Problems of Training for the Public Service: (c) Selection and Education for the Administrative Class
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1938.tb02088.x |
| Author | Ernest Barker |
| Date | 01 July 1938 |
| Published date | 01 July 1938 |
Problems
of
Training
for
the
Public
Service
(c)
Selection
and
Education for
the
Administrative Class
By
Professor
ERNEST
BARKER,
Litt.D.,
D.Lit.,
LL.D.
Professor
in
Political
Science,
Cambridge
University
[Paper
to
be
discussed
at
the
Summer
Conference
of
the
Inslitute
of
Public Administration,
Bristol,
July.
19381
UCH
has been said, and said admirably, during the last few
NI
years, about the need for changes and improvement in the
selection and education of
our
Civil Servants. Perhaps the deepest
sayings
are
those
of
Sir Josiah Stamp, in his Presidential Address
of
Octobcr
of
last year. But nothing of what has been said by any
of
those who have addressed themselves
to
the theme implies or
involves any criticism
of
the intellectual and moral standards
of
the
personnel of
the
Service. What
is
in question
is
something entirely
impersonal.
The
issue raised is whether the things to be done by
the Civil Servant have
so
altered, and are still
so
altering, that the
kind
of
capacity required-not the degree
or
amount, but the kind
or quality-has
also
altered. Inquiry must therefore start
from
this
issue
of
change of function; and
it
must then proceed, il the fact
of
a
change of function is established, to
a
consideration
of
the
corresponding changes which are required in persons, and in the
methods
of
their preliminary recruitment and their subsequent
training.
In what ways, and
to
what extent, has there
been
a change
in
the
things to be done by the Civil Servant? The question may be
answered
in
different
ways.
One answer might be, to borrow a
phrase of Sir Josiah Stamp, that the State has changed
‘‘
from police-
man and regulator to doctor and social reformer.” That answer
would
be based,
in
the main,
on
the development
of
social services
during the last thirty years-services which have brought the
Civil
Servant, who is concerned with their punctual discharge and regular
administration, into
a
close and intimate contact with the doings
and sufferings
of
millions, and have made him an influence on their
lives.
This
is
a true enough answer,
so
far
as
it
goes;
and
it
involves
287
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