Junior Technical Schools (JTS)

Submitted by Richard on Mon, 25/04/2011 - 1:30pm

Background and Scene Setting.

The Junior Technical School (JTS) movement began in the early 20^th century. During the 19^th century there had been previous attempts to establish similar institutions of technical and commercial education and instruction. For example the Privy Council Committee on Education as early as 1840 had advocated the creation of industrial schools and even provided grant funding for their establishment and operation. In 1860 these schools were transferred to the Home Office to provide manual and technical instruction (I deliberately use instruction as opposed to education as it was the widely accepted expression at the time) for young offenders. This unfortunately created the perception that such subjects were closely associated with crime and were intended for correction and the instilling of discipline. As mentioned in the history of technical education on the website ordinary elementary schools were not encouraged to offer practical subjects following the Revised Code of 1862. But the concerns about the parlous state of scientific and technical instruction following the Great Exhibition and the growing awareness that Britain was performing badly compared with other countries on the continent and America brought about a few positive developments.

The Science and Art Department (SAD) was created in 1853, and after this date the development of examinations for schools and the introduction of the payment by results regime helped to raise the profile of technical instruction. Gradually these developments helped to establish a state system of education. However the government continued to be reluctant to impose strict requirements on the school boards and the 1889 Technical Instruction Act again avoided any compulsion on county councils in regard to technical and manual instruction. Again the Act was permissive in nature and not mandatory.

The addresses and writings of such people as Henry Armstrong, Thomas Huxley and Philip Magnus on scientific and technical instruction also contributed in raising the importance of these subjects (see biographies on the website). In 1870 approximately 800 schools were receiving funding, offering courses and examinations to over 34,000 pupils. Gradually manual training and domestic economy subjects were introduced in elementary schools. The City and Guilds of London institute (CGLI) and the School Board for London supported by the Drapers Company brought about a change in the Code and that then allowed the introduction of manual training and instruction in elementary day schools. As a result the grant aid paid by the Science and Art Department was allowed for such instruction and towards which School Board rates could be spent. In 1891, 3,568 pupils in 68 schools were receiving manual training and by 1897 this had increased to 112,000 pupils. The grant aid accordingly increased from £600 in 1891 to £19,530 in 1896. In spite of the deterrent effects of various Education Acts and Regulations two types of technical schools were established namely the junior technical schools and trade schools.

Junior Technical Schools (JTS)

These schools were developed from the early technical classes which grow up between 1904 and 1912, and became a separate entity in 1913. Junior Technical Schools (JTS) was the generic term for these institutions but within the movement were Junior Commercial Schools and Junior Housewifery Schools as will be described later. (Titles are a bit confusing on this topic).

The consequence of the publication in 1905 of the Regulations for Technical Schools brought about the establishment of Junior Technical Schools representing the full-time provision for ex-elementary schools pupils. Their development was particularly rapid in London because of the large population, the large range of industries and the limited opportunities at the time for training opportunities for young people wanting to enter employment. By the end of 1913/14 there were 37 schools comprising 27 for boys and 10 for girls; by 1920 there were 80 schools comprising 67 schools for boys and 13 for girls and by 1930/31 there were 144 schools comprising 110 schools for boys and 34 for girls. There were also 33 co-educational schools in 1930/31. The Board of Education (BoE) in 1913 issued the Regulations for Junior Technical Schools under which they were to be managed and grants were increased from £5 per pupil to £7 per pupil in exceptional circumstances. Remember there was still a widely held belief backed up by an administrative requirement that technical education should not available to youngsters under 13 year olds. When the first schools were established under the Regulations for ‘Day Technical Classes’ the minimum age of entrance was set at 13. In 1913 when the Junior Technical Schools were recognised under their own regulations the age of admission would remain the same although an exception was made to allow entry at 12 but only in very few special cases. This requirement certainly had a negative impact on the development of technical and commercial education below the age of 13 and was only rescinded following the 1944 Education Act!

The Board of Education in a report on the Regulations for Secondary Schools for 1912-13 had expressed a view that there was sufficient flexibility in the regulations to allow considerable specialisation in the curriculum where local needs demanded. However secondary schools became more homogenous in character mainly because of the requirements of external examinations. On the plus side progress, albeit slow, was made with the gradual emergence of junior technical schools and trade schools, even some grammar schools began introducing specialised non-academic courses.

It might be helpful to describe how the Board of Education and Local Education Authorities grouped and defined, for administrative convenience, the two essentially different types of schools.

The Pre-apprenticeship school

This was a full-time school enrolling pupils aged between 13 and 14 who had decided that they wanted to enter a particular kind of industrial work e.g. engineering or construction, but not a specific occupation within an industry. The course lasted two or three years, the leaver entering an apprenticeship at around 16. The curriculum provided a preparation for industrial and commercial employment along with a continued general education. This was the normal model outside London and was basically the only provision of this kind in the provinces and these schools became known as Junior Technical Schools.

The Trade School

Unlike the Junior Technical School the Trade School prepared its pupils for specific occupations e.g. book-binding, building trades, cabinet-making, needle trades and silversmithing etc. The trade school substituted training in the school for apprenticeships in the workshop. Most of the trade schools were in London and rarely in the provinces.

A few general points need to be made at this stage about Junior Technical Schools namely their number was small – only about 1% of children attended them (see figures below in the final point), individual schools were relatively small- average on roll less than 200 because since the output was influenced by the needs of local industries. In addition they were expensive to operate, due to the generous standard of staffing, their size and costly equipment required to instruct the pupils. However they were popular from the pupils view because the leavers were placed in good employment, they were not bound by many of the academic restrictions e.g. many did not have to enter formal external examinations and the schools overall created an atmosphere conducive to hard and cheerful work and studies for the pupils.

In spite of the relatively slow progress in their development too often hindered by administrative regulations, jealousies and rivalry, the junior technical schools along with art and commercial schools achieved a great deal. Various constraints were placed on them such as they could not teach foreign languages; parents had to guarantee that their children would enter the occupation for which they had studied for at the school. The accommodation was often poor and mainly housed in technical colleges or similar institutions and as a result often under the authority and control of the college principal. In fact in 1946 85% of Junior Technical Schools were located in technical colleges. However even with these constraints they survived and sustained sturdy growth. By 1926 a number of junior commercial schools and a couple of nautical training schools and junior housewifery schools became categorised the existing junior technical schools and trade schools. In 1929 the number of recognised technical and commercial schools had reached 108 with an enrolment of 18,000 pupils including 4,600 girls.

The Board of Education Pamphlet 111 issued in 1937 listed four kinds of junior technical schools namely those: (i) preparing pupils to enter specific industries or groups of industries: (ii) preparing boys and girls for specific occupations; (iii) Preparing girls for home management and (iv) preparing boys and girls for entry into commerce. In 1935/36 the pamphlet recorded 194 JTSs with 23,844 pupils. The 194 schools consisted of 97 junior technical schools with 13,972 on roll; 37 junior technical (trade) schools with 3,278 on roll; 10 junior housewifery schools with 495 on roll and 50 junior commercial schools with 6,099 on roll. London designated three types of junior technical schools namely: Trade Schools for Girls examples include dressing making at Woolwich Polytechnic, upholstery at Shoreditch Technical Institute; Technical Day Schools for Boys examples being at Paddington and Poplar Engineering Schools and Preparatory Trade Schools for Boys with examples at the Stanley Trade School and those at Shoreditch and the Borough Polytechnic Institute. Other models of Junior Technical Schools developed outside London and partly reflected the flexibility granted to secondary education at the time. And often under different titles.

The list of available courses offered was truly amazing as given by a report in 1938. This is the full list: book production, boot and shoe manufacture, building and building trades, cabinet making, carriage building, chefs and waiting, commercial studies, constructive industries, cooks, corset making, domestic service, dress making, embroidery, engineering, general industrial studies, hairdressing, home management, laundry work, lingerie, meat trades, millinery, motor and aero-metal work, music trades, nautical, nursemaids, photo-engraving and photography, rubber trades, silversmithing and jewellery, tailoring, upholstery and vest making. On 31^st March 1938 the number of junior technical and commercial schools, excluding art schools, had risen to 248 with 30,457 pupils on roll.

The junior technical and commercial schools provided offered, in the majority of cases, two year courses with two or three bias subjects see timetables below.

Typical Timetables for Junior Technical Schools (JTS)

Subjects	Guidelines laid down by Ministry	Spens report recommendations	The average in reality
English subjects including history and geography	5hr	6hr	6 or 7hr
Mathematics and geometry	5hr	8 hr across maths/geometry/science and technology	5 or 6hr
Science and technology	5hr		6hr
Technical drawing	5hr	3hr	4hr
Workshop practice	6hr	4.5hr	6hr
PE	1hr	3hr	2hr
Pool including foreign languages	-	3hr	-
Totals:	27hr	27.5hr	30hr

Source: M. Sanderson

Specimen curricula and typical examples of timetables for JTS in the 1920s/30s.

Borough Road Polytechnic JTS 1925.

Subjects	1 st year	2^nd year	3^rd year
English, geography and history	5hr	5hr	5hr
Mathematics	6hr 40m	5hr 50m	6hr 40m
Mechanical drawing	4hr 10m	4hr 10m	4hr 10m
Applied mechanics	-	2hr 30m	2hr 30m
Physics	-	3hr 20m	3hr 20m
Chemistry	3hr 20m	-	-
Art	1hr 40m	50m	-
Metalwork	5hr 10m	5hr	5hr
Woodwork	1hr 40m	1hr 40m	-
PE	1hr 40m	1hr 40m	1hr 40m
Workshop materials	-	-	50m
Totals:	29hr 20m	30hr	28hr 10m

Source: M. Sanderson

A Typical London JTS 1934

Subjects	1^st year	2^nd year	3^rd year
English, geography and history	5hr	5hr	5hr
Mathematics	6hr 40m	5hr 50m	6hr 40m
Mechanical drawing	4hr 10m	4hr 10m	4hr 10m
Applied mechanics	-	2hr 30m	2hr 30m
Physics	-	3hr 20m	3hr 20m
Chemistry	3hr 20m	-	-
Metalwork	5hr 10m	5hr	5hr
Woodwork	1hr 40m	1hr 40m	-
PE	1hr 40m	1hr 40m	1hr 40m
Workshop practice	-	-	50m
Art	1hr 40m	50m	-
Totals	29hr 20m	30hr	28hr 10m

Source: Sanderson

Wandsworth Junior Commercial School 1934

Subjects	1^st year	2^nd year	3^rd year
Arithmetic	4hr 30m	3hr	2hr 15m
Bookkeeping	1hr 30m	3hr	3hr
Commerce	1hr 30m	1hr 30m	2hr 15m
English	3hr	2hr 15m	2hr 15m
French	3hr 45m	3hr 45m	4hr 30m
Geography	1hr 30m	1hr 30m	1hr 30m
History	1hr 30m	45m	-
Science	2hr 15m	2hr 15m	-
Shorthand	3hr	3hr 45m	5hr 15m
Typing	2hr 15m	3hr	3hr 45m
PE	1hr 15m	1hr 30m	1hr 30m
Assembly	2hr 30m	2hr 15m	2hr 30m
Totals	28hr 45	28hr 45m	28hr 45m

Source: M. Sanderson

The Junior Technical Schools made their mark and the Spens Committee in 1938 concluded in the light of that success ‘We are convinced that it is of great importance to establish a type of higher school of technical character quite distinct from the traditional academic Grammar School.’

Whilst the 1943 White Paper Educational Reform stated ‘Junior Technical Schools came into being in 1905, and their success has been remarkable. Planned to give a general education associated with preparation for entry to one or other of the main branches of industry and commerce, they have grown up in relation to local needs and opportunities of employment. But their progress in numbers has been comparatively slow, and their chances of attracting the most able children vis-a-vis the grammar schools have been adversely affected by the fact that they normally recruit at 13. With altered conditions, and with more rapid development in the future, they hold out great opportunities for pupils with a practical bent.’

Interestingly in 1951 after this worthy statement was made there were still many education authorities, including some of the largest provincial ones, where the entry to secondary technical schools took place at the age of 13 by ‘creaming’ off pupils in the local secondary modern schools – the 13+ examination. I still remember taking it and failing!

The development of the Junior Technical Schools, (including the commercial, housewifery, and nautical schools), represents a fascinating part in the history of technical and commercial education and training.

Final Point.

To assist the reader make greater sense of the Junior Technical Schools, the various titles and their relationship within the technical education landscape in 1935 I provide a brief list of the types of technical schools at the time.

Almost all the important institutions for technical education were composite in character, comprising work assignable to two or more of the official categories of recognition, namely:

· Junior Technical Schools

· Technical Day Schools

· Day Continuation Schools

· Institutions offering evening instruction

· Senior full-time courses in Further Education Colleges.

The schools can be designated with in the following structure and I include the numbers of pupils in England and Wales in 1934/5:

Junior – under 16

Full-time courses:

· Junior Technical Schools – 22,158

· Technical Day Classes – see Senior over 16 given below – 1,223

Part-time courses:

· Day Continuation and Works Schools – 15,638

· Evening Continuation Schools (junior Evening Classes) – 205,648

· Juvenile Instruction Centres – 23,543

· Technical Day Classes – 2,077.

And

Senior-over 16

Full-time courses:

· Senior Courses in FE Colleges – 8,799

· Technical day Classes – 1,366

Part-time courses:

· Evening Classes in FE Colleges and Institutions – 636,677

· Technical day Classes – 23,350.

It might help if I provide more statistics on JTSs:

More facts on Secondary Schools and Junior Technical Schools (JTSs) between 1913 and 1938.

Numbers of Secondary Schools and Junior Technical Schools between 1913/14 and 1937/38:

Year	Number of Secondary Schools	Number of Pupils	Number of Junior Technical Schools	Number of Pupils
1913/14	1.027	187,647	37	-
1918/19	1081	269,887	69	-
1919/20	1,141	307,862	78	9,811
1920/21	1,205	336,836	84	11,235
1921/22	1,249	354,956	89	12,235
1922/23	1,264	354,165	89	12,206
1923/24	1,270	349,141	87	11,988
1924/25	1,284	352,605	89	11,954
1925/26	1,301	360,503	92	12,704
1926/27	1,319	371,493	104	19,333
1927/28	1,329	377,540	107	20,200
1928/29	1,341	386,993	112	18,877
1929/30	1,354	394,105	120	20,217
1930/31	1,367	411,309	189	21,998
1931/32	1,379	432,061	194	21,945
1932/33	1,378	441,883	203	22,470
1933/34	1,381	448,421	213	24,130
1934/35	1,380	456,783	223	25,609
1935/36	1,389	463,906	232	27,354
1936/37	1,393	466,245	243	28,747
1937/38	1,398	470,003	248	30,457

Source BoE Statistics of Public Education, England and Wales. Annual Reports.

Number of JTSs in England and Wales 1926/27 to 1937/38:

Year	Schools (England)	Pupils (England)	Schools (Wales)	Pupils (Wales)
1926/27	101	18,704	3	629
1927/28	104	19,541	3	659
1928/29	108	18,243	4	634
1929/30	115	19,537	5	680
1930/31	177	21,066	12	932
1931/32	182	21,003	12	942
1932/33	191	21,445	12	1,025
1933/34	200	23,090	13	1,040
1934/35*	208	24,532	15	1,077
1935/36	216	26,071	16	1,283
1936/37	226	27,395	17	1,352
1937/38	230	29,036	18	1.421

Source BoE Annual Reports.

*Schools of Nautical Training included for the first time which were then administered by the FE Regulations.

Junior Technical Schools Titles and Pupil Numbers for 1935/36 in England:

Titles	Number of Schools	Boys	Girls	Totals
Junior Technical Schools	97	13,972	-	13,972
Junior Technical (Trade) Schools	37	859	2,419	3,278
Junior Housewifery Schools	10	-	495	495
Junior Commercial Schools	50	2,184	3,915	6,099
Total	194	17,015	6,829	23,844

Source: BoE Educational Pamphlet No. 111. ‘A Review of Junior Technical Schools in England. 1937.

Multitude of institutional titles can be very confusing – sorry!

I intend to describe some of these other institutions in future biographies.

References:

‘The Junior Technical School.’ Educational pamphlet no. 83. BoE. 1930.

Abbott. A. ‘Education for Industry and Commerce in England.’ OUP. 1933.

Sanderson. M. ‘The Missing Stratum. Technical Education in England 1900-1990.’ Athlone Press. ISBN 0 485 11442 9. 1994.

Millis. C. T. ‘Technical Education. Its Development and Aims.’ Edward Arnold. 1925.

Edwards. R. ‘The Secondary Technical School.’ ULP. 1960.

Biographies & Pen Portraits

Junior Technical Schools (JTS)

More facts on Secondary Schools and Junior Technical Schools (JTSs) between 1913 and 1938.

Numbers of Secondary Schools and Junior Technical Schools between 1913/14 and 1937/38:

Number of JTSs in England and Wales 1926/27 to 1937/38:

Junior Technical Schools Titles and Pupil Numbers for 1935/36 in England: