THE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT 127

scales of salaries, and the administration of pensions are directly
controlled by the Board, in consultation with the Burnham
Committees, and the various Teachers' Associations. The training
of teachers in the Education Departments of Universities, is also
supervised by the Board; while a University Degree is the usual
qualification for secondary teaching, nearly 86% of elementary
teachers hold a Certificate from the Board, and the proportion
is steadily increasing.

A Medical Branch of the Board, in touch with the Ministry
of Health, supervises the medical services, which have now
become an important part of school activity. Further, in the
interests of health and efficient education, the Board's architects
examine plans for school buildings.

One of the objects of modern policy should be the construction
of an educational highway from elementary school to secondary
or technical school, and thence to a University. The Board,
besides encouraging local authorities to make use of their powers
of granting scholarships, arranges with the Universities for State
Scholarships, and for the provision of adult education outside
the walls of the University itself.

When the total effect of these activities is considered, it is
clear that, decentralised though English education is, the Board
can set the pace for educational improvement, and can increase
the knowledge of educational methods. It has been remarked
that in the past, ambitious statesmen have shunned the Presidency
of the Board of Education as a blind alley—a post which was not
itself of first importance, nor a step to higher office. This may
have occurred because education for the mass of the people was
once regarded as no more than an unfortunate necessity. To-day,
two facts are becoming plain; first, that technical education is
one of the chief factors which increase the national wealth;1
second, that free Government requires intelligent citizens. As
the importance of these facts is increasingly realized, the prestige
of the Board of Education is likely to rise.

1 See National Income and Outlay, by Colin Clark, Ch. XIII.