Statistical Report 1935-1936 - Department of Education and Skills

68CHAPTER V.VOCATIONALEDUCATION.I.-PROGRESS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.Educational schemes formulated under the Vocational EducationAct of 1930 have now been in operation throughout the Saorstat forfive sessions. Difficulties, associated with the introduction of a newsystem, have been overcome, and the majority of the schemes are nowestablished on a sound foundation.The main task of each Vocational Education Committee during thisperiod was to organise a scheme of continuation education suited tolocal conditions. Gradually they evolved a variety of whole-timeday courses extending over 20-25 hours per week and in which practicalwork occupied one-third to one-half of the available time. Atpresent the main types of continuation courses in operation are :-(a) Trades (Building),(b) Trades (Engineering),(c) Commercial,(d) Domestic,(e) Rural,(f) General Subjects.In the county boroughs and larger urban centres, some or all of thefirst four courses are in operation; in the more recently establishedrural centres, only the day domestic and the day rural courses havebeen formed. The development of the latter constitutes one of themost important features of the work of the Committees.In the field of technical education Committees have within recentyears brought their work into much closer touch with industrial needsand greatly extended the scope of instruction provided for trades andspecialised factory occupations. This instruction has been widelydistributed over the country and has been given not only in the technicalschools but in the factories themselves. Amongst the trades andindustries to which assistance has been and is being rendered are ;-Boot Factories, Aluminium Factory, Sugar Beet Factories, PrintingTrade, Hairdressing Trade, Flour Milling, Shirt Factories, ElectricalEngineering, Fishing Industry, Toy Making, Glove Making, PotteryFactory and Tanning Industry. In all these cases not merely wasthe skill of existing operatives improved; but in many cases also theindustry was able to reach the stage of production at an earlier datebecause of the training 0'£ its employees in advance through the aidof the Vocational Education Committee.•69One of the main difficulties encountered in the development of thenew system was the lack of an adequate supply of teachers-particularlyof teachers of Manual Instruction, Metalwork, DomesticEconomy and Rural Science. To meet this difficulty, special courseswere provided by the Department of Education. In certain casescourses lasting nine months Were given to specially selected candidateswhose practical experience of woodwork or metalw.ork was alreadyguaranteed. Similarly, candidates of suitable experience and educationalstandard were selected for training as teachers of domesticeconomy and rural science; for the latter group it was found that atraining period of two years would be necessary. Summer Courseswere provided for teachers of all descriptions, either to add to theirexisting qualifications or to impart a knowledge of new methods. Bythe end of session 1935-36, over seven hundred and fifty whole-timeteachers were employed in the Vocational Schools, the numbers beingapproximately as follows :_Domestic Economy-lOO, CommercialSubjects- 140, Woodwork and Building-130, Engineering-SO, Irishand General Subjects-130.The development of Vocational Education necessitated the erectionof many new schools. The building of the majority of these wasfinanced by loans raised by the local rating authorities under Section51 of the Vocational Education Act. To-day there is not a county inthe Saorstat in which at least one new Vocational School has not beenerected; in some counties as many as five new schools have beenerected. Such schools vary from two to three roomed schools inpurely rural areas, to four to six-roomed schools in urban centres.In the county boroughs many extensions and additions to existingbuildings have been made. In Waterford and Limerick the schoolaccommodation has been almost doubled in the last six years and plansare at present being prepared to erect a separate auxiliary girls' schoolin the latter centre. In Cork, the new School of Commerce andDomestic Science is being put up at a cost of some £65,000, and plansare being made to extend the present Technical Institute and toerect an auxiliary girls' school in the north side of the city. In Dublin,extensions have been made at Bolton Street, Ballsbridge and Rathmines,a new Technical School at Marino has just been opened and atender has been accepted for the erection of a Central School ofDomestic Science and of Women's Work at a cost of over £90,000.Furthermore, at the request of the Vocational Education Committee,the Board of Studies Committee of the Dublin Technical Schools hasdrawn up a valuable report dealing with the question of present andfuture accommodation requirements for technical and continuationclas ses III . th e Cl 't y. The report advocates the necessity for fiveCentral Schools of Specialisation ;-(1) The College of Technology,