room. There is no mechanism to get out of order, and yet they are perfectly firm when open for use. Those made for us have been stained a dark bronze-green, and we find them most satisfactory. They can be obtained in any size. My experience is that folding desks of this kind are much more convenient, comfortable, and hygienic, either for school buildings or for houses adapted to school purposes, than desks with seats attached.

With these portable desks, CHAIRS are of course needed. In choosing chairs special attention should be paid to the height of the desk and pupil, to the depth of the seat, and to the slope of the back. The chairs shown in Fig. 21 are very comfortable. In ordering others I should, however, ask for seats with square corners, as giving more depth, though perhaps square corners are not so attractive in appear

ance.

Whatever the floor covering, and whatever desks are used, all pupils should be supplied with FOOTRESTS. Those shown (Fig. 3.) were made by a local carpenter. They are inexpensive, and can easily be stacked in the corner of even a small classroom if it seems desirable to clear the room.

There are two great

Fig. 3.

advantages in the portable school-furniture just described.

(a) A room can easily be cleared in a few minutes, and there are many occasions when it is desirable to have a clear floor-space.

(b) The cleaning can be more thoroughly done than is possible in a room fitted with heavy desks.

Anyone who has watched the ordinary cleaner at work, or who has gone round a school building after the cleaning is supposed to be finished, will appreciate the thorough cleanliness that is made possible by the use of light and portable furniture. Assuming that the cleaner is a conscientious. worker, the saving of time and consequently of expense is not to be despised. In most secondary schools for girls the daily cleaning has to be done before 9 a.m. and after 4.30 p.m. The heaviest part of the weekly cleaning is usually done on Saturday, when most of these schools have a holiday. In large buildings the difference in the two methods of furnishing (portable furniture or desks with fixed seats) would probably mean during the winter months a saving of at least five hours'

1 These chairs belong to a set made by Messrs. Liberty & Co., Regent Street, London.

F

gas per week. I do not think the practical difficulties in connection with the cleaning of school buildings are sufficiently considered in the equipment of schools, and yet these questions should be one of the first considerations in choosing school furniture, as the health and consequently the working capacity of teachers and pupils depend so largely on the arrangements made for thorough and systematic daily and weekly cleaning.

The use of folding desks necessitates some arrangement for the storage of the exercise books and text books of the pupils. The LOCKERS shown in Fig. 4. meet this difficulty, and are more convenient than ordinary cupboards.

These can be made1 in any number of divisions, and in any size. They

should be stained to match the desks and chairs, and fitted with brass flushcatches. These lockers are not unsightly, and, by having them made in small groups of three or six, they Occupy very little space. An objection that has been urged against the use of lockers is that the pupils are constantly moving about to get what is needed for the different lessons.

Fig. 4.

This may, I admit, lead to confusion and disorder with a weak disciplinarian, but those who cannot maintain order under these conditions in a class of average size have, in my opinion, missed their vocation in becoming teachers. With a mistress who has her class well in hand, the movement from desk to locker is distinctly good, and provides in a natural way the frequent change of position which is so necessary for growing girls.

In a valuable little book, "A Manual of School Hygiene" (Cambridge University Press), by G. W. Hope, M.D., and Edgar Browne, F.R.C.S., the use of portable furniture is strongly advocated:

All school furniture should be as light and portable as possible, so that it can be moved in order to allow the floors beneath to be thoroughly and frequently scrubbed, and when practicable to be moved completely out of the room.

As I have said, I see objections to the scrubbing if it can be avoided, though it is probably a necessity in elementary schools, but from personal experience I can heartily endorse all that is said. in favour of portable school-furniture.

Its chief disadvantage is that, at present, the cost is considerably more than the cost of the average school-desk with locker and fixed seat. The cost of locker, desk, chair, and foot-rest, as described, works out to about two guineas per pupil. With a cheaper chair than that shown, this

1 Those shown in the illustration were made by the Educational Supply Association.

cost could be slightly lessened. The cost of the ordinary school-desk, with locker, foot-rest, and chair attached, varies from 20s. to 23s. per pupil. From the hygienic point of view, the advantage is, I think, all on the side of the portable furniture, and a room fitted with it has not the crowded and heavy appearance so often noticed in the ordinary class-room.

Assuming, however, that the cost of this furniture is at present prohibitive for the average school, what remains? There are many varieties of single desks with chair seats, with foot-rests and lockers; some have sliding desks, and seats that tilt automatically. These cost, in pitch pine, 23s. or 228. each. Most of these require a floor space of from 27 to 31 inches, and they are not easily moved for cleaning or for clearing a room. The hard, straight seats of many of these are often very uncomfortable. An attempt is, however, sometimes made to replace these by cane seats, but these are expensive because they have to be constantly renewed.

Enough attention is not paid to the comfort of seating arrangements in secondary schools for girls. In many cases, the fault lies with the form mistress rather than with the school authorities. I have often been told by elder girls, after they left school, how tired they got of sitting during a long morning in desks with fixed seats, and perhaps with only one short interval in which free movement was permitted. Things are better now, and much is done to break up long hours by drilling and games, but much still remains to be done in this direction. Every wise teacher recognises the signs of physical fatigue in her class, and takes advantage of the opportunity afforded by the needful illustrations of lessons in the snape of maps, pictures, the use of the blackboard, by the children whenever possible, to give the whole or part of her class an entire change of position, but there are still many teachers who treat restlessness as naughtiness and inattention, instead of regarding it, as it so often is, as a sign of physical discomfort.

The old private school of thirty years ago, with its many disadvantages, allowed much more freedom of movement in the class rooms. Less written work was required; a system of tables and chairs necessitated constant change of position in order to fetch books, &c., from lockers and cupboards. Many lessons, such as those in geography, were given with the pupils standing round a map, and I am inclined to think that there were then fewer round shoulders and less tendency to curvature of the spine than now. Of course, defective schoolfurniture is not the only cause of these evils. Much might be said of the long hours in school, and especially of home preparation, and of the amount of written work required nowadays from growing boys and girls. But if these conditions. are to remain as part of the educational system of the country, it is imperative that the equipment of the class rooms should be such as to enable the pupils to work with the least possible amount of discomfort.

For those who require a much cheaper desk than

the two described, there is the Charterhouse Dual Desk (Fig. 5). A group of these desks to seat ten children works out at a cost of 10s. 6d. per pupil. These desks do not take up much room, and are useful, especially in a large assembly hall, since they can be placed round the sides of the hall when a clear space is required. The support for the back in these desks is specially comfortable, and where there were only a few in use, I always found there was competition for these seats in preference to the other desks used in the building. Their disadvantages are that they have no foot-rest, and that there is a kind of wooden pocket for books, which is not convenient, and being difficult to clean, serves too often as a dust trap. In ordering these desks teachers should have them without this receptacle; this change, however, by necessitating lockers or cupboards for books, would add to the above estimate of cost. The iron standards used as supports make these desks somewhat heavy to move. Similar desks are made by many firms with

THE INCORPORATED ASSOCIATION

IF

OF HEADMASTERS.

F there be any truth in the definition of genius as the "transcendent capacity for taking trouble," Dr. R. P. Scott, the headmaster of Parmiter's School, Victoria Park, may certainly claim possession of that divine gift. Due not only to his conception, but also to his strenuous effort, is the quite remarkable genesis and growth of the Incorporated Association of Headmasters. There is not one of those who were connected with him in its first beginning who would not cordially assent to this proposition.

In the summer of 1890, a conversation across a tennis net between Dr. Scott and his neighbour, Mr. Hinton, of Hoxton, led to a meeting of headmasters, chiefly metropolitan, at the Holborn Restaurant. Their motive was to establish an Association of Headmasters "for the purpose of

lighter standards, but the backs do not appear to be so comfortable.

I would suggest that all school furniture should be dark in colour and highly polished; because (a) dust shows plainly on such furniture, and dust is a deadly enemy to healthy school life; (b) the appearance of the class room is greatly improved, and surroundings play a more important part in education than is generally admitted.

Ruskin's teaching should be carried out in every school:

All the lecturings and teachings, and prizes and principles of art, in the world are of no use so long as you don't surround your men with happy influences and beautiful things. . . Keep them uncomfortable and in the midst of unbeautiful things, and whatever they do will still be spurious, vulgar, and valueless.

I would have no draperies, tawdry or beautiful, in schoolrooms, but I would have restful and pretty furniture, healthy growing plants, good colouring, a few good pictures, and plenty of light and fresh (To be continued.)

air.

1 Made by the Educational Supply Association.

taking combined action, or of making corporate recommendation, in professional or public matters affecting secondary education." Dr. R. B. Poole, of Bedford Modern School, presided over the meeting, and over the committee of nine then appointed to form a constitution and draw up rules for the new society. The basis on which it was formed was democratic. Its membership was "open as a matter of right, and not of courtesy, to headmasters of all secondary schools whose governing bodies are of a public character and undertake the financial responsibility of the school." In this particular is found the essential difference between the Association and its oligarchic elder brother, the Headmasters' Conference, which had attained its majority in the same year.

Then came a period of quiet persistency which secured within twelve months 158 members for the new body. Now the first forty members have grown to 480, who represent every section of the profession. The isolation of schools and schoolmasters was gradually removed, for it is of interest to note how few of the original members were

personally acquainted with one another, and men yielded themselves gladly to the idea of coöperation for the attainment of professional ideals. But there were serious hindrances to be overcome. The Conference Committee was unfriendly for a while, or if it may claim to have held out the right hand of fellowship, it smote the young débutante with the left by its resolution that no headmaster, save such as had joined the Association at its beginning, should be eligible for membership in both bodies. This aloofness, which arose out of a misconception of the aims of the Association, continued for five years, and then the offending resolution was rescinded: and not only did a considerable number of members of the Conference join the Association, but the committee of the former admitted into its

THE REV. T. C. FRY, D.D. Headmaster of Berkhamsted School; President of the Incorporated Association of Headmasters.

fold several who had been prominent workers in the latter and it is interesting to notice to-day that of the Committee of Conference more than half have played a prominent part in the management of the Association, while a similar and even more striking proportion of the Council of the Association are members of the Conference. We believe this was due in part to the wisdom of the late Mr. Vardy, of Birmingham, and the Master of Marlborough: but not less because of a growing conviction of the business methods adopted by Dr. Scott and his colleagues, with confidence therein. There was yet another obstacle, the outcome of ignorance rather than of prejudice. The "man in the street" looked askance at the work of the Association, because the word "secondary" was misunderstood. It was taken by many to mean little more than second-rate.

But the clouds rolled by, and when Dr. Poole, who had occupied the chair for four years, and had been succeeded, for two years' service, by Dr. Wormell, of the Central Foundation Schools in the City of London and a member of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, the Association had established for itself a foremost position in the educational world. Then followed the year's presi dency of Canon Fowler, of Lincoln; and in 1897 Mr. Vardy, of King Edward's School, Birmingham, and a prominent and popular member of the Conference, took the chair for three years. About the same time Dr. Scott sought relief in his secretarial duties by the appointment of Mr. Swallow, of Chigwell, as Joint Honorary Secretary, and of Mr. Bendall, sometime Headmaster of Blackheath Proprietary School, as Assistant Secretary; and before the close of Mr. Vardy's chairmanship, Mr. Hinton, of the Haberdashers' School, had given up the treasurership, which he had held from the beginning, to Mr. Easterbrook, of Owens School, Islington. In 1900, Dr. Gow, of Nottingham High School, who was subsequently elected Headmaster of Westminster, succeeded; giving place this year to Dr. Fry, of Berkhamstead. The Council, which originally consisted of fourteen, and then of eighteen members, elected by the whole society, is now a larger body, and consists of eighteen representatives of the provincial divisions (three of these being metropolitan), with the treasurer, two secretaries, and four members, co-opted by the twenty-one. The Chairman, the above-named officers, and the chairmen of three standing committees for parliamentary, examination, and general purposes, form an executive, to deal with matters arising in the interval between council meetings, and to prepare agenda for the latter. By a rigidly enforced rule, that after three years' service on the Council a member is ineligible for one year, the danger of an oligarchy is avoided; and to this end the method of electoral divisions also tends. Another striking mark of the rules of the Association is that members who give up their headmasterships are not expelled; but within certain limits may become associates and take part in its government.

From the first the Association has met annually in London, during the month of January-lately, by the courtesy of the Court of Common Council, at the Guildhall; and at these meetings it has from time to time accepted hospitality for luncheon or dinner, from two Lord Mayors, and from the Clothworkers', Haberdashers', Grocers', Drapers', Goldsmiths', and Fishmongers' Companies; being in this way brought into touch with the leading politicians in the educational world. For ten years it had midsummer meetings at Bedford, King's College, Trinity, and St. John's, Cambridge; Magdalen and Christ Church, Oxford; Brighton, Leicester, Birmingham, and Manchester; but these were found to interfere with schoolwork at a particularly busy time of year, and they have been superseded by the activities of divisional committees, through which some of the most important work of the Association is done.

A sermon is a characteristic of the general meeting, and it has been preached on different occasions by Archbishop Temple, Bishops Browne and Creighton, by the present Bishops of Rochester, Hereford, and Manchester, the Dean of Christchurch, the Masters of Trinity and St. John's, Canon Henson, Mr. Laffan, some time Principal of Cheltenham College, and Mr. Bernard Wilson, Vicar of Portsea. It would be impossible to summarise the work which the Association has done during the thirteen years of its existence. There has been hardly a question affecting the internal administration of schools with which it has not dealt from time to time. But it has been more remarkable for the influence which it has exercised on external administration. It has organised a Joint Scholarships' Board for examination of boys who desire to pass into secondary schools from elementary, and of such as are able to mount higher still on the educational ladder; a Joint Committee on the Training of Teachers, which, after several years' laborious investigation, brought about a successful Conference on Training held at Cambridge in the autumn of 1902; an Advisory Committee conjointly with the Head Mistresses' Association; a scheme for pensions, and an annual list of "Public Secondary Schools." In 1897 it met the representatives of higher-grade schools in conference, under the chairmanship of Sir G. W. Kekewich, with Mr. Michael Sadler, and Mr. R. L. Morant, of the Education Office, as assessors, and arrived at a concordat as to the mutual relations of such schools towards secondary education; and in the same year it promoted a Bill for the organisation of secondary education, which was introduced into the House of Commons by Colonel Lockwood, with whose patient and unselfish help the Association has pressed its views upon successive Administrations, and by means of question and answer in the House elucidated doubtful points of legislation. The tenure of assistant-masters, assured in one particular by the Grantham case," much-needed reforms in the Naval system, and in Military education, the organisation of the Education Office, and examinations of almost every sort, have been strengthened by the action of the Association: while the public have been taught "what Secondary Education is" by a series of short Essays, by writers of practical experience on various aspects of the problem, by Occasional papers, as well as by the exhaustive annual reports of the Council. For a short while it was associated with other bodies in the publication of a weekly journal called Education; but this proved a financial failure, and it is now publishing a quarterly Review of a less pretentious character, under the editorship of one of the secretaries and the control of a committee of the Council. Repre sentatives of the Association have played a recognised and prominent part on such bodies as Sir Richard jebb's Committee, which summoned by the College of Preceptors in 1897 to promote legislation, on the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education, and the Registration Council, as well as on several county education

was

authorities, and on every conference held to encourage educational efficiency in any form. Several county councils have already shown a disposition to elect upon their new education committees its nominees; and the Board of Education has officially indicated the desirability of this.

Yet the unique and most effective energies of the Association have been directed towards keeping in touch with, and exercising influence upon, other educational agencies. The personal attachment of its officers to the officials of the old Charity Commission, and the new Board of Education, as well as to the Examiners of the Universities, induced by a common devotion to the same cause, have accomplished this; and it is everywhere regarded as the advisor of the ignorant, and the guide of the helpless in the field of Education.

NAVAL EDUCATION.

By Rev. J. C. P. ALDOUS, M.A. Late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge; Chief Instructor, H.M.S. Britannia, 1875-1898.

TH

HE headmasters had held their Conference and left, all unsuspecting, to celebrate the feast of Peace and Good Will, when the First Lord of the Admiralty handed them a Christmas card of a startling character. Rumours of a readjustment of the system of Naval Training were in the air; but that he should say to them, "Hands off!" and remove practically the whole Wardroom from their sphere of influence, they could never have anticipated.

Viscount Goschen, when First Lord, had thrown himself upon the headmasters and begged them to make the public school an avenue for entering the executive branch of the Navy. He increased the age of entry, which increase many interpreted as an instalment of an advance to that of Sandhurst. The public schools have taken such a strong hold of Sandhurst and Woolwich, and have so well made good their claim to provide officers for our Army, that time alore appeared necessary for them to become the nursery of the Navy.

Eton, Clifton, Radley and many others, had thrown themselves heartily into the scheme; with great self-sacrifice had established naval classes, at the cost of dislocating work and staff; had attained results in spite of obstacles; these were not few-parents reluctant to trust the unknown and risk a failure to pass their boys-preparatory schoolmasters loth to part with their boys and stretching their fourteen-years' limit to pass them direct-the "crammers" who seemed to have acquired a stronger grip of the preparation with the advance of age. Time was, indeed, necessary to make the public schools the main avenue of approach to the executive branch of the Navy.

To this chapter of history the recent memorandum adds FINIS-a few kind words of appreciation and of regret that they were no longer possible, and it bows the public schools out of the room. They may think themselves well rid of a troublesome and expensive burden; still they