Parents are quite sensitive in this matter, and it is not uncommon to hear of teachers being summoned before magistrates to answer charges of assault.

ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS.

The organization of elementary schools is regulated to some extent by the provisions of the education acts and code, but beyond this, is left entirely to local managers.

Essential characteristics of elementary schools.-An elementary school is defined by the education act "to be a school in which elementary education is the principal part of the education given," and does not include any school or department in which the ordinary payments in respect to the instruction, from each scholar, exceed ninepence a week. In reality the weekly fee is seldom as high as ninepence. In 1889-90 52.67 per cent. of the pupils in England and Wales paid less than 3d. a week; 38.63 per cent. paid between 3d. and 6d., and 3.75 per cent. paid 6d. and over; 4.95 per cent. were free scholars.

In order to be classed as a "public elementary school," a school must be bound by the "conscience clause" of the act, which reads as follows: It shall not be required, as a condition of any child being admitted into or continuing in the school, that he shall attend or abstain from attending any Sunday school or any place of religious worship, or that he shall attend any religious observance or any instruction in religious subjects in the school or elsewhere, from which observance or instruction he may be withdrawn by his parent, or that he shall if withdrawn by his parent, attend the school on any day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which his parent belongs.

The time or times during which any religious observance is practiced or instruction in religious subjects is given at any meeting of the school shall be either at the beginning or at the end, or at the beginning and the end of such meetings, and shall be inserted in a time-table to be approved by the Education Department, and to be kept permanently and conspicuously affixed in every school room, and any scholar may be withdrawn by his parent from such observance or instruction without forfeiting any of the other benefits of the school.

The school shall be open at all times to the inspection of any of Her Majesty's inspectors, so, however, that it shall be no part of the duties of such inspector to inquire into any instruction in religious subjects given at such school, or to examine any scholar therein in religious knowledge, or in any religious subject or book.

The school shall be conducted in accordance with the conditions required to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant.

This section is equally binding upon board and voluntary schools; it will be noticed that it does not exclude sectarian teaching, but simply provides for the withdrawal of children from such instruction if the parents so desire.

Additional clause respecting religious instruction binding upon board schools.-The board schools are bound by an additional clause which forbids the teaching of any religious catechism, or religious formulary which is distinctive of any particular denomination.

Special requirements.-The time-table must be approved for the school by the inspector on behalf of the department, and in a school ED 89-7

provided by a school board the consent of the department must have been given to the weekly fee prescribed by the board.

The school must not be established where there is already adequate provision in approved schools, nor conducted for private profit.

The principal teacher must be certificated, and the school must have met at least 400 times during the year.

In England, as elsewhere, under other systems, individual schools present varied degrees of development, and varied modes of operation within the limits imposed.

The board schools, as a rule, have better teachers than the voluntary schools, are better organized, and yield better results. This is to be expected, as boards control the greater proportion of the schools in the cities and thickly settled communities where it is easiest to excite and maintain a professional spirit. Moreover the boards being elective bodies, the rate-payers have a lively sense of their responsibilities and privileges in respect to the schools, and thus a popular sentiment is awakened which is stimulating alike to teachers and to pupils. There are, however, many superior voluntary schools, as there are indifferent board schools. The Jew's Free School, of London, is a notable example of a school established by the benevolent for the benefit of the poorest class, thoroughly organized, employing a corps of superior teachers, and holding high rank in all scholarly conditions and results.

Special requirements for infant classes and schools.-Infant classes are for pupils below seven years of age, but such a class is not recognized if the average attendance be less than twenty. The class must be taught by a teacher over eighteen years of age, approved by the inspector, if the average attendance be above thirty, and by a certificated teacher if the average attendance be above fifty. The highest grant can not be claimed unless the class is taught in a room of its own, constructed and furnished for the work. The number of schools thus equipped steadily increases.

In 1889 the number of scholars in the registers of infant schools and classes was 1,601,689, and of these 884,834 were instructed in separate schools under certificated teachers of their own.

Night schools. In order to secure a grant, a night school must have at least forty-five sessions during the year. No scholar can be presented for examination in any standard lower than the third, and no scholar can be presented who has not attended the school for eight weeks and been present at least twenty-four times since the previous examination. In 1889 the number of scholars in average attendance upon night schools was 37,118.

Size and grading of elementary day schools.-The size and grouping of schools depend upon various circumstances, of which the principal is location, as rural or urban. There are no general statistics bearing upon this point beyond the statement that 19,398 schools comprise 29,336 departments in which separate head teachers are employed.

The division of the obligatory curriculum into seven standards forms

a basis for grading and for grouping pupils in separate rooms, where the school building permits.

The provision for a wide range of specific subjects open to pupils who have passed the elementary examination in any standard above the fourth, forms an initial stage in the establishment of what would be called in the United States high-school grades or high schools. The evolution of these high grades has reached an interesting stage in many places, more especially in the provincial manufacturing centers. In Bradford it has taken the form of special schools, four in number, which are intended as models, including the entire course of study allowed by the scheme. In Sheffield, Huddersfield, and Birmingham the movement is toward what we should call high schools. The rapid increase of the higher grade departments and schools in the chief cities has excited much discussion in Parliament and among the people. It is contended in many quarters that such provision is not authorized by the education acts, the same arguments being advanced that have been used against public high schools in the United States.

It is interesting to note, also, that the obligation to train pupil-teachers has led many city boards to establish what are called central classes for this purpose. Here the pupil-teachers assemble for instruction.

School buildings and premises.-As regards the school buildings and premises, the department must in every case be satisfied

That the school premises are healthy, are properly constructed, lighted, warmed, drained, and ventilated, are supplied with suitable offices, contain sufficient accommodation for the scholars attending the school, and are properly provided with furniture, books, maps, and other apparatus of elementary instruction.

The employment of pupil-teachers in the schools existing prior to the passage of the education act gave rise to a peculiar style of school room, which is still in use.

It is long and wide and provided with parallel rows of benches and desks, facing the teacher's desk. It is sometimes so planned that additional benches and desks can be placed at the sides facing toward the others. Floor space is left at the sides of the room, where classes are drawn up in semicircles for lessons under the pupil teachers, the head teacher overlooking all from his position.'

The simultaneous recitations of different classes make to American ears a perfect Babel of confusion.

The Wesleyan school rooms, built before 1870, are modeled on the plan advocated by Mr. Stow. The principal feature is a gallery wherein a collective lesson may be given to a large number of children. These galleries accommodate infant classes and are also used for religious lessons and exercises. The Wesleyans, however, very early recognized the need of class rooms. These open from the main room and, like that, are provided with galleries.

Board school architecture shows the influence of German and Amer

For detailed description of the earlier school buildings see School Architecture, by E. R. Rolison.

ican models, nearly all the buildings recently constructed consisting of separate class rooms, with a hall for general assembly. The size of the buildings depends necessarily upon the location. In London from 500 to 1,500 children are provided for in a single edifice.1

All new school premises and enlargements must conform to a schedule published by the department. This schedule prescribes the general plan of buildings, the proportions of school rooms, the minimum size of class rooms (18 feet by 15), the surface space per scholar-10 square feet in rooms not providing accommodation for more than 60 children, the height, i. e., 12 feet from floor level to ceiling for an area of 360 superficial square feet, 13 feet for a superficial area of 360 to 600 square feet, and 14 feet for an area above 600 square feet. The schedule also indicates the preferred modes of lighting, ventilating, warming, and furnishing, and gives explicit directions respecting sanitary arrangements. A playground is required for every school, and in the case of a mixed school separate playgrounds for the boys and the girls.

Half-timers.-Arrangements are made by which children who must work may attend school as half-timers. A separate register must be kept for these, the attendance of a half-timer" for two consecutive hours being counted as an attendance and a half.

Holidays.-The usual holidays for board schools are two weeks at Christmas; at Easter from Good Friday to the Saturday in the next week, both days inclusive; at Whitsuntide one week, and in summer three weeks, to commence on the first Monday in August.

School age. There is no express definition of school age in England by statute, but as a rule the following attendances are not recognized for grants: (a) Attendance of a child under 3 years of age; (b) of any scholar who has passed in the three elementary subjects in the seventh standard, unless the inspector has previously permitted such scholars to be reëxamined in that standard; (c) of any scholar in an evening school under fourteen or over twenty-one, but children under fourteen who are by the department deemed to be exempt from the legal obligation to attend school are recognized as scholars in an evening school. Compulsory attendance.-The period of compulsory attendance at school is nominally from five to thirteen years of age, but attendance may not be enforced against any child of ten years or upwards, who has obtained a certificate of proficiency, or of previous due attendance at a "certified efficient school," or who is employed and attending school in accordance with the factory acts; further, the local authorities may, under certain conditious, temporarily exempt a child over eight years of age, "for the necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of crops," for a period not exceeding six weeks in a year. The execution of the compulsory clauses of the education acts is left entirely to local managers. So far the measures employed have failed of the de

For interesting description of typical board schools, see series of articles in the "Schoolmaster" for 1890.

sired effect. In London the evils of irregular attendance have become alarming; for two years a committee of the school board have had the subject under consideration to devise measures of reform. The appointment of a special magistrate to hear school-board cases is specially urged by them. The Liverpool board employs one set of visitors to look after absentees exclusively.

The fixed limits of compulsory attendance have in reality but little significance, on the one hand because of the general institution of infant schools which receive special grants, and on the other because of the proviso exempting children of ten years of age who have passed in the fourth standard. As already stated, it is expected that pupils shall reach the standard at ten years of age. Two-thirds of the pupils fulfill this expectation. The statistics show that a little more than one-third of this number are seen no more at school, while of the remaining twothirds about one in eight reaches the seventh or highest standard. The code for 1890 fixes twelve years and the sixth standard for exemptions.

VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS.

Coeducation. The extent to which coeducation is practiced in the English schools may be seen from the fact that of 22,414 departments for older pupils, 4,194 were for boys, 3,822 for girls, and 14,398 were mixed.

Daily sessions and attendance.-The length of a school day and the hours of opening and closing are not uniform. The maximum session is apparently three hours. In London the forenoon session is from 9 to 12, and the afternoon from 2 to 4:30.

In making up the daily register no attendance for less than an hour and a half in each session can be counted for a child in an infant class or less than two hours for an older pupil.

THE ANNUAL GRANT.

The most peculiar feature of the elementary system, as well as the most important condition affecting the course and conduct of studies, and the organization of the schools, is the mode of distributing the annual grant. This feature has, however, been much modified by the Code of 1890, as a consequence of the representation made before the Commission on the Operations of the Education Acts. These modifications reduce the amount of the grant conditional upon the results of individual examination and allow much greater freedom to the teacher in respect to the classification of pupils. They recognize, also, the peculiar needs of small rural schools, allowing extra grants to these of $50, $100, or $125, according to the population and apart from other considerations. Under the new code the grant for day schools is applied as follows:

PRESENT BASIS OF DISTRIBUTION.

1. Infant schools. (a) A fixed grant of 9s. or 7s. (according to the equipment of the school) per capita of average attendance.