1913 Royal Commission on Industrial Training & Technical Education
In this section I begin a review of early 20th century documents up to the Second World War. The 1913 federal document, “Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education” (Robertson) is the foundational commission report providing foundation to the 20th century set of public education policy documents. “The Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education” is a document begun in 1911 and finished four years before the First World War. Transcribed at this time and available on the website I created, canadianeducationalpolicystudies.ca (not currently online), is Part I of the report. Part I provides an overview of the various lengthy volumes of the report. This important 20th century Canadian education policy report is not widely available in the original and is certainly challenging to read in microfiche form thus discouraging study. What this commission report considers is comparable in importance to technological growth to the mid-1980s and 1990s. For this early 20th century commission some commissioners were sent to Germany to review their education system. Germany was assessed as being in advance in education and technology.
Considered from this vantage point in Canadian history, 2010, this now virtually overlooked 1913 document is significant for many reasons. It will soon be a century old and will bear reexamination particularly as 20th century public education becomes a specific object of focus and study in Canadian history. Certainly the 1913 document is relevant as we consider the agenda in this research -- conceptualizing themes or cultural features of Canadian public education policy. The 1913 document is an excellent starting point relative to considering jurisdictional limitations arising in provinces and territories as a consequence of section 93 of the Constitution of Canada. In this policy document we see an example of the provinces working together in order to shape public education policy in collaboration with the federal government. This document is the only historical 20th century example included in the collection that shows the provinces cooperating to outline in policy a significant early 20th century concern in education, that of industrial and technical education. This policy is historically fundamental for the current federal relationship with the provinces when it comes to support for vocational training for employment. Perhaps, based on the technological revolution defining the last 15 to 20 years of the twentieth century, federal involvement as historically asserted by this document, should be significantly revised in order to meet the demands of the 21st century. This suggestion for revision perhaps compares with the conclusions of commissioner Paul Kennedy in a 2009 commission report regarding substantial reform of the RCMP. The conclusion is that to keep pace with 21st century requirements the RCMP must move bureaucratically beyond the structure set by a federal RCMP Act implemented in 1919. The 1913 public education policy document sets the standard concerning federal-provincial relationship for the entire 20th century, setting out parameters for vocational/manual versus intellectual education, and the qualities that it set in place have created a bureaucratic structure out of sync with current political environment. A national commission is only possible with an overview, and without a ‘starting point’, such a national commission would be severely challenged. Any possible future review of public education as set out in the Canadian constitution would have to include the 1913 document. A review of the policy documents of the 20th century would not be complete if it did not begin with it.
Further, the significance of the “Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education” to international 20th century education policy comparatives must be glanced upon and the theme of substantial influence from western nations when it comes to Canadian public education policy making. Moving forward from the 1913 document, commission reports become increasingly narrow in their focus. Ontario’s 1950 Hope Commission summarizes the state of policy in the nation following World War II. The Hope Commission began their work in 1945. Both British Columbia and Manitoba, provinces that joined confederation in 1870, produce important education reports in 1945. Manitoba adds a significant document on adult education in 1947. Where early 20th century documents show extensive referrals to other systems both pan-Canadian and international, there is also a noticeable reduction in reference to other provinces and countries beginning with the post-war documents. Policy production is quadrupling in the 1970s, and the documents are reduced to specific rather than overarching public education policy treatments. Concurrent with this, is a reduction in references to policy models in other provinces. Likewise, references to international policy models are reduced significantly. Relative to the 1913 federal commission, there is a downward trend as reports become increasingly provincial in their focus. The documents of the 1980s focus on cutbacks and reforms and financial adjustments, the adjustments were mainly provincial in orientation. The importance of Canada’s 1913 document is that the federal government has already established a national relationship with the provinces in the matter of industrial and technical education, and it has established that the provinces are interdependent when it comes to this matter. It also mirrors early 20th century international “borrowing” occurring in education policy on technical education, providing proof that there are deep historical roots to the similarities referred to in education policies produced internationally in the post 1980s years. The document provides historical evidence that education policy translates internationally and is historically rooted and shared amongst industrialized nations.
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