SOUTH MIDLAND CENTRE: CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESSBy C. F. PARTRIDGE, B.Sc, Member.*

"TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES"(Address delivered at BIRMINGHAM, list October, 1946.)

I wish to discuss a few aspects of technical education from thepoint of view of the electrical industry. The subject is both largeand complex, and only a cursory treatment is possible in thetime available. I propose, therefore, to restrict myself to a fewgeneral principles of importance in the design of any scheme oftechnical education; to examine the present-day position inthe light of these; and to indicate the possible lines of futuredevelopment.

All vocational training has the dual nature of an art and ascience. Inasmuch as it embodies the experience of the past inthe production of particular objects, or the solution of particularproblems, it is an art. The scientific aspect is, on the other hand,represented by the study of general principles universal in theirapplication. We meet, perhaps, this dual nature in its mostadvanced form in the subject of technical education and par-ticularly in that branch of technical education with which weare mainly concerned, namely technical education for the elec-trical engineering industry.

When Faraday demonstrated the mutual interaction of theelectric and magnetic circuits and rendered the production ofelectrical energy an economic possibility through the use ofexisting prime-movers, the industry became potentially capableof great expansion firmly based on the trinity of virtues possessedby electric energy—ease of transformation, transmission andcontrol.

The theory of magnetism and electricity, s'mplified in itstreatment and expanded in scope where necessary, gave rise to ageneral theory of electrical engineering.

It is not without significance that during the expansion stagethe pioneers of development on the science side were mainlyphysicists, many directly trained by Kelvin himself, whilst thoseon the practical s*ide were mechanical engineers. The relativeease of precise measurement of the major electrical quantities,and of the control of electrical experiments, fostered and developedthat intensive concentration upon research that is so character-istic of our industry.

Advances in the technique of measurement demanded by theadvance in the industry became available as working tools of thephysicist, whose consequent discoveries led to further techno-logical advances. Thus in our own industry there has been acontinuous interchange of ideas between the art and the sciencesides and this, like an ever-flowing stream of life, has revivified,sustained and nurtured both. This mutual reaction requires tobe extended into the domain of technical education throughorganization permitting the continuous collaboration of theindustrialist and the educationalist, and any scheme must ofnecessity make provision for this as a first requisite of success.

Furthermore, in planning a scheme of technical educationapplicable to any one group of any one particular industry, thefirst and most important duty is to determine approximatelythe relative importance of art and science to that group. Thusan electrical craftsman needs less scientific background than atechnician, a technician less than a professional engineer. Notonly is the need less but also the capacity for abstract thinking is

* Central Technical College, Birmingham.

less in the craftsman than in the other groups. At the same timethe principle of equality of opportunity must be enforced. It isnot only a right of the individual but also an essential condition forthe well-being of the industry and of the State. It cannot bedenied that the fortuitous circumstances of birth and opportunitymay render the way difficult, but all artificial restrictions must beremoved. Great care is therefore needed to ensure that theeducational curricula of the various groups is so arranged as toallow progress from group to group.

For the student who satisfactorily completes a course, someform of certification is desirable, acting as it does as an incentiveto the student and an indication of attainment to his employers.The first essential of such certification is that it should representa definite standard throughout the country. The second essen-tial is that its attainment should be within the capacity of anormal average student, although it is advisable to have gradedcertification to mark out the above-average from the average andto raise the incentive value of the award.

A question of great concern in any system of certification is,What conditions should a student be called upon to fulfil beforecertification is granted? Should it be by examination only, or byrecommendation by his teacher only, or by a combination of both?

The examinational system has its defects like all other systems.It tends to support cramming, learning by rote, and other defects.It may suffer from the disadvantage that, in order to pass, astudent must, in addition to knowing his subject, also have theability to prove it under the very special and artificial conditionsusually obtaining at an examination. Examinations can, how-ever, be so framed as to avoid these conditions, and they providean incentive to the student to revise, systematize and co-ordinatehis knowledge. Furthermore, most advocated substitutes forexaminations suffer themselves from inherent defects and do notpossess the advantage of being an incentive.

A system, however, which is purely examinational, in the sensethat certification depends solely on the result of one or moreexaminations, is, in my opinion, most undesirable. Before astudent is allowed to present himself for examination he shouldbe required to produce evidence of having conscientiouslypursued systematic training in the subject offered, at a recognizedtraining establishment; whilst, in deciding the award of anycertificate, the student's course work should be taken into accountin addition to his final examination results.

The question of personnel selection is a further and mostimportant matter. However well organized, equipped andstaffed the system may be, the final product cannot be hoped to beup to standard if the raw material at entry is below standard,To obtain the right type of entrant into the industry requires,first, steps to ensure that the right type is attracted, and secondly,skilful choice from those offering themselves.

The main essentials would thus appear to be as follows:

(a) Machinery for the necessary collaboration of all partiesconcerned in technical education.

(b) Provision, in properly equipped and staffed institutions,of courses which shall:

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(i) Be sufficient for the industry's needs,(ii) Be graded to suit the various industrial types with pro-

vision for transfer between grades,(iii) Have as their objective, certificates or diplomas whose

proper significance is appreciated by all concerned,(c) Provision for obtaining a good supply of entrants and for a

wise selection from them.

Having examined a few of the general principles applicable tothe organization of technical education, I propose to consider theexisting facilities in this respect and to outline possible develop-ments of the future.

Facilities for the training of professional engineers, i.e. studentswhose final aim is Corporate Membership of our Institution,exist at the universities and technical colleges of this country.There are in England and Wales eleven universities and twoindependent university colleges, in receipt of grants from theUniversity Grants Committee, which provide degree courses inengineering. Two of these, Oxford and Cambridge, are residen-tial ; the others are non-residential, though most of them havecertain residential facilities which they attempt to enlarge withinthe limits of their financial resources.

Universities are independent institutions governed in accor-dance with the provisions of Royal Charters or Acts of Parliament,and they assume to themselves the duties of curricula planning,syllabus drafting, and certification of students. This certificationis through the medium of a degree, the power to confer suchdegrees being the distinguishing mark of a university in allcivilized countries. A first degree, usually designated Bachelorof Science or Engineering, necessitates a three or four years'course of systematized full-time study at the university concerned,each year requiring from twenty-four to thirty weeks' atten-dance at the university.

Training of this type demands a high standard of education atentry and, usually, a definite financial capacity on the part of thestudent's parent or guardian. In general, students enter theuniversity direct from the secondary and public schools and socomplete their theoretical studies prior to their practical worksstudies. The continuity of study is thus preserved at, perhaps,the sacrifice of that feeling of reality that can be obtained only inthe works, whilst a student is called upon to complete the scien-tific part of his training before his aptitude for the other, and noless important, aspects of his profession have been tested.

At the university the student has the advantage of intellectualand social contacts during his training that must exert someinfluence upon him and may become decisive factors in the shapingof his character. The benefits to be derived from social contactswith students of other faculties do not, however, exist at presentin equal degrees at all universities, being in some cases more ahope of the future than a fact of the present, and for some studentsthe curriculum of the course is too burdensome to allow muchgratification of the social instincts.

Post-graduate courses at the universities are catered for throughhigher degrees of the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophytype, these being usually a follow-on of one, two or three yearsfrom the first degree.

Full-time technical training is also available at certain tech-nical colleges, but the numbers studying in this way before thelast war were relatively small. In general, these courses lead tothe Ordinary and Higher National Diplomas in Engineering,concerning which I will speak later. The curriculum of thesecourses is usually more practical than that of the degree course,containing a fair portion of workshop practice. These courseshave been used in the main by students whose parents are unableto bear the financial burden of a university education; by studentswhose secondary education has been on lines other than those

recognized by the rigid schemes of matriculation obtaining inthis country (as, for example, training at a junior technicalschool); or by those who have failed to obtain matriculationthrough failure to pass in such subjects as foreign languages.The general standard of admission to these courses has thereforebeen School Certificate with credit in Physics and Mathematics,or its equivalent.

The major contribution of the colleges to professional trainingis through part-time and part-time day-release studies, leading tothe award of Ordinary and Higher National Certificates. Thisis very largely due to the manner in which these colleges origi-nated. Commencing as Mechanics' Institutes establishedthroughout the country during the last century, they were largelyself-governing institutions catering for the scientific educationof the artisan. In 1878 the City and Guilds of London Institutewas formed to co-ordinate the courses given in these institutions,and as they grew they were taken over by local educationauthorities and their sphere of activities was enlarged. Theirgrowth has been largely determined by local conditions, bythe energy and ability of their staff, by the enthusiasm andsympathy of the local education authority, by the active supportof local industry, and, last but most important, by the rigid self-discipline of their students.

The institution of the National Certificate and Diplomaschemes just after the First World War revolutionized the workof these colleges by replacing single-subject certification byCourse certification and by linking the colleges to the professionalInstitutions through the then Board of Education.

The general principles of organization of the National Certifi-cates and Diplomas in Electrical Engineering were laid down bya joint committee of the Board of Education and our ownInstitution. Rigidity in matters of standard, combined withflexibility in operation, has produced a system which, in the main,has served the industry and naiion well.

The National Certificate system has, however, undoubtedlybeen the subject both of undiscriminating praise and of unin-formed criticism. There is no denying the fact that it caters com-pletely for that equality of opportunity so necessary in moderncivilization. To discontinue full-time studies at a primary schoolat fourteen years of age, to attend evening institutes up to sixteenyears of age, and thence to proceed to a technical college study-ing three or four years for the Ordinary and two or three yearsfor the Higher National Certificate by means of evening classesrequires determination of purpose, physical stamina and intel-lectual potentialities of no mean order, but the road is open to allthose with the character to travel along it. Furthermore, amore enlightened attitude has resulted in a very substantialgrowth of part-time day-release work, whilst the operation ofthe 1944 Education Act will undoubtedly result in a risingstandard of general education.

The conditions of award of certificates are, in the main, soundand satisfactory. Maintenance of standard through assessmentonly, requires vigilance on the part of the Joint Committee andsincerity on the part of colleges, but it tends to reduce the evils ofexamination systems by the substitution of internal for externalexaminations.

The main disadvantage of the National Certificate system is inthe small time devoted to the science of the subject as collegestudents relatively to that devoted to its art as engineeringapprentices. This is because all National Certificate schemeswere framed on the assumption that, in view of the necessaryhomework demanded, three evenings per week was the maximumof practical attendance; and because five years was the normalperiod of apprenticeship. For this reason, the planning ofNational Certificate curricula is mainly a question of attempting,the impossible task of getting a quart into a pint pot.

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The substitution of part-time day release is a gain inasmuch asday study replaces to a large extent evening study, and the totalhours of study are also increased. Educationalists have foryears strenuously advocated the substitution of part-time dayrelease for part-time evening study. This war has seen anenormous increase in this type of training and a correspondinglylarge decrease of the purely evening type. At the risk of beingcalled an Oliver Twist, I would suggest that the one importantrequirement in National Certificate schemes of the future is thatthey should be based on a part-time day-release scheme of twodays per week.

Changes in the examinational requirements for CorporateMembership of our Institution have seriously affected theNational Certificate schemes by demanding a much widercurriculum for certificates carrying exemption from the AssociateMembership examination. These changes have not been effectedwithout much prior deliberation and discussion and, in spite ofany small matters that give us concern, we may on the wholeagree to their necessity. If the job is to be done let us do itthoroughly. Unless more time is devoted to the scientific side,there will be a danger of superficiality and examinational cram-ning, which will, I am convinced, defeat The Institution'srequirements.

At the same time I would ask employers to co-operate with usin the careful weeding out of those who, from lack of interest,lack of capability, or just sheer laziness, prove themselves unfittedfor a profession so exacting as ours.

Technical education for artisans is performed mainly throughthe technical colleges. As far as electrical engineering is con-cerned, the three main divisions are those of electrical installation,Post Office workmen, and radio service personnel, certificationof the course being largely through the City and Guilds of LondonInstitute. Many artisans in electrical firms are catered forthrough departments of mechanical and production engineering.

In general I do not think that we have tackled the problem ofartisan courses as efficiently as we have done in the case of pro-fessional courses. The reasons are not far to seek. On enrol-ment all students with a spark of ambition like to "have a go" atthe National Certificate work, and, unpalatable though the truthmay be, only the poorest students usually elect to take the tradecourse. This is particularly so in the subject of electrical installa-tion, where the artisan shades off into the technician, as in thecase of a student engaged on electrical maintenance work.Furthermore, in many ways the staffing and equipment of artisancourses is more difficult than that of professional courses.Finally, it has always been difficult to allow for readytransfer from artisan to technician courses, mainly owingto the mathematical requirements being so vastly different.Colleges, therefore, knowing of this difficulty, are apt tomake an optimistic assessment of a student's potentialities onentrance.

The position of technical education in this country at theoutbreak of war was thus the outcome of slow growth. Profes-sional training was provided at the universities with a bias towardsthe scientific side, and at the technical colleges with a bias towardsthe practical. Artisan training was undertaken by the colleges.Between these two educational bodies there was no liaison worthmentioning, and no organized contact of either with industry.Outside the universities control was exercised by the Board ofEducation, the major technical institutions, regional bodies—ofthe type corresponding to the Union of Educational Institutions—co-ordinating the work of the smaller colleges and acting inan examinational capacity, and the City and Guilds of LondonInstitute acting as a national examinational body.

In 1943, in a Report to Parliament, the then President of theBoard of Education used these words: "Despite what many

authorities have done, technical education has not hitherto madethat advance which the needs of a highly industrial communitydemand. In particular, the standards of the buildings andequipment in use have often been deplorably low, and comparisonwith what can be seen in many other countries which have beenour competitors in the world markets can leave little cause forsatisfaction."

This was the position also in 1939. As the war proceeded itbecame increasingly evident that, to be successful, we required todesign, perfect and produce large quantities of scientific toolsthat should out-class our opponents. We also required largenumbers of men to use them, without drawing too heavily uponour reservoir of skilled technicians fully engaged within produc-tion. Our university staffs collaborated in the great volume ofscientific research required and undertook certain specializedtraining. Our technical colleges undertook the training of largenumbers of Service personnel.

The difficulties were tremendous. Trained teachers were inmany cases unavailable, and selected personnel had to be trainedas teachers. Existing accommodation was inadequate, andextra accommodation had to be found. Equipment was almostunprocurable.

In spite of these difficulties courses were run at the technicalcolleges covering such diverse subjects as mechanical engineering,

. electrical engineering, radio engineering, production engineering,foremanship, fuel efficiency, homecraft, catering and canteenmanagement. By December, 1945, over a quarter of a millionArmy, Navy, Air Force, and civilian personnel had passed throughthe technical colleges.

It can, I think, be justly claimed that in the trial of total war theuniversities and technical colleges performed all the tasks de-manded of them with efficiency and despatch.

The Education Act of 1944 recognized the importance oftechnical education by making the provision of further education,of which technical education is a part, no longer only a powerbut now a duty of local education authorities.

A building programme in connection with technical, com-mercial and art colleges of some £12 million in hand at the out-break of war suffered deferment. This programme, possiblyrevised and expanded, ought to commence at the earliest possibledate. In view of the prevailing conditions in the building in-dustry, I cannot envisage this in the too near future, howeverurgent the need and however high the priority; but other, andno less vital, matters can be attended to immediately. I quoteagain from the 1943 Report: "The provision of facilities forvocational training will by itself not be enough. The countrycannot afford to rest content with a system under which the tech-nical education of its potential skilled workers, industrial leaders,and commercial executives is left so largely to the initiative ofthe young employees themselves. The vocational training thathas come into being within the system of public education has inthe main not come in response to any demand from industry orcommerce, but has depended on the enterprise and tenacity ofindividual students. No doubt this system—if it can be called asystem—has brought forward many young men and women ofhigh intelligence and sturdy character. But a much closercollaboration between industry and commerce and the educationservice is essential if the country is to develop a national systemand to secure a personnel with a training and knowledge adequateto the needs of the future."

In April, 1944, a special Committee under the chairmanship ofLord Eustace Percy, and including representatives of industry,the universities and the technical colleges, was formed to advisethe Minister of Education on the needs of higher technologicaleducation in England and Wales, with particular reference tothe means required for maintaining appropriate co-operation

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between universities and technical colleges. Their report wasissued in July, 1945.

The Committee found that the position of Great Britain as aleading industrial nation is being endangered by a failure tosecure the fullest possible application of science to industry, andthat this failure is partly due to deficiencies in education; thatthe annual intake into the industries of the country of mentrained by universities and technical colleges has been, and stillis, insufficient both in quantity and quality; and that, in particular,the greatest deficiency in British industry is the shortage ofscientists and technologists who can also administer and organizeand can apply the results of research to development.

To meet these demands they suggest:—(a) Some organized form of recruitment for industrial

personnel.(b) Substantial increases in teaching facilities and teaching

staffs.(c) Full co-operation between industrialists and educators.Those of us who have had experience of the young entrants to

our profession realize to the full that a great part of the bestoutput of the secondary and public schools goes into non-industrial occupations. There is undoubtedly, in the minds ofmany parents, a predilection for the so-called black-coatedworker. The term "engineer" has, I fear, in general, a somewhatlowly connotation. The schools themselves do little to remedythis state of affairs, partly, I believe, owing to the ignorance onthe part of their staffs of the mental attributes required forsuccess in our industry. In their minds the question, Is this boygood enough to make an engineer? is rarely formulated, theprofession being reserved by them for those students of little orno academic distinction. This attitude of mind is not due tohostility or prejudice, but to want of enlightenment whichorganized recruitment could supply.

In order to augment teaching facilities in the domain ofadvanced technological instruction, the Percy Committee recom-mend the selection of a strictly limited number of technicalcolleges with residential facilities, in which there should bedeveloped technological courses of degree standard but notnecessarily similar to degree courses in oiher respects. Whilstthese colleges would remain under the control of their respectivelocal education authorities, they should, through their owngoverning board, consisting of representatives of industry and ofthe college staff, be responsible for academic policy.

The Committee was divided on the question of suitable methodsof certification for these colleges, one section favouring a degreeof the B.Tech. type, the other favouring the award of a StateDiploma. Both sections however were agreed on the award of asecond and higher qualification comparable to a university Ph.D.and having the title of Doctor of Technology (Tech.D.). LordEustace Percy has added a note suggesting that the selectedcolleges should, subject to Royal assent, be called Royal Collegesof Technology, the first qualification of which should be adiploma conferring Associateship and the second one conferringa Fellowship.

For the effective organization of technical education in England

and Wales the Committee recommend the establishing of eightRegional Advisory Councils covering the whole area. TheseCouncils would be modelled partly on those already in existencein some areas. They recommend that the Regional AdvisoryCouncils should create Regional Academic Boards of Technologycomposed of the academic heads of universities and technicalcolleges and of members of their teaching staffs. Consultationwith industry would in the main be through these Boards, whosechief duty would be to advise their respective institutions and theRegional Advisory Council on the development and co-ordina-tion of higher technological studies in each institution and inthe region as a whole. The further and most important duty ofrecruitment would also be a responsibility of the Board. ANational Council of Technology is suggested as the central body,its members being appointed by the Minister of Education. TheNational Council would consider all the national aspects ofregional policies and act in an advisory capacity to the Minister.

Such, then, is a brief outline of the position as it is to-day, witha summary of the Percy Report acting in some respects as ablue-print for the future.

How far are the conditions outlined at the beginning of thisAddress already met? Should the Percy Report be implemented,we shall have, I believe, a correlation of technical educationsecond to none. At the moment there is not that completeco-operation between industry and education and between thesections of the educational group that is essential, althoughprogress has been made in this direction and is still being made.

The provision of institutions for technical education is atpresent inadequate, as regards buildings, equipment and staffing.Many of the larger technical colleges are grossly overcrowded,and most of the smaller ones are under-equipped and under-staffed; and I have no doubt that my university colleagues wouldsay that, within limits, this applies to their own institutions. Inmy opinion the provision of more buildings should be a matterof urgent priority, but at the same time a system of completeregional co-operation is necessary, so that available and extraaccommodation and equipment can be most economically used.

Whilst certification of work has been organized in a satisfactorymanner, the placing of personnel into graded courses and thedesign of such courses with provision for easy transfer has notbeen satisfactorily dealt with, as the high mortality rate inNational Certificate courses shows.

In a sense we may say that technical education in this countryhas, like Topsy, "just growed." Its growth has been conditionedby individual initiative, by local conditions, and by a limitedamount of centralized control.

I feel, however, that there are signs that the era of hetero-geneous growth is over, and that the projected organizationof technical education, whilst allowing that individual initiativeso necessary in the evolution of all human organizations, willresult in the co-ordination of all the elements into one homo-geneous whole, where industry and all types of educationalinstitutions will work together in that harmony which is necessaryif the technical education of the future is to be worthy of itselfand capable of performing its share in the regeneration andconsequent salvation of our people.