Instruction by correspondence courses Available to Purchase

Recently, one industry, the grocery trade, came into conflict with the Department of Education and Science over correspondence courses. The Grocers' Institute was keen to meet an identified need for such courses leading to some nationally‐recognised examination. The DES withheld its support for the proposed scheme and the Grocers' Institute had to proceed on its own. Officialdom, it seems, does not like correspondence courses. But they are a necessary part of any national system which aims to give a comprehensive service. And they may become very important indeed since they are known to make a special appeal to the mature worker anxious to improve his position. This group of workers is seriously neglected by the conventional educational services. Official policy advances the point of view that students wishing to extend their education or develop their capacities should attend formal college courses. This is to make the system more important than the people it serves. It is interesting to note, also, that training boards, charged, among other things, with spreading the gospel to scattered locations and to men on shift work, have not yet appreciated the immense potential of tailor‐made instruction by correspondence, or, if they have, they have not felt able to proceed in the face of opposition from the DES. Despite this hostility to correspondence instruction, sometimes veiled, sometimes open, experimental courses are going ahead. This article describes one recent innovation in instruction by correspondence.