Welsh Journals

INTERNATIONALISM IN WELSH EDUCATION* II. IN the previous article we proposed the formation of a National Bureau of Education for Wales, which, act- ing in an advisory capacity, would be responsible for an organised enquiry into Welsh educational problems. The link between Welsh educational work and that of the world outside, its task would be to foster local initiative and to inform national ideals. Such an institution must of necessity be national and international in its outlook, and there is much local work with which it would never come into close and intimate contact. Moreover, this latter work requires special knowledge of a localised kind. It has in the past gone largely unrecorded or even unnoticed, but its results obviously remain in the varied and unequal products of our varied and unequal educational areas. To meet the increasing needs which this special type of work will in the future continually demand, as well as to secure that local experiment shall not be left to waste, local advisory bodies should be formed to serve each county area, or preferably groups of counties. The latter alternative is probably the better. For Wales will soon be most conveniently grouped into four areas, each area served by one of the University Colleges of Wales. Each area, also, has characteristic lines of demarcation. The industrial problem of Glamorgan is different from the primarily rural one of Pembroke or Cardigan. Children vary from county to county and require somewhat different treatment. The duties of these local bodies will be then to foster local initiative and effort and through the National Bureau to bring the experience of the whole world to bear upon local needs and problems. These duties may briefly be described as follows (i) To apply modern methods of research to local problems of administration to collect statistics on all local educational matters and properly collate and appraise them. To organise local experimental schools, local industrial and vocational surveys and, with the aid of the teachers, to evolve local standards of school efficiency. Lastly, to ascertain, by careful investigation, the extent of retardation in the schools, to evolve methods of meeting it and to encourage the teachers in applying these methods (ii) To arrange that all the resources of modern edu- cational science should be at the disposal of the community by (a) organising frequent lectures, continuation courses and conferences for teachers and parents (b) by organ- ising the interchange of pupils and teachers both with other parts of Wales and with other countries, a step which would go far to solve the difficulties involved in the teaching of foreign languages (c) by encouraging teachers to publish text-books in Welsh and English suitable for local areas, by the frequent distribution of educational material amongst the teachers and public, in the form of pamphlets and newspaper articles and by the co-ordination of local voluntary efforts. Each local Advisory Body should be composed of persons engaged in education, members of the Local Educational Authorities and such members of the University College Staffs as are capable of giving effective help. By Dr. Stanley H. Watkins. Two possibilities in organisation present themselves. The first is that these bodies be constituted and financed by the Local Authorities. This would ensure active interest on the part of the Local Authorities, and it is at first sight an attractive proposal. One objection has, however, been put forward, an objection which seems decisive. It is that to place these bodies under the sole control of groups of local authorities would tend to a narrow localisation of effort and of policy such as has been evi- denced lately in the attempt to create separate Universities in North and South Wales. It would be better to make these bodies subordinate to the National Bureau with which of course they would be in continual and intimate contact. Organised thus, the inspiration of a national policy and national spirit would permeate each area, whilst at the same time local initiative and enthusiasm would find the fullest scope. In dealing with matters of administration, however, we have but touched on the fringe of the subject. Educa- tion is ultimately a matter of intimate human relationship and not of administration, "tho' rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come. Apart from the child, it is the teacher who really matters. He it is who makes the school and like every creator he makes it in his own likeness and image." If, therefore, we are to bring into our classrooms and schools that new outlook, that international sympathy and understanding without which nationality becomes an unimaginative formula, we must first give to our teachers greater opportunities of wider intercourse and larger growth. We want for example a much wider conception of the teacher's task than that which seems to underlie much of the training of secondary teachers in our University Colleges. One of the most striking facts which the four year system has revealed is that the students enter their period of training regarding it, andirom some aspects rightly, as a period of relaxation. The collegiate life has been one long round of discipline and examination to obtain the present hall mark of learning-the Degree. But the year of professional training has not much deep significance. Hence the best of our students regard it as an opportunity for taking mental stock of their position. Some read, others take up College social work, others become leaders in College life. This attitude of mind is exceptionally favourable to a training which, if properly organised, would give these young, still mentally adolescent students something of that passion for humanity which education should produce. One other factor favours this period of training. It is that the students usually approach it with minds still unopened. Men having taken science degrees know little-beyond a schoolboy acquaintance with the Golden Treasury-f literature, history or even of modern life. Men with Honours Degrees in languages, history or the classics are ignorant of the barest details of the science of life. Their knowledge is bookish, their outlook limited, *A Paper read at a Conference held at Cardiff by the Departmental Committee on the Organisation of Secondary Education in Wales.