Functions of this office. Preparation of minutes. department in the House of Commons, and who takes a prominent and able part in the conduct of public affairs, is naturally supposed to have something to do with the government of the office, and cannot free himself from a certain modified responsibility in reference to his own department.bb The functions of the Education Department, it has been already intimated, are of a very subordinate description to those which devolve upon the principal offices of government. It does not administer important affairs of state, but merely pays out public money on the performance of certain conditions by the recipients of the same. In other words, the whole business of the office consists in drawing up such sets of rules as the House of Commons will grant money upon. The most important of these rules are those which are termed minutes of the Committee of Council on Education. Minutes of council differ from orders in council. The latter are presumed to emanate from the whole body of the Privy Council, and are issued by order of the sovereign. The former are departmental regulations, which are binding upon all concerned when they have received the tacit approval of Parliament, by remaining on the table of both Houses for one calendar month.d There is no uniform practice in the preparation of minutes. They are always drafted by the Secretary under instructions received from the Lord President, or the VicePresident, who would act together in such a matter. They are then usually printed and circulated, confidentially, among the members of the committee, for their written opinions. When finally settled, a meeting of the committee is convened, at which the minute is passed. Sometimes the Lord President settles the minute in the bb Rep. Com. on Education, Evid. 1901, 1906-1909, 2342, 2410, &c. Earl Russell expressed his general concurrence in these views of Earl Granville, 2901, &c. e Ibid. 634, &c., 753. See Earl Russell's evidence on this point, Ibid. 2919, 2968, &c. a Ibid. 229, 2955, 3032. See ante, vol. i. pp. 291–296. office, and after conferring with the Vice-President and his subordinates on the subject, takes it with him to the Cabinet, in order to consult his colleagues thereupon, or as a convenient mode of consulting the other members of the Education Committee. But whatever may be the intermediate and provisional steps, the final and decisive proceeding is to obtain official sanction to the minute, by calling a meeting of the Committee of Council. If the committee neglect to attend when duly summoned, a minute might be passed by the President and Vice-President alone; but of late years there has been no difficulty in getting the committee together when required. After a minute has been passed, it must be laid upon the table of both Houses for one month before it is acted upon. e rules. Supplementary rules are in the nature of instructions Suppleand directions to the school inspectors, in explanation of mentary the Revised Code, or other minutes of council, their scope and purport, and the mode in which they should be administered. These rules represent the generalisation of decisions which have arisen in the daily practice of the Education Office. They are framed by the Secretary, with the assistance and authority of the Vice-President. tions. The Committee of Council on Education, out of the Appropriafunds placed by Parliament at their disposal, make grants towards the building, enlarging, and furnishing of schoolhouses, elementary and normal; they aid the purchase of books, maps, diagrams, and scientific apparatus; they give stipends to pupil-teachers, and make allowances to certified industrial and ragged schools. They also augment the incomes of many of the teachers, schoolmasters and mistresses, throughout the kingdom." It is furthermore the duty of the Education Department to consider of grants in aid of schools, and to keep e Rep. Com. on Education, Evid. 71, &c., 133, 229, 346, 375, 791. Ibid. 86, &c., 184, 250. See Parkinson's Under Govern ment, p. 76. Cox's Commonwealth, Promotion a strict watch and account over the expenditure incurred of educa- in behalf of the same, by a regular system of school in tion. Proposed departmental reforms. spection; to conduct public examinations from time to The constitution of the Education Committee has recently excited much dissatisfaction, both in and out of Parliament, and it is probable that ere long it will be reorganised, and the field of its operations extended to schools at present unassisted by the state. On February 28, 1865, on motion of Sir John Pakington, a select committee was appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the constitution of the department, with a view to its re-organisation, and better adaptation for the important functions it has now to perform. This committee sat until June 23, when, being unable to complete their labours, they reported the evidence already taken to the House, with a recommendation that the enquiry should be resumed in the next session. Accordingly, on February 13, 1866, the committee was re-appointed, again under the presidency of Sir See Commons Papers, 1856, vol. xiv. pp. 574–576. In 1865, the management of the education of the poor, so far as it depends upon state grants, was transferred from the Privy Council to the Poor Law Board, who now supervise the district and workhouse schools in England and Ireland. (See post, p. 708. Civil Service Estimates. 1868-9, Class II. p. 43.) The industrial and reformatory schools, and the military schools, were also, for a time, placed under the direction and supervision of the Education Committee; but in practice it was found impossible to carry out this arrangement, and they are now administered, the former by the Home Office, and the latter by the War Office, being the departments specially interested therein. Hans. Deb. vol. cxc. p. 505. J Commons Papers, 1865, vol. vi. p. 3. John Pakington. They sat until July, when, having finished their investigations, and being engaged in deliberating upon a draft report presented to them by their chairman, a change of ministry occurred, and Sir John Pakington was called upon to assume office. Under these circumstances, the committee decided to refrain from making any recommendations to Parliament, upon the important and difficult questions which had engaged their attention, until the new administration had had time to consider them. They therefore resolved to lay the evidence alone upon the table of the House, leaving it for the House to determine whether they should be re-appointed next year, in order to prepare a report thereon. The committee was not re-appointed; but on December 2, 1867, Minister of Earl Russell submitted resolutions to the House of Lords, in favour of the extension of education and the improvement of the existing machinery for that purpose; also recommending the appointment of a minister of education, with a seat in the cabinet. But the propositions were regarded as untimely, and after a brief debate they were negatived, without a division.k In the proceedings of the committee of 1866, there appears a copy of the draft report submitted by Sir John Pakington, and which it is probable, but for the change of ministry, would have been adopted by the committee. Adverting to the conflicting opinions expressed by several gentlemen who had presided over the Education Office, concerning the utility of the Committee of Council as a permanent part of the department, it is stated in this draft report, as the conclusion of the committee, 'that the agency of the said committee, in the ordinary business of the Education Department, whether administrative or legislative, is anomalous and unnecessary; that it tends to diminish, on the part of the education minister, that sense of individual responsibility which is the best security for efficient discharge of official duties; and that in those rare cases in which the minister requires advice from his colleagues, it would be better that the whole cabinet should be consulted.' And in regard to the question whether, under the present regulations, there are one or two education ministers (a point upon which the statements of the official witnesses are at variance) the draft report recommends-1. That the Committee of Council on Education, being no longer adapted to the purpose for which it was formed, should cease to exist. 2. That there should be a minister of public instruction, with a seat in the cabinet, who should be entrusted with the care and superintendence of all matters relating to the national encouragement of science and art and popular education in every part of the country.1 * Hans. Deb. vol. cxc. pp. 478-506. And see ante, p. 241. 1 Report Com. on Education, 1866, pp. x. xvi. education. Conscience clause. From the testimony of the most experienced and competent witnesses before the Education Committee, in 1865 and 1866, it is evident that the system now administered by the Education Department is partial, incomplete, and too highly centralised. And also, that the Education Department, as at present constituted, is not well adapted for the administration of a reformed system, which shall penetrate and provide for the educational wants of every part of the country. To remedy these serious defects, it was proposed to declare in the draft report of 1866, that the duties of the proposed minister of public instruction should not merely be administrative, but also suggestive, that local organisation in connection with the central department should be resorted to; that power should be given to levy a rate in certain cases, in lieu of the principle of voluntary aid; and that resort should be had to a system of mixed religious education, as a substitute for the denominational system now in operation. But the committee were unanimously of opinion, that until they were aware of the view which might be taken upon these great questions of policy by the new administration, and had a clear prospect of arriving at conclusions which it might reasonably be expected would be adopted by the legislature, it would be undesirable to disturb and unsettle the minds of those who are actively engaged in the promotion of the existing system." Another educational question which has given rise to much controversy has grown out of what is termed the Conscience clause. This is a regulation (not yet embodied in any formal minute) which was first framed by the Education Office about the year 1860, and which has since been made generally, though not invariably, applicable to grants on behalf of schools. It is as follows: 'The managers of the school shall be bound to make such orders as shall provide for admitting to the benefits of the school the children of parents not in communion with the Church of England, as by law established; but such orders shall be confined to the exemption of such children, if their parents desire it, from attendance at public worship, and from instruction in the doctrines or formularies of the said Church, and shall not otherwise interfere with the religious teaching of the scholars.' The practical effect of this clause is, to allow parents who do not m Rep. Com. on Education, 1866, pp. xi. xii. xvi. xvii. n See the voluminous evidence on the subject before the Education Committees. Commons Papers, 1865, vol. vi. Index, pp. 16-20. Ibid. 1866, vol. vii. Index, pp. 331-333. This is the form usually chosen; but there is another form to the same general effect, which has been in use for a number of years, in cases wherein the proportion of Dissenters attending the school seemed to make it necessary that some security should be taken to ensure a due regard to their religious convictions. Rep. Educ. Com. 1866. Evid. 3435-3439. And see Hans. Deb. vol. cxcii. p. 407. |