F ROM the recently published fifth annual report of the National
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Committee on Road Transport Education (summarized in "The Commercial Motor' for June 22) there emerges the hint of eventual fulfilment of the aims of those far-sighted persons who, some nine years ago, began to seek the means for giving road transport employees better opportunities.
These activities originated from the remarks of Mr. R. Stuart Pitcher in the course of a paper which he contributed to the proceedings of the Institute of Transport in July, 1941. He stated: "It appears to me to be essential for the future of the road transport industry that there should be some scheme designed to give young men in the industry a specialized training in the classroom which, organized in close co-operation with the practical experience being obtained in the offices, garages and works, will provide them with an intelligent and trained grasp of the techniques involved in running road transport services The budding road transport man should know something of the mechanical side of the vehicles and equip ment that have to be operated, of garage organization, of stores and purchasing methods, of timetables and schedule designing, of labour conditions, and so on "
.These words made a deep impression and the then president of the Institute: Mr. J. S. Nicholl, implemented the suggestion by calling a conference of all the operators' associations, the Association* of Technical Institutions and the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions. Meeting on July 7, 1943, the representatives of these bodies soon found themselves_ in agreement on the need for a scheme for the theoretical and practical training on. which those engaged in the industry could lay sound foundations on which to build their future.
Following careful deliberation, a report was issued in which a scheme principally designed to aid the younger entrants to the industry, yet still to be applicable to older men, was formulated The aim, in the words of the report, was "to provide the student with a knowledge of the work of a road transport undertaking and a broad elementary knowledge of the facts and problems which constitute its background, and thereby not only to develop technical efficiency, but also to promote wider interests, pride in vocation, initiative, self-confidence. etc."
Progre Road T Educa
Scope for Improvement Among other points of interest, the report stressed the wide scope for impiovement, not only in the matter of formal classroom teaching, but in arranging the necessary opportunities for employees to gain a knowledge of the work of the several departments which go to make up a modern road transport undertaking. In few cases were there any arrangements in existence for juniors to be passed through the departments, and facilities for classroom instruction were meagre in the extreme.
Although the basic aim of the scheme was the provision of a carefully planned scheme of study, there emerged the fact that there should be some form of examination to provide students with some tangible proof of their efforts. Discussions were therefore held with the Royal Society of Arts, which already had arrangements for an examination for a road transport diploma, which had been instituted in 1936, again on
the initiative of Mr. Pitcher, and after discussions among various operators' and educational associations.
Obviously, it would have been unreasonable to set up another scheme of examinations on parallel lines, so the R.S.A. was invited to consider the practicability of amending its scheme to fall into line with the new proposals. It generously agreed, and new syllabi were prepared and issued, the subjects being: Road transport operation (passenger), first-, secondand third-year courses; road passenger operation (goods), first-, secondand third-year courses; elements of road transport engineering (firstand second-year courses); road transport accounts and statistics (first-, secondand third-year courses); economics applied to road transport (third-year courses).
It was agreed that certificates of competency should be issued for single papers or
• groups of papers, also that a diploma, endorsed with the titles of the subjects passed, should be given to those who passed in at least seven papers, including two third-year P2Pers.
ransport
An unusual and valuable feature of the scheme was that it was kept flexible in that no insistence was made on a student taking all subjects in order to qualify for a diploma, it being appreciated that there was no sense in requiring that a man, well trained and experienced in certain aspects, should waste his time and energies wading through those particular subjects again.
In order to differentiate between the existing R.S.A. scheme and the simplified one specially devised to provide for the new scheme, the former was termed scheme A, and the latter scheme B. Five years of working showed that scheme B provided all that was wanted for practical purposes. In fact, a useful yardstick was provided by the fact that the Institute of Transport was prepared to accept the diploma as a qualifying standard for candidates of studentship of the Institution. The opinion of the technical colleges confirmed this opinion, and it is now probable that scheme A will be dropped in the general interest.
tion
Growth of Interest The following figures show the growth of interest in the scheme:—
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
Centres . 25 40 43 47 Candidates(upproximarelyj 200 395 720 780 834 Papers worked .. . • 412 917 1,703 1,896 2,090
Naturally, all the candidates started from scratch in the first year. By the third year 67 per cent. were firstyear, 24 per cent. second-year and 9 per cent. third-year. In 1950, 53 per cent. were first-year, 26 per cent, secondyear and 21 per cent. third-year. students. This indicates fairly consistent and satisfactory progress, but it is still considered that knowledge of the scheme is not as widespread as it should be, and that employers could do much more to popularize it.
One of the greatest difficulties in forming and running classes is the fact that most of the prospective students
are shift-workers. Several ideas have been tried to provide classes to suit their working hours, such as repeating lectures in the following week for those who missed them the first time. In a few centres, of which Manchester and Catford are noteworthy examples, duplicate classes have been held in the morning and evening of the same day. -They have proved popular, but impose a heavy strain on the part-time lecturers.