LONDON'S EVENING SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1891, 28 October 1913, Page 9

LONDON'S EVENING SCHOOLS

"NEW;. SCHEME LCf VOGUE," TIIO Education ■ Committee oi .' the London County Council has effected a complete reorganisation of tlie evening education system; in. the • metropolis. Under' tho new schemo the evening schools are classified on a broad basis as follows: —Commercial Institutes; Junior Commercial Institutes; Junior Technical Institutes; Women's Institutes ; * General Institutes; and Institutions offering instruction in ,< Humane Subjects. To carry ; out _ tho now scheme the council has appointed thirty responsible teachers, who will devote their whole services to evening school work, and one hundred more who will give half their sorvioe3 to their evening schools. The remainder of the responsible teachers—about one-half of the total number—have been appointed unijr tho old conditions. Tho system embodies the grouping _of the local schools of each typo within a' defined area, and their affiliation with one senior institution—Polytechnic, Council's Technical Institute, Commercial Institute,, or School of Art. Tho responsible teachors of tho institutes in each group will form a standing conference, whoso business will be to cement tho, relationship of the various institutes. . In future no fee, will bo charged to a student who joins an institute, at the beginning of a term immediately following bis or her leaving the day school. Students who in any session make 75 per cent, of tho possible number of attendances are granted free admission in the following session to tho same or any highor institution. This provision wiil enable students to proceed from tho junior institute to tho most advanced evening institution at no further cost to themselves than the sacrifice demanded by regularity of 1 attendance. Further, those students who join the evoning schools at tho beginning of the terra immediately following their leaving tho .elementary school will bo exempted from paying tho first session's feesSpecial provision has been made to meet the needs of women students. In tho women's institutes the council proposes to apply some of the features of the cluhs which havo shown the ovenlng_ schools the need for developing a social side, Convenient cloak-room and washing accommodation will he provided, and simnle refreshments at the aotual cost will be supplied. One ball in the institute will bo furnished and equipped as a combination of library, reading room, and writing room, and another will bo set apart for tutorial work, including homework and tho preparation of lessons. Women havo been appointed as responsible teachers to tako charge of forty-two of theso institutes. Moreover, special provision has been mado for tho development of the wider educational facilities commonly known as the "social Bide" of tho work. There will be occasional social gatherings and and generallv a spirit of community will bo fostered among the students. In connection with each institute there will be an advisory committee, consisting of employers, workmen, persons experienced in after-caro, juvenile employment, Settlement, club work, or work of a cognate character. .In this way. it is hoped to" obtain the assistance of nil who are interested in promoting the industrial efficiency and social welll/eim; of the young people of London. Tho aim is to secure greater regularity of attendance. There are, approximately, 10.5,000 studontH of all ages attending tho various • kinds of eveninc schools and institutions in London. Of theso 40.000 are between the ages of l<t and 17. . The number of young peoplo in London between theso agos who would bo benefited by attendance at evening schools ' is estimated to bo 210,000, so that of the total number there are about 161.000 who do not now attend such institutions,