The particular branch of teaching which forms the subject of this paper—namely, that carried on in schools for mentally or physically defective children—affords scope for a lifetime of very happy work to women who are really fitted for it.
The qualifications required by teachers in these schools are the ordinary certificates accepted by the Board of Education, but, in practice, a preference is given to women who have taken up studies which bear on their particular work. For instance, it is obvious that a good grounding in psychology, physiology, and hygiene is especially valuable in schools of this description, and proofs of the successful study of these subjects undoubtedly carry weight in deciding appointments to these schools. Also, it is unusual to appoint young teachers, coming straight from Training Colleges, with very little practical experience in dealing with children, though under special circumstances such appointments are occasionally made. The large majority of women appointed to the London mentally defective or physically defective schools are, however, teachers of several years' standing, who are also under the age limit of thirty-five.
The salary of assistant teachers in the London special schools is £10 a year more than the salary such assistants would be getting in the ordinary Council schools. This extra pay only obtains until the normal maximum salary of assistant mistresses is reached,i.e., £150, so that the monetary advantage is confined to reaching the maximum a little earlier than would otherwise be the case. With regard to head teachers, the extra salary varies with the size of the school, £10 being allowed for a one-class centre, £20 for a two-, three-, or four-class centre, and £30 for a five- or six-class centre. Schools of six classes are unusual; the majority of schools contain three or four classes. Elder mentally defective boys from several neighbouring schools are frequently grouped together in a special centre under masters, and there are a few schools specially for elder mentally defective girls, naturally under mistresses. For elder physically defective girls there are centres in London where they may be specially trained in blousemaking and fine needlework. These centres have, in addition to an ordinary teacher, a trade mistress duly qualified in the particular branch of work undertaken. The age of compulsory retirement from teaching in special schools is sixty-five, as in the case of ordinary schools. For both branches of the service married women are eligible. The hours of work in mentally defective schools are from 9.30 to 12 and from 2 to 4. In physically defective schools the hours are nominally from 9.30 to 12, and 1.30 to 3, but in practice they are longer, as the children begin to arrive at school in their ambulances by 8.45, and in the afternoon the last children rarely leave till an hour after the time of stopping actual lessons. It is usual to arrange things so that the teacher who comes "early" one week, is free to come "late" the next, and it is also usually taken in turns to stay late in the afternoons. The short dinner recess is due to the fact that most of the children necessarily have their dinner at school, so there is no reason to allow the usual two hours for going home and coming back. During the dinner-hour the children are in charge of the school nurse and the ambulance attendants.
Work in both sorts of special school has its own particular difficulties. One great drawback is the impossibility of adequate classification. In a small three-class centre, there will be children from five years old up to sixteen years. That, of course, in physically defective schools means that the work usually divided among all the classes of an ordinary infant school must be done in the lowest class, the second class must take the work of standards I. to III., while the highest class must take that of standards IV. to VII. It is true that the special schools have a great advantage over ordinary schools in that the classes never contain more than twenty-five children, but even granted the small numbers, the need for taking several groups in a class makes the work very exhausting. The more successful the teacher, that is to say, the more truly she draws out the individual powers of each child, the harder does her work become, for she tends more and more to have a class of children working at varying stages. In the mentally defective schools it is not possible to reach the work of the higher standards, so that there is not thesamedifficulty, but there is the even greater one of dealing with different standards of defect, instead of different standards of attainment.
Another difficulty encountered in the physically defective schools is the interrupted school-life. Children will frequently drop out for three months, six months, or a year at a time in order to have some operation performed in hospital, or to go to a convalescent home, or because of an attack of illness. Both branches of the special schools are faced with the peculiar difficulty of the "spoilt" child—the lame girl who, by reason of her helplessness, has been indulged and waited on by the healthy members of her family; the ill-balanced boy whose brain-storms have been so disturbing that any opposition to his will has been shirked. It must not be thought that these children are in the majority at special schools, but they do form a certain proportion of the children there; they give much trouble, and they call for a great deal of tact and patience. Patience is so continually needed in special-school work that women who are not particularly patient would find themselves definitely unfit for it. Indeed, although patience and the hopeful spirit do not figure on the list of qualifications demanded of candidates, they might well head it, for most certainly an irritable or despondent woman could not find any work for which she was more unsuited, or in which she was more likely to be miserable and unsuccessful.
A further difficulty of the special-school teacher lies in the "all-round" demands made on her. The children she must teach, are defective in mind or body, or both. Some will respond to one subject, some to another; some will make poor progress with headwork, but will do excellent handwork. The teacher must be able to help each child along its own path, and must be familiar with the various forms of simple handwork as well as with the more usual school subjects. Basket-weaving, clay-modelling, raffia-work, fretwork, bent-ironwork, strip-woodwork, rug-making, painting, and brush-work, as well as different forms of needlework and embroidery, are all branches of handwork helpful in different degrees to these children. The importance of handwork to them is felt so keenly, that the special-schools time-tables usually show a morning devoted to headwork followed by an afternoon occupied by handwork.
But as well as the difficulties attendant on teaching in special-schools, there are some very real advantages. Foremost, perhaps, is the opportunity it affords of knowing and understanding each child in a way that is not possible when the class consists of sixty children. Very closely allied with this, is the great advantage of freedom in the preparation of syllabuses, in the choice of subject matter and the manner of teaching it. Time-tables must be approved by the proper authorities, and the superintendents and inspectors must be satisfied as to the character of a teacher's work, but, when those conditions are fulfilled, originality on the part of teachers is welcomed, and completely happy relations between teacher and children are possible. It can be readily understood that with a class numbering twenty-five, each child can take a much larger and much more active share in the work, can be free to express his own views, ask his own questions and work out his own ideas in a way impossible with a class of sixty. When, in addition, it is remembered that the teacher is free to frame her plans of work according to the actual needs of the children, as shown to her through discussions and questions, the reason why the work attracts women in spite of its obvious difficulties is apparent.
The real thought and care spent by the education authorities on these schools must have struck every one who has worked in them. If we compare what is now done for these deficient children with what was done some fifteen years ago, the stage of progress at which we have arrived is nothing short of wonderful. Yet every one must also be convinced that things are not well, so long as the supply of children for these special schools continues to grow; those who work in them can see two ways in which that supply might be checked. Teachers in mentally defective schools continually mourn the sad fact that the children under their care have been guarded from wrong, and guided to right along happy paths of busy interest until they are sixteen, only to be turned adrift into the world at an age when, more than ever before in their lives, they need a kindly and wise influence "to strengthen or control." For want of some further plan of continued supervision, the patient work of years is too often rendered nugatory, and the child slips back into the very slough from which the school had hoped to save it. It must be remembered that the defect in many children in these mentally defective schools shows itself as a lack of self-control, a want of mental balance, a missing sense of moral values, an incapacity for concentration—the very characteristics which render their unhappy possessors the easiest prey to the evil-minded. Teachers who know both the good to which the child can attain when properly safe-guarded, and also the evil into which it will too probably fall when left alone, are very anxious to see some step taken which will ensure that every child who needs continued control shall have it.[1]
Teachers in physically defective schools can also see the need for prevention of defect rather than its mere alleviation. The more usual forms of defect are missing limbs, tuberculous troubles (notably in joints), heart cases, paralysis, cases of chorea, and cases of general debility. The list must not be taken as complete, for there are, of course, various unusual forms of defect too. It sometimes happens that after a stay of some time in a physically defective school, a child becomes so much better that it is able to return to the greater strain of an ordinary school; on the other hand, it is often apparent, that if certain children had been admitted earlier to the physically defective school, their particular trouble might have been greatly minimised, if not altogether avoided. What then appears to be needed is an intermediary type of school to which children might be drafted who are not as yet absolutely defective, but who are liable to become so. Children of tubercular tendencies, who should be guarded against falls or blows more carefully than normal children; those highly-strung nervous children who, if exposed to the strain of ordinary school life run the risk of chorea; children suffering from the after-effects of diseases such as rheumatic or scarlet fever, who need particularly to avoid over-exertion or too violent exercise; children of such marked general debility that their power of resisting disease is abnormally low—all these, if neglected, tend to become qualified candidates for the physically defective schools. If they could attend a school designed to suit their needs, they would in many cases be quite able to return, after varying periods, to their places in the ordinary schools. The open-air schools are an attempt to meet this need on the very best lines, but there are far too many of these border-line children for the available accommodation. If the great expense entailed by new schools of this description be considered, it seems not unreasonable, while waiting for them, to allow the admission of these children to the invalid schools already working, by simply making the term "physically defective" elastic enough to include a latent as well as a developed defect. Whatever the apparent expense of such measures may be, any extension of the preventive side of this work cannot but be a real economy.[2]
There is just one other point for the consideration of women who think of taking up work in special schools. They should be thoroughly strong and healthy, or they will prove unequal to a strain which tells at times even on the strongest. But to women of good health who possess the right temperament, these schools offer a field of useful and congenial work.
[Footnote 1: Something in this direction will be achieved by the new Act, to which, however, there are counterbalancing grave objections which cannot be considered here. [EDITOR.]]
[Footnote 2: Open-air schools, and school sleeping camps such as those established experimentally in various urban slum-districts, are other efforts to meet the needs of physically defective children. Teachers in open-air schools in provincial towns, work under approximately similar conditions to those described by Mrs Thomas. [Editor.]]
No school of any importance is considered properly equipped unless the staff includes a gymnastic and games mistress. Several systems of gymnastics are practised in England, but the Swedish system is steadily proving its superiority; so much is this felt that a number of teachers who have previously taken a two years' course of training in some other system, are at the present time taking, or have just completed, a second two years' course in the Swedish system. As long ago as 1878 the London School Board introduced the Swedish system into its schools, but it was not till 1885 that the first physical training college was opened in this country, and this was for women only. In 1903 this system was adopted for the navy, and in 1906 for the army; it has also been adopted in the Government schools and Training Colleges, as well as in all the principal private schools and colleges for girls, and in many boys' schools, including, among others, Eton, Winchester, Clifton, and Repton. The following remarks, therefore, apply only to the Swedish system.
Until 1885, the rationally trained teacher of gymnastics was unknown in England, and the physical training of the girls in this country was monopolised by dancing mistresses and drill sergeants, most of whom were ignorant of the laws which govern the human body. In that year Madame Osterberg started a Physical Training College for women students at Hampstead, the college being removed to Dartford Heath, Kent, in 1895. Since then similar institutions have been opened at Bedford, Erdington, Chelsea, etc., and there is a growing army of women qualified to teach gymnastics and games, and in many cases dancing and swimming. These trained teachers have studied Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene; they have themselves experienced what they teach others; they have been trained to observe, and deal gently and carefully with growing girlhood. They have also studied deformities such as spinal curvature, round shoulders, and flat feet, and are able to take all such cases under their special care.
The course of training lasts from two to three years, and the cost in a residential college, is about £100 a year. To ensure success as teachers, students should be tactful, observant, and sympathetic; they should be medically fit, and physically suited to the work, and should produce evidence of a good general education. The requirements of the colleges vary as to educational qualification, some being satisfied with a school-leaving certificate while others demand Matriculation. This raising of the standard is a step in the right direction and may hasten the time when the gymnastic teacher will be thought worthy of a University degree or diploma.
The training includes theoretical as well as practical work, and the idea which used to be prevalent, is now practically exploded, that a girl who could not pass examinations but who was fairly good at gymnastics or games might make a good gymnastic teacher. The theoretical subjects include Physiology, Hygiene, Anatomy, Theory of Movements, Psychology, and a certain amount of Pathology; whilst the practical side includes Educational Gymnastics and Teaching, Remedial Gymnastics and Massage, Games (hockey, cricket, lacrosse, lawn tennis, net-ball, and gymnasium games), Swimming and Dancing. Dancing is becoming more and more, a necessary part of the equipment for the successful gymnastic teacher, who must be able to teach the ordinary ball-room dances as well as Morris and country dances.
A typical week's work in the second year's course in one of the colleges includes six hours' Gymnastics; five hours' Remedial Gymnastics, and five hours' actual treatment under supervision, of patients in the clinic; six hours' Anatomy, two hours' Physiology, two hours' Hygiene, two hours' Vaulting, three and a half hours' Dancing. In addition to this, four afternoons (from 2 to 4 P.M.) are devoted to games; class singing-lessons are given twice a week for half an hour, in addition to a quarter of an hour's practice every day, and each student teaches in the elementary schools three half hours a week, and also gets some practice in the high school. Add to all this the time required for private study, and it will be seen that the work is fairly strenuous and that none but strong, healthy girls should undertake it.
After the course of training the gymnastic teacher usually takes a post in a school, and having had a few years' experience, may then become an organiser or inspector to an education committee, a trainer in an elementary training college or physical training college, the head of the gymnastic department of a school clinic, or she may prefer to start a private practice, holding classes, treating cases of deformity, and also acting as visiting gymnastic teacher or games-coach to schools in the neighbourhood.
The rate of remuneration varies according to the kind of work undertaken; the initial salary in schools is usually £60 to £80 per annum resident, or £100 to £120 non-resident. Organisers and inspectors command a much higher salary; the three Government inspectors start at £200 rising to £400 with first-class travelling expenses, and the four woman-organisers employed by the London County Council Education Committee start at £175, rising by £10 a year to £240 plus actual travelling expenses. Some women do well in private practice, making from £200 to £300 a year. The salaries of the gymnastic teachers in the London County Council secondary schools are fixed at £130 a year with no possibility of advancement, and, though this may compare favourably with the initial salaries of other teachers on the staff, it must be remembered that the teaching life of a gymnastic teacher is shorter and there are no headmistress-ships to which to look forward. The few "plums" of the profession are the inspectorships of the Government and of the more important education committees. For the latter, women have often to compete with men, and even in cases where both men and women inspectors are employed—the men doing the same work in the boys' schools as the women do in the girls'—the men's salaries are considerably higher, despite the fact that most women give up professional work on marriage, either voluntarily or compulsorily, and have therefore a shorter time in which to recover the cost of their training, whereas if they do not marry, they have to make provision for old age and in many cases to contribute to the support of others besides themselves.
With regard to this employment of women after marriage, there would seem to be no reason why the principals or assistants of colleges or institutes, or the women with private practices should not continue their work; but in schools, even where the terms of the appointment do not demand resignation on marriage, it is not customary for married teachers to be employed.
Up to the present, the supply of trained gymnastic teachers has scarcely satisfied the demand, and fresh openings are from time to time created. When physical exercises were made compulsory in all the elementary schools, the class teacher had and still has, to give this instruction to her class, but there has been an increasing demand for organisers to teach the elementary school teacher and superintend her work. This has also led to specialist teachers being appointed to all the elementary training colleges and pupil teachers' centres. Then came medical inspection, and with it the need for school clinics, which could not be complete without a department for treating curvatures, flat feet, etc., and giving breathing exercises, especially after the removal of adenoids. Though these clinics are only in the experimental stage they are sure to expand, and it is expected that a large number of trained gymnastic teachers will be required for them. Further it is possible, and may be found desirable, that specialist teachers should be appointed for groups of elementary schools, so relieving the class teachers of this part of their work. Large secondary and private schools often appoint two, three, or four trained teachers who are jointly responsible for gymnastics, games, dancing, swimming, and the treatment of deformities throughout the school. Besides all these openings a considerable number of gymnastic teachers find work in the colonies, especially in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
To band together the teachers of Swedish gymnastics and to guard their interests generally, the Ling Association was founded in 1899. Though it is open to men and women, very few men have joined, as the number of men with the necessary qualifications is very small. Members must have trained for at least two years at a recognised college, and it was not till 1912 that the first training college for men was opened in England.
With a view to standardising the training and diplomas of gymnastic teachers, the Ling Association in 1904 started a diploma-examination. Though the syllabus drawn up is practically the same as those used in the different colleges, most of the colleges still grant their own diplomas at the end of the course.
It is hardly possible at present, to specify the usual age of retirement for gymnastic teachers, but when a woman becomes too old for regular school teaching she can organise, supervise, and inspect, or continue to practise remedial work which includes massage.
Most of the gymnastic teachers who come within the scope of theInsurance Act have joined the University, Secondary and TechnicalTeachers' Provident Society.
There are several reasons why instruction in the domestic arts and in the management of a house has not until quite recently formed part of the curriculum in girls' secondary schools. In the first years of the existence of these schools, no handicraft was encouraged except needlework, and this was soon almost crowded out of the time-table. It was assumed that household management was taught by the mother. There was a second assumption made even more confidently than the first, that a well-informed young woman with an active brain would find no difficulty in arranging her domestic affairs. This theory was founded on still another assumption—that there would always be on hire a sufficiency of servants already well trained for their work.
It is obvious nowadays that the mistresses of the first two decades of high-school teaching, being the first college-bred women, were suffering from a reaction against domestic interests, and the manner in which these had absorbed the old-fashioned woman. Their best pupils were at once destined for college; they were considered too good for mere domestic life, and were prepared for careers, mostly for teaching. This tendency was naturally accentuated by the fact that all mistresses were single women, with little prospect of any but a celibate life.
In the earlier stages of girls' education, then, it was the teacher who urged the promising girl to have a career; but the more recent development is that the parents, harassed by increasing economic pressure, and encouraged by the instances they meet of successful professional women, press more and more strongly for their girls to be educated for professions, whether they are exceptionally gifted or not. It is recognised in almost all grades of the middle class that the chance of a daughter marrying, and, further, the chance of her marriage being an assured provision for her maintenance throughout life, is by no means a certainty.
These considerations must militate against the appearance of domestic subjects in the school time-table, but there are others working in exactly the opposite direction. These are the increase in house rent and general rise in prices which make economy in domestic affairs, and good management, more valued; the dearth of servants; and the decay of the old traditions of housekeeping. Another factor is the new cult of hygiene, and increased interest in diet, shown especially by the inhabitants of large towns, who bewail their lack of energy and fitness.
If the home is to establish itself as an acknowledged success in modern conditions, it ought to be run by women with brains. It is now becoming acknowledged that the work needs the application of the scientific method of thinking. It may be true that home-making in the non-material sense is an art, but housekeeping nowadays is a science; and so much a science that a woman who has the chance of making herself an expert will be tempted to make housekeeping a career, and to undertake the job on a much larger scale than is needed in the ordinary house.
Thus, while there was practically no teaching of domestic subjects in girls' secondary schools until about seven years ago, a demand for teachers of the kind has sprung up very recently, and is rapidly increasing.
The headmistress anxious to undertake something of the sort has had many difficulties to face in the immediate past. The only teachers of domestic arts whom she could engage had received a very different education from the other members of her staff. If their whole time were not taken up with teaching their subject, they had few or no subsidiary subjects to offer, nor were they prepared for those curiously mingled clerical and pastoral duties which fall to the lot of a form mistress. In general education they might, indeed, be obviously below the girls in the upper forms, whose general culture had been sedulously cultivated for years. If teachers of this kind were, nevertheless, not to be kept for selected "stupid girls," it was possible (1) to introduce domestic work of the simple handicraft nature into the middle school, leaving it out of the upper school where there was a greater pressure on the time-table, or (2) to organise a post-school domestic course for girls who were not preparing for a profession.
The type of woman offering herself as a teacher in domestic arts has meanwhile been changing and developing, owing to the fact that a marked advance has taken place in the facilities for training. The minimum qualifications now required by most education authorities are diplomas for cookery, laundry-work, and housewifery, granted by a training school recognised by the Board of Education. It is advisable to take a fuller course which includes needlework and dressmaking. Most training schools for domestic arts provide a two or three year-course, according to the subjects taken. The three-year course, including cookery, laundry-work, housewifery, dressmaking, and needlework, costs about £75. Scholarships are offered both by the training schools and by public bodies. These cover the whole normal period of training, and an extension course for scientific study. The subjects included are the principles and processes involved in cookery, laundry-work, and household management, the last comprising such diverse matters as the selection and furnishing of various types of houses, repairing furniture, the choice and care of household linens, simple upholstery, management of income, first-aid, home-nursing, and the care of infants and young children. Many training-schools arrange for their students to gain experience in a crêche or similar institution, and to visit homes of various types. Practical experience is gained in housekeeping and catering, superintending the arrangements for meals, ordering stores and keeping accounts. Voice production and blackboard drawing are also taught, while science is studied concurrently with the above. The course in science embraces some Theoretical and Practical Chemistry, Physics, Physiology, Hygiene (personal and school hygiene and preventive measures), and the Theory and Practice of Education. Domestic Science students gain teaching experience not only in the various departments of the training-school, but also in elementary and secondary schools; happily the training is the same for those intending to take up either elementary or secondary teaching.
Thus it is seen that the present-day teacher of household arts is much more fitted to train the well-educated girl to organise household matters, than was her predecessor. Not only is manipulative skill acquired, but scientific reasons for processes and methods are outlined, and improvements are suggested. There is, however, still the danger that the student's training in science has been so subordinated to the acquirement of manipulative skill that her knowledge of scientific facts is not sufficiently based on scientific training and method.
Much, then, is to be urged in favour of the woman with a science degree taking courses in domestic arts, but it is essential for her to attain a high standard of practical work. It has sometimes been found that a very academic and scientific method of treatment has tended to lower the standard of manipulative skill. Nevertheless qualified graduates find themselves, at the moment, greatly in demand. The economical headmistress must always be on the look out for an acquisition to her staff who will, like Count Smorltork's politics, "surprise in herself many branches." If the headmistress can solve her difficulty about her domestic arts teacher by engaging a college-bred woman, with a degree to put on the prospectus, all sorts of ordinary subjects for her odd hours and undertaking to teach cooking as well, she will jump at the chance, and pay her £10 to £20 more salary than the ordinary assistant-mistress. She will economise greatly by the arrangement. If she has some amount of money to back her schemes, and a large school to administer, she will prefer two people to one composite one. But she will beg them to collaborate and to work together. She will not expect the woman with the science degree and a brief subsequent training in the arts to have the manipulative skill of the one who has done something like one thousand hours of actual practice, according to the prescription of the Board of Education. She will ask the former to show the girls how modern science is connected with the modern house, and how the scientific way of thinking helps in keeping a house, as it does in keeping one's own health and fitness.
During the past five years one secondary school after another has taken up Domestic Arts as a school subject. The initiative usually comes from the headmistress, and is a matter of personal judgment, so that the introduction is still an experiment on trial, and the method of trial varies. Before giving some indication of the methods tried, we must return to the demand for teachers. It will be clear from what has been said, that a science graduate who has studied and practised household arts and cooking, or a trained teacher of Domestic Arts who has also some science certificate and a high standard of general education, will at this moment command a higher salary than the ordinary secondary schoolmistress, and is practically certain of a post. But either of these individuals requires an unusually long period of training, for which most people have neither the time nor the spare capital.
One woman's college in London has started courses of its own in "Home Science and Economics," and awards a three-year certificate to its students; also a diploma for science graduates who take a year's course, and a certificate to Domestic Arts teachers who take a closely related year's course. This is King's College for Women, which has just obtained the formal approval of London University for its three years' curriculum. In a very short time arrangements will be made to grant a University Diploma to the students who have taken this course, the fee for which amounts to 30 guineas a session. A scholarship, covering the cost of tuition, is from time to time awarded to undergraduate students, and there is also a one-year post-graduate Gilchrist scholarship of 50 guineas. The name of "Household and Social Science" is recommended by the Royal Commissioners for the new co-ordination of subjects. Various American universities and colleges give diplomas of the same kind: and the New Zealand University has just initiated one. The three-year course at King's College for Women may possibly be modified by the University authorities: at present it consists of two years' training in various branches of pure science, and a third year in which these branches are applied to household matters of all kinds. For instance, the usual type of academic course of Inorganic, Organic, and Physical Chemistry gives place in the third year to the study of food, cooking utensils and cookers, soap and other cleansing materials, and woven materials. Biology and Physiology give place to household Bacteriology and Hygiene. Practice in Housewifery and Cooking occupies one day per week throughout the three years. A very important feature in this course is the introduction of Economics. As with the natural sciences, two years' study of ordinary Economics, chiefly industrial, is followed by a year of Economics applied to the household, in which an attempt is made to show the present and past relations of the household to society. King's College for Women is the first institution in England to see the great importance of studying the connection of domestic life with the outside industrial world, instead of treating it as an isolated phenomenon.
This is the outline of the three-year course: students are encouraged to stay a fourth year for special work; the appointments which they take up at the end of three or four years are not always as teachers, but in various other vocations which need not be specified here. As teachers, the holders of these certificates are subject, of course, to a double fire of criticism. The science specialist thinks they do not know enough science, and points out that, beyond a few elementary facts in Chemistry, Physics, and Physiology soon picked up in an elementary training in these subjects, there stretches a region of very abstruse science which cannot be attacked except by specialists in Organic Chemistry, in the Physiology of Nutrition, and so on. But it is now suggested that many scientific problems connected with domestic subjects are waiting for solution. If some of these were solved, they would bridge the gulf between the elementary and the abstruse, but they must show themselves of sufficient interest to investigators. Here is a field for work eminently suited to the scientific woman with a practical turn of mind. Meanwhile, the cookery diplomée thinks, often justifiably, that the new teachers have not had sufficient practice in the art of cooking. Criticism of this kind is inevitable whenever a new co-ordination of subjects is attempted, and it will keep the new arrangement on its trial until it can justify itself. The question at issue in this case, as probably readers will have divined if they are interested in the problem, is whether the whole method and tradition of teaching housekeeping ought not to be under revision, so that it may in a few years be a "subject" vastly different from the traditional handing-on and practising of receipts. Once the barrier is broken down between the scientifically trained and the domestic woman, the whole aspect of affairs changes. It is a sign of the change that the training-colleges and cookery-schools, besides introducing more Chemistry, Hygiene, and Physiology into their curricula, are definitely asking that the teachers they employ for these subjects, shall be women with science degrees as well as some knowledge of domestic arts. For instance, at the Gloucester School of Cookery at least one former teacher had taken the Natural Science Tripos at Girton as well as Domestic Science Certificates: at Battersea Polytechnic a recent appointment is that of a Domestic Science diplomée, who subsequently took a science degree at Armstrong College, while at the National Training School of Cookery, one member of Staff is at present a science graduate, who subsequently obtained the King's College for Women Diploma in Home Science and Economics. Again, the new Government report just issued on handwork in secondary schools, while in many ways non-committal, distinctly prefers special training for teachers of Domestic Subjects following on a good general education—i.e., a University degree plus technical qualifications, rather than a teaching diploma in Domestic Subjects plus a little science. There is, then, likely to be an increasing number of openings for women who can afford the double training. Schools of housecraft to give all-round training to educated women, are springing up in all parts of the United Kingdom: in those which are attached to Polytechnics and similar institutions the fullest advantage is taken of the pure and technical science teaching available in their laboratories.
To those who look for a real advance in household science the weak point of the present situation is the want of proper correlation and standardisation of the work going on. The Board of Education does not examine; it accepts the diploma given by any one of a fairly large number of domestic science schools. In consequence, teachers from different quarters may be using quite different processes and methods in laundry work, cooking, or housekeeping. It is time some fundamental things were agreed upon, and although standardising must not be allowed to become stereotyping, at present constructive generalisation is needed, as well as the upsetting of out-grown traditions. In this context it would be well to discuss a question more properly to be taken at the end of this paper—the connection between the teaching in elementary schools and that in secondary schools. There is no reason to introduce differentiation in the training of the teachers: it is obvious, for instance, that the recent development of including economics in that training, is of extraordinary value to the elementary school teacher. But it is difficult to correlate the instruction given in the management of a middle-class household, with from eight to twenty rooms, and from one to a dozen servants, with that given in the management of a workman's cottage or of a flat without assistance. The connection which does need systematising and establishing is between the management of a middle-class house and the training of domestic servants, which ought naturally to form part of the trade or technical after-school work for elementary scholars. Here again, if training is to be followed by certificates, and the domestic servant is to be in the smallest degree an expert, some standardisation of training is necessary. We may, of course, find that domestic service becomes so much a matter of expert work that it is taken up on a large scale by middle-class girls, but that can hardly be prophesied yet, although the "lady servant" is an existing phenomenon. It is, of course, also possible that a modern curriculum of "Household and Social Science" may attract a certain number of men of the suitable type of mind. The attitude of the community is changing so rapidly that one may hope those fears to be groundless which speak of "relegating women back to the limited sphere of domesticity," and thereby losing so much that has been gained with regard to their education.
We must now return to give a few particulars which have been passed over. Any information on this subject is, however, liable to be very soon out of date. A secondary school that elects to teach cooking and laundry work will want a specially fitted room, which will cost about as much as a simple science laboratory, and will be arranged in as close connection with the science laboratory as is convenient. This means serious expense, and the headmistress is naturally anxious to have considerable use made of the room. Thus she will be led to introduce the subject into a large proportion of the classes, instead of limiting it to one or two middle-school forms, or to a selected part of the upper-school. She may, however, try to solve the economic problem by making it a post-school course for which special fees are charged. Certain schools, notably Clapham and Croydon High Schools and Cheltenham Ladies' College are able to make a very important feature of this type of course. To make it a success, the prestige of the school, its influence over girls and their parents, must be great and commanding. Otherwise, unless the girls are aiming definitely at some professional work after the course, there is a tendency to laxness in attendance, or to the relinquishment of the work in the middle, which tendency is engendered by the nature of the subject. The mother's excuse for getting her grown-up girl's company and help will naturally be, "Gladys can boil the potatoes at home instead of at school." A valid answer will be that Gladys is being taught to free her mind from the eternal English boiled potato by learning many other ways of treating it, and at the same time learning its proper place in a diet.
Failing the post-school course, the admittance of domestic subjects to a notable place in the general school curriculum leads to great stress being laid on the teaching of the elements of Physical Science. The eminently "feminine" subject, Botany, gives place to Physics and Chemistry in the middle-school, followed by Physiology and Hygiene in the upper-school. The subjects are to be illustrated whenever convenient, by reference to home life. A student choosing her science subjects at College should bear these in mind as likely to be at present of the best market value. Though it is very true that a practical woman who is a good teacher will nowadays connect any science subject with home life, still a parallel course of domestic arts will draw chiefly on the lessons given in these four.
Another fact worthy of notice is that a married woman who is anxious to continue her former profession of science teaching will not as a rule have to suffer the usual unfavourable handicap. That a married woman should teach the domestic subjects is quite a reasonable proposition to many who would exclude her from most professions: if she be also a mother it may even count as an asset instead of a disadvantage.
The Delegacy for Oxford Local Examinations has been the first, as far as we know, to set a paper in domestic science to senior candidates. There has been a demand for it in the London Matriculation, but objection has been raised on the score of its being a smattering and a soft option. The Oxford Delegacy has introduced two new headings—Domestic Science and Hygiene—and sets two papers under each, without any practical work. The first paper is the same under both headings—Elementary Physics and Chemistry, and the preparation for this is intended to be made at least one school year before the preparation for the second paper. It should be noted that the Hygiene paper is for boys and girls; it includes a little Physiology, Personal Hygiene, and Hygiene of Buildings. The Domestic Science paper is for girls only; it has several details in common with that in Hygiene, but its main features are the simple outlines of the chemistry of foods and of cleansing substances. In a few years the suitability of these subjects for both sexes may have impressed the community.
We may notice, lastly, the arrangements made for instruction in Domestic Subjects in elementary schools.[1] This is given in a specially equipped Centre attached to a public elementary school, the girls from that and other schools attending either for a half or whole day weekly during their last two years at school. In some cases for about fifteen weeks before they leave school, girls give half the week to Domestic Subjects. This experiment has been so successful, that it is likely to be extended in the future. A carefully graded syllabus is followed; due proportion of time is given to theory and demonstration as well as to practical work. Each girl is required to do a certain amount of work by herself, and much thought has been expended in order to make the lessons as useful as possible. The care of infants and young children is receiving increased attention, and it is hoped that much may be done to mitigate evils of wrong feeding and treatment. As far as possible, the teaching in the Centres is correlated with that in the schools. Where there are science laboratories the experiments are made on food-stuffs, changes wrought by application of heat in various ways, the chemistry of common objects, and so on.
The opportunity for definite science training in connection with Domestic Subjects teaching in elementary schools is still very small, and will probably remain so while the school-leaving age is fourteen. The problem before the teacher in some instances is to combat not only an entire ignorance of the home arts, but also, in poor districts, an active experience of household mismanagement and vicious habits. The teaching in these cases has to be intensely practical, and to aim chiefly at character-building; the manual work of the subject has been found of the greatest educational value in this respect. Though the training of all Domestic Subjects' teachers should reach the same standard of scientific knowledge, yet the actual work to be done in different types of schools is thus seen to be necessarily widely divergent in character.
In higher elementary or "central" schools, where the pupils normally remain until the end of the school year in which they reach the age of fifteen, Domestic Subjects' teaching may have a much wider scope than at the ordinary Centre, as the pupils are at a very intelligent age, and represent the best of the elementary scholars. A special syllabus is prepared according to the individual need of each school, by the Domestic Subjects' teacher and the headmistress; the instruction is a very definite part of the curriculum, and the teacher a member of the school staff.
In London and other large towns, and with certain County Councils, the Centre is under the general supervision of the headmistress of the school to which it is attached, but technical details are entirely in the hands of the teacher of Domestic Subjects and of the superintendent who visits periodically. In some rural areas, the conditions are not so satisfactory. Frequently one teacher has to serve several villages, visiting them for instruction on certain days. The accommodation in such places is often sadly deficient, and much ingenuity and resource are needed to overcome difficulties which do not occur when the Centre is well-equipped and in continuous use, and the teacher, as she should be, a regular member of the school staff.
On leaving school, there are many scholarships open to the girls for further training, (a)for a home course, (b) for domestic service, (c) for the trades of laundress, needlewoman, dressmaker, and cook. These scholarships are held at Technical Institutes, or Trade Schools, and the training given is admirable in kind.
A qualified teacher who wishes to take up elementary school work will have no difficulty, if physically fit, in obtaining a post under a County Council or other educational authority at a salary of £80 per annum, usually rising by annual increments to £120. The maximum is not so high as that for teachers of ordinary subjects, and pensions are not universal, though most councils make fairly adequate provision for retirement, breakdown, and ill-health.
There is at present very little direct promotion open to the Domestic Subjects' teacher in elementary schools. In London there are practising-centres for students in training, and training centres for teachers during the probationary period, the managers of which hold very responsible posts that carry extra salary. The inspecting staff is usually chosen from teachers of experience, but this is necessarily limited in numbers, vacancies occurring only rarely. The salary attached to these posts is from £150 to £300. Many good posts in the Colonies have been obtained by Domestic Subjects' teachers in elementary schools. Some teachers have become foreign missionaries, Children's Care Committee visitors, or home mission workers and visitors. Some have established model laundries, others have taken charge of students' hostels and boarding-houses; while many have been successful in the needle-trades, luncheon and tea-rooms, and in lecturing and demonstrating for gas and electric companies.
Several organisations for self-protection and the advancement of the profession are open to teachers of Domestic Subjects. The Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects was founded in 1896, and has done valuable work for the members. It is affiliated to the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutes, and is thus enabled to obtain good legal advice. A representative has been appointed to sit on the Council for the Registration of Teachers. The Association is helping to educate public opinion, and to review and consider the pedagogy of domestic subjects in all classes of schools. Domestic Subjects' teachers are also admitted to membership of other Teachers' Associations, which safeguard the interest of their members and offer advantages for training and travelling. Members of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects have the right to join for the purposes of the Insurance Act the "Approved" section of the Secondary, Technical and University Teachers' Provident Society. The London County Council has secured "exception" from the Act for their Domestic Subjects' teachers, their allowance for sick leave being better than the provisions of the Act. The Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects has obtained special terms for members from two assurance companies for deferred annuities or endowment assurances. The London Teachers' Association has also a provident section.
We have seen that Domestic Arts may now claim a position of importance in both the elementary and secondary school curricula, and that the teaching of these subjects may rank as a profession in which there is a great deal of scope. The attitude of mind towards these subjects has much changed during the last few years, largely owing to the efforts of those who have taken them up as subjects of scientific study. Much, however, remains to be done, both in organising the teaching in schools, and in the training of teachers in domestic subjects. Only those who have had scientific training, are competent to put the work on a sound scientific basis.
[Footnote 1: An interesting sidelight on economic conditions is afforded by the instructions issued by the London County Council for the guidance of teachers of Domestic Subjects (Syllabus of Instruction in Domestic Economy. Revised, March 1912). The girls are to be taught account-keeping in order to "cultivate a well-balanced sense of proportion in spending and saving. … Weekly incomes suitable for consideration in London, to begin with, are 35s., £3, and 28s. taken in that order." The number in family is supposed to be six,i.e.,parents and four children.
The obvious inference is that experts do not find it possible to deal satisfactorily with cases in which there are, say, six children and an income of 25s. An income of £1 a week is not even mentioned, though many a London school-girl must know "in the last three years of her school-life" that her mother has not more than this to spend. Translated into concrete quantities of food, clothing, and rent, this "living wage" is found insufficient for daily needs. The teacher therefore is encouraged to ignore the economic conditions of most of her pupils. [EDITOR]. ]
Cost and duration of courses for the first degree in the Faculties of Arts and Science, together with Scholarships in those Faculties available for Women at the Universities and University Colleges[1] of the United Kingdom.
1. Scholarships, etc., printed initalicsare available for Women only.
2. Scholarships, etc., printed in #black type# are not restricted to graduates of any one University.
3. County Council and Borough Scholarships are included only when tenable at a specified University or College. Particulars of others should in each case be obtained from the respective Director or Secretary of the Education Committee.
4. No scholarship or prize is included of which the value is less than £15.
[Footnote 1: University Colleges are those in receipt of a Government Grant and doing work of a University standard. Thus the Polytechnics and Colleges such as the Albert Memorial College, Exeter, are not included, although they prepare students for degree examinations.]
Duration of Pass Course in Arts or Science: 3 years.Duration of Honours (M.A., M.Sc.) in Arts or Science: 4 years.Cost of Tuition in Arts: 54 guineas for the course.Cost of Tuition in Science: From 47 guineas to £186, 2s. forthe course, according to subjects chosen.Cost of Residence (optional): From 40 to 55 guineas per annum.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.Entrance(2) Not more than £251 yearFentham's Trust £75 3 years Awarded on to candidateswho have resided for 5years in the City ofBirminghamUniversity(2) £30 1 year ScienceUniversity(2) £30 1 year ArtsUniversity(15) Free tuition and notmore than £30maintenance 4 yearsTheodore Mander £24 2-3 years Open to sons and daughtersof burgesses ofWolverhampton, andawarded to thoseintending to take DegreeCourses in the Facultiesof Science of CommercePolytechnic(2) £45circa3 yearsAscough £36circa1 year Chemistry(renewable)George Henry £45 3 years ClassicsMarshallGerman £50 — Offered each year for 5years from 1913.Education Committee £50 3 yearsMajor(5)Corbett £28circa1 year For 2nd year students.Mathematics.
#Post-Graduate# University(4) £50 1 year Arts and Science Research(4) £50 1 year Arts and Science Priestley(3) £96circa1 year Chemistry Research (renewable) 1851 Exhibition £150 2 years Scientific Research
Duration of Course in Arts or Science, Pass or Honours: 3 years.Cost of Tuition in Arts: 18 guineas per annum.Cost of Tuition in Science: 20 guineas per annum.Cost of Residence (optional) at Clifton Hill House: 40 guineas per annum.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.Bursaries, variable Tuition fees andin number maintenance grant1 year Awarded (to children ofBristol ratepayers only)according toqualificationVincent Stuckey Lean Interest on ScienceScholarship £1,000 1 year
#Post-Graduate.#Catherine Winkworth£30 1 year ArtsCatherine Winkworth£30 1 year Science Capper Pass Scholarship £25 1 year Metallurgy Hugh Conway Scholarship £20 1 year English Literature
The only University Scholarships for which women are eligibleare the Arnold Gerstenberg Studentship (income of £2,000) forPhilosophical Research and the Benn W. Levy Studentship forResearch in Biological Chemistry (£100 a year). Scholarships atGirton and Newnham are for women only.
The University does not grant degrees to women.
Duration of Course in Arts or Science: 3 years. (Pass candidatesare not accepted.)
Cost of Course: £105 per annum, including tuition, examinations,and residence. For out-students the fees are £12 a term.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.Jane Agnes ChessarNot less than £88 4 years ClassicsRussell Gurney£40 3 years HistorySir Francis Goldsmid£45 3 yearsMary Anne LeightonAbout £16 3 yearsBarbara Leigh SmithAbout £44 3 yearsBodichonTodd MemorialAbout £35 3 yearsHiggins£40 3 yearsHenry TomkinsonAt least £20 3 yearsClothworkers£60 3 yearsSkinners£50 3 yearsGilchrist£50 3 years Also tenable at NewnhamQueen's School,£30 3 yearsChesterDove£20 3 years For girls from St. Leonard's School, St. Andrew's. Classics
#For Certified Students#Gilchrist Studentship£100 1 year For Professionals. Open toStudents at Newnham andGirtonOld Girtonians'Not less thanStudentship£48 1 yearJohn Elliot CairnesNot less than£58 1 year For research in PoliticalEconomy or EconomicHistorySir Arthur Arnold£30 1 yearHarknessAbout £70 1 year Geology. Also tenable atNewnham. Awardedbiennially
#Fellowships.#Pfeiffer£120 2 years#Girton College# £300 Various Open to students of allUniversities
#Prizes.#GambleInterest on £500Therese MontifioreInterest on £1,700
Duration of Course in Arts or Science: 3 years (Pass candidates are not accepted).
Cost of Course: From £90 to £105 per annum, including tuition, examinations, and residence. For out-students the fees are £12 a term.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.College(2) £50 3 yearsClothworhers£50 3 yearsCollege(1 or more) £35 3 yearsClassical£50 3 years Also tenable at GirtonModern Languages£50 3 years Also tenable at GirtonLiverpool Clough£50 2-3 years For those entering the teaching profession, onlyGilchrist£50 3 years Also tenable at GirtonMary Ewart£100 3 years For students who have been in residence three termsHarkness£70 1 year Geology. Also tenable at Girton. Awarded biennially
#Certificated Students#Arthur Hugh Clough£40 1 yearMary Ewart£150 1 year Travelling scholarshipGilchrist£100 1 year Tenable only by thoseentering a profession.Held alternate years atNewnham and Girton#Bathurst# £75 or under 1 year Awarded from time to timefor proficiency inNatural Science. Notrestricted to NewnhamstudentsMarion Kennedy£80 1 year Holder eligible for 2ndStudentshipyear
#Fellowships.#Associates(2) £100 1 year Awarded alternate yearsMary Bateson£100 1 year"N"£100 1 year
#Prizes.#Creighton£15 Awarded for an essay onMemorialHistory or Archaeology
Duration of Course in Arts: Pass 2 years; Honours, 3 years.Duration of Course in Science: Pass and Honours, 3 years.Cost of Tuition, Arts and Science: £21 per annum.Cost of Residence in Abbey House (optional): From £12 to £16 a term.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.#Entrance.#
Foundation Scholarships £70 1 year May be renewed. ArtsFoundation Scholarships £40 1 year May be renewedFoundation Scholarships £30 1 year May be renewedEntrance Exhibitions(2) £20 1 year May be renewedPears Scholarship £50 3 years ArtsScholarships(2) £70 1 yearScholarships(2) £30 1 yearExhibitions(2) £20 2 years Persons of limited means
#Undergraduate.#Scholarships(2) £30 1 year 2nd year studentsScholarships(2) £30 1 year 2nd year studentsGisborne Scholarship £30 1 year 2nd year studentsUniversity Classical £30 1 yearScholarshipUniversity Mathematical £30 1 yearScholarshipUniversity Hebrew £20 1 yearScholarshipThorp Scholarship £20 1 yearNewby Scholarship £18 2 or 3 yrs. ArtsScholarships(3) £20 1 year Modern B.A.
#Prizes.#Gibson £20 Essay
Duration of Pass Course in Arts or Science: 3 years.Duration of Honour Course in Arts or Science: 3 to 4 years.Cost of Tuition: £20 per annum.There is no Hall of Residence.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks.#Entrance.#Exhibition £20 1-2 years ScienceExhibition £15 1-2 years ScienceExhibitions(2) £15 1-2 years ArtsNewcastle-upon-Tyne Free admission to a Open to candidatesCorporation degree course resident in Newcastle.Exhibitions(10) 2 years Arts(renewable)Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free admission to a Open to candidatesCorporation degree course resident in Newcastle.Exhibitions(10) 2 years Arts(renewable)Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free admission to a Open to candidatesCorporation degree course resident in Newcastle.Exhibitions(10) 2 years Science(renewable)Gateshead Corporation Free admission to a Open to candidatesExhibitions(10) degree course resident in Gateshead.2 years(renewable)
#Undergraduate.#
Junior Pemberton £30 and remission of Awarded on the results oftwo-thirds of the the first B.Sc.class fees 1 year examinationThomas Young Hall £20 with remission of Awarded on the resultstwo-thirds of the of the first B.Sc.class fees 3 years examinationNathaniel Clerk £15 1 year Awarded on the resultsof the first B.Sc.examinationSenior Pemberton £40 and fees 1 year Candidates must havepassed the first B.Sc.examination
#Post-Graduate.#Research Studentships(2) £62, 10s 1 year1851 Exhibition £150 2 years Science1851 ExhibitionProbationary Bursaries £70 1 year Science Research
Johnston Chemical £60 1 year Open to Bachelors ofScience of any BritishUniversity of not morethan 3 years' standing
#Fellowships.#College £125 1 yearPemberton £120 3 years Open to graduates inScience of DurhamUniversity of not morethan 6 years' standingfrom their first degree
Duration of Pass Course, Arts or Science: 3 years.Duration of Honour Course, Arts or Science: 3 to 4 years.Cost of Tuition in Arts: £19 per annum.Cost of Tuition in Science: £27 per annum.Cost of Residence at University Hall (optional): From £32 to £41 per annum.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.
Name. Value and Tenure. Remarks. Emsley £20 2 years Edward Baines £20 2 years Charles Wheatley £25 3 years Arts William Summers £35 3 years Arts Brown £40 2 years Science (renewable) Senior City(14) £50 3 years Open to candidates of not (renewable) less than 17 and not more than 30 years of age County Major £55circa3 years Open to candidates of not (West Riding)(14) less than 16 and not more than 30 years of age Free Studentships Tuition Fees 3 years (West Riding) Major (North Riding)(4) £60 1-3 years Open to women of not less than 16 and not more than 20 years of age Scholarships (East £60 1-3 years Riding) Salt £20 2 years Arts City Council Not specified
#Post-Graduate.# 1851 Exhibition £150 2 years Science University (limited £25 1-2 years Awarded ordinarily on number) Final Honours Examinations Gilchrist £80 1 year Modern Languages John Rutson £70 1 year Arts (renewable)
#Fellowships.#University £100 1 year
Duration of Pass Course in Arts or Science: 3 years.Duration of Honour Course in Arts: 3 to 4 years.Duration of Honour Course in Science: 4 years.Cost of Tuition in Arts: £19 per annum.Cost of Tuition in Science: £25 per annum.Cost of Residence in University Hall (optional): From 35 to 50 guineas asession.
Scholarships, Bursaries, and Prizes.