford K.G. College, and the Blackheath K.G. 
 College. 
 
 The head teachers spoke in the highest terms of the work of 
 these teachers. The combination of certificated teachers of greater 
 experience in managing large classes with the framed kindergarten 
 teachers and their wider knowledge of the principles underlying 
 the education of young children seems here to be eminently success- 
 ful. I think the policy of the Barry Council first in appointing 
 these teachers and secondly in giving suitable remuneration to 
 them is sound. (Tlie salary for a teacher holding the Higher 
 Froebel certificate is the same as that of a certificated teacher.) 
 
 Having learnt from their study of Froebelian methods and 
 principles to respect the individuality of the children and to help 
 the natural unfolding of their powers, mental and physical, by 
 surrounding them with a suitable environment and to refrain 
 from overmuch interference and instruction, one finds in the 
 classes in charge of the framed kindergartner a happy, whole- 
 some spirit of freedom and activity. 
 
 The nearest approach to this, I venture to say, is oftenest met with 
 in the work of the supplementary teacher, who led by instinct and by 
 sympathy with little children, attains a similar result. The college 
 trained teacher, besides bemg an expensive person, is apt to demand 
 too much from these children out of a conscientious desire to do 
 her duty by her employers ; she feels the necessity of^ having 
 8525. u 2
 
 104 Miss CalUs's Report. 
 
 " results " to show for her work at the end of the term. Indeed 
 she frankly says so. 
 
 What is wanted for children under five is more the kind of apti- 
 tude and training which would fit a girl to become a nurse. Bright- 
 ness, sympathy, and love of little children are essential as well 
 as tact in managing children. 
 
 Were it clearly understood that the kind of schoolroom discipline 
 which is necessary and beneficial for older children was not wanted 
 in the baby room, and that further, girls taking up this work 
 would not be required forthwith to take up classes and pass ex- 
 aminations, I believe plenty of people could be found to do the 
 work which is now done by the supplementary teachers and 
 most effectively. A little preliminary experience gained by 
 helping in a baby room in a good school is all the training 
 some of these teachers have had, who, nevertheless, manage 
 little children with skill and sympathy. 
 
 Thus numbers of trained certificated teachers would be liberated 
 to supply the upper part of the infant schools, and the baby-room 
 become a sort of nursery-school under a less exacting management. 
 
 Suggestions as to Rooms, Furniture, etc. 
 
 1. The room occupied by children under five should be near an 
 exit to the playground so that these children may frequently 
 in suitable weather use the playground without disturbing the 
 rest of the school. 
 
 2. It should have a sunny aspect and be large and airy, cum- 
 bered with neither gallery nor desks, so that practically the whole 
 floor space would be available for games, marching, etc. 
 
 3. Small light wooden chairs of varying sizes and light kinder- 
 garten tables to seat about a dozen children would provide suitable 
 accommodation for the children for manual work, and other occu- 
 pations. These could be easily arranged and easily put against 
 the wall to clear the centre of the room for games by the children 
 themselves, with the help of their " guardians." 
 
 4. Another important point is the position of the offices. The 
 buildings are in many cases p'anned in such a way as to give the 
 11 aximum possible distance between the baby loom and the offices 
 — often there is the whole length of the hall pi s the length of 
 the playground to be traversed. 
 
 5. A plentiful supply of untearable picture books in addition 
 to the wall pictures should be provided for the children's use and 
 durable, inexpensive plain wooden toys should take the place 
 of the more costly models at present provided. 
 
 There is a light kind of safety swing which I saw in many o, 
 the Barry infant schools which seemed to give much more pleasure 
 to the children than the rocking-horse.
 
 Mifts CalUs's Report. 
 
 105 
 
 Schools in a London District. 
 
 Approximate number of infants (a) over five, (b) under five years 
 of age. 
 
 (a) (b) 
 School. over five under five 
 
 Council - - - 159 164 
 
 Council- - - - 270 131 
 
 — , Church - 140 80 
 
 , R.C. - - - 132 50 
 
 - 121 31 
 
 Poor neighbourhoods. 
 
 , R.C. 
 
 Council 
 — — Council 
 
 Council- 
 
 Church 
 
 Council 
 
 — - — -J- Council 
 
 — ■ Council - 
 
 — - — Council- 
 
 Council- 
 
 — Council- 
 
 Church 
 
 Council 
 
 161 
 198 
 312 
 59 
 176 
 
 319 
 201 
 423 
 311 
 320 
 
 145 
 
 288 
 
 78 
 91 
 118 
 25 
 66 
 
 110 
 
 59 
 63 
 49 
 99 
 
 Moderately good neigh- 
 bourhoods with admixture 
 of children from poor 
 homes. 
 
 Schools in good neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 59 ~» Moderately good neigh- 
 108/bourhood. 
 
 The School ; in four boroughs in South Wales. 
 
 C. 
 
 C. 
 
 a 
 
 R.C. - 
 
 Bd.t - 
 
 Bd. 
 
 Bd. 
 
 Bd. - 
 
 t Bd. - - - 
 
 X — Bd. - 
 
 X — Bd. - 
 
 X Bd. - - - 
 
 Bd. - - - 
 
 Bd. - 
 
 Bd. - - - 
 
 Bd. 
 
 + Bd. - - - 
 
 R.C. - 
 
 Bd. - 
 
 Bd. - - - 
 
 The figures quoted for the Welsh schools were taken during the 
 period when infant schools as a rule have their maximum attend- 
 
 * Schools always full, obliged to refuse admission to many children under 
 
 five, 
 t Schools still maintained by a School Board at the time of the enquiry. 
 % Very good neighbourhood. 
 
 235 
 
 146 
 
 
 
 144 
 
 222 
 
 58 
 90 
 
 ~> 
 
 Borough. 
 
 109 
 
 59 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 46 
 
 
 
 479 
 234 
 
 179 
 132 
 
 
 County Borough. 
 
 148 
 
 126 
 
 
 
 313 
 
 160 
 
 > 
 
 
 490 
 
 180 
 
 
 
 314 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 494 
 
 128 
 
 
 County Borough 
 
 406 
 
 151 
 
 
 
 505 
 
 173 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 185 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 204 
 
 156 
 
 
 
 257 
 
 94 
 
 
 
 190 
 
 128 
 
 J 
 
 County Borough. 
 
 347 
 
 309 
 
 
 183 
 
 121 
 

 
 10^ Miss Oallis^s RepofL 
 
 aiice, i.e., between Easter and Midsummer. There is usually a 
 great influx of young children after Easter especially in mild 
 weather, and promotions to the senior schools are not made until 
 the end of July. Consequently, without due care on the part of 
 teachers and managers, there is " habitual overcrowding," especially 
 of baby-rooms at this period. 
 
 Thus in one Newport School there were 595 children on 
 roll for the week before Easter and 665 on roll during 
 the week ending April 29th, 1904 ; the increase being chiefly 
 of children under five. 
 
 But in it seems to me the most serious over-crowding 
 
 exists at tliis period — due possibly to the fact that, as I under- 
 stand, the salaries of head teachers depend upon the average 
 attendance. Tlierefore so long as the average attendance does 
 not exceed the accommodation no steps are taken to avoid this 
 habitual over-crowdmg from Easter to Midsummer. I quote one 
 
 conspicuous instance in a County Borough Infant 
 
 School — which I visited in mid June. Here the children under 
 five present numbered 278, and they were crowded into two rooms 
 containing dual desks with seating accommodation for 208 
 children only, and scarcely any floor space available for move- 
 ment. The only lessons taken out of doors were the kindergarten 
 games, occupying one and a half hours per week. These children 
 had to be kept sitting in desks in this crowded condition far too 
 long and had little opportunity for movement ; there could be no 
 suitable training under such conditions — conditions far from 
 hygienic. 
 
 In the Newport School previously referred to, one class of 
 new children were working in the stock and stores room, 
 forms had been placed round this room on which the children were 
 crowded. The ventilation was insufficient. 
 
 In Cardifi during the same period where the schools were full 
 the head teachers were refusing admission to children under five. 
 The mothers were simply advised to keep the cliildren at home 
 for a few months ; this they did not seem to mind in the least. 
 
 If children under five are admitted it is highly desirable that 
 the present system of including their attendances in the percentages 
 of returns made out for the whole school should be abolished. 
 Because their attendances are so included .so long as their names are 
 on the books, both teachers and attendance officers must try to secure 
 their regular attendance both morning and afternoon. The officers 
 are liable to re])rimand for lack of zeal if their returns are not good. 
 But for this babies might frequently, and to their good, be kept at 
 home in the afternoon, for sleep or to be taken out by their mothers, 
 in all but the ])oorer neiglibourhoods. I think they might attend 
 regularly in the morning and be encouraged to stay at home in 
 the afternoon until they reach the age of five.
 
 Miss Callis's Report. 107 
 
 In/or iication Gained froin the Attendance Officers 
 
 in Cardif. 
 
 1. As to occupation of inotliers. The men in charge of the 
 district near the docks reported that about 30 per cent, of the 
 mothers of children attending schools in these neighbour- 
 hoods were employed in sorting and unloading vegetables and 
 fruit. 
 
 That a further number were engaged in charing — cleaning the 
 offices near the docks — lighting fires in the winter time, etc. 
 
 In the Irish quarter, , many of the mothers sold vege- 
 tables and flowers in the streets. 
 
 In other parts of — steam laundries and a large pipe factory 
 
 employed numbers of v/omen. 
 
 2. Asked to express their opinions as to the advisability of send- 
 ing children to school at three years of age, I found the majority 
 of the men considered it too young except in districts where in- 
 sanitary conditions prevailed. 
 
 One man, an old soldier, with twelve children had sent them all 
 to school at three because (1) he had the right to do so, (2) because 
 they were kept in better order at school than at home and got 
 used to discipline. 
 
 The senior officer had eight children and sent the first five at 
 three years of age and the last three at five years. He said the 
 latter three were better scholars at thirteen than the others. 
 
 3. Asked whether they brought any pressure to bear on mothers 
 to send children under five regularly to school, the majority of the 
 men said they left it entirely to the mothers. Three of the men 
 working in the poorer parts of the town said they asked that the 
 children under five might be sent to school (1) because of insanitary 
 conditions of the dwellings and (2) and perhaps chiefly, because 
 the older children were frequently kept at home to " mind " the 
 younger ones. 
 
 4. Reasons given as to why so many children were sent to school 
 at three years of age : — 
 
 (a) A popular head teacher or babies' teacher brought children 
 
 to school (as at Road and Infant Schools). 
 
 Where the school was attractive the little ones asked 
 to go with their brothers and sisters. 
 
 (b) Because it was the custom and the law permitted. 
 
 (c) Because it was convenient and left the mothers in the 
 
 better districts free to go out, and in the poorer districts 
 to spend the time in gossip and, the men also said, in 
 drinking. 
 
 {d) Poverty compelled many mothers to send their children 
 to school while they were out at work as in the case of 
 widows.
 
 108 Miss CatUs^s Report. 
 
 (c) That the elder children should not be kept at home to 
 look after the younger ones. At three years of age 
 children become tiresome to mind, apt to get into mis- 
 chief and to run into danger. 
 
 The men were of opinion that d and e were obviously reasons 
 why these young children should be admitted to school. 
 
 5. The attendance officers, who seemed to know the conditions 
 of the homes in their respective districts intimately, said that in 
 certain of the poorer parts of the town the improper feeding of 
 the children accounted for much sickness, skin eruptions, etc. 
 Generally in bad cases the aid of officers of the Society for Pre- 
 vention of Cruelty to Children was invoked quietly and much 
 help given. 
 
 In three of the London Boroughs it would seem that in the 
 poorer parts a certain proportion of the mothers go out to work — 
 chiefly charing, laundry work, street-selling, helping market 
 gardeners, and in Woolwich a small proportion I understand 
 work in the Arsenal. 
 
 The reasons given by the Cardiff attendance officers as to why 
 children are sent to school under five years of age would apply 
 in any district. Where the mothers do not actually go out to 
 work, the popularity of the school, large families, bad management 
 or laziness account for the fact that so many children enter school 
 soon after they become three. 
 
 There is need in the more densely populated'districts of pro- 
 vision, for children under three, of some sort of Creche. In the 
 case of mothers out to work all the day, the care of these 
 children is a difficulty. 
 
 MetJiods adopted for obtaining information required for 
 Form 61, B. and 0. 
 
 The first essential was to make, in each school visited, accurate 
 lists of the children admitted at five years of age or later, in those 
 classes in which tests were to be made. These were, in the case 
 of the Welsh schools, 1st class infants who were to be promoted 
 in from one to three months' time to Standard I. in senior schools. 
 In the London schools where I started work immediately after 
 promotions had been made, Standard I. and Standard II. were 
 usually taken ; the tests being given in junior mixed or senior 
 schools where there was no Standard I. in the infant school. 
 
 These lists of children entering school at five years of age or 
 later (to be hereafter distinguished as "5+ children " in contra- 
 distinction to " 5— children " used to denote those entering school 
 before five years) were most carefully made and verified by myself
 
 Miss CalUs's Report. 109 
 
 with, as a rule, the help of the head teacher. The class registers 
 were taken and each child looked up in the admission register to 
 find date of birth and date of admission. In the case of children 
 admitted from other schools elder brothers or sisters Avcre con- 
 sulted or a note sent to the mother. 
 
 Before testing the children the classes were arranged in two 
 sections so that the 5+ could be readily distinguished from the 
 5— children. 
 
 Children not attending t::>vJu>ol till tlteij /aivc readied Five Years 
 ofA;/e. {See Form in, B.) 
 
 (i.) In the thirty-eight schools visited for the purpose of carry- 
 ing out this enquiry the final answer to the question " Are the 
 children who are not sent to school till they have reached five 
 years of age less orderly than those who have been sent to school 
 earlier ? " was invariably " No," generally a most emphatic " No." 
 
 Cases of hesitation on the part of the head teacher I put down 
 to a natural fear that it would cast some reflection on the school 
 discipline if children entering earlier and having the advantage 
 of longer school training were no better than those coming later — 
 since on calling out the latter section to the front the teachers 
 failed to point out any child more tiresome than the average. 
 Usually they were described as docile and tractable, falling quickly 
 into the ordinary school routine. 
 
 (ii.) Reading. — Tested in large schools by hearing representa- 
 tive children from each section, chosen partly by the class teacher, 
 partly by myself, read aloud. In smaller schools all the children 
 read. 
 
 Writing. — Samples of writing done in an ordinary lesson ex- 
 amined, in many cases sets of papers for future reference taken 
 away. 
 
 Number. — In the Welsh infant schools visited as no formal written 
 arithmetic except on the blackboard is taken, the children were 
 tested orally by myself or the class teacher or both, and the work 
 of the two sections compared. 
 
 Here I must note what struck me very much in these Jiarry 
 and Cardiff schools, the all-round quickness and accuracy in 
 answering questions in arithmetic due, I think, to the children 
 being free to concentrate all their attention on the mental 
 process. This work compared most favourably with that in 
 London schools. 
 
 In the London schools, the arithmetic was tested by oral 
 and written work. For the latter two sums were given by the 
 class teacher and the average number right, per child, in each 
 section, recorded.
 
 liO Miss CalUs^s Refort. 
 
 (iii.) The children's powers of observation were tested (a) by 
 hearing an object lesson"^ "given, (b) by c|uestioning children on 
 recent object lesson, (c) by asking children to enumerate and 
 describe pictures in the hall or large schoolroom, (d) by asking 
 the children to describe flowers distributed to the class (chiefly 
 in Wales), or (e) by getting the children in schools near ^a main 
 road to draw a tram car. Two or three of these methods were 
 adopted in each school. 
 
 (iv.) Originality tested by (a) " Picture-making " — children 
 being asked to draw illustrations of a familiar story or nursery 
 rhyme such as " Red Riding Hood " or " Jack and Jill," (b) draw- 
 ing anything they liked, (c) making in clay or plasticine anything 
 they liked, and (d) by asking children to write down on paper 
 " What they would like to do best on a holiday ? " These papers 
 were kept for future reference, after the average number of ideas 
 per child written down had been recorded. 
 
 (v.) Powers of expression tested in Welsh schools chiefly by 
 asking the children to tell portions of the story which was forming 
 part of the work for the month. In London the children were 
 encouraged to talk about anything which might suggest itself — 
 pictures in school, toys, animals, etc. 
 
 Children in Standard I. (see Form 61. C.) 
 
 " Is there any evidence that the attainments of children ivho 
 have come to school under five years of af/e are Jngher than of 
 those sent later ? " 
 
 In Wales evidence was looked for only in infant schools. The 
 attainments of the two sections 5+ and 5— were compared in 
 the highest classes. 
 
 In London the transfer forms of the children promoted to senior 
 departments in July, 1904, were obtained, by means of the 
 admission register the 5 + and 5— children separated and the 
 percentage then taken in each section of the children who were 
 promoted to a higher class than the one in which they had been 
 workinw during the previous educational year. 
 
 In all cases the head teacher and the class teachers were con- 
 sulted before any final decisions were made. 
 
 Summing uj) of results set out in Table B. {page 122) showing 
 information gained in answer to questions in Form 61 B. and C. 
 
 These are, I think, sufficiently convincing that children under 
 five are better without any formal instruction, and that they make 
 equal progress out of school except where the home influence is 
 such as to militate against progress of any kind. 
 
 It is seen that in the majority of cases the work of children 
 coming at five is either better or equal to the average work of the 
 other children in the school, and the cases in which it falls below 
 this average arc comparatively few. Looking into these cases in
 
 Miss CalUs''s Report. Ill 
 
 which the work of the children starting school life at five falls below 
 that of the children starting at three, the evidence collected shows 
 that the falling of£ is due to the following causes. Firstly, the children 
 come from poor homes. Secondly, children under five are rationally 
 treated and do less, not more in the way of routine work and have 
 plenty of freedom and movement. There is, therefore, no evidence 
 that the child who enters school at five or even six years of age 
 is handicapped on reaching Standard I. by liaving had previously 
 no formal instruction in the three R's. On the contrary, he 
 enters school with equal if not better powers of observation and 
 as great a command of language as the child who entered at three. 
 Moreover, he has a wider experience of many things outside the 
 ordinary class-room routine but pertinent to the life of the child 
 and of value to it. One is struck by iiis mental alertness and 
 natural interest in everything around. This natural interest 
 contrasts strongly with the, so to speak, forced interest shown 
 by children long accustomed to school routine under the stimulus 
 of the teaching of a " good disciplinarian." 
 
 Two excellent illustrations of this occur to me, one in a South 
 
 Wales and one in a London School. At Road, , 
 
 the first week after Easter the Head teacher admitted a flock of 
 new children, sixty-one of vrhom were five or over and had never 
 been to school. I spent some time with them and found them 
 bright, eager, very talkative, ready to be interested in anything. 
 All had some notions of number. Altogether a " promising " class. 
 
 In Road, , Division B. of Standard I. 
 
 were almost entirely children entering school late, many at six 
 years; these were doing good work in the three R.'s. They were 
 very spirited, intelligent children, and showed keen interest in 
 their work. 
 
 I also noted that neither head teachers nor class teachers could, 
 as a rule, point out in the top classes of the infant school those 
 children who had not been admitted until five or six years of age ; 
 showing clearly that they were not markedly backward or in any 
 way to be specially distinguished as being a drag on the work of 
 the class. 
 
 Frequently on bringing out these 5+ children for the purpose 
 of grouping them, the class teacher would say, " These are nearly 
 all my best children." Though they had escaped the drilling 
 and training of the baby-room, not only were they none the worse 
 for it, but except in the case of children coming from poor, neglected 
 homes, were in possession of a buoyancy of spirit, an eager curi- 
 osity which had been drilled out of the less fortunate children 
 who, coming to school at three, had so successfully learnt to " sit 
 still while teacher talks ; " a remark I have many times heard 
 in the baby-room. 
 
 In the opinion of many teachers these children show more 
 promise though they may be behind the others m routine work. 
 They have more initiative and are less hke little machines.
 
 112 Miss CatUs's Report. 
 
 That there are people, teachers, officials, and others, who need 
 convincing that the first five or six years of child life are required 
 for physical growth and for that self-education which children 
 carry on best without injudicious^ interference, has been strongly 
 borne in upon me by this work. Who is responsible for the fact 
 that one can any day go into many infant schools in London, 
 and find during the so-called playtime rows of little children sitting 
 on a gallery in the baby-room — some probably eating their lunch — 
 without hearing one child speak or seeing one child happily play- 
 ing ? To the lover of little cliildren this is suggestive of much. 
 But who is responsible or who has been responsible in the past ? 
 
 First perhaps there has been the inspector who expects babies 
 to sit still and to answer only when questioned and then only 
 individually. Secondly, and more to be heeded in view of future 
 promotions, the School Board official. Thirdly, the head teacher 
 trained under the old examination code and unable to shake off 
 its influence. And lastly, the unsuitable class teacher who has 
 to " take her turn " with the babies. I hardly need say that 
 this is the darker side of the picture — but — ^it should not be there. 
 
 Tlie following results from twenty -< me scJtools in Barry, 
 Cardijfj-, Swansea and Newport, having S,5SS children on roll 
 shoiv h< IV children who are not sent to school till they are five 
 years of age compare with those sent hefore five (see Form 61. B). 
 
 (i.) Reading. — In four schools these children learnt more quickly ; 
 in ten schools they were average scholars ; in six schools they 
 were backward (three in Welsh-speaking districts). 
 
 Writing. — No difference discoverable in any of these schools. 
 
 Number. — In two schools these children were brighter ; in 
 fifteen schools they were average scholars ; in three schools they 
 were backward. 
 
 (ii.) Observation. — In eight schools these children were more 
 observant ; in ten schools they were equally obse'rvant ; in two 
 schools they were less observant. 
 
 (iii.) Originality. — In six schools these children showed more 
 originality ; in thirteen schools they were equal ; in one school 
 they showed less^'originality. 
 
 (iv.) Powers of]^ Expression. — In seven schools these children 
 were more fluent ; in seven schools they were equally fluent ; 
 in six schools they were less fluent. 
 
 7.S' there any evidence that the attainments of children who 
 ] tave ccnne to sehool under five years of age are Jiigher tJian of 
 those sent later ? (see Form 61. C. ) 
 
 Yes, in four schools. A more particular enquiry into the cause 
 of this brought out in the case of three schools facts which seem 
 to me to have an important bearing upon other parts of the enquiry 
 connected with Section A. These three schools, two in Barry 
 and one in Cardiff, have already in differing degree anticipated 
 the })resaing need for reform in the nature of the work required
 
 Mis-'i CaUis's li('p'>rf. WW 
 
 from cliildren between three and five years of age. The babies' 
 room in these schools more nearly appi-oximates to the type of 
 
 nursery -school really needed for children of this age. In the 
 
 Street School, which I should place first, no elementary work is 
 taken with three -year-old children and nmch time is spent out of 
 doors in suitable weather. Elsewhere I give their time-table at 
 length. 
 
 In a second school, number only is taken with the youngest 
 children, and in a third the baby-room is more like a happy nursery 
 than a schoolroom and the numbers were small. 
 I The fourth school is in Swansea in a Welsh-speaking district. 
 The babies speak Welsh at home, and understand very little English, 
 consequently the children entering late are at a disadvantage 
 for some time until more used to English. 
 
 Of the remaining seventeen schools, two gave no evidence either 
 way, and fifteen gave no evidence that children entering before 
 five were more advanced than those entering later. On the con- 
 trary, in six of these the latter children were above the average. 
 This may be partly but not entirely explained by their comhig 
 from better homes in many cases. 
 
 Note. — One of tJie Swansea schools, , is omitted from the 
 
 table of results as there were only two cliildren entering school 
 after five years of age. 
 
 The following res nits from seventeen schools in a London 
 district, having C),05G children on roll, shoiv J tow cliildren who 
 are not sent to school till they are five years of age compare 
 witJi tliose sent before five, (see Form 01. B.) 
 ■ (i.) Reading. — In five schools these cliildren learnt more quickly ; 
 in eleven schools they were average scholars ; in two schools they 
 were backward. 
 
 Writing. — No d fference m any school noted. 
 
 Number. — In seven schools these children did better work ; 
 in eight schools they were average scholars ; in two schools they 
 were slightly backward. 
 
 (ii.) Observation. — In three schools these children were more 
 observant ; in thirteen they were equally observant ; in one 
 they were less observant. 
 
 (iii.) Originality. — In seven schools these children showed more 
 originality ; in nine schools they were equal; in one school they 
 showed less originaHty. 
 
 (iv.) Powers of Expression. In nine schools these children were 
 more fluent ; in six schools they were equally fluent ; in two 
 schools they "'were less fluent. 
 
 Is there any evidence that tJte attainments of children who 
 have come to school under five years of age are higher than of 
 those sent later ? {see Form, 61. C.) 
 
 Yes, in two schools only out of seventeen. One of these schools, 
 =-^-= Boad, is in a very poor neighbourhood and the children
 
 114 Miss Callis's Report. 
 
 gain undoubtedly by being in school between three and five. The 
 
 other, the Road k^chool, is attended by a class of very 
 
 stolid, dull children who need much rousing. These also benefit 
 by being in school. 
 
 Supplementary Report. 
 
 I have to add to my report submitted February 1st observations 
 made in eight London schools and in ten rural schools in Kent. 
 
 In the London schools I endeavoured (a) to supplement the 
 evidence gained in answer to C Form 61 ; (b) to obtain facts as 
 to the eyesight of children in schools ; and (c) to see if any relation 
 can be traced between physical condition and mental proficiency. 
 
 (a) Cltildrcn in Standard I. (see Form 61. C.) 
 
 The conclusions I arrived at earlier in the course of this work 
 were only strengthened and confirmed by the evidence gathered 
 from the eight other London schools. Taking children at seven or 
 eight years of age, working in Standard I. or II., I find those enter- 
 ing school at five years or later quite hold their own and in many 
 cases outstrip children entering at three or four years of age. Higher 
 up in the school, this difference disappears. In Standards V., 
 VI. and VII. there is no difference between the work of children 
 starting school life at three and of children starting at five which 
 cannot be traced directly to other causes — varying degrees of 
 
 mental power, health, and the like. The Road Council 
 
 School, , furnishes useful evidence in answer to C. Form 
 
 61. Since the opening of the school some five years ago children 
 under five in the infant school have received no instruction in the 
 three R.'s — a special and appropriate scheme of work including 
 much manual work, physical exercise, gardening, etc., having 
 been drawn up for them. Standard I. children in this school 
 are, however, quite up to the required stage in elementary work 
 in addition to having also taken up a large amount of nature work 
 and practical gardening in connection therewith. The children 
 read well (Miss Dale's method), write well, and find no difficulty 
 in getting through the arithmetic of Standard I. I may add that 
 the gardening done in this school yields much pleasure and profit 
 to the little gardeners — even the children under five taking their 
 appropriate share in the work. ]<]lscwhere I give a specimen 
 day's work from the time-table for the babies. 
 
 (6) Facit) as lo Eijesvjid. 
 
 I went through all cases of defective vision in the 
 
 Road Council School together with the overflow school for Junior 
 
 Boys, School — with a view to discovering whether there 
 
 was any connection between cases of defects in vision and the 
 age at which the children came to school. I could discover none. 
 The total accommodation of the schools is 1,946. The attendance
 
 Miss CalUs*s Report. 115 
 
 is steady and the population not a migratory one, so that the 
 school was a suitable one for tracing children through from the 
 infant department. In some of the cases of defective vision the 
 children had come to school at three, in some cases at five or six 
 years of age. 
 
 The one fact which did appear in this and other schools was 
 that defects in vision are more common among girls than among 
 boys. Dr. Critchley, oculist to the L.C.C., very kindly supplied 
 me with the following figures: — Of 15,000 boys 23*0 per cent, 
 have defective vision; of 15,000 girls 27*96 per cent, have de- 
 fective vision. 
 
 A separate analysis of three higher grade schools gives these 
 figures : — 
 
 Boys. Girls, 
 
 per cent, per cent. 
 
 In the" " 11-4 21-2 ] 
 
 Road - 14-8 22-2 ^ Defective vision. 
 
 Street - 14*4 21*2 j 
 
 Dr. further writes, " The acuity of vision increases 
 
 with every year of school age, therefore it is of extremest import- 
 ance that the " position at the desk " and " needlework conditions " 
 should be very carefully superintended during the early years 
 of school Ufe, which to my mind includes the necessity of expunging 
 needlework from the infants' time-tables." 
 
 In actual practice in schools, the infant of five years, with reading 
 book or paper for writing, placed on the flat kindergarten desk, 
 is usually writing or reading with the eyes from three to six inches 
 away from book or paper — he is not tall enough to get very far 
 away even if sitting in an upright position. As, at this age I 
 understand, raost children's eyes are hypermetropic, the strain 
 on the muscles of accommodation of the eye, must be very great 
 and frequently harmful. Reading from books should therefore 
 be postponed until a later period as well as writing between lines 
 on ordinary school writing paper. 
 
 Further, children suffering from squint are allowed to do needle- 
 work even in the infant school at the age of five. 
 
 (c) Relation between Physical Condition and Mental Proficiency. 
 
 Any exact statements as to relations traceable between these 
 could only be made by an expert and would involve the obtaining of 
 facts and figures as to relative height, weight, etc. I made, how- 
 ever, a note of the following instances : — 
 
 1. After any epidemic of such infectious diseases as measles, 
 scarlet fever, whooping cough, etc., the children are for 
 some time obviously unfit on their return to school to 
 attend to the ordinary school lessons and progress is 
 temporarily at a standstill. 
 
 At Infant School visited last 
 
 November, the Medical Officer of Health told me that
 
 11(3 Miss CalUs\s Report. 
 
 practically every child in the school had had an attack 
 of German measles. The children were then just return- 
 ing to school after the prescribed period of absence, but 
 were evidently unfit to attend to lessons of the ordinary 
 length — they were languid and easily fatigued. I advised 
 the head teacher to shorten all lessons to half time with 
 rest or play between until the children's health was 
 better estabhshed. 
 
 Another case at School occurred at the 
 
 end of 1904. About half of the children had had measles 
 before Christmas and had to be carefully watched on 
 their return, they seemed to have so little vitality. The 
 head teacher thought that they were fit for work in from 
 four to six weeks after their return to school. 
 
 2. In such parts of the district as are contained in three 
 
 South London riverside boroughs, the children are of 
 poor physique and low vitality, suffer from insufficiency 
 of sleep and of fresh air. Correspondingly the standard 
 of attainments is very low. 
 
 3. Children with defects of vision accompanied by feeble nutri- 
 
 tion are invariably backward and dull. 
 Rural Schools. — Turning from town to coimtry schools I was 
 chiefly struck first by the health and vigour of the children and 
 secondly by the general absence of any attempt to utilise the abun- 
 dant provision at hand for interesting the children in the world of 
 nature, I must except a Coimcil School in a Kent village, 
 where an admirable scheme of nature work combined with 
 practical gardening is taken up with enthusiasm by teachers and 
 scholars. Unfortunately this enthusiasm for nature work has not 
 yet overflowed to the infant department. 
 
 The schools visited with their number on roll were : — 
 
 National Infant School 
 
 Council Infant School - 
 
 National Infant School 
 
 British Infant Class 
 
 National Infant Class 
 
 National Infant School 
 
 National Infant School 
 
 National Infant Class 
 
 National Mixed and Infant School 
 
 National Mixed and Infant School 
 
 Of these ten schools, in six the infants were working in well- 
 lighted, well-ventilated rooms. The remaining four had small 
 inconvenient rooms for the infants, crowded, and in one case, 
 occupied also by Standards I. and II. of the mixed_school. 
 
 The time-tables in use with two exceptions showed a clinging to 
 the old style of examination work — too much time given to the three 
 
 Children 
 
 (jvcr five. 
 
 Under five. 
 
 . 
 
 187 
 
 46 
 
 - 
 
 92 
 
 47 
 
 - 
 
 GO 
 
 21 
 
 - 
 
 45 
 
 19 
 
 - 
 
 54 
 
 13 
 
 . 
 
 59 
 
 5 
 
 - 
 
 50 
 
 19 
 
 - 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 - 
 
 151 
 
 7 
 
 - 
 
 185 
 
 10
 
 Miss CalhVs keporf. 117 
 
 R's ai i to needlework. Six were on the whole sensible, four were 
 bad and would most certainly not " minimise fatigue " for little 
 
 children. In the National School, the unfortunate 
 
 babies had five number lessons on one day of the week, four of 
 twenty minutes each and one at the end of the afternoon of ten 
 minutes. The explanation of tliis was that the infants were back- 
 ward in number which was not surprising in view of their time- 
 table. These same babies had kindergarten (so-called) copy-books 
 and the first class infants coloured outUne maps of the Eastern 
 hemisphere for one of their " occupations." This was the only 
 rural school in which I thought that children under five were any 
 the worse for being in school. With such a time-table and working 
 in the same room with older hif ants and Standards I. and II. necessi- 
 tating quiet lessons with httle variety or movement, no wonder they 
 were dull. 
 
 Children under five m rural schools do not appear to suft'er as 
 town children do from being over-instructed nor from being herded 
 together in large numbers. Usually the few children vmder five 
 amuse themselves during part of the day with bricks or beads while 
 the teacher is occupied with the older children. Neither is sitting 
 still so harmful to them smce many of them tramp from one to two 
 and even three miles to school on their sturdy httle legs and need the 
 rest. Even with inconvenient buildings, except in the worst cases, 
 I think it is quite an easy matter to make school-life wholesome 
 and rational for these babies. During the winter months very 
 young children coming long distances are kept at home and during 
 the spring and summer months much time can be spent out of 
 doors. 
 
 In two of the above National Schools the children are bright 
 and natural and seem very happy. 
 
 Children in Standard I. 
 {See Form 61 C.) 
 
 Apparently in these rural schools the attainments of children 
 sent to school under five are much the same as of those sent later. 
 In nine schools the children in standards V. VI. and VII. wrote me 
 a composition on the same suggested topic. Looking through 
 these with the head master, I got them roughly classified as " good " 
 or " average " scholars. We found no difference between the 
 work of five + and five - children other than could be accounted 
 for in a perfectly natural way. 
 
 In bringing this Report to a close I should like to note that since 
 this Enquiry was started in April last, various improvements have 
 been effected in many baby-rooms ; and many time-tables have 
 been remodelled as a result of discussions opened up by the re- 
 quirements of Form 61. 
 
 C. L- Callis. 
 
 March ilth, 1905. 
 
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 5? 

 
 MISS HEALE'S REPORT. 
 
 Beyond question in poor neighbourhoods, it is better for babies 
 of three even, to be in school under the care of teachers who do a 
 great amount of work wholly apart from time-tables, inspections 
 and salary. They really look after the babies and infants, teach 
 them how to behave well at meals by seeing how they eat their 
 lunch, make them tidy up the crumbs and clear away the papers. 
 They see that their heads, hands and faces are clean, that their 
 clothes are fastened up, they get the mothers to wash the children 
 and their clothes, they see to sores, bruises, cuts — tie up, salve and 
 bandage. They ask parents of better-off children to let them have 
 boots, shoes, clothes for the poorer children, they get their friends 
 to send them clothes, they buy food for the toddlers, who sometimes 
 come to school in tears from hunger. The babies undoubtedly 
 improve in growth and physique on coming to school, the regularity 
 of the hours, after the universal dishevelment and disorder, and 
 confusion and noise with which their senses have been distracted, 
 the kindly voice in place of the cruel threat, the lifting up and 
 down, the being talked to, the having lunch, the warmth and the 
 companionship, all help the babies to grow. The sitting during 
 so much of the morning and afternoon cannot be so harmful in 
 poor neighbourhoods as it would appear at first sight, because it 
 is the only time in the day probably that they are sitting. In 
 many of the homes from which they come there are few, if any, 
 chairs, and I cannot recall one that was of a suitable height for a 
 child. 
 
 The teachers are so kind, patient, and good to their children 
 that to criticise their work is a hard task. It was only natural 
 that they should be unable to help me much in discussing the 
 question of the suitability of teaching babies of three ; they had 
 been so doing for years, and had never doubted its wisdom. The 
 weak points in infant teaching seem to me to have been rather forced 
 upon the teachers by outside pressure. The extraordinary amount 
 of repetition and the constant appeal to the children to remember, 
 must have come from being expected to reach a standard of attain- 
 ment beyond what^might be reasonably looked for in infants. 
 The object lessons are generally failures, the teacher talks too 
 much, tells the children all that they should have found out, the 
 objects are frequently conspicuous by their absence and the sub- 
 jects chosen are not suitable. The efforts to get the children 
 to talk fail from attaching value to words apart from objects and 
 actions. The vocabulary of an infant from three to six years of
 
 128 Misfi Healr's Be/port. 
 
 age must be very limitorl, and the fallacy of teaching words apart 
 from that which they represent, has been pointed out over and over 
 again. The ill effects of this merely verbal knowledge follow the 
 child all through the elementary school, and those who become 
 teachers show it again in their examination papers; words, words, 
 mere words with no sense, meet one in every class. The teachers 
 agree that the attempt to teach babies number was a strain on 
 them, and they admitted that the only way in which they could get 
 any " results " was by perpetual repetition. The children say quite 
 glibly two and one are three, but I saw a teacher try to get a class 
 to say how many more three was than two, and fail utterly. She 
 had three sticks in one hand, two in the other, and she went round 
 to individual children, but could not get them to see. 
 
 The teaching of letters is often made into a good game, but there 
 is little point in knowing the name and sounds of symbols that your 
 intelligence is not yet strong enough to apply. I have found 
 children still not capable of naming and sounding letters after two 
 years in school. If a child's intelligence is abnormally acute, 
 there is a risk of exhausting it, and instances have often occurred 
 where the bright child of the infant school has become a dullard in 
 the standard school. 
 
 . All needlework drill might be discarded as it is merely a way of 
 using up time in the wearisome repetition of a futile task. The 
 stepped galleries and the seats which take more than two infants 
 are a great hindrance to the quick and continual movement which 
 is so much needed in the teaching of babies and infants. A teacher 
 confronted with a stepped gallery, very high in some cases, and witli 
 long seats in which from ten to twelve babies are seated may be 
 forgiven if she fails to move as many infants as the lesson would 
 allow ; it takes time to travel over babies' feet and knees and to 
 climb down the steps. The teacher feels her work is being hindered, 
 and that there will be nothing to show at the visit of inspection. 
 
 I should venture to suggest that in poor neighbourhoods infants 
 should be admitted and registered from three years old, and that 
 the areas within which such infants' schools are conducted should 
 be determined by the rateable value of the house property and the 
 density of the population. This would require no fresh machinery 
 to ascertain. 
 
 Admission should take place twice a year only just before the 
 close of the school year, and six months or so later. Babies of three 
 and four should not be allowed to go to the offices alone, but there 
 should be some suitable woman at every such infant school to take 
 the children. Under one or two of the old School Boards two 
 monitresscs were attached to each infant school to help the teachers 
 in all these matters. The teacher cannot leave the class. 
 
 There should be a small medicine chest at every infant school 
 with remedies for colic, bruises, cuts, bandages; small pieces of linen, 
 sticking plaster, etc., and these things should not be bought by the 
 teachers. The woman attached to the school should know how to
 
 Miss Heale's Re/port. 129 
 
 give first aid and how to deal with fits, etc. The hours of the after- 
 noon session should be shortened, and the last half-hour given to 
 games, out or in, according to weather ; the infants cannot always 
 in town.s be sent home because tliey must wait for brothers or 
 sisters to take them. Rooms intended for baby teacliing should 
 have floor space sufficient for games, taking in forty children. 
 No reading, arithmetic, writing or needlework, whether drills 
 or actual sewing, should be done by the babies of three and 
 four. They want to learn to talk, to get a fair vocabulary, to 
 use their eyes, and their hands in connection with their eyes, and 
 with larger objects than a needle to grasp, to sing and say rhymes 
 so as to learn to articulate clearly, to acquire control over their 
 limbs, and a habit of attention as well as obedience, cleanliness, 
 decency, a spirit of kindliness one to the other and a cheerful love 
 of activity. Reading and writing should be taught from the age 
 of five, and two good lessons a day should be at first given to the 
 former subject, while the writing might be subsidiary to the reading. 
 Number beyond the concrete use of it which can be utilised for 
 younger children should not be attempted formally till the infants 
 are six, and then their minds should be advanced enough to deal 
 with low numbers in a reasonable and not a mechanical way. In 
 all the areas within which infant schools for such young children 
 were necessary I think the standard schools should also be on a 
 different footing. The workers among the people whom I saw — 
 whether teachers, nurses, clergymen, caretakers, lay readers, and 
 Salvation Army officers — all said, "The children would be all right 
 if only it were not for the homes." It is certain that most of the 
 parents, of whose homes their words were spoken, have been to 
 an elementary school, and it is equally certain that something 
 should be done to prevent the increase of such homes. The boys 
 and girls in these neighbourhoods would be found by a careful 
 scrutiny of registers to leave school from Standard up to Stan- 
 dard IV. in many cases, and a large percentage of them are not at 
 the right age in the standard in which they are working, and not fif- 
 teen per cent, would be found to reach the seventh standard. Their 
 brain capacity is less, their bodily capacity is lessened by the 
 continual oppression of a mental task imposed upon them from 
 without and with which, from continual failure, they have given 
 up attempting to cope. What mental capacity they have would 
 be better reached through their hands, and the whole of every 
 afternoon given up to manual work of some kind would help to 
 turn out from school with more self-reliance, less sluggish, better 
 equipped to earn a living and less likely to drift into the ever 
 increasing number of the unemployable. The need for this was 
 brought home to me by seeing how hopeless it is to waste grants 
 on carpentry, cookery, laundry, household management, when 
 only one session a week can be spared for such work. The boys 
 and girls cannot practice these things at home ; the boys have no 
 tools or materials, the girls cannot work, wash, or clean. In a
 
 130 Miss Healers kepori. 
 
 far larger number of cases than I had thought possible there is one 
 dinner a week, and the mothers reasonably said, " They could not 
 have that spoilt, because there would be no money to buy an- 
 other." The girls cannot stay at home to help in the weekly wash 
 because the law and the attendance officer see that they do not. The 
 work at the Household Management Centres cannot be applied 
 without things at home on which to apply the very excellent instruc- 
 tions given. If we help these girls and boys by a curriculum better 
 adapted to educate what faculties they have, in time we should per- 
 haps not hear that bitter reproach on all sides, "It is the homes 
 from which the children come that make the difficulties." Has 
 elementary education no responsibility towards the homes ? 
 
 The results of the various ways of testing the work of the chil- 
 dren in the infant schools were undoubtedly in favour of the chil- 
 dren admitted at five years and upwards. Head mistresses and 
 their teachers were all in favour of beginning to teach infants at 
 either four or five, but in the schools in the poorer districts of large 
 towns they were unanimous in saying that, although the work 
 was minding babies rather than teaching them, real harm would 
 befal the children if they were left at home. 
 
 After spending many months in the infant schools I feel that 
 the work of the teachers in them merits the highest commendation 
 for the loving spirit in which it is carried on, the thoroughness with 
 which in countless ways the bodily welfare of the children is con- 
 sidered as well as their moral and mental training. The teachers 
 do a large amount of work, voluntarily, that never appears on 
 the time table. 
 
 In the country schools so far as I saw them with reference to 
 the enquiry, the tendency is for the children to be admitted at 
 five and upwards, except in the cases of children living quite near 
 the school. The reason usually given for the attendance at an age 
 younger than five was that the child wanted to come with its 
 elder brothers and sisters. It is quite obvious that the child 
 would want to go with its playmates instead of staying at home 
 more or less alone. In some country schools the exclusion of 
 children under five might affect the salary of the head teachers 
 unless the scale of payment were revised. 
 
 The question then of the attendance of infants under five years 
 of age becomes in the country a question of distance mainly, and 
 in the towns one of the homes from which the children come. 
 
 1. In nearly all the schools, visited for the purpose of the inquiry 
 into infant teaching for the Board of Education, the youngest 
 children in either one or two classes, had a separate room or rooms, 
 and a separate teacher or teachers. The teachers were qualified 
 under Article 50, certificated, and trained and certificated, but 
 none had any special qualification or training. 
 
 2. In all the schools in the County Borough visited the hours 
 were five and a half daily ; the afternoon session of two and a half
 
 Miss[Heale's HcpoH. 131 
 
 hours pressed very heavily on the teacher and on the babies of 
 three and four, especially in the hot weather. The time given for 
 recreation is fifteen minutes in the morning and ten minutes in 
 the afternoon. In some schools the babies have their recreation 
 either at a different time or in a separate part of the playground 
 from the infants, in others they are all playing together. 
 
 This time for recreation does not represent all the school time 
 taken o£E from " lessons," as in the babies' rooms the teachers 
 have singing, actions of various kinds or recitation at odd inter- 
 vals, as they see the babies need a rest. 
 
 In some cases, I noted a tendency to keep the babies sitting too 
 long, and to rest satisfied with arm and finger movements, but 
 allowance must be made for the difficulty there is in getting babies 
 up and down gallery steps, and along other babies' feet and legs, 
 in schools where there are still galleries and long desks. 
 
 In most of the babies' rooms seen, there was far too little floor 
 space, so that had the teachers wished to march the babies about 
 or to play games with them oftener, they could not have done so. 
 
 3. As regards curricvlum the schools have time tables all of 
 the same type with slight variation in the time given to the 
 " subjects " taught. 
 
 Physical Exercises in all the schools visited take the form of drill 
 as well as the kindergarten games, but fr3m what I saw of the 
 work, I should say no such exercises as "neck rest," " hands 
 on hips," " stand at ease," etc., are adapted to babies of three and 
 four, and that such work should be put oii till the infants have 
 understanding and more control over their movements and bodies 
 generally. 
 
 A fair amount of time is given to varied occupations, about which, 
 however, there is a deadly monotony, but very little to games. 
 This may be from want of floor space in the babies' room and of a 
 central hall, and from want of time in central hall, as happens when 
 the school is large and a class is taken in the hall. The games 
 are also monotonous and too often the floor space allows ten to 
 twelve only to play and the other babies sit down and look on. 
 Most of the games are suited to such classes as those at the Froebel 
 Institute, West Kensington, in which there are from ten to twenty 
 children of an age much beyond three. It should not be beyond 
 the wit of a trained, certificated teacher to invent games suited to 
 her class. 
 
 Playing with toys is luckily unknown, as such common use of 
 toys is scarcely safe in the poor districts. I saw rag dolls in a baby 
 room once only, the school is now closed and the dirt and grime 
 were painful witnesses to long usage and much hugging. The 
 babies kissed these pleasing objects. 
 
 The telling of stories is far commoner than the time allotted on 
 the time table would show, because the Teachers employ it in 
 Number lessons and occasionally in Writing and Drawing, as well as 
 in explaining Recitation and Songs.
 
 132 Miss Heaters Report. 
 
 There is a great difference in the schools in the way in which the 
 children talk. jIt is not a question entirely of the^teacher's capacity. 
 In some cases " it is " or " that is " has been so implanted in the 
 babies' mind as the beginning of every answer that it is found 
 in the seventh standard. In some schools babies and infants 
 are encouraged to say their little says and to ask questions. 
 In many cases the child that will speak is unduly pressed because 
 the teacher always appeals to it. I noted in a class of eighty-seven 
 that five questions were put to one boy. 
 
 The object lessons are often poor and sometimes foolish, e.g., 
 " bread making " for children between four and five with the inten- 
 tion of getting them to remember the order in which the ingredients 
 are put into the pan. These lessons are very difficult, and the 
 teachers seem to find it hard to get the children to look and see and 
 say, and they seem rather to tell and repeat and urge the infants 
 to remember. 
 
 TJie drawing varies greatly ; there is still some work on squared 
 paper in stereotyped patterns, accomplished to the detriment of 
 eyesight and with painful calculation of the lines up and lines 
 down and lines across which have to be marked with dots before 
 aline a quarter of an inch long, perhaps, is drawn. The best 
 drawing I saw the babies do was in the sand, just a mouse without 
 any repetition. 
 
 The time given to learning letters is from two to four hours a 
 week. This is a great waste of time, as it can be of no educational 
 value to know symbols and sounds which the brain is too undeveloped 
 to use. There are phenomenal infants who can read and read well 
 at three or four, but they are not likely to occur sufficiently often to 
 make it necessary to give so much time to the learning of letters 
 at that age. 
 
 Number is an abstract subject, and it is not by looking but by 
 mere repetition that teachers get the babies to say one and one 
 are two, and so on, the whole wearisome way. 
 
 The writing is mainly in sand and on paper, and the subject 
 might better be made to help the reading and put off till the babies 
 are five. 
 
 4. Most of the babies' rooms seen had not enough floor space, 
 occasionally a central hall was available, but sometimes there was 
 no hall and in other cases it was used as a classroom. The lighting 
 and ventilation are usually good, and the exits generally convenient, 
 but this is not always the case. As a rule the babies are kept awake, 
 but if they do sleep, it is in the desks. There was an iron bedstead 
 with a wire mattress and a single blanket (often washed) in a 
 council school, but in no other case was any provision for sleep 
 made. 
 
 5. Physical Development is mainly looked upon as a matter of 
 drill and there is no apparatus for, and no statistics are to be had of 
 the physical development. No breathing exercises are taken 
 lower than standard one.
 
 Miss Hede's Report. 1.33 
 
 The seats have backs in all the schools visited, and in many of the 
 council schools each child has a separate seat and back, while 
 sharing the desk with others. This arrangement makes it very 
 easy to circulate the infants. In some schools there is no provision 
 for indoor recreation and in one with a fine hall, I noted, that 
 on a wet afternoon the children were kept in the classrooms, 
 and not made to run about or play games in the hall. All 
 the schools visited had good playgrounds. In many schools the 
 classification is mainly by age in order to reach standard attain- 
 ments by standard age. The result is curious in many cases; I 
 noted a class in which reading was taught on two systems, the 
 infants admitted under five were taught on the phonic system, 
 those admitted over five were expected to pick up reading on the 
 " look and say " system. It spoke well for the intelligence of the 
 latter that they had learnt anything in the confusion 
 
 To ascertain, so far as possible, the difference it made to a child 
 to attend at three or at five, I adopted several plans, all of which I 
 have set out in detail for two schools in each case. At first I spent a 
 whole day with each class and had all the children admitted over 
 five seated together and made notes in the oral lessons of the 
 answering, as well as noting the results in repetition of Scripture, 
 hymns and poetry, in reading and spelling. Then I took away 
 as much work as was portable. On the second method I took 
 object lessons and memory drawings myself. 
 
 I found that children admitted over five were better in reading, 
 recitation and scripture repetition, in so far that they read, re- 
 cited and repeated with a distinct understanding of the sense and 
 not with that distressing mechanical mastery of the words apart 
 from sense which the other children showed. In all these subjects 
 the children were taken individually right through the whole 
 class in most cases, so that there might be a possibility of com- 
 ing to a definite conclusion. I found again and again the differ- 
 ence lay between the making sense and the mechanical repetition. 
 
 In writing and dictation the children admitted over five were 
 at no great disadvantage, as a rule they made fewer mistakes and 
 were more observant. 
 
 In number the advantage was wholly on the side of children 
 admitted over five, they were able to use tables better and did 
 not count by one as the others so often did. A small girl, over 
 five, just admitted, refused to count four boys in the orthodox 
 way. The boys were placed feet apart and the girl counted them 
 1, 1, 1, 1, quite correctly and could not see that the second boy 
 was two boys. 
 
 On the whole the children were equally unobservant in the 
 schools tested by sitting out the day's time table, but I certainly 
 found they could see and think if they were made to do so. On 
 the first method there was not so much opportunity as object 
 lessons did not come into the day's time table every day. In 
 one school there was a bowl in the central hall withfgoldfish in it. 
 
 8525. K
 
 134 Miss Heale's Report. 
 
 Between Friday and Monday one died. I asked the children how 
 many gold fish there were in the bowl but no one knew, and no 
 child had noticed any difference. 
 
 On the second way of testing the children showed really intelli- 
 gent observation. 
 
 The original drawing test was of use in showing that the chil- 
 dren admitted over five had a better notion of work-ng on their 
 own account than those admitted younger. They started off 
 at once to draw railway engines, some with G.W.R. or M.R. on 
 them, or houses, or people, or dogs, or ships, even men of war, 
 whereas the others invariably began with something they had 
 drawn at school and it was not until the over five children began 
 to tell me what their drawings meant that they also drew other 
 things too. Powers of expression varied with the homes more 
 than anything else. The attempt to teach infants to talk by always 
 insisting on a sentence as an answer leads to curious results. I have 
 heard children give a correct answer to a problem, but on being 
 told to put it in a sentence, lose the answer in the mist of words. 
 I have seen many a bright child's face clouded over with a look 
 of dumb despair on hearing, just as it was longing to say what 
 it knew, " Put it in a complete sentence." 
 
 When the children come from good homes, and the teachers 
 have got used to starting with children of five instead of three 
 years of age, they will be better able to give an opinion. At 
 present they all prefer the five year old child, but it will take 
 time to adjust the syllabuses to the mental capacity of five and 
 not three. 
 
 In nearly every instance there was a reason for the admission 
 at five; either the child came from a good home, or it had been 
 delicate, or met with an accident, or it was an only child. In many 
 cases then the over five children had the advantage of the under 
 five and vice versa. 
 
 To get further information, if such were to be had, as to wJiy 
 children were sent to school so young as three, I visited the homes 
 with several attendance ofl[icers, by the courteous permission of 
 the Education Committees of three large Boroughs. By doing 
 this I went into a large number of the houses, a fair number of 
 rooms in common lodging-houses, up and down courts and 
 alleys, into wash-houses and into industrial dwellings. I managed 
 to talk to a large number of the mothers, but naturally I 
 saw far less of the fathers. I saw the babies and the younger 
 children and looked into several of the schools at which the 
 children were in attendance from the houses that I had just 
 seen. 
 
 The sanitary authorities have done an enormous amount of 
 closing and pulling down houses in courts and back streets in 
 which the ventilation and sanitary arrangements were bad, but 
 there are still, even in the small area I covered, courts in 
 which one tap outside supplies from three to seven houses,
 
 Miss Healers Re/port. l'>5 
 
 one water closet serves the same number of houses, and in some 
 cases the house shelters more than one family. There are many- 
 houses with no through ventilation, a very large number which 
 have windows that either won't open at all or open at the bottom 
 only. The poverty, discomfort and inconveniences are more than 
 I had supposed possible, but the dirt, foul smells, confusion and 
 general slipshod untidiness of many dwellings were due to the 
 people that take shelter in them. 
 
 Some of the mothers work in factories, some go out as char- 
 women, a few do piece work at home, some had small shops, a 
 large number chopped wood which they hawked in the streets, 
 but numbers and numbers were about the streets doing nothing. 
 They are glad to get the children to school and to have them out 
 of their way, but the majority were certainly not doing any work 
 at home at all. There was always at least one family to show that 
 cleanliness, decency and honesty w^ere possible even in the most back 
 and out of the way courts. The amount of cooking done is almost 
 none ; twice in one morning I came across some, and occasion- 
 ally I saw fish being bought, but on the whole there are no dinners 
 cooked in whole streets. The babies were generally clean and 
 washed, but the children just under school age were dirtier, worse 
 clad and more neglected looking than those at school. They 
 sometimes crawl about indoors and run about outside clad only 
 in a shirt or chemise. 
 
 The staple food is bread with lard, margarine or jam and tea 
 to drink, even four times a day. The mothers of infants of less 
 than a year give the babies tea, and even get the children out of 
 bed at supper time to let them have a " drop of tea " when they 
 do. 
 
 The respectable mothers preferred to send their children at 
 three because when they had washed them and put on clean 
 pinafores the children kept clean at school, they were well looked 
 after and they were not in danger of being run over or lost in the 
 streets. 
 
 The Teachers, Head and Assistants, with but one exception pre- 
 ferred four or five to three as the age at which they should begin 
 to teach infants ; the majority said four, especially those whose 
 work is in poor districts. They all feel that the work is that of 
 " minding " far more than teaching, and they had not given much 
 thought as to whether the work attempted was the best thing pos- 
 sible for such very young children. This seemed to me entirely 
 reasonable as the work they do has been examined and inspected 
 year after year and therefore the syllabus and time table as passed 
 and signed and the results as inspected, have reasonably been 
 unquestioned by them. I could not then get any help from them 
 as regards a suitable syllabus or time table, but they were unani- 
 mous in saying that in poor districts the babies of three and four 
 were better off in school. They said, speaking with far more 
 knowledge than I can have, that they were happier, cleaner and in 
 852r), K 2
 
 136 Miss Heale's Report. 
 
 better health at school. That if left at home they would be learn- 
 ing evil deeds and foul words in the streets and acquire habits 
 that would be harder to deal with in a child of five than of three. 
 They also pointed out that the infants were talked to and talked 
 more in scliool than they would at home ; that they were learning 
 to be obedient and decent as well as kind to one another. 
 
 Instances Illustrative of Want of Observation. 
 
 (i.) Teacher pinned leaf on white paper on blackboard, gave a leaf to 
 every child in the class, and then drew a leaf on the blackl^oard, not of 
 shape or i»roportion of real leaf but a wholly conventional one. The 
 children then copied not the leaf held by them but teaclier's conventional 
 drawing. 
 
 (ii.) Teacher pinned barley ear on very curved stalk on white paper on 
 to blackboard and proceeded to draw a perfectly straight stalk, set it about 
 with opposite grains and called it wheat. The children then did the 
 " wheat " as brush work. 
 
 (iii.) Toy ladder used for an object lesson by me with children and given 
 to the teacher to sketch on blackboard for me. The slope of the sides was 
 quite wrong (in spite of the fact that the children liad Ijeen mcasuiing out 
 the wide and narrow ends of the ladder with their hands for me) and the 
 rungs were not at right distances from top and bottom of ladder, nor 
 correctly spaced. 
 
 (iv.) Jamjar with spoon and paint used for object lesson. I held the 
 jar above children's eye level so that they should not have too many dith- 
 cultics. I made the children see the four lines they would want. I asked 
 teacher to sketch it on blackboard. She at once drew an ellipse for the 
 top, because that was what the children's lesson had been last week. 
 
 A. — Written and Other Tests. 
 
 Examination in reading, writing, arithmetic, object lessons of standard 
 I. A. and B. boys, and Standard 0. boys of Standard I. B. , and Standard O. 
 girls. 
 
 Writing of sixty infants — 27 admitted over five ; 33 admitted under five. 
 
 Needlework of Class 1. boys and girlsi, .17 all adnntted under five ; needle- 
 work of Class II., boys and girls, 54 ; all admitted under five. Writing of 
 Class 111. A., and needlework of Class Hi. A. and B., 65, admitted over 
 five, 13 girls and G boys ; under five, 46. None of Class IV., boys and girls, 56, 
 all admitted under five ; none of Class V., boys and girls, 56—36 admitted 
 under five ; 20 admitted over five. 
 
 Writing, etc., of Class 1., boys and girls, 64, admitted under five, 47, 
 brushwork of Class I. boys and girls, 64; admitted over five, 17. Writing 
 of Class 111.* babies and new admissions, 62; admitted under five, 22 (a); 
 over five, 15 {h) ; under live, 25 (c). Writing, etc. of Class II., boys and 
 girla, 45, admitted under five, 6 ; over five, 39. Dictation, etc. of Standard 
 I. B., boys and girls, and drawing lesson work and original efforts, 50 ; admitted 
 under five, 18 ; over five, 32. Dictation, etc., of Standard I. A., boys and 
 girls, and drawing lesson work and original efibrts, 61 ; admitted, under five, 
 27, over five, 34. 
 
 * I made three distinctions in this work {a) new admissions under five ; 
 (6) new admissions over five ; (c) admissions under five but spending second 
 year in class.
 
 Miss Heale's RepoH. 137 
 
 J). — ]rritte>i and Other Tests. 
 
 All oral and written taken by me, not teachers. 
 Class I. (a) Object lesson, a small fox terrier pup. 
 
 (6) Memory drawing, from object and without drawing on 
 blackboard, dog whip. 
 
 Number present 43. Admitted over five, 2 ; under five, 41. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 2 girls. Good, 15 — 9 boys and 6 girls 
 
 Fair, 7— 3 „ 4 „ 
 
 Poor, 19—15 „ 4 „ 
 
 Class II. (a) Object lesson — Dog whip. 
 
 (6) Memory test by writing whij) and F, both entirely now to 
 children from memory after seeing on blackboard. Test 
 of attention made by my telling children in which lino to 
 write whip, in which line and in what part of Une (middle 
 given) to write F. 
 
 Number present, 36. Admitted over five, 8. Under five, 28. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 3 boys, 1 girl. Good, 6 boys, 2 girls. 
 
 Fair, 2 „ 2 girls. Fair, 4 „ 3 „ 
 
 Poor, 8 „ 5 „ 
 
 Class III. {a) Object lesson — Toy ladder, mallet, wooden peg and nail. 
 
 Number, actions, sound, positions and expression well 
 
 tested with this object lesson. 
 
 (6) Memory drawing of toy ladder from object helped by 
 
 teacher's drawing of ladder on blackboard which was 
 
 rubbed out. 
 
 Number present, 38. Admitted over five, 9 ; under live, 29. 
 
 Over five. 
 Followed model, 3 boys, 3 girls. 
 Followed teacher's drawing, 2 boys, 1 girl. 
 
 Under five. 
 
 Followed model, 5 boys, 15 girls. 
 Followed teacher's drawing, 3 boys, 6 girls. 
 
 Mistakes made were very characteristic of infants, the rungs varied 
 from twenty-two to four in number. The ladder had six rungs. 
 Of nine children admitted over five, two had six rungs. 
 Of twenty-nine children admitted under five, seven had six rungs. 
 
 Class IV. (a) Object lesson — Jam jar, spoon, carmine paint in jar. 
 
 (6) Memory drawing of jam jar held above eye level of children 
 sketched on blackboard by teacher and then sketch rubbed 
 out. 
 
 (c) Writing from memory — Jam jar in chalk on back of drawing 
 paper (brown paper, white chalk). The teacher wrote jam 
 jar on blackboard after I had got several children to sound 
 these words, then tlicy were rubbed out and children 
 wrote new words from memory with chalk and without 
 lines. 
 
 Number present 62. Admitted over five, 2. Under five, 50. 
 
 {h) Drawing. 
 
 Over five. Under jive. 
 
 Good, 2 girls. Good, 21 girls, 15 boys. 
 
 Fair, 8 „ 6 „
 
 l38 Miss Heale's Report. 
 
 (c) Writing. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 2 girls. Good, 14 girls, 7 boyd. 
 
 Fair, 9 ,. 8 ., 
 
 Poor, 6 ,. 6 „ 
 
 Class V. («) Object lesson 2 pencils, one with broken point, pointer peg 
 from blackboard, two pieces of different coloured chalk. 
 
 (b) Memory drawing of pointer from teacher's sketch on black 
 
 board which was rubbed out before the infants started. 
 
 (c) Writing from teacher's copy ou blackboard of 1, b, s, all 
 
 entirely new letters. 
 
 Number present, 50. Admitted — over five, 9 ; under five, 41. Absent — 
 over iive, 11 ; under five, 6. 
 
 (6) Memory drawing. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 1. Good, 4. 
 
 Fair, 1. Fair, 14. 
 
 Poor, 5. Poor, 22. 
 
 Not attempted, 2. Not attempted, 1. 
 
 (c) New letters written from blackboard. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 1. Good, 9. 
 
 Fair, 1. Fair, 18. 
 
 Poor, 1. Poor, 10. 
 
 Mere scribble, 2. Mere scribble, 4. 
 
 Not attempted, 4. Not attempted, 0. 
 
 Standard I, Boys (a) Object lesson — A small fox terrier pup. 
 
 (6) Composition — Wrote what they could about 
 puppy with no help beyond asking how to 
 spell words, 
 (c) Memory drawing from object and without sketch 
 on blackboard, dug whiju 
 
 Number present, 33. Admitted — over five, 3 ; under five, 30. 
 (i) Composition. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 2. Good, 12 ; - - age 9, 7, G. 
 
 Number of Ghildrcn 1, 9, 2. 
 
 Fair, 1. Fair, G ; - - age 8, 7, G. 
 
 Number of Childr n 1, 4, 1. 
 
 Poor, 0. Poor, 12 ; - - age 8, 7, 5. 
 
 Number of Children 3, 8, 1. 
 
 (c) Memory drawing 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 2. Good, 11. 
 
 Fair, 1 Fair, 16. ' i 
 
 Poor, C. Poor, 3. 
 
 Standard I. Girls (a) Object lesson — Toy arm chair. 
 
 {b) Composition — Wrote wiiat they could about the 
 arm cluiir witli no help. Not nearly so ready as 
 ^ boys to ask me how to spell words, and less 
 
 ambitious, 
 (c) Memory drawing from object ; I just sketched in 
 nine-pin with my tinimb on blackboard, tlieu 
 rubbed out sketch before cliildren started, nine- 
 pin. 
 Number present, 33. Admitted — over five, G ; under five, 27.
 
 Miss Itede's Report. l39 
 
 (6) Composition. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 2 - age 7. Good, 10 - age 8, 7. 
 
 Number of Children 2. Number of Cliildren 2, 8. 
 
 Fair, 4 - age 8, 7. Fair, 10 - age 8, 7, G. 
 
 Number of Children 1, 3. Number of Children 3, 4, 3. 
 
 Poor, 0. Poor, 7 - ^ age 7, 6. 
 
 Number of Children 5, 2. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 1. Good, 7. 
 
 Fair, 3. Fair, 7. 
 
 Poor, 2. Poor, 13. 
 
 Class I. Boys (a) Object Ecsson. Tiu box. 
 
 (b) Memory Drawing. Nino - pin from object and no 
 sketch. 
 Number present, 43. Admitted — over five, 12 ; under five, 31. 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 7 - age 9, 7, 6. Good, 12 - age, 7, 9, 5. 
 
 Number of Children 1, 3, 3. Number of Children 1, 9, 2. 
 
 Fair, 4 - age 7, 6, 5. Fair 13 - age 7, 6, 5. 1 
 
 Number of Children 0, 4, 0. Number of Children 1, 8, 2, 2. 
 
 Poor, 1 - age 6. Poor, 6 - age 7, 6, 5, 1 
 
 Number of Children 1, Number of Children 1, 2, 2, 1. 
 
 Class I. Girls (a) Object Lesson. Four toy garden tools. 
 
 (6) Memory drawing. Toy spade from object and from 
 teacher's sketch on blackboard rubbed out before 
 children began. 
 Number present, 31. Admitted— over five, 9 ; under five, 22. 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 4. Good, 2. 
 
 Fair, 4. Fair, 11. 
 
 Poor, 1. Poor, 9. 
 
 Class II., Boys (a) New copy on blackboard, a carrot drawn in chalk 
 on black paper for first time. 
 (6) Memory drawmg on other side of kite, the work of 
 week before visit. 
 Number present, 42. Admitted — over five, 10 ; under five, 32. 
 
 (a)^New Copy. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 6. Good, 9. 
 
 Fair, 2. Fan-, 15. 
 
 Poor, 2. Poor, 8. 
 
 (6) Memory drawmg of old work. 
 
 Over five. Under five. 
 
 Good, 7. Good, 23. 
 
 Fair, 3. Fair, 8. 
 
 Poor, 0. Poor, 1. 
 
 Class II., Girls. Writing of two new words and one new letter from 
 copy on blackboard. 
 
 Number present, 27. Admitted — over five, 7 ; under five, 20. 
 
 Over five. Under fi.vc. 
 
 Good 7. Good, (5. 
 
 Fair, 0. Fair, 12. 
 
 Poor, 0. Poor, 2.
 
 140 Miss Healers Report. 
 
 Results of Present Si/steni of Admission. 
 
 Number of infants admitted since September 1st, 1904, inclusive, to 
 January 20th, 1905, 54, Number^of infants left since September 1st, 1904, 
 inclusive, to January 20th, 1905, 56. Total number in attendance on January 
 20th, 1905, over five, 201 ; under five, 150 ; making 351 in all. 
 
 Thus one-third of children in attendance have changed in four months, 
 exclusive of holidays so that nearly the whole school would change in a year. 
 
 Results taken from Head Master or Head Mistress' Examinations. 
 
 Council School in County Borour/h.— In. Standard la. 
 
 tlie names were written down from the head mistress' entry in the record 
 book of the class of the boys and girls who made reading, 4^ writing, 4, 
 arithmetic, 3, and no mistakes in dictation, and then head mistress gave 
 mc from admission register the age of admission of each child. 
 
 Results : — 
 
 Admitted over five. Admitted under five. 
 
 Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. 
 
 4. 8. 1. 3. 
 
 Those admitted over five thus tested comu out better than those admitted 
 under five. 
 
 Country School. — In Standards II. and III., i.e., lowest class in 
 standard school from head master's last examination of twenty children 
 (five absent), the test was number of children with two sums right, good for 
 reading, no mistakes in dictation. 
 
 Results : Admitted over five. Admitted under five. 
 
 (a) two sums correct 3 1 
 
 (b) good for reading 4 
 
 (c) writing : — 4 
 
 Those admitted over five thus tested come out better than those admitted 
 under five. 
 
 K. M. IIeale. 
 
 'SOth January, 1905.
 
 MISS HARRINGTON'S REPORT. 
 
 Methods ado f ted. — The methods I have adopted in endeavouring 
 to ascertain the information required for this report include : — 
 
 1. Personal observation during visits. 
 
 2. Comparison of results by tests in the " three R.'s " 
 
 3. Questioning selected children, Avith a view to determining 
 
 intelligence and power of expression. 
 
 4. Reference to opinion of teachers, head and assistant, as 
 
 persons placed in best position to judge of value of results. 
 
 5. Comparison of statistics obtained from admission and 
 
 attendance registers, mth Head Teachers' help. 
 
 Before proceeding to give in detail the conclusions derived from 
 this inspection, I wish to point out that no mspection, consistmg 
 merely of two or four sessions, can adequately determine many of 
 the points under discussion. A knowledge of the circumstances 
 of the parents is required, as well as of the home life of the child, 
 and its physical and mental character which can only be the result 
 of an intimate daily acquaintance lasting for weeks or months. 
 The teachers alone have, necessarily, from their position, this 
 knowledge. They alone have the opportunity of judging the exact 
 state of the child's intelligence on admission to the school ; they 
 have more or less acquaintance with its home environment, to 
 which so many modifications are due ; they have experience of its 
 average performance of tasks, and can trace, day by day, the 
 development of its powers and the advantages and drawbacks it 
 meets mth in health or character. They are, therefore, the experts 
 to whom we must go for any real decision as to whether, for ex- 
 ample, the child gains or loses by early admission, and how it differs 
 from those admitted at five or six years. 
 
 What do the teachers say ? A great many of the more experi- 
 enced teachers consider three years of age much too early an age 
 for children to begin their school life, particularly under the present 
 conditions, when reading, writing, and number are expected to 
 be taught even to the youngest babies. Many would willingly, 
 for the child's sake, shut the school doors to children under four 
 years of age, and the majority agree, that children of average in- 
 tellect who start at five years of age are quite as ready to take up 
 Standard I. work as children who start at three years. In fact, it 
 is the common practice of teachers to place children of five years 
 of age in the so-called five years old class. 
 
 Statistical Evidence. — According to the Official Returns of one 
 large Coucty Borough for the month of August, 1904, there were 
 7,079 children under five years of age in daily attendance out of 
 9,995 such children on registers. Again, in another County Borough, 
 1,106 children under five years of 'age are 'in daily^ attendance 
 out of 1,500 on books.
 
 142 
 
 Miss H arrington'' s Report. 
 
 The following table will show the small proportion of children 
 admitted at five years of age, as compared with children admitted 
 under five 3'ears of age. 
 
 School in. 
 
 Neighbourhood. 
 
 Kumber of 
 
 children 
 admitted in 
 
 Number of 
 children not 
 sent till five 
 
 
 
 one year. 
 
 years of ago 
 or over. 
 
 A County Borough 
 
 Poor. 
 
 272 
 
 17 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 200 
 
 9 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,j 
 
 134 
 
 27 
 
 ff 
 
 J, 
 
 221 
 
 21 
 
 99 
 
 Good working class. 
 
 100 
 
 25 
 
 >» 
 
 » 
 
 229 
 
 22 
 
 
 „ 
 
 215 
 
 17 
 
 >j 
 
 >> 
 
 182 
 
 2 
 
 
 Well to do. 
 
 356 
 
 86 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 60 
 
 14 
 
 An Urban District 
 
 Poor. 
 
 105 
 
 28 
 
 ft 
 
 Well to do. 
 
 174 
 
 41 
 
 A Borough 
 
 ,, 
 
 168 
 
 64 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 158 
 
 45 
 
 99 
 
 Working class. 
 
 116 
 
 25 
 
 99 
 
 ,, 
 
 95 
 
 16 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 154 
 
 42 
 
 A County Borough 
 
 Well to do. 
 
 148 
 
 48 
 
 
 Working class. 
 
 165 
 
 46 
 
 
 Poor. 
 
 195 
 
 14 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 165 
 
 15 
 
 An Urban District 
 
 Working class. 
 
 76 
 
 20 
 
 A Borough 
 
 ,, 
 
 75 
 
 11 
 
 An Urban District 
 
 5) 
 
 • 76 
 
 6 
 
 „ 
 
 » 
 
 52 
 
 2 
 
 In several schools in manufacturing Urban Districts all the 
 cliildren had been admitted before they were five years of age. 
 
 In nearly all the schools I visited the teachers were of one opinion, 
 namely, that the parents find the Infant Schools a convenient means 
 of getting their offspring out of the way. In one case, a parent's 
 description of a " Free School " was — " a school to which I can 
 send my child when I choose, and keep it away when I choose." 
 
 Class of children admitted under 5 years. — The poverty of 
 parents who have only one room, sometimes no fire, and often 
 younger children to attend to, is a factor in the case. When the 
 elder girls are at school there is no one to look after the young ones. 
 In manufacturing towns, many of the mothers work at factories, 
 and must, consequently, get rid of their babies. In these districts, 
 they would have to pay as much as 2s. 6d. or 3s. Gd. per week, with- 
 out food, for having their little ones minded. It is natural that 
 they should avail themselves of the free shelter, protection and care 
 which is provided in the babies' classes. A few send them with a 
 desire for the child's educational welfare, but these are the minority. 
 
 The teachers also, exert their influence to gather them' i in. 
 *' Since they are registered, and accommodation provided, they
 
 Miss Harrington* s Report. 14.'] 
 
 inight as well be here," they say. Practically, therefore, all those 
 of the poorer class are sent at three or four years. 
 
 Numbers also, play so large a part in Education Reports that the 
 success of a teacher is partly dependent on her power of filling her 
 school, and the keeping up or increasing the average attendance. 
 
 Lastly, the Attendance Officer plays no small role in persuading 
 mothers to part witli their little ones earlier than they otherwise 
 would. According to the law, the officer has no hold on children 
 under five years of age, but he is judged by his returns, and the 
 higher his percentage of average attendance is the better officer 
 is he considered and the attendance of children under five years of 
 age is included in his returns. 
 
 The small minority who enter at five or six years include : — 
 (1.) Those prevented by serious illness or by physical or 
 
 mental defect from coming earlier. 
 (2.) Children of good homes and well-to-do parents, who are 
 able and willing to look after them in infancy and do 
 not care to lose sight of them for so long. But such 
 parents are few. 
 (3.) Children in a poor neighbourhood with intemperate or 
 utterly indifEerent parents, who will let them roam the 
 streets until hunted into school by attendance officers. 
 
 In a large girls' school in a working class district, out of 324 
 girls present, fifty-three had been sent at five years of age. Their 
 parents were asked why they had not sent their children earlier. 
 It turned out thirty-seven were not sent because they were delicate 
 or had had a severe illness, only twelve because they were not 
 obliged to send earlier, and three because they lived in the country, 
 two or three miles from a school, and one lived in the United States. 
 
 In the boys' school out of 360 present, 293 started under five 
 years of age and sixty-seven at five years of age : — forty-three 
 because of serious illness or delicacy, twenty-two because not 
 compelled, and two because they lived in the country at a distance 
 from any school. In these same schools forty-six mothers went 
 out to work in the boys' school, and fifty-six in the girls' school. 
 
 In a girls' school in a very poor neighbourhood of , out of 
 
 246 children present, fifty-one started at five years of age and two 
 at seven years : — twenty-two because of serious illness ; nineteen 
 because not obliged ; six through neglect and drunken homes ; 
 two because of distance, and one came from the United States. 
 On inquiry, fifty-six mothers went out to work. 
 
 Progress made before five years. Those children who enter at 
 three years may be said to make a certain progress in mastering 
 some of the mechanical difficulties of reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic. They also gain some power of order, attention to rule 
 and discipline, and a certain capability of expressing stereotyped 
 ideas. But I consider there is very little real educational result. 
 In each successive year they practically j' go through the whole 
 course of instruction again. Their minds, being too immature to
 
 144 Miss Harrington's Report. 
 
 retain easily the knowledge acquired, there is entailed a wearisome 
 repetition, which must have a stultifying efEect on the young brain. 
 Thus at the expense of much real hard labour, they succeed in 
 exhibiting a certain amount of mechanical skill, which, however, 
 children of five, with more mature powers, will acquire with less 
 trouble in a much shorter period. Worst of all, they lose in the 
 process whatever originality they may have started with, and take 
 the first step towards being turned out '' patterns " of the 
 approved type. 
 
 Comparison with others of 6 or 7. — Comparing this class of 
 children with those admitted at five years of age, at the termin- 
 ation of the infants' course, there is little difference to be observed. 
 On admission to the school, the latter may appear, for a few weeks, 
 less orderly than their class-mates, owing to their ignorance of 
 rules and the efiect of strange surroundings. But after a short 
 time they pick up much by imitation, and soon settle down into 
 the usual school ways. 
 
 Again, in the earlier stages of work, they appear at a disadvan- 
 tage through want of fluency in reading, number, etc., but they 
 are in reality quicker than the others, as they get through the whole 
 previous syllabus of work in less time. 
 
 If they enter at the beginning of the school year they are found 
 to be practically equal to the others at the end of one year. 
 
 Powers of observation and originality of ideas differ so extremely 
 by reason of the character and home training of a child, that it is 
 difficult to make a comparison between these two classes of children 
 in these respects. There is scarcely any difference to be observed 
 with average children. If anything, the balance of originality lies 
 with the child admitted later, who has not had so much of the 
 levelling process of " pattern-making " applied to him. School work, 
 as at present carried on, does not tend to develop originality ; rather 
 is it crushed before that "Car of Juggernaut" — Uniformity. 
 
 In powers of expression the earlier child has gained the confidence 
 that comes with custom, but is often priggish and unnatural, while 
 the later child is more homely, though less fluent. The latter uses 
 its own words ; the former, those of its teacher. 
 
 These differences are more marked in poor neighbourhoods, 
 where the parent's influence is nil, or worse, and the child gets no 
 assistance outside the school except such as is the outgrowth of 
 its own ability. 
 
 By inquiries made with head teachers of senior schools, who 
 have followed up the separate classes through their school career 
 with a view to comparison, the final conclusion must be reached, 
 that average children make as much progress by late as by early 
 admission. Disparity is caused by ill-health, home environment, 
 etc., not by later attendance. 
 
 The following tables may help to sliow that children admitted 
 at five years of age compare favourably with other children, age 
 for age.
 
 Miss Harrington's Report. 145 
 
 Bo_ys' School ill Working Class Neighbourhood, County Borough. 
 
 A. Number of Child- 
 
 ren started 3 or 
 4 years age. 
 
 B. Number of Child- 
 
 ren started 5 
 years age or over 
 
 No. 
 Stand- 13 
 ard. yrs.age 
 
 v,.{ 1 
 
 12 yr.s. 
 age. 
 
 38 
 
 7 
 
 11 yrs. 
 age. 
 
 8 
 3 
 
 10 yrs. 
 ago. 
 
 9 yr.s. 
 age. 
 
 8 yrs. 
 age. 
 
 Total. 
 
 47 
 11 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 Va. { ~ 
 
 16 
 4 
 
 16 
 6 
 
 6 
 2 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 38 
 12 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 v„. { I 
 
 14 
 4 
 
 13 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 3;") 
 
 8 
 
 A. 
 
 B. - 
 
 IV... I ; 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 4 
 
 9 
 2 
 
 - 
 
 47 
 9 
 
 A. - - - . 
 B - 
 
 ivi. 1 - 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 43 
 
 S 
 
 A.. - - . 
 
 B. - - . . 
 
 Ilia. ! : 1 1 
 
 7 
 1 
 
 10 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 46 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 iiih. { : 1 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 21 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 38 
 11 
 
 ; Oirls'' School 
 
 in Working Class N 
 
 eighhoui 
 
 hood. — 
 
 County 
 
 Boroug) 
 
 I. 
 
 
 Stand- 13 
 
 12 yrs. 
 
 11 yrs. 
 
 10 yr.s. 
 
 9 yrs. 
 
 8 yrs. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 Jird. j'rs.age 
 
 age. 
 
 age. 
 
 age. 
 
 age. 
 
 age. 
 
 
 A. Started at S^rs. 
 
 B. „ 5 „ 
 
 n. 1 *_ 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 16 
 5 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 va. 1 , 
 
 8 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 36 
 4 
 
 A. 
 B. - 
 
 vb. ( ; 
 
 10 
 4 
 
 y 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 25 
 
 8 
 
 A. - 
 
 IV.. J - 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 
 34 
 
 B. - 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 12 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 ivb. 1 : i = 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 5 
 
 5 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 34 
 9 
 
 A. - 
 
 B. - 
 
 1 
 
 Ilia. { : : 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 4 
 
 20 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 28 
 8 
 
 A. - 
 
 1 - 2 
 
 r> 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 36 
 
 B. - 
 
 \ - 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 - 
 
 6
 
 14') Miss Harrington'' s R(]ort. 
 
 Girls Sclwol in Poor Nciijhhonrhood. — Coun'y BoroMjh. 
 
 A. Num1)er admit- 
 ted S vears. 
 r.. „ ' ., 5 
 
 Stand- 18 l-2yis. 
 ard. yis.aj^e age. 
 
 v.. j I 1 ^-l 
 
 11 yis. 
 age. 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 I0yi>. 
 aj,'c. 
 
 y yrs. 
 
 age. 
 
 8 yrs. 
 a'^e. 
 
 _ 
 
 7 yr.s. 
 
 Total 
 
 2S 
 !) 
 
 A. - - - 
 
 B. - - - 
 
 V. !? 
 
 7 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 A. - - - 
 
 B. - - - 
 
 IV. { 2 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 IC 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 12 
 
 A. - - - 
 
 B. - - - 
 
 in. j : 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 9 
 1 
 
 IG 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 31 
 6 
 
 A. - - 
 
 B. - - - 
 
 n. { : 
 
 - 
 
 ~ 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 1 
 
 36 
 12 
 
 A. - ■ - 
 
 B. - - - 
 
 '■ I: 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 1 
 
 25 
 10 
 
 37 
 13 
 
 In many cases, these children are the best in their class. It 
 must not be forgotten, however, that in a poor neighbourhood 
 children often gain, physically and morally, by entering the school 
 at three years of age, since they are better cared for, and removed 
 from the bad influence of intemperate or neglectful parents. 
 
 Times of Admission of Infants. — It is most detrimental to the 
 interests of the school, the teacher, and the child, that the latter 
 should be admitted at all times of the year. Teachers say it 
 is one of their chief difficulties that children are allowed to 
 dribble into the Infant School in twos or threes every week in 
 the year while there is accommodation. Such children are 
 not fit to follow any class and yet no school can provide a teacher 
 for them alone. The best arrangement would be to admit only at 
 the beginning of the school year ; but if this is not practicable, 
 admission every six months is quite sufficient. 
 
 If every six months, then a practice which has been satisfactorily 
 
 tried by the Council schools might be put into use, i.e., 
 
 the passing up of infants into the upper departments twice a year. 
 This would enable children who now are deprived of six or nine 
 months infant training, owing to the time of year in wliich their 
 birthday falls, to have their full time in the Infant School. As 
 a rule, all children should be regarded as infants until they have 
 
 at least completed their seventh year. In shire schools, it 
 
 seems the rule that children who will be seven years of age before 
 the end of the following school year, that is, turned six years of age 
 at the end of the present school year, must be promoted to the 
 upper departments. It is thus quite common to find children 
 doing Standard I work at six years of age,
 
 Miss narriu'j! oil's Report. 147 
 
 Registerimj under 4- yf^ars. — I incline to the opinion that 
 children under four, if they continue to be admitted to our 
 schools, should remain unregistered. As long as they are regis- 
 tered and available for grant the teacher, whose character as a 
 ])opular and successful member of the profession depends upon 
 her percentage of attendance, must try to get them into school, 
 morning and afternoon, and in this way, babies are often in 
 school when unfit and even sickening for ^diseases. If admitted 
 only, they could be left free to attend one session, which is often 
 enough to exhaust their delicate frames and unformed brains. 
 Children of such tender years require a daily hour or two of 
 sleep, and how can this be obtained under present conditions ? 
 
 Physical Condition. — It is evident that insufficient attention is 
 paid to the general physical condition of infants. The children 
 are so often cooped up in galleries, sometimes for one and a half 
 hours or more ; too often crowded and without proper back rests. 
 In more than one school, if one in the row moved, those at the 
 end fell of£. 
 
 Despite all that has been said and done of late years in the study 
 and increase of Physical Exercises, drill is still, in many places, 
 a mere name on the Time Table. Or it is taken in desks or seats. 
 Exercises at change of lessons are reduced to mere arm move- 
 ments, and the little legs have to keep as still as they will for some- 
 times a whole session. I have been in schools where there is abso- 
 lutely no playtime in winter. The children, being marched out, 
 stand on a chalk line until recreation time is up and the teacher 
 ready with her apparatus, v/hen they march back again with their 
 hands behind. 
 
 The position ' arms folded in front ' which is so hurtful by com- 
 pression of the chest, is continually called for. I have even seen it 
 taken at singing lessons. 
 
 In schools of the -shire district which I have visited there 
 
 are no periodical visits of trained nurses as in the London schools, 
 and the children are present in the first stages of infectious disease, 
 which often pass unnoticed by the teacher of over-crowded classes. 
 It is no wonder that epidemics spread so rapidly in a class when 
 once started. 
 
 Health Records. — In no infant schools visited are even the 
 simplest health records kept. There should be for the sake of 
 teacher and taught, a medical inspection of all children, infants 
 as well as older scholars, and records kept of the physical condition 
 of every scholar. These records could be posted to the different 
 authorities when children leave one district for another. Mental, 
 as well as physical injuries and diseases might thus be remedied 
 or even prevented, and children unfit for school work would not 
 be pushed, as is now so often the case, to the detriment of b oth 
 mind and body in after years. At present, what little medical 
 inspection there is, is usually confined to the upper departments, 
 though it is in the Infant school that the seeds of ill health are sown.
 
 148 Miss Harrington's Report. 
 
 .Eyesight. — Statistics as to eyesight, where taken, are only taken 
 
 in Upper Schools. In the Council schools, absolutely no 
 
 notice is taken of defective sight, and the teachers say it is no 
 use to test, for nothing further is done. They do their best^ by 
 calling the attention of the parent, but these will not take their 
 children to the Infirmary, or say they cannot afford to pay for 
 glasses. Children with weak sight and inflamed eyes attend 
 school, and do the same work as others. 
 
 The following may be interesting. In a boys' school, out of 
 thirty cases of defective sight, twenty-six cases were children who 
 started school at two or four years of age. Only four were children 
 who started at five years of age, and out of these, one was the result 
 of an accident, i.e., stone-throwing. In another school, out of 
 twenty-five cases, twenty-two were children who started at three 
 or four ; three were those who started later. 
 
 Again, out of fifteen cases in a girls' school, twelve were children 
 who started at three years, three at five years, and two of these 
 were not sent till five because of delicate eyes. In another school, 
 out of forty-nine cases of defective sight, forty-four were children 
 who started at three years ; five started at five ; and three of these 
 were not sent till then owing to defective sight. 
 
 The children's eyes suffer in early school life, by the school work. 
 The light is frequently from the right. Children of three and four 
 years are required to thread needles, and where slates are still used, 
 to write between lines, which are often half-erased and can hardly 
 be seen. In twenty-three schools I visited, I found the babies 
 writing on slates between lines. 
 
 Movement, Play and Rest. — Movement, play, and rest receive 
 but a very moderate share of attention in the daily round of 
 duties. In one school a swing is used — sometimes on Friday 
 afternoons. In another, a rocking-horse is for the comfort of 
 
 ' children who cry.' A teacher said — " The first thing we 
 
 teach them is to sit still. It has always been required of us." 
 ^Comparing a time table of one of the German " Volks-kinder- 
 garten " which lies before me with those in use in our infant schools, 
 the contrast is striking. Thus the Kindergarten provides daily : — 
 
 Morning. Afternoon. 
 Intervals - - ^ hour. f hour. 
 
 Story telling ^ hour. 
 
 Active amusements 1 hour. 1| hours. 
 
 The rest of the teaching is made up of object lessons and Kin- 
 dergarten occupations and games. Reading, writing, and num- 
 ber are unknown lessons. 
 
 In English schools we have a quarter of an hour interval, morning 
 and afternoon. In twenty-four schools visited, only one and a 
 half hours per week are devoted to object lessons and conversation. 
 As for reading, nine schools had either four and a half hours or 
 over devoted to this subject ; fourteen had from three and a half 
 to four and a half hours ; twenty-one had from three to three and
 
 Miss Harrwgton's Report. 149 
 
 a half hours ; twenty -six had two to three hours. Number, too, 
 eats up a large share of the Time Tables. Five schools had four 
 and a half hours or more. In writing, eight had three and a half, 
 and twenty-nine had from two to three hours. Stories, which in 
 the German schools get half an hour a day, only receive half an 
 hour a week in our schools. Needlework is still taught to the 
 babies ; on nineteen Time Tables it still held a place. 
 
 The rest between lessons, so often appearing as a note to Time 
 Table, is omitted in many schools, as the teachers " cannot spare 
 the time " with all the work to be got through. A mattress bed 
 is sometimes provided for the babies but not much used. Half 
 a dozen hammocks, round the walls, would be cleaner and more 
 convenient. But the child, for the most part, falls asleep un- 
 noticed, and is left at the desk for fear of waking it. 
 
 Physical Condition and Mental Proficiency. — Mental proficiency 
 and physical conditions do not seem to go hand in hand. In 
 five cases out of six, delicate children are quick-brained. Often 
 the very healthy, well-built child is by no means sharp — if any- 
 thing, rather dull. Possibly bodily deficiency makes the child 
 more thoughtful and studious. 
 
 Teaching of ''three i?'^." — I wish most emphatically to protest 
 against the teaching of the " three R.'s " and needlework to children 
 under five or even six years. In the course of nature, speech comes 
 before reading and writing, and the child of three or four has not 
 yet learned to speak. Its vocabulary is so limited that the simplest 
 words are often meaningless to it. They are only empty sounds, 
 and it therefore becomes a human gramophone for the production 
 of the teacher's voice. 
 
 Also, at this immature stage of development, the child has not the 
 mental capacity to understand or to retain the arbitrary facts con- 
 nected with the sounds and signs of which the first steps in reading 
 and writing are mainly composed. Often, if an illness interrupts 
 the course of lessons in these years, the child is found to have lost 
 all it had previously learned. In fact, nothing is gained but a 
 slight mechanical power, whose painful and laborious acquirement 
 is calculated to give a distaste for the sight of books before they are 
 opened. Two years later, when the memory is stronger, and the 
 general capacity increased, less effort is required and impressions 
 remain permanent. 
 
 As regards needlework and writing, the strain on the muscles 
 of hand and eye involved in the attempt to hold needle and material 
 in right position for a fixed time, is too great. The results are quite 
 inadequate to the labour. At six years the child learns in a few 
 lessons what is, to the baby, a Herculean task. The tiny hand is 
 stiU an imperfect, unformed tool, yet the attempt is made to pro- 
 duce work which requires a perfect tool. It is like cutting wood 
 with a blunt knife. Expend the same amoimt of energy on possi- 
 bilities, and there will be some happier children and teachers. 
 ■^ Methods of Teaching. — Before pointmg out what I consider the 
 352;-;., L
 
 150 Miss llarrincjtorCs Re fort, 
 
 chief defects in methods of teaching infants, let it be understood 
 that I am not finding fault with the teachers. Almost universally, 
 it may be stated, they have the true welfare of their charges at 
 heart and the methods they adopt are often not their own choice 
 but forced on them by the exactions of Code, Syllabus, and 
 inspectors, or deficiencies in the school building. 
 
 So long as " Results " are looked for in infant schools, even 
 from babies, so long must the teachers contmue to work along the 
 lines which will produce results. The true development of the 
 child is slow, for Nature does not seek to force a blossom from the 
 seed still in embryo. It is hy " Methods" alone that infant schools 
 should be tested. If these are truly educational satisfactory results 
 must follow, but they will not be evidenced by ability to read cer- 
 tain words correctly, to add or subtract so and so, or to copy out 
 beautifully. It is the amomit of desire to acquire knowledge, and 
 the power to use its faculties in acquiring it, in other words, the 
 power of se^/-instruction that mark the success or non-success 
 of the product of the infant school. Individual development and 
 formation of character, should be the highest aims of infant teaching. 
 
 Yet " Results " [definite, uniform proficiency in the " three R.'s "] 
 are still called for by Board of Education and Coimcil Inspectors, 
 therefore " Results " are still the " Ideal." To pass Standard I. 
 with credit is the goal for which the child is entered in the race, 
 at three years. Naturally the teachers try to please inspectors 
 and to get certain things done to make a show. A Council 
 Inspector remarked in a certaui school that " the discipline would 
 have been perfect but for two or three babies who moved." It 
 is easy to understand how, thenceforward, the unfortmiate babies 
 " sat up." In this district, also, the Syllabus imposed by the Council 
 is cast iron. Every week is mapped out in rigid lines, so much in 
 each subject to be got through and shown. In one school, an 
 assistant teacher, though admittedly one of the best on the stafp, 
 was deprived of her increase of salary because her class was not 
 quite up to the mark in providing the appointed facts and figures. 
 
 But to bring a large class of yomig children up to this state of 
 uniformity of excellence, it is impossible to do anything but work 
 on set lines of drudgery. Consequently, the discipline is too severe^ 
 free movements are repressed, the teacher does much (with mis- 
 directed energy), while the scholars sit, passively waiting to be 
 told to do something. All individuality is crushed ; they must 
 all work to pattern and be like everybody else. 
 
 The classes are much too large, as many as sixty or even eighty 
 babies being often in charge of one teacher. Kindergarten games 
 are too mechanical, because noise or movement is contrary to the 
 recognised idea of discipline. In many cases these games are 
 reduced to the quality of action songs. The majority of school 
 buildings, however, make no proper provision for such exercises 
 which require considerable space and whose value depends ori 
 their spontaneity.
 
 Miss Harrington^s Report. 15l 
 
 Occupation lessons are often distinguished by their absence of 
 occupation, for the children have to sit motionless while the teacher 
 goes round a large class and examines the infinitesimal product — 
 the one letter or figure made — the one thread drawn — the one bead 
 threaded, or the one stick laid. Meanwhile, there is a whole world 
 of wonder to be explored on the desk before the child, from which 
 its longing hands are barred by " discipline." This is not " learning 
 by doing." 
 
 Universally, the standing principle seems to be that mistakes 
 must never be made. Perfection is expected at a first or second 
 trial so that fatal discouragement enters the baby soul that ought 
 never to have come near it, and the joy of finding out for itself 
 and climbing by its own mistakes is never known. 
 
 With the object of avoiding the excessive crowding and the 
 cramping of limbs caused by the use of galleries, I would advise 
 their rejection, especially in babies' rooms. 
 
 The ideal babies' room should be large, sunny, without gallery 
 or desks, but supplied at one end with small kindergarten tables 
 and chairs, round which the little ones can sit without disturbing 
 each other by every little instinctive motion. The teacher can 
 pass round and overlook them easily. 
 
 A wide space should thus be left at the other end of the room 
 for games. In addition, a large comfortable rug should be stretched 
 before the fire for the youngest to lie or crawl about, with perfect 
 freedom, or find comfort when brought in from the cold. Round 
 the walls should be placed a blackboard cloth dado, and plenty of 
 coloured chalks supplied that the children may draw " fancy free " 
 with the teacher helping — never teaching. A much larger supply 
 of toys is needed, that each child may have one to handle. In 
 better neighbourhoods, the children might be encouraged to bring 
 their own toys. Pictures and plants should abound, and birds 
 and other pets, to give the interest in life which is so helpful to the 
 intelligence and powers of observation. 
 
 Offices. — Offices are not sufiiciently numerous for the babies, and 
 boys and girls should have separate entrances. Some few might 
 be nearer their class-room, and with a covered passage for ucse in 
 w^et weather. 
 
 Medical Work, etc., in Schools. 
 In one County Borough the medical officer of the Education 
 Committee visits every school at least twice a year for the 
 purpose of testing both the sight and hearing of the children in 
 attendance. In some schools the teeth of children in Standards 
 VI. and VII. were also examined. 
 
 Vision. — Every head teacher must, according to the Education 
 Committee's regulations, test the eyesight once a year of :— 
 (1.) All new scholars admitted during the year. 
 (2.) All scholars in Standards VI. and VIL
 
 152 Miss Harrington's Report. 
 
 A vision card is filled in for each scholar examined, giving the 
 following details : — 
 Vision of right eye. 
 Vision of left eye. 
 
 (1.) If the child wears glasses or squints ? 
 (2.) If the eyelids are often inflamed ? 
 
 (3.) If there is complaint of frequent headache or fatigue of 
 the eyes after reading or sewing ? 
 
 The doctor at his visit re-examines all cases below a certain mark, 
 and in cases requiring medical treatment and capable of improve- 
 ment a printed notice is sent to the parents advising them to con- 
 sult a medical man either privately or at the infirmary. A foot- 
 note is added drawing attention to the fact that medical advice 
 may be had free at the Royal Infirmary on Mondays and 
 Fridays at 1.30 p.m. and at the Eye and Ear Hospital on 
 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9.30 a.m. Except in very 
 needy cases spectacles are not provided free of charge, 
 [ The teacher's interest in many cases seems to stop once the 
 printed notice has been sent out. In no school did I find a list of 
 children suffering from defective vision. A list of these children 
 with an entry of date when medically treated, or reason why 
 medical advice was not sought, would be a great help in keeping 
 these cases under observation. New teachers are left to find these cases 
 out for themselves. I found children who had been attended to and 
 had glasses not wearing them. In some cases the teacher in charge 
 of the class did not know that certain children had glasses. Some 
 cases had not been attended to because the mother was the bread 
 winner and could not spare a day to take her child to the hospital. 
 
 It seems to me that half of the doctor's trouble is lost if these 
 cases of defective sight are not kept under observation and in cases 
 when notices are neglected the matter is not followed up. Un- 
 fortunately many of the teachers take little interest in work not 
 reported on by H.M. Inspector, particularly if it entails an increase 
 of clerical work. 
 
 In another County Borough the sight of all children in the upper 
 schools is tested once a year by the head teacher. All defective 
 cases are re-tested by the medical officer of the Education 
 Committee and a printed notice is sent to parents drawing their 
 attention to any defects of vision and requesting them to have 
 their children's eyes examined by a doctor. With the sending 
 out of the printed forms the interest of the head teacher stops. 
 
 Again in another County Borough each school is provided with a 
 sight-testing chart, but in no school visited was the sight of the 
 scholars tested periodically. 
 
 In one County Borough, about two years ago, all teachers were 
 requested to test the sight of the scholars in their school and report 
 to the late board the number of cases of defective sight in their 
 schools. Beyond this no interest appears to have been taken 
 either in the sight or general health of the scholars.
 
 Miss Harrington's Report. 153 
 
 In schools under the County Council visited I found 
 
 the teachers had been supphed with a printed form to draw the 
 attention of parents to cases of defective sight. 
 
 Further experience gained by visits to village infant schools and 
 classes during the last few weeks only serves to confirm the 
 impressions recorded in my previous report. 
 
 Age of Adtnission. — ^Here, as in towns, the majority of children 
 enter school under five years of age — usually at four years, but in 
 manufacturing villages at three years. The attendance officers 
 say the teachers encourage their admission, so, with the child crying 
 to go, the mother glad to be rid of it, and the teacher welcoming 
 it in, the inevitable result is to fill the babies' room. 
 
 Progress. — I can still observe no loss sustained by admission at 
 the later age of five. Age for age the two classes of early and late 
 admission may he favourably compared. Ten out of thirteen 
 teachers concur with this opinion. Out of 268 children traced from 
 late admission only twenty-eight, about 10 per cent., were below 
 average as being above the age of the class they worked with. Of 
 the 90 per cent, remaining many were not only on an equality but 
 the sharpest in their class. 
 
 Hygienic Conditions. — The conditions of instruction and accom- 
 modation in many village infant schools are anything but satis- 
 factory. In schools with an average attendance mider fifty the 
 infants are mostly taught by one teacher in a room often badly 
 lighted and ventilated. Since these scholars generally include at 
 least two classes, the babies^ dribbling in by ones and twos all the 
 year, improve the shining hours (twenty hours per week) by 
 scribbling on a slate. They must be satisfied with an odd five 
 minutes here and there which the harassed teacher can spare from 
 the higher class. On many time tables, where neither games nor 
 stories* are to be seen, needle-threading, a refined species of 
 torture, often continues for twenty minutes or half an hour. 
 Writing in sand is gradually being introduced, but slates with lines 
 are still too much used. There are usually two teachers where the 
 average attendance is over fifty, and here the babies go mth the 
 second class and fare in like manner. When the number of babies 
 reaches twenty, they attain to the dignity of having the entire 
 attention of a monitress or pupil teacher and afford an excellent 
 practising ground for her inexperience. The benefit on their side 
 is doubtful. Under these circumstances it would be wiser in a 
 country district if children under five years of age could be legally 
 refused admission and those over five years entered at regulated 
 times, say twice a year. Many of the difficulties of teaching in 
 small schools would be removed, and the child's freedom would be a 
 physical and mental advantage to all concerned. 
 
 Chief Defects in Teaching in Infant Schools. 
 
 As before observed the aim of the Infant School from the babies 
 upwards is preparation for inspection in Standard I. Conse-
 
 154 Miss Harrington^ s Report. 
 
 quently the three R.'s receive the lion's share of time and attention, 
 and more important subjects must take their chance. A pupil 
 well advanced in these great dogmas of a teacher's faith is a shining 
 light, but how far it is capable of receiving further mstruction is a 
 question of no importance. 
 
 Syllabuses of work require far too much from these little 
 children. The following is a copy of a not uncommon syllabus hi . 
 number for a first class infants — average age at the end of the 
 school year six and a half years : — 
 
 Tables to five times twelve. 
 
 Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to 100. 
 
 Notation to 1,000. 
 
 Names and value of coins to £1. Money problems to 2s. Gd. 
 Value of easy fractional quantities, e.g., I, i, ^. 
 Discipline. — Discipline is invariably interpreted to mean : — " Sit 
 up — sit still — ^fold arms back (or front) — eyes front." To be eager 
 and alert, and want to answer " out of turn " is " to be naughty." 
 I plead for the recognition and toleration of a healthy noise in the 
 lower classes of our infant schools. The want of large airy play- 
 rooms, free of furniture, that the little ones may enjoy a good romp 
 and play under proper supervision is much in evidence. Formal 
 physical exercises as taken in many schools are unnecessary at this 
 early stage of life. Free play, however, for periods of half an hour at a 
 time is a necessity of physical development. In connection with 
 this I may remark on the rooted objection possessed by many bead 
 teachers to the use of the hall by the babies — lest they " distract 
 the other classes." Even in wet weather these sacred precincts 
 must not be defiled by the noise and laughter of little ones. The 
 hall is a place round which each class marches for five minutes, and 
 for the rest of the session it is unpeopled as an African desert. 
 
 Hours of Work. — The hours 9 to 12 a.m., and 1.30 to 4 p.m., arc 
 far too long. Children of five and six years of age have been pun- 
 ished for not being present at 9.10 a.m., though the registers close at 
 9.30 or 9.45. The parents are not in many cases aware of the fact 
 that infants need not be in school before this time, and so many go 
 breakfastless for fear of being late. Yet this lateness is often the 
 result of circumstances, due to large amount of work to be done 
 in a big family in the early hours where the mother is frequently 
 unaided. Parents might be encouraged to send their children only 
 to one session of the school — either morning or afternoon. 
 
 Size of Classes. — Classes are everywhere too big. How can one 
 teacher " mother" sixty to eighty children, and keep them occu- 
 pied and quiet, often under such adverse conditions as unsuit- 
 ability of furniture, insufficient fight and ventilation, and over- 
 crowding on a hot summer's day ? Yet this is a problem which 
 she has often to solve. 
 
 In the playgrounds there 's a general want of seating accommoda- 
 tion.
 
 Miss Harrington'' s Report. 155 
 
 Offices are often insufficient in number, dark and unsanitary 
 in arrangement, and totally unsuitable for teaching ^habits of 
 decency and cleanliness. 
 
 Lastly, the gap existing between the infant department and the 
 upper departments is considerable, and much of the training of the 
 infant school is lost. 
 
 The work of Standard I. should be carefully co-ordinated with 
 that of the 'nfant school that there may be no break whebi the child 
 is moved from one department to another. If teachers of the 
 lower standards were made familiar with Froebelian principles and 
 had a working knowledge of Kindergarten methods, much hard- 
 ship and many weary hours would be spared both teachers and 
 taught. 
 
 Agnes F. Harrington.
 
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