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11 years of age, and it is said that between 400,000 and 500,000 sit for it. The winners of the special places enrol in the secondary schools, where it is usual for them to remain, in accordance with an undertaking entered into by their parents, until they are about 16 years of age. As only a small number of children can win special places (probably less than 10 per cent, of the age group), provision has to be made for the remainder of the eleven-year-olds, and it is in this direction that a new system has been evolved by the establishment of central and/or senior schools. Central schools are usually selective, senior schools are non-selective. A selective central school is open not to all children of 11 years of age, but only to those who have been specially chosen for admission because of their superior academic attainments. London and Manchester have selective central schools : the pupils in them have 'been chosen from those candidates who sat for the Special Place Examination but failed to gain a special place. All other pupils must enrol in the senior school and attend till they are at least 14 years of age. London and Manchester are the principal authorities that have reorganized by establishing central and senior schools ; most education authorities in England have established non-selective senior schools only. The Nottingham Education Committee in its pamphlet " Education in Nottingham, 1924-33," says •• " Experience during the previous eighteen years had shown that selective central or senior schools with their pupils, admitted through a qualifying examination similar to that used by secondary schools, tended to copy too closely the curriculum of secondary schools and to make too little use of their freedom from examination requirements. It was considered that it would be unfair to provide special staffing and equipment and small classes I'or the select few and to let the great majority of less well-endowed by nature be taught in worse buildings with inappropriate curricula and means of instruction. " Each of the central or senior schools was therefore to be equipped as far as possible to give on its own premises and with its dwn staff of specialist teachers a good general education, with due provision for instruction in science, art, arts and crafts, handicraft, physical culture, gardening, and domestic subjects. Consequently no change would be required in the organization or the equipment of the schools in the event of the raising of the age of compulsory attendance at school to fifteen years." The two methods of reorganization in England are, therefore, by means of — (a) Central and senior schools \,, , , (b) Senior schools only .. Jai Of these (b) is the more general. Central schools have a bias in their third and fourth years towards technical and/or commercial subjects. In some places pupils pass into the senior schools without having to sit for any external examination, age alone determining the transfer. The English central and senior schools I have seen are splendid institutions, generously supplied with rooms and equipment for teaching art, handicrafts, woodwork, metalwork, domestic subjects, and science, the subjects particularly suitable for the non-academic or practically-minded child. Yet the children in these schools have not been placed there because of aptitudes, inclinations, and capacities they have displayed for instruction along these lines, but partly as a result of an academic examination. The present Government proposes to remove altogether the existing restrictions on the discretion of authorities in regard to the proportion of children who may be admitted to secondary schools either free or at reduced fees. This will reduce the number of pupils in the central schools, and correspondingly in the senior schools. Scotland has not reorganized on the lines of the Hadow Report. There the " break "is made at 12 years of age. The statutory rules and orders of the Scottish Education Department contemplate the following as the normal organization of a school : — (a) Infant Division, providing instruction for children under 7 years of age : (b) Junior Division, providing instruction suitable for children between the ages of 7 and 9 : (c) Senior Division, providing instruction suitable for children between the ages of 9 and 12 : (d) Advanced Division, providing instruction suitable for scholars over 12 years of age. Edinburgh and Glasgow have adopted the following scheme in carrying out the above - mentioned organization, namely : — (1) Primary and elementary instruction in schools for the various districts for children from 5 to about 12 years of age. (2) Advanced or post-qualifying instruction for children above 12 years of age in— (a) A central or advanced-division school which is for scholars up to 14 years of age who desire to take a two-years course in advanced instruction and to qualify for the day-school certificate (lower) ; (b) An intermediate school or department which is for scholars up to 15 years of age who intend to take the full three-years course necessary to obtain the day-school certificate (higher) ; or (c) A secondary school which is for scholars up to 18 years of age who intend to take the full leaving-certificate course of at least five years' duration. The courses provided in the central or advanced-division schools are suitable mainly for pupils who enter on industrial vocations. The technical and commercial courses of the intermediate schools meet the needs of pupils who intend to engage in business, in industry, or in commerce. The instruction in the secondary schools, while in the main intended for those who propose to enter a profession, is also suitable for pupils who are preparing for the higher branches of industry and commerce. Promotion to courses of advanced instruction is regulated by a qualifying examination. *

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