E,— s.

" A more recent development, also under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, has been the establishment, in connection with secondary schools, of ' careers committees ' for the advising and placing of pupils. In Glasgow each of the twenty-three secondary schools under the education authority has a ' careers committee ' and there is a ' careers council' in which their operations are centred. The juvenile advisory committee are intimately associated with educational policy ; they are not merely labour exchanges ; their functions require them to have an eye to the structure of the educational system and its relation to the apprenticeship system. They are in a position to appreciate to the full the nature of the problem of which we are speaking. The task is not only to help boys and girls to find their way from school to employment, but to establish direct routes from the one to the other." —1933 Report, Scottish, Education Department. Before I left New Zealand I had a conference with the five technical-school teachers who have interested themselves in the senior pupils in Auckland, Wellington, Cliristchurch, and Dunedin, and, with the co-operation of various organizations, in finding suitable employment for boys and girls. I am sure that if we extend what these teachers are doing we shall arrive at a vocational-guidance technique that will be valuable under normal economic conditions. SCHOOL BUILDINGS. Tn recent years school architecture everywhere has received a great deal of attention, and there has been competition among educational authorities to erect the most suitable kind of buildings at a reasonable cost. Scarcely any of the New Zealand schools are as large as the newest ones in Great Britain, Denmark, Australia, and America, but in design, arrangement of class-rooms, furniture, lighting, and ventilation our newest compare quite favourably with most that I have seen, and call for no substantial alterations in these respects. In the matter of accommodation other than ordinary class-rooms we are, however, behind modern developments in school-building. Large assembly halls form an integral part of all new schools ; gymnasia are not uncommon ; special rooms for the teaching of such subjects as art and handicrafts are provided ; adequate provision for instruction in woodwork, metalwork, and domestic subjects is made in the schools where these subjects are taught; teachers' rooms are generously provided ; hot water over the basins and heated cloak-rooms are fairly general; storerooms for school supplies, &c., are attached to many class-rooms ; the installation of indoor toilets for infants seems to be an established practice ; some schools have been provided with a library-room, and most with rooms for doctors, dentists, and nurses. Since many schools supply meals for the children, canteens and school kitchens are quite a common feature. The following is a description of the accommodation provided by one County Council in a senior school for 180 pupils : — (a) Eight or nine class-rooms, one a stage class-room, each 500 square feet. (b) Two craft-rooms, each 700 square feet ; fitted with sink. (c) One craft-room, 600 square feet; fitted with sink. (d) One science-room, 900 square feet; tables in middle ; working-benches round the walls ; fitted with gas, water-taps, and sink ; overhead beams, shelving, electric lantern and screen. (e) Assembly hall, 1,800 square fret; with a stage class-room. (/) Kitchen for preparation of school meals. (g) Stafi-rooms, medical-inspection room, adequate storage-rooms, cloak-rooms, lavatories, sanitary offices. If the school is a girls' school— Two domestic-science rooms each 750 square feet, with ironing-room, lard'er, and store attached ; a small fiat consisting of sitting-room, kitchenette, bedroom, &c. If the school is a boys' school — A manual-training room, 1,500 square feet, with metal-store and timber-store. The same local education authority provides in its infant-schools an assembly hall of 1,000 square feet and a play-room of 800 square feet, with French windows opening on to the playground. Its junior schools have an assembly hall of 1,800 square feet. Its buildings are erected in reinforced-concrete skeleton, with cavity brick as an external finish ; the floors are of concrete and the roofs are flat. The schools have metal casement windows which, in the class-rooms, extend the full length of the external walls. The type of architecture is described as " functional "to distinguish if from " domestic." I found that schools erected in recent years in England cost something over £30 per place, but, as building-costs have risen recently, the expenditure will probably be greater in future. I am of opinion that consideration should be given to the provision of more subsidiary accommodation in schools that are to be erected in the Dominion. In England and Scotland a considerable number of the schools, including the new ones, have parquetry floors. These are never scrubbed because the application of water would cause the wood to swell and the blocks to rise : they are sprinkled with a disinfectant powder and swept. Just as is the case often in New Zealand, many of the, floors, both parquetry and boards, have been oiled to prevent dust from rising. I was somewhat surprised to find that the provision of wall blackboard for use in writing and drawing, particularly in the infant-rooms, has been largely discontinued in the newest infant and

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