The Education Act of 1902 , which laid the foundations of a national system of higher education , and the " Fisher " Act of 1918 , which opened the way to the full development of such a system , did much to bring about improvement in the standard of the work in both day and evening technical classes .sx The Act of 1918 , for the first time , clearly established the principle that a sound education of secondary grade is the essential foundation for specific vocational training .sx There is a growing recognition that recruits for the great industries require , under modern conditions , a preliminary education of a higher standard than that which was formerly needed .sx In the engineering industry , for example , candidates for trade apprenticeships are often admitted now about the age of sixteen instead of at fourteen .sx Some firms have given up admitting boys from secondary schools as premium pupils about the age of sixteen or seventeen in favour of post-graduate pupils who come in about the age of twenty-one or twenty-two .sx Many of the larger engineering firms provide a systematic course of instruction for trade apprentices , as well as a regular and comprehensive course for pre-graduate pupils .sx Some have appointed an educational expert who advises students and supervises their work .sx Such firms usually look to the local education authority to supplement such internal courses of instruction by external work in the classrooms , laboratories , and workshops of the local technical college .sx The proportion of external to internal work , of course , varies greatly according to local circumstances .sx It is difficult to decide how far the education of the worker should be a charge upon the employer and how far upon the local authority .sx Full co-operation between them is , however , .sx an essential condition of success .sx Since the time of Robert Owen , enlightened employers have realised the importance of the education of their workers .sx The Bournville system is only a modern edition of what has been attempted before .sx When this spirit has permeated the whole body of employers the problem will be solved .sx In some areas advisory committees of employers and working men have been set up to assist in the development of local schemes for technical education .sx The more general creation of such bodies in connection with our technical schools would do much to bridge the unfortunate gap which now exists between education and industry .sx National advisory committees in connection with our great industries are also needed , like those which were established in connection with the Joint Industrial Councils which came into existence during the Great War .sx In this connection , the important part to be played by the trade unions and other associations of working men must not be overlooked .sx In certain trades , at any rate , they have an important voice in matters connected with apprenticeship and the training of apprentices .sx Such co-operation is of vital importance in building up suitable forms of training for young men entering the different industries .sx It must not be forgotten that working men collaborated in the establishment in London , in 1873 , of the Trades Guild of Learning , which was succeeded by the Artizans' Institute , the pioneer institution in the modern movement for teaching technology as distinct from science and art .sx It was the success of this institute and of its classes in bricklaying , masonry , plumbing , and so forth , that opened the way to a wider and truer form of technical education than had been envisaged by the Science and Art Department .sx It is interesting to remember that this exclusive attitude on the part of the Science and Art Department was upheld by scientists like Huxley , who urged that classes in technological subjects ought not to be supported from public funds but should be provided by such bodies as the Guilds and Companies of the City of London .sx Mr. Millis , in his valuable book on technical education , quotes a speech made by Huxley at the Society of Arts on December 3 , 1879 .sx His opening statement was , " The Science and Art Classes were not meant to teach people to saw .sx " Technology has had to fight hard for recognition as a necessary part of technical education .sx From the establishment of the Science and Art Department in 1853 until the passing of the Local Taxation ( Customs and Excise ) Act , in 1890 , the work of the institutes was dominated to a very considerable extent by the system of " payment by results , " since the only money generally available from public sources was by way of grants made by the department in respect of individual successes in approved subjects .sx The position was somewhat improved in 1880 by the formation of the City and Guilds of London Institute , the main purpose of which was to foster classes in technology which the Science and Art Department refused to recognise .sx The opportunity for another step forward came with the establishment of the Local Education Authorities after 1902 .sx In 1911 , Circular 776 was issued by the Board , abolishing the elementary Science and Art examinations .sx This step encouraged schools to develop their own syllabuses , framed to meet the educational needs of the students , and their own systems of examinations .sx There followed a considerable extension of the work of such bodies as the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes , the East Midland Educational Union , and the Union of Educational Institutes .sx A further development is now in progress which seems likely to result in an arrangement by which these and similar combinations of education authorities , together with examination boards formed by large single educational authorities , like those of .sx the West Riding of Yorkshire and Kent , will retain their position as examining bodies , but will be linked together under a national board of assessors which will endorse certificates , awarded locally as a result of an approved examination .sx Most of the technical institutes and colleges of to-day provide a great variety of courses for day and evening students of widely varying needs and capacities .sx The bulk of the students are represented by those young persons who have left the elementary school at the age of " fourteen plus , " in order to enter industry .sx These , for the most part , attend evening classes .sx The larger institutes and colleges have also to provide for one or more groups of day students who require either full-time day instruction or part-time day and part-time evening instruction .sx A few institutes have taken another road and have concentrated upon preparation for a single industry .sx Examples of this type are the London School of Printing , and the Shoreditch Technical Institute , which prepares for cabinet-making and the allied trades .sx The majority of institutes have , however , developed a curriculum of extraordinary complexity .sx The technical institute , too often , is a congeries of classes rather than a school .sx Something is done by means of students' clubs , associations , and so forth , to create and maintain a corporate spirit , but the strength and sureness of touch that come from a clear objective are , in some measure , wanting .sx One obvious difficulty which hampers the development of the technical institute is that , so often , both students and teachers have done a full day's work before the class begins " An evening school , " as someone has said , " is an assemblage of tired students taught by tired teachers .sx " When the work consists wholly or mainly of evening classes , it is difficult to secure a thoroughly efficient staff .sx This difficulty grows less as the proportion of day to evening work increases .sx It is then possible to engage a proportion of whole-time teachers whose working-day can be apportioned between day and evening classes .sx The publication by the Board of Education in the early part of 1917 , when Mr. Fisher was acting as President of their Draft Regulations for continuation , technical , and art courses in England and Wales , appeared to mark a new era for technical education in this country .sx The regulations urged " the need for a complete and systematic plan of further education in each area , properly related to elementary and secondary schools and universities , adapted to local needs , and particularly to industrial needs , and offering to every student facilities for a graduated and progressive course of instruction suited to his or her requirements .sx " They foreshadowed the development of local colleges for technical education and defined the work of such colleges in the following terms :sx " A local college should fulfil two main functions in the educational life of the area which it serves it should supply technical instruction for all local industries for which such instruction is necessary and desirable , on the basis of a careful and complete investigation of the industrial needs of the area , and it should provide facilities for disinterested intellectual developments by means of classes in literature , history , economics , and other humane studies which make for wise living and good citizenship .sx " It was provided that " in the more important colleges a reasonably large proportion of the full-time staff should have the experience necessary to enable them to undertake original research and to direct the research of advanced students , both in day and evening classes .sx " It was further laid down that " in all full-time departments care should be taken to develop school conditions , including organised games , and all those amenities which are found in well-organised secondary schools .sx " It was realised that " in the case of evening students , the growth of the corporate spirit is a matter of greater difficulty , but much may be done by means .sx of lectures on general subjects , and the establishment of clubs and societies with technical , social , and recreative objects .sx " Most unfortunately , these regulations failed to receive official recognition .sx There can be little doubt , however , that , if technical education is to take its true place in our national scheme , there must be development along the lines laid down in the Draft Regulations of 1917 .sx The successful development of our technical education depends upon the effective recognition of three principles .sx In the first place , a closer relation must be established between the technical institutions and the other parts of our educational system .sx Technical education not only must be founded upon a sound general education , but must be developed , in all its stages , in close association with the other branches of post-primary or secondary and university education .sx It is our administrative practice to divide education into three systems elementary , secondary , and technical each distinguished by its own set of rules and regulations , and until recently each controlled by a separate department of the Board of Education .sx The development of three systems was natural enough , as the problem of education had to be attacked piecemeal .sx That such a division hampered educational growth was evident even before the Act of 1902 .sx This Act , far from breaking down barriers , probably strengthened them .sx The results could hardly have been otherwise , seeing that the Act established two kinds of administrative authorities , the one concerned almost entirely with the problem of elementary education , while the other , though responsible for developing all forms of education , was limited in its expenditure on higher education to the product of a two-penny rate .sx The Act of 1918 , though it removed this limit , though it faced for the first time the problem of universal education up to from sixteen to eighteen years of age , and though it sought to include within the existing administrative system all forms of educational activities , left intact the three systems elementary , secondary , and technical education .sx The result has been a constant struggle to lessen the gulf which at present separates elementary from secondary and further education , in regard to standards of accommodation , equipment , staffing , and salaries .sx A step in the right direction was taken by the Board when , shortly after 1918 , it amalgamated its three departments .sx But it can be laid down as a postulate that the organisation of our educational system cannot be carried out effectively until we can get rid entirely of our present artificial barriers and realise that the senior elementary school , the junior technical school , the secondary school , and the technical institute are not things different in kind , but that they all provide alternative forms of the same thing post-primary education .sx A great obstacle in the way of such a consummation is caused by the existence of separate education authorities for elementary and higher education and these , except for pious admonitions as to the duty of co-operation , were left untouched by the Act of 1918 .sx