§ SIR F. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)To ask the President of the Board of Education, if he will state at how many training colleges provision is now made for the instruction of teachers for rural school work in the teaching of science as applicable to agriculture, and in facilities for practical training in the processes of agriculture, either on land attached to the training colleges, or on farm land adjacent to the colleges and hired temporarily for the purpose; and whether he can give an approximate estimate of the number of teachers now qualified by training to teach nature study and elementary science suited for rural industries, and of the number of teachers now qualifying themselves by attendance on short summer courses, or Saturday lectures, or other facilities provided by county councils or agricultural colleges.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) In all but one of the training colleges, excluding the Universities, nature study is included as part of the ordinary course in general elementary science regularly taken by students. At such short notice it is not possible to say how many of the colleges have special gardens or other lands appropriated for practical teaching. Nor can I, without further inquiry, give precise information as to the relations of agricultural colleges and their teaching staffs with the training colleges or the training departments of university colleges. In considering the extent to which training colleges specialise their courses in this or indeed in any particular direction, it must be remem- 1728 bered that practically every training: college is attended by students who have, come to it from all parts of the country, urban and rural, and also that students at training colleges have not, at that stage of their lives, at all decided whether the schools in which they will ultimately seek or obtain employment will be rural or urban; and it would thus hardly be possible, or fair to the students, for colleges to specialise in the directions, referred to in the Question to an extent which would be unsuitable for those who would ultimately take service in urban schools. I may say, however, that the Board of Education have recently formulated an optional course in rural science, of a somewhat elaborate character, leading up to a practical study of vegetable culture, fruit culture, and. flower culture; this is included amongst the possible syllabuses for recognised, training colleges, and is already taken by one college. I may say, further, that the Board of Education have agreed, to approve arrangements by which they will pay a special grant in respect of a. year of special training in rural subjects, at certain horticultural and agricultural colleges, which may be taken by any qualified elementary school teacher. And the Board of Education have occasionally in recent years themselves provided very valuable summer courses at South Kensington for the teaching staff of certain training colleges, dealing in practical fashion with science adapted to rural requirements; and pecuniary assistance is given by the Board of Education to enable selected teachers to take advantage of these courses. As regards the concluding paragraph of the Question, it is not possible to state how many of the 84,000 certificated and 40,000 uncertificated teachers on the teaching staffs of the public elementary schools in England and Wales are qualified by training to teach nature study and elementary science suited for rural industries; but it will be seen from the earlier part of this Answer that a considerable proportion of the students who now leave the training colleges annually have some qualification for this work; while the large number of elementary schools obtaining the Board's special grant for instruction in gardening clearly shows that the number of persons 1729 possessing practical qualifications in this respect, whether on the staff of these schools or (as is frequently the case) employed specially from outside, is considerable and is increasing. The point, however, is more particularly dealt with by means of courses arranged by county councils for the existing teaching staff of public elementary schools, in the matter of nature study and rural science. Most of the county councils in England and Wales now make provision for enabling their rural elementary teachers to improve their qualifications for work in rural schools, day and evening; and in a number of instances, more particularly in the case of afternoon and evening courses, the instruction is given at, or in close connection with, a central agricultural institution. A large part of "the work of this character is carried on in continuous courses of two or three weeks during the summer vacation. As application to the Board of Education for recognition of these courses is not necessarily made at the beginning of the session, the Board are unable to state now the total of the courses for the current session. Judging, however, from the experience of last session, the Board anticipate that for the current session the number of such courses will be about forty, neighbouring counties having combined for the purpose in certain cases. It is estimated that some 1,800 elemertary school teachers will this year be improving their professional qualifications by attendance at such courses. It must further be remembered that, apart from attendance at courses specially arranged for the further instruction of rural teachers, many teachers avail themselves of the opportunities presented by the various classes in science conducted in technical schools and elsewhere aided by grants from the Board of Education. The Board are not in a position to state how many teachers are so benefiting, but they know that the number is large.