--namely, that carried on in schools for mentally or physically
defective children--affords scope for a lifetime of very happy work to
women who are really fitted for it.

The qualifications required by teachers in these schools are the
ordinary certificates accepted by the Board of Education, but, in
practice, a preference is given to women who have taken up studies
which bear on their particular work. For instance, it is obvious that
a good grounding in psychology, physiology, and hygiene is especially
valuable in schools of this description, and proofs of the successful
study of these subjects undoubtedly carry weight in deciding
appointments to these schools. Also, it is unusual to appoint young
teachers, coming straight from Training Colleges, with very little
practical experience in dealing with children, though under special
circumstances such appointments are occasionally made. The large
majority of women appointed to the London mentally defective or
physically defective schools are, however, teachers of several years'
standing, who are also under the age limit of thirty-five.

The salary of assistant teachers in the London special schools is L10
a year more than the salary such assistants would be getting in the
ordinary Council schools. This extra pay only obtains until the normal
maximum salary of assistant mistresses is reached, _i.e._, L150, so
that the monetary advantage is confined to reaching the maximum a
little earlier than would otherwise be the case. With regard to head
teachers, the extra salary varies with the size of the school, L10
being allowed for a one-class centre, L20 for a two-, three-, or
four-class centre, and L30 for a five- or six-class centre. Schools of
six classes are unusual; the majority of schools contain three or
four classes. Elder mentally defective boys from several neighbouring
schools are frequently grouped together in a special centre under
masters, and there are a few schools specially for elder mentally
defective girls, naturally under mistresses. For elder physically
defective girls there are centres in London where they may be
specially trained in blousemaking and fine needlework. These centres
have, in addition to an ordinary teacher, a trade mistress duly
qualified in the particular branch of work undertaken. The age of
compulsory retirement from teaching in special schools is sixty-five,
as in the case of ordinary schools. For both branches of the service
married w