Norwood (1943)

Background notes

The complete report is presented in this single web page. You can scroll through it or use the following links to go to the various chapters.

Preliminary pages (page ii)
Membership, Contents, Introduction

Part I Secondary Education
Chapter I (1)
Nature of secondary education
Chapter II (6)
Secondary education as it is
Chapter III (15)
Secondary education as it might be

Part II Examinations
Chapter I (26)
Existing examinations
Chapter II (35)
The reorganisation of examinations (i)
Chapter III (44)
The reorganisation of examinations (ii)
Chapter IV (50)
The Inspectorate

Part III Curriculum
Chapter I (55)
The curriculum in general
Chapter II (79)
Physical education
Chapter III (84)
Religious education
Chapter IV (91)
English
Chapter V (98)
History
Chapter VI (101)
Geography
Chapter VII (104)
Mathematics
Chapter VIII (108)
Natural science
Chapter IX (113)
Modern languages
Chapter X (119)
Classics
Chapter XI (122)
Art, music, handicrafts
Chapter XII (127)
Domestic subjects
Chapter XIII (130)
Education for commerce
Chapter XIV (133)
Wales and the teaching of Welsh
Summary of main recommendations (139)

Appendix A Note on the Central Welsh Board (143)
Appendix B List of witnesses (145)

Index (151)

The text of the 1943 Norwood Report was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 10 June 2007.


The Norwood Report (1943)
Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools

Report of the Committee of the Secondary School Examinations Council appointed by the President of the Board of Education in 1941

London: HM Stationery Office 1943


[inside cover]

PREFARATORY NOTE

The issue in 1938 of the Consultative Committee's Report on Secondary Education directed considerable attention to the curriculum and examination system as they have developed in Secondary Schools during the past 40 years. Since the issue of that Report a close study has been made of the administrative problems of post-war education and it was accordingly thought desirable that the curriculum and examinations in Secondary Schools of the future should be re-examined as part of the wider problems of recasting the educational system. This task was entrusted in 1941 to a Committee of the Secondary Schools Examinations Council under the chairmanship of Sir Cyril Norwood and their Report has now been presented.

It will be understood that in publishing this Report, the Board must not be regarded as committed to acceptance of its conclusions and recommendations. But it is evident that the findings of the Committee and the material on which they are based will be of interest to a wide public, and that the Report as a whole will provide a valuable contribution from an independent source to the solution of the educational problems now engaging public attention. The Board accordingly commend the Report to the consideration of all concerned with the future of education in this country and, in doing so, they desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Committee and their Chairman.

MG Holmes
28th June 1943


[title page]

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Curriculum and Examinations
in Secondary Schools

Report of the Committee of the
Secondary School Examinations Council
appointed by the President of the
Board of Education in
1941

Plato, Laws, 644

Nowhere must we hold education in dishonour, for with the noblest of men it ranks foremost among blessings. If ever it leaves its proper path and can be restored to it again, to this end everyeone should always labour throughout life with all his powers.

LONDON
HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE
1943
(Reprinted 1944)


[page ii]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Constitution of the Committeeiv
Appointment and Terms of Referenceiv
Prefacev
Introductionvii

PART I

SECONDARY EDUCATION

CHAPTER I. THE NATURE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
What is secondary education? - variety of capacity - types of curriculum - secondary education as it exists in fact1

CHAPTER II. SECONDARY EDUCATION AS IT IS
The distinguishing feature of the Grammar School - its expression in terms of curriculum - the curricula of the Secondary Schools today - the diverse functions of the Secondary School - criticisms of the Secondary School, favourable and unfavourable - the criticisms considered - conclusions6

CHAPTER III. SECONDARY EDUCATION AS IT MIGHT BE
Preliminary sketch - age of entry upon secondary education - the problem of differentiation - a 'lower school' - schools combining types of secondary education - the secondary Technical School - the secondary Modern School - the secondary Grammar School - part-time education - a break between school and University - Universities and Colleges15

PART II

EXAMINATIONS

CHAPTER I. EXISTING EXAMINATIONS
The School Certificate and Higher Certificate Examinations - the examinations in the schools, a pupil's career - the School Certificate Examination - (a) the case in favour, (b) the case against - the arguments reviewed - the Higher Certificate Examination.26

CHAPTER II. THE REORGANISATION OF EXAMINATIONS
Sixth Form pupils - entrance scholarships to Universities - State scholarships and awards at the University and major institutions for higher education - objections to the present system - aims of the proposed scheme - the scheme - a 'School Leaving Examination' to be taken normally at 18+ - the proposed examinations in relation to Sixth Form work - summary of suggestions about qualification for entrance to Universities.35

CHAPTER III. THE REORGANISATION OF EXAMINATIONS (contd.)
Examination at 16+ - reform of the School Certificate Examination - an ultimate objective - stages to its attainment - a new form of certificate - the career of a pupil in the secondary Grammar School.44

CHAPTER IV. THE INSPECTORATE50


[page iii]

PART III

CURRICULUM

CHAPTER I. THE CURRICULUM IN GENERAL
The basic principle of the curriculum - the claims of new subjects: education for life - education and 'an enlightened and instructed public opinion' - education for citizenship - some suggested new subjects - the problem of framing a curriculum - parity of subjects - balance - specialism - sound learning - the form master - three elements of education - (a) physical welfare, (b) ideals of character, (c) English - the general nature of the curriculum - the 'Lower School' of the secondary Grammar School - the curriculum of the higher forms - the Sixth Form - Libraries.5

CHAPTER II. PHYSICAL EDUCATION79
CHAPTER III. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION84
CHAPTER IV. ENGLISH91
CHAPTER V. HISTORY98
CHAPTER VI. GEOGRAPHY101
CHAPTER VII. MATHEMATICS104
CHAPTER VIII. NATURAL SCIENCE108
CHAPTER IX. MODERN LANGUAGES113
CHAPTER X. CLASSICS119
CHAPTER XI. ART, MUSIC, HANDICRAFTS122
CHAPTER XII. DOMESTIC SUBJECTS127
CHAPTER XIII. EDUCATION FOR COMMERCE130
CHAPTER XIV. WALES AND THE TEACHING OF WELSH133

SUMMARY OF MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS139
APPENDIX A. NOTE ON THE CENTRAL WELSH BOARD143
APPENDIX B. LIST OF WITNESSES146
INDEX151

Note The estimated gross cost of the preparation of the Appended Report (including the expenses of the witnesses and members of the Committee) is £1,735 17s 7d of which £280 represents the estimated cost of printing and publishing this Report.


[page iv]

CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE

Sir Cyril Norwood (Chairman).
President of St John's College, Oxford; Chairman of the Secondary School Examinations Council.

Miss MG Clarke.
Head Mistress of the Manchester High School for Girls.

Miss OM Hastings.
Secretary of the Association of Assistant Mistresses in Secondary Schools.

Mr AWS Hutchings.
Secretary of the Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools.

Dr PD Innes CBE.
Chief Education Officer for Birmingham.

Professor Joseph Jones.
Chairman of the Brecon Education Committee.

Dr JE Myers.
Principal of the Manchester College of Technology; formerly Chairman of the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board.

Mr EW Naisbitt.
Assistant Master, Ryhope Secondary School; Member of the Executive Committee of the National Union of Teachers.

Sir Percival Sharp.
Secretary of the Association of Education Committees.

Mr SH Shurrock.
Secretary of the Matriculation and School Examinations Council, University of London.

Dr Terry Thomas.
Head Master of Leeds Grammar School.

Mr W Nalder Williams.
Secretary of the Local Examinations Syndicate, University of Cambridge.

Assessors appointed by the Board of Education:

Mr RH Barrow (Secretary)
Mr GG Williams
Mr FRG Duckworth CBE
Mr WJ Williams



APPOINTMENT AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Committee was appointed by the President of the Board of Education (The Right Hon RA Butler, MP) in October 1941 with the following terms of reference:

'To consider suggested changes in the Secondary School curriculum and the question of School Examinations in relation thereto.'


[page v]

PREFACE

To the Right Hon RA Butler MP
    President of the Board of Education.

Sir,

We have the honour to present to you our report on the Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools.

The Committee was appointed in October 1941 and has met 25 times.

Evidence has been taken from a large number of individuals, associations, societies and committees representing a great variety of interests; a list is given in an appendix to this report. We should like here to express our thanks and our appreciation of the trouble taken both by individuals and others to aid our deliberations.

We wish also to give our special thanks to Mr RH Barrow, our Secretary, who has been responsible for the ordering and collation of all this evidence. We owe him a particular debt for the exercise of his gift of summing up the results of long and detailed discussions in clear and logical statements, and for thus enabling us to report much sooner than at one time seemed possible.

The terms of reference which you put before us were as follows:

'To consider suggested changes in the Secondary School curriculum and the question of School Examinations in relation thereto.'

To the task set before us we have addressed ourselves with full consciousness of the importance of the problem for the future of secondary education in this country. Twenty months after our first meeting we present to you our report. We have divided the report as follows:

In the 'Introduction' we consider briefly the terms of reference and find them to carry very wide implications; accordingly we set out the reasons why we have thought it desirable to take our enquiry further afield than at first sight appears to be necessary. Finding ourselves then committed to deal with secondary education in its broadest sense, we state briefly the standpoint which we take up as regards the general purpose of education, believing that no discussion on education can be profitable without consideration of its true foundations and proper aims.

In the first chapter of Part I we consider the secondary education of the past and its variety; we pay special attention to the existing Secondary School, its importance and tradition and the special aims which it set before itself. In the second chapter we review suggested changes in the curriculum and their reasons, which we find to be due chiefly to the growth of 'a child-centred conception of education'. The survey so made leads us to believe that reorganisation of the whole field is necessary. Accordingly in the third chapter we sketch in brief outline the main features of a new secondary education which will cover the whole child population of the country and carry them on to part-time education. We indicate also the main channels leading to the Universities and higher education of all kinds; and we make the


[page vi]

assumption that the educational and social advantages which will result from giving six months to some form of public service between school and university or other branches of education will so commend themselves that this course will be generally approved.

In the remainder of the report we deal only with the 'Grammar school' type of secondary education. Part II is devoted to recommendations for the complete reorganisation of the examinations of the existing Secondary Schools, a reorganisation which increases freedom in the school and which points the way to the development of the teaching profession by increase of its responsibility. Part III is concerned solely with curriculum; in a general chapter we set out suggestions for the freer treatment of the curriculum which is demanded by a 'child-centred education' and made possible by the greater freedom secured by our reorganisation of examinations. The subjects of the curriculum under traditional names are then briefly considered from the same point of view.

Appendix A relates to the Central Welsh Board. Appendix B gives a list of witnesses consulted.


[page vii]

INTRODUCTION

At first sight the reference put before us may appear to be simple and direct; brief reflection shows that it may be expanded at once into a series of questions, themselves containing the seeds of more. 'How far can the objective which secondary schools set before themselves be expressed in terms of a curriculum? Should the achievement of pupils and schools be tested in any way by examination, and, if so, for what purpose and by what method?' and finally, 'What is the relation between curriculum and examination? Does curriculum determine examination or examination dictate curriculum?' But behind these questions lies the most fundamental question of all. 'What is the purpose of secondary education?' If your Committee had been content to take the actual scene of secondary education at some selected moment, as for example immediately before the war, and, erecting it as a fixed and motionless background, had proceeded to consider in relation to it suggested changes in curriculum and examination, its deliberations would have been obsolete before they were concluded. For our experience as administrators, organisers and teachers has made us fully conscious that secondary education is in continual development; that it has a history, that because of its history it presents infinite variety, that it has expanded rapidly of recent years and has caught up new interests and new ideals and responsibilities, so that the very phrase 'secondary education' carries with it new implications which it certainly did not carry a few years ago. Indeed the very words of our reference 'suggested changes' imply that educational thought is not at a standstill and presuppose its movement. But that movement is general and is by no means confined to curriculum and examinations; and it has been impossible for us to regard 'change' in curriculum and examinations without reference to change in other spheres of educational activity. It was necessary for us therefore to take into consideration the general trend of educational thought in other directions than those of curriculum and examinations if our suggestions were to be relevant to a changing scene. In short, we were impelled to attempt to picture to ourselves, without going into details, the main features of secondary education as, judged by its past history and present tendencies, it might perhaps develop in the future; and in the sketching of that picture we have drawn upon our own experience of the problems of secondary education as individuals daily engaged with them, and upon the experience of a large number of individuals and associations who have placed their views before us.

But our reason for drawing the picture of secondary education which we have attempted to draw must not be misinterpreted. To attempt to present as final any of the developments which we outline in the third chapter of Part I (Secondary Education as it might be) is far from our purpose; all that we have done is to set forth in outline the conception of secondary education as a unified whole which was present to our minds when making the recommendations of subsequent chapters. The recommendations contained in Parts II and III do not stand or fall as a whole upon acceptance or rejection of Part I.


[page viii]

Still another word of explanation is necessary. As we have indicated above, the terms of our reference immediately suggest as a first question: 'If the curriculum necessarily contributes to the achieving of the purpose of secondary education, what is that purpose?' It is no part of our intention to discuss the answer to that question at length here; but we must indicate the kind of answer which we proposed to ourselves and which was present to our minds throughout our consultations. We regarded it as the purpose of education to help each individual to realise the full powers of his personality - body, mind and spirit - in and through active membership of a society. To this purpose the curriculum makes its own, but by no means the only, contribution; it must make provision in its own province for satisfying the intellectual, aesthetic, spiritual and physical wants of the pupils and must look forward to their needs as citizens and as workers with hand and brain in a society of fellow citizens and fellow workers. But personality is of great variety, differing both in kind and degree, so that the curriculum must be varied and flexible if it is to offer the nurture of most benefit to each individual.

This description of the purpose of education did not wholly satisfy us. Human personality contains many possibilities; some are worthy to be developed, some are not; the task of education is to develop those which are worthy and good and to control those which are unworthy and base. We believe that education cannot stop short of recognising the ideals of truth and beauty and goodness as final and binding for all times and in all places, as ultimate values; we do not believe that these ideals are of temporary convenience only, as devices for holding together society till they can be dispensed with as knowledge grows and organisation becomes more scientific. Further, we hold that the recognition of such values implies, for most people at least, a religious interpretation of life which for us must mean the Christian interpretation of life. We have no sympathy, therefore, with a theory of education which presupposes that its aim can be dictated by the provisional findings of special sciences, whether biological, psychological or sociological, that the function of education is to fit pupils to determine their outlook and conduct according to the changing needs and the changing standards of the day. We agree wholeheartedly that scientific method and scientific planning can do much to help in the realisation of the 'good life', and education which does not avail itself of such aid denies itself one means to the realisation of its ends. But our belief is that education from its own nature must be ultimately concerned with values which are independent of time or particular environment, though realisable under changing forms in both, and therefore that no programmes of education which concern themselves only with relative ends and the immediate adaptation of the individual to existing surroundings can be acceptable.

Nor are we in sympathy with a tendency which we detect here and there, a tendency to assume that because a thing existed before the war it must be changed after the war without due reflection whether it was good or bad or contained some good in it. We do not believe in change for the sake of change or in total destruction of something which, though in need of reform, yet contains elements of value. For we are conscious that the tradition of secondary education is a fine tradition, that men


[page ix]

and women of fine and unselfish character have built up ideals and institutions of untold value to individuals and to the nation, and that the present generation has been tried in the furnace and not found wanting: that education is necessarily slow in growth if it is to grow aright, that it would be an unforgivable wrong to those who come after not to conserve what is good from the labours of the past. We have looked backward, therefore, that we might not neglect what is good. We have looked forward that we might suggest how that good can be reinterpreted and extended more widely to meet a new conception of secondary education.


[page 1]

PART I

CHAPTER I

THE NATURE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

What is Secondary Education?

The term 'secondary', as is well known, is used in at least two senses in England. On the one hand it is used to denote the education given in those schools which fall under the Regulations for Secondary Schools, and hence it arises that, while a secondary school has been defined officially, secondary education as such has received no precise definition. A 'secondary school' is officially defined as 'a day or boarding school offering to each of its scholars up to and beyond the age of sixteen a general education, physical, mental and moral, given through a complete graded course of instruction of wider scope and more advanced degree than that given in elementary schools'. Thus the meaning of 'secondary school' is dependent upon the meaning of 'elementary school', and to ascertain the meaning of 'secondary' and 'elementary' education acquaintance with the schools of both kinds is necessary. This definition excludes Senior Schools, Junior Technical, Junior Commercial and Trade Schools. On the other hand 'secondary education' is used in a much looser sense to mean any kind of education which follows upon 'primary' education, and therefore has reference to a stage in educational progress corresponding to particular years in a child's life rather than to the precise nature of the instruction.

These two senses lead to much confusion of thought and statements In this report we shall print the word Secondary with a capital initial letter when we wish to refer to existing 'Secondary' schools, as envisaged in the Regulations for Secondary Schools, and we shall print the word 'secondary' without a capital initial when we refer to the stage of education which follows the elementary or primary stage and which is sometimes called 'post-primary'. But we shall endeavour to make clear in other ways also the sense in which we use the word.

We have some sympathy with the hesitation to give a precise definition to the term 'secondary', and indeed to 'primary'. It is easier, and perhaps in the long run more satisfactory, to describe than to define. We have viewed the problem thus: at the primary stage the main preoccupation lies with basic habits, skills and aptitudes of mind, using as data the veriest elements of knowledge which all children should be put into the way of acquiring; such instruction is adapted to the degrees of general ability of the children; attention given to special interests or aptitudes can be only tentative, since these have not yet declared themselves emphatically or constantly enough to justify such attention. In the secondary stage, on the other hand, the attempt is made to provide for such special interests and aptitudes the kind of education most suited to them; they may have begun to indicate themselves at least roughly in the last phases of primary education, or they may not declare themselves in such degree as to deserve attention till a different kind of education is encountered. It


[page 2]

is the business of secondary education, first, to provide opportunity for a special cast of mind to manifest itself, if not already manifested in the primary stage, and, secondly, to develop special interests and aptitudes to the full by means of a curriculum and a life best calculated to this ends. Thus within secondary education there must be both diagnosis or prognosis and special treatment adapted to the particular case. At what age special abilities most generally declare themselves is clearly a matter of great importance for the structure both of primary and of secondary education; it is considered in its appropriate place.

Variety of Capacity

One of the major problems of educational theory and organisation has always been, and always will be, to reconcile diversity of human endowment with practical schemes of administration and instruction. Even if it were shown that the differences between individuals are so marked as to call for as many curricula as there are individuals, it would be impossible to carry such a principle into practice; and school organisation and class instruction must assume that individuals have enough in common as regards capacities and interests to justify certain rough groupings. Such at any rate has been the point of view which has gradually taken shape from the experience accumulated during the development of secondary education in this country and in France and Germany and indeed in most European countries. The evolution of education has in fact thrown up certain groups, each of which can and must be treated in a way appropriate to itself. Whether such groupings are distinct on strictly psychological grounds, whether they represent types of mind, whether the differences are differences in kind or in degree, these are questions which it is not necessary to pursue. Our point is that rough groupings, whatever may be their ground, have in fact established themselves in general educational experience, and the recognition of such groupings in educational practice has been justified both during the period of education and in the after-careers of the pupils.

For example, English education has in practice recognised the pupil who is interested in learning for its own sake, who can grasp an argument or follow a piece of connected reasoning, who is interested in causes, whether on the level of human volition or in the material world, who cares to know how things came to be as well as how they are, who is sensitive to language as expression of thought, to a proof as a precise demonstration, to a series of experiments justifying a principle: he is interested in the relatedness of related things, in development, in structure, in a coherent body of knowledge. He can take a long view and hold his mind in suspense; this may be revealed in his work or in his attitude to his career. He will have some capacity to enjoy, from an aesthetic point of view, the aptness of a phrase or the neatness of a proof. He may be good with his hands or he may not; he may or may not be a good 'mixer' or a leader or a prominent figure in activities, athletic or other.

Such pupils, educated by the curriculum commonly associated with the Grammar School, have entered the learned professions or have taken up higher administrative or business posts. Whether the curriculum


[page 3]

was designed to produce men of this kind we need not enquire; but the assumption is now made, and with confidence, that for such callings a certain make-up of aptitudes and capacities is necessary, and such make-up may for educational purposes constitute a particular type of mind.

Again, the history of technical education has demonstrated the importance of recognising the needs of the pupil whose interests and abilities lie markedly in the field of applied science or applied art. The boy in this group has a strong interest in this direction and often the necessary qualities of mind to carry his interest through to make it his life work at whatever level of achievement. He often has an uncanny insight into the intricacies of mechanism whereas the subtleties of language construction are too delicate for him. To justify itself to his mind, knowledge must be capable of immediate application, and the knowledge and its application which most appeal to him are concerned with the control of material things. He may have unusual or moderate intelligence: where intelligence is not great, a feeling of purpose and relevance may enable him to make the most of it. He may or may not be good at games or other activities.

The various kinds of technical school were not instituted to satisfy the intellectual needs of an arbitrarily assumed group of children, but to prepare boys and girls for taking up certain crafts - engineering, agriculture and the like. Nevertheless it is usual to think of the engineer or other craftsman as possessing a particular set of interests or aptitudes by virtue of which he becomes a successful engineer or whatever he may become.

Again, there has of late years been recognition, expressed in the framing of curricula and otherwise, of still another grouping of pupils, and another grouping of occupations. The pupil in this group deals more easily with concrete things than with ideas. He may have much ability, but it will be in the realm of facts. He is interested in things as they are; he finds little attraction in the past or in the slow disentanglement of causes or movements. His mind must turn its knowledge or its curiosity to immediate test; and his test is essentially practical. He may see clearly along one line of study or interest and outstrip his generally abler fellows in that line; but he often fails to relate his knowledge or skill to other branches of activity. Because he is interested only in the moment he may be incapable of a long series of connected steps; relevance to present concerns is the only way of awakening interest, abstractions mean little to him. Thus it follows that he must have immediate returns for his effort, and for the same reason his career is often in his mind. His horizon is near and within a limited area his movement is generally slow, though it may be surprisingly rapid in seizing a particular point or in taking up a special line. Again, he may or may not be good with his hands or sensitive to Music or Art.

Within this group fall pupils whose mental make-up does not show at an early stage pronounced leanings in a way comparable with the other groups which we indicated. It is by no means improbable that, as the kind of education suitable for them becomes more clearly marked out and the leaving age is raised, the course of education may become more


[page 4]

and more supple and flexible with the result that particular interests and aptitudes may be enabled to declare themselves and be given opportunities for growth. That a development of this kind yet lies to great extent in the future does not preclude us from recognising the existence of a group whose needs require to be met in as definite a manner as those of other groups.

Types of Curriculum

In a wise economy of secondary education pupils of a particular type of mind would receive the training best suited for them and that training would lead them to an occupation where their capacities would be suitably used; that a future occupation is already present to their minds while they are still at school has been suggested, though admittedly the degree to which it is present varies. Thus, to the three main types sketched above there would correspond three main types of curriculum, which we may again attempt to indicate.

First, there would be a curriculum of which the most characteristic feature is that it treats the various fields of knowledge as suitable for coherent and systematic study for their own sake apart from immediate considerations of occupation, though at a later stage grasp of the matter and experience of the methods belonging to those fields may determine the area of choice of employment and may contribute to success in the employment chosen.

The second type of curriculum would be closely, though not wholly, directed to the special data and skills associated with a particular kind of occupation; its outlook and its methods would always be bounded by a near horizon clearly envisaged. It would thus be closely related to industry, trades and commerce in all their diversity.

In the third type of curriculum a balanced training of mind and body and a correlated approach to humanities, Natural Science and the arts would provide an equipment varied enough to enable pupils to take up the work of life: its purpose would not be to prepare for a particular job or profession and its treatment would make a direct appeal to interests, which it would awaken by practical touch with affairs.

Of the first it may be said that it may or may not look forward to University work; if it does, that is because the Universities are traditionally concerned with the pursuit of knowledge as such. Of the second we would say that it may or may not look forward to the Universities, but that it should increasingly be directed to advanced studies in so far as the Universities extend their orbit in response to the demands of the technical branches of industry.

Purposes Common to Various Types of Curriculum

Hitherto we have treated secondary education as that phase of education in which differences between pupils receive the consideration due to them. But when the boy with special interest in Languages or Art has been provided with an education which takes this interest into account, he still remains a boy. In other words, in spite of differences all pupils have common needs and a common destiny; physical and spiritual and moral ideals are of vital concern to all alike, and secondary


[page 5]

education, whatever form it may take, must regard as its chief aim the satisfaction of all the needs of the child, both as a human being and as a member of a community. At the earliest stages there must be much that is common to the various types of secondary education, even as regards curriculum. For it would be a mistake to regard transfer from the primary to the secondary stage as a 'break': rather it is a process, and the transfer must be eased by a curriculum which carries over to some extent from the primary stage, and later takes on a more pronounced colour according to the type of secondary education chosen. Hence it would be reasonable that in the various types of school offering secondary education there should always be resemblances resulting from common purposes, but that in the early stages the resemblances should be stronger.

To sum up, secondary education is the second stage in the growth of the child. Healthy growth implies continuity, and, as we have said, the change from primary education is a process. For this reason all schools offering secondary education will have certain resemblances, but, since the function of the secondary stage is to provide for special interests and aptitudes, the differences between one type of curriculum and another will progressively become more pronounced as the child grows older. If secondary education as a whole is to do justice both to the individual pupil and to the community, each type must strive for the achievement of those aims which it shares with other types, while at the same time providing for the special needs of those pupils to whom it offers its particular form of education.

Secondary Education as it Exists in Fact

Under the existing organisation of secondary education in this country the three kinds of curriculum which we have indicated have in fact been provided in the Secondary Schools, in the various types of Junior Technical Schools and in the Senior Schools; within each type of school and within individual schools various kinds of courses have been offered. In so far as these schools assume, as they do, previously acquired skills and habits exercised upon the elements of knowledge and on that assumption go on to differentiate special aptitudes and interests and to cater for them, the schools are in fact secondary in character, using the term secondary to denote the second stage in education. Secondary education, as it exists in fact, already shows the diversity which we regard as essential to its health. The Junior Technical Schools, though inadequate in number and equipment, provide varied opportunities; the Senior Schools, though only in an early stage of development, are showing enterprise in meeting the special needs of particular localities. With Junior Technical Schools and with Senior Schools we are not specifically concerned, except in so far as consideration of them is necessary to the building of a single structure of secondary education, and we shall make no attempt to describe them in detail. The Secondary Schools show great variety as regards traditions, the aim and destination of their pupils, the interests and abilities of pupils, organisation and curriculum. Inheriting the tradition of the Grammar School they have at the same time held to it and deviated from it: indeed they now display a variety which some


[page 6]

critics would say has reached the point of confusion in aim and function. That there should be variety we regard as essential; willingness to recognise needs and to make the adaptation necessary to meet them is a sign of vitality in education. The question which concerns us, however, is whether, even amid the variety offered by Secondary Schools, the curriculum is really suited to all the pupils in them. Are the Secondary Schools, which have traditions and obligations of their own, attempting to satisfy needs which should be satisfied by other forms of education?


CHAPTER II

SECONDARY EDUCATION AS IT IS

In this chapter we propose to address ourselves to the question raised at the end of the last chapter: 'Do the Secondary Schools provide the kind of education best suited to the needs of the pupils now attending them?' To that end we consider first the ideal which distinguishes the schools in the Grammar School tradition from other types of secondary education, namely those given in Junior Technical Schools and Senior Schools; we then sketch the way in which the Grammar School has tried to express in terms of curriculum its own ideal; This sketch takes into account recent changes in curriculum and examinations and proposals for further change. We shall then review the criticisms, favourable and unfavourable, made upon Secondary Schools, and finally we shall set out the conclusions to which our survey leads us.

The Distinguishing Feature of the Grammar School

We resist the temptation to recount the history of the Grammar School and its curriculum. Its origins and development have been set forth in many places, but we would refer in particular to the first chapter of the Report of the Consultative Committee on Secondary Education [Spens 1938], which contains a brilliant account of the subject. We are concerned here with what in fact is the distinguishing feature of Grammar School education, remembering that existing Secondary Schools inherit and hand on the Grammar School tradition.

The distinguishing feature of the Grammar School for our present purpose lies in the intellectual ideal which it upholds as best suited to a particular group of pupils. We repeat what we have already said: the mind suited by a Grammar School curriculum is interested in learning for its own sake; it can take in an argument or a piece of connected reasoning, is interested in causes, whether on the level of human volition or in the material world: it cares to know how things came to be as well as how they are; it is sensitive to language as expression of thought, to a proof as a precise demonstration, to a series of experiments justifying a principle; it is interested in the relationship of related things, in development, in structure, in a coherent body of knowledge. To such a mind the application of knowledge may be of great importance, but it does not rest content with a limited application to set problems; it is prepared to fill in the interstices between principles readily applied with principles less easily applied


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in order to make a logically complete and systematic structure. It is willing to suspend judgement, recognising that sound criticism must be informed; it is willing to be detached in attitude in order that criticism may be impartial and free from sentiment. In short, it has that pre-requisite of all successful pursuit and use of knowledge, the power and the will to ask relevant questions.

For a mind showing promise of this kind the Grammar School has traditionally provided a curriculum which it regards as appropriate. In considering what is appropriate the Grammar School has immediate regard for the full development of the mind of the pupil with which it is concerned and for the contribution which such a mind when developed can make to society: it is not immediately and directly concerned with training for a particular occupation clearly envisaged. Yet, though it is concerned to do justice to the kind of pupil committed to it, it realises that the whole personality cannot be expressed in terms of mind, and while carrying out its special responsibilities it discharges also those duties to its pupils which it shares with other forms of education. It has believed that it fulfils its special responsibilities best in the interest of individual and society by introducing the pupil to the main departments of human thought and activity and by familiarising him with the subject-matter and the methods and the limitations of those departments. It has held that the experience of the past is necessary to the understanding of the present and relevant to the planning of the future, that the experience of the past is to be found in its literature and the record of its achievement, and that the extension of experience at which education aims can be profitably and effectively brought about for its pupils partly through the study of books. In short, the Grammar School upholds an ideal of disciplined thought promoted by an introduction to the main fields of systematic knowledge, which is valued first for its own sake and later invoked to meet the needs of life. Whatever else it may do for the pupil, and it must perforce do much besides, it must hold fast to this ideal, for in justice to its pupils and the future it cannot be content with less.

We have indicated the distinguishing feature of the Grammar School in terms of an intellectual ideal. But we are far from asserting that this is the only ideal which the Grammar School sets before itself or its pupils. Nor do we imply that this type of school alone values the intellectual. We mean that in the Grammar School the pupil is offered, because he is capable of reaching towards it, a conception of knowledge which is different from that which can be and should be envisaged in other types of school; in other respects the ideals of all types of school are generally similar, though the measures taken to achieve them may vary.

The ideal of Grammar School education has not been remote and beyond reach; the history of learning and letters and science, of administration and government and industry, as well as the aspiration and achievement of ordinary folk testify to its influence; it is an ideal which the country cannot afford to lose.


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Its Expression in Terms of Curriculum in the Past

The origins of the Secondary School curriculum lie far back in the past and are not necessarily tainted for that reason. For our present purpose we need not go back further than the beginning of the present century. At that time the typical Secondary School offered a curriculum which may shortly be described as follows: Mathematics and Languages, particularly Latin, received the greatest stress; French occupied a recognised place; History and Geography were taught with varying degrees of emphasis. There was instruction in English, though often of a formal kind. Natural Science was beginning to make its way into the timetable, but was uncertain as to its aims and methods and cramped for lack of time and facilities. Divinity formed a part of the work of all forms. Games were played, and drill and gymnastic exercises, often under an ex-Army instructor, constituted Physical Education. Art was taught in the lowest forms, Music generally flourished, if it flourished at all, in musical clubs and glee societies; Handicraft, if taught at all, was confined to the lowest forms. The school was organised as a rule in two 'sides', classical and modern, the classical side taking chiefly Latin, Mathematics, French and perhaps Greek, the modern side giving time to French and German, Mathematics and Natural Science. Apart from the division into 'sides', there was little choice of subjects and little variation of treatment to suit different needs.

Judged by modern standards this curriculum offered an education which was overweighted on the intellectual side; it often neglected unduly certain fields of knowledge as, for example, Natural Science, and certain important aspects of human experience, as, for example, the so-called 'aesthetic' subjects. Its treatment of subjects may have been mistaken, but it maintained an ideal of intellectual effort and a disinterested attitude towards knowledge.

The Curricula of the Secondary Schools Today

It is not easy to say what curriculum is typical of the Secondary School of today. A curriculum may include strong emphasis on foreign languages or on Natural Science and Mathematics; on the other hand only one foreign language may be taught and there is some feeling in some quarters that even that should not be obligatory on all. English has secured a place in the curriculum of all pupils; History and Geography appear in the timetable of most pupils, but one of them may be given up as the last year of the Main school course is approached. Art, Music, and Handicraft most usually find provision in the early forms; in the Fourth and Fifth Forms they are finding an increasing place, though not equally in all schools yet. The curriculum may be such as to prepare pupils for entrance scholarships to Universities, with the choice of career yet to be made; on the other hand instruction in shorthand, typewriting and book-keeping may be given with the object of immediate entry into commerce. For some pupils the horizon of occupation is remote; for others it is close at hand and the course of instruction is adapted accordingly.

Yet variation of curriculum finds necessary limits; for entry into the Universities and into many professions depends upon the possession of


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a School Certificate carrying the necessary endorsements, and business houses also largely demand this same certificate. Hence the curriculum is closely linked with the examination. On the other hand, as newer subjects have increasingly asserted a claim to a place in the curriculum and have been found more appropriate than the older subjects for certain types of pupils, constant pressure has been exerted to accord them a place in the examination and to relax the regulations and conditions which have governed the choice of subjects which qualify for a certificate. The result is that within the framework of this examination there is considerable latitude and the alternative courses possible for pupils in the same school may differ very widely, though a minimum number of subjects is required from all candidates. These changes in curriculum and examination have been made to meet the greatly increased variety of needs and the enlarged range of ability, both in kind and degree, which are manifested in the Secondary Schools. Thus increased numbers in the Secondary Schools have resulted in a growing variety of types of pupils in them; their needs have been progressively met by an expanding range of subjects which is now too wide for many schools to provide; at the same time these developments have modified the conditions of the examination which crowns the secondary course below the Sixth Form.

The Diverse Functions of the Secondary School

This brief sketch is sufficient to show that the Secondary School of today aims at fulfilling many more functions than the Grammar School of forty years ago. Not only does it retain the ideal of Grammar School education in the interest of some pupils, but it also takes into account the needs of many pupils for whom that ideal is not the most appropriate and who in actual fact do not undertake a programme which would afford the means of achieving it. In fact, the obvious inappropriateness of the Grammar School curriculum for many pupils now in Secondary Schools has forced those concerned with education to rediscover an old truth - that the curriculum must fit the child, and not the child the curriculum. This is the motive behind much of the change, both as regards administration and examination as well as regards curriculum, which has recently taken place; this is a truth which in our view must be kept in the forefront of educational reform, and which is one of the basic principles underlying the recommendations of this report.

Our immediate concern, however, is with the heroic attempts which the Secondary Schools are making to realise this fundamental conception of education and with the degree of success which they may be achieving. At this point, therefore, we should take account of the views, unfavourable and favourable, which are held as to the success of the Secondary Schools in discharging their manifold tasks.

Criticisms of the Secondary School, Favourable and Unfavourable

From the nature of the case the comments contained in the evidence submitted to us tend to be unfavourable rather than favourable, for the critics are more concerned to point to defects than to assign credit or praise. But it is also clear that in their view there is much to commend in the achievement of the Secondary Schools and their


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purpose seems to be rather to make a good thing better than to condemn root and branch. Our attitude is similar; if we pick out adverse criticism in our evidence, it is to discover how far it is true and, if it contains truth, to suggest a remedy. Most of the critics point to the particular weakness which they detect from their own point of view; if for convenience of presentation we combine their criticisms, we realise that we are painting a much more sombre picture than any of them individually would desire. The picture would be as follows. The curriculum is traditional; in so far as it has a basis, it rests upon a conception of a liberal education which is outmoded and a psychology which is unsound; a liberal education is now held to include vocational education, and new ideas in psychology have destroyed whatever justification the old curriculum may have had; the traditional programme has not kept pace with advances in educational thought, or in psychological enquiry. Throughout the Secondary School course it is assumed that it will receive the crown of a University career; for this end subjects are included in the curriculum and related as they are, and to this end is directed the handling of them individually. Yet only a small percentage of pupils reach the objective assumed throughout their course; the remainder, to whom the purpose underlying their education is irrelevant, must necessarily leave school ill-prepared for the life and work which lies before them; they leave clutching as their most precious credential for their work a certificate which under certain conditions would qualify them for entrance to a University. Apart from the objective of the curriculum, the subjects themselves are too many; new subjects clamour for admission and are admitted, though fitted in with difficulty; the result is congestion of the timetable and confusion of aim, too much being attempted and too little being performed. There is lack of flexibility, individual needs are neglected; too many subjects are carried up to the same level and they are carried up not as essential parts of a unity, but as a meaningless congeries [a collection of things merely heaped together], gathered together by tradition or chance or pressure or caprice. The subjects themselves are handled too rigidly; they make little contact with each other or with life or reality or future occupation or interests; examination requirements cast their shadow over all; the acquisition of information is given undue importance; a premium is put on memorisation; power of judgement remains untrained; second-hand opinions pass for knowledge. We could continue at equal length to record the criticisms which have been made to us of the pupil who has passed through this curriculum, but we feel that too frequently the critics lay to the account of the schools the faults which are inherent in the immaturity of boyhood and girlhood. We will merely record that the criticisms of handwriting, spelling, and the use of English, oral and written, are too general to be ignored.

The criticism is strong, but there is much to be said on the other side. Head Masters and Head Mistresses would easily and justly provide an impressive body of evidence to the contrary and could give chapter and verse from their own school, its curriculum, its teaching and the record of the achievement of former pupils. On the intellectual plane the Secondary School has maintained in some fields and raised in others a standard of scholarship which cannot be reached


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without good native ability in pupils and sound teaching on the part of teachers. It has sought to develop powers of body and mind, and to train in self-discipline and co-operation, in industry and hard work; it has held up ideals of independence and resourcefulness. In doing all this it has achieved, we believe, more success than some critics allow. If further evidence were needed to prove the qualities of the Secondary Schools, the history of the last three years would provide it. If we said that their boys and girls have shown themselves ready to undertake whatever tasks came their way, to stand up to hardship and discomfort, and worse, with courage and cheerfulness, and in the things that matter have shown themselves capable and steadfast, we should be saying what is true, but claiming no more than can be claimed for all the youth of the country. But the pupils of the Secondary Schools have also shown themselves enterprising, adaptable, and capable of meeting in quantity and quality the very special demands made in new developments of applied Science and of linguistic study. It is not too much to say that, if a demand of similar range had been made in the last [First World] war, it could not have been met; in this war it has been met. That is one very real measure of the achievement of the Secondary Schools, and it goes to show that some of the comments of the critics have been found on the severest test that can be applied to be untrue.

We devote the next paragraphs to a consideration of some of the criticisms which may contain truth; but we would first observe that some of the criticism comes from members of the teaching profession itself. This is clearly a good sign; for, if within a profession there are those who are aware that all is not well, one of the conditions necessary for the remedy of defects is already forthcoming, and there is no reason to think that awareness of defects is not accompanied by the will and ability to remove them.

The Criticisms Considered

In many respects the curriculum of the Secondary School is traditional; in spite of this, however, it has not remained static but has admitted within itself much change in outlook and method; that further change is desirable we do not deny. It may in the past have been associated with a psychology which is now in some quarters considered to be unsound, but it is not a necessary consequence that the curriculum itself is basically unsound; it may have been the right thing, though for the wrong reason, and the experience of schoolmasters that through it they are doing a good work for their pupils is not lightly to be set on one side.

It is true that the Secondary Schools look towards the University and the professions; they would fail in their duty to an important proportion of their pupils if they did not. As it is, there is not the slightest doubt that the Secondary Schools have abundantly served the interests of those of their pupils who looked to the professions and to the Universities.

Further, it is by no means proved that, for a certain type of pupil not going up to the University, education up to a certain stage in the


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same classroom with future University scholars is in itself a bad thing or is not in their interest or the interest of the country. We ourselves should regard it as eminently desirable that the cleavage between University candidates and the ablest of the remainder should not be drawn clearly: each can gain much from each, and the presence in the nation of a section of the public which has been educated with pupils of great academic ability is in itself to be desired. But we should agree that too many who have sat in that classroom have found a curriculum which was not the best adapted to their needs. Indeed we strongly suspect that part of the criticism directed against the curriculum is really directed not against the curriculum itself but against its suitability for many of the pupils now in the extended Secondary Schools of the country. With this point of view we agree. The Grammar Schools naturally offered a curriculum in accordance with their tradition; as secondary education attracted more and more children, the needs to be met grew more numerous and diverse. The schools have done what they could; much anxious thought has been given to the so-called less academic pupil and for him many adjustments of machinery and relaxation of requirements have been made. Nonetheless a condition of tension and strain still remains, and the question is whether further adjustment within the existing framework is possible, whether it could go far enough and whether it would be successful.

Again, we suspect that some of the criticism which complains that the curriculum is not related to 'real' interests or is 'not closely enough in touch with reality' is occasioned by regard to the proportion of pupils for whom the Grammar School curriculum is not suitable; but it is often so used as to appear to condemn the curriculum in respect of all pupils. The meaning of the phrases deserves more examination than can be given to it here. To deny reality in the realm of ideas is to fly in the face of history as well as modern experience, and never more so than at present when 'ideologies' certainly cannot be said to be without significance. But leaving on one side the philosophical difficulties of the phrases, we would say only that what is 'real' varies with types of pupil and with individual pupils. It would certainly not be in accordance with facts to assume that, because a curriculum which deals largely with things that can be seen and touched, with immediate environment, with practical skills and the world as it now is makes its appeal to the real interests of some pupils, it necessarily appeals to all. Many pupils do in fact have their interests met by the kind of curriculum which the Grammar School provides and find in History, Literature and Language or Mathematics and Natural Science a lively satisfaction of their needs. It may be entirely true that some subjects need to relate their content more closely than they do to the active experience of pupils, but this is criticism not of the suitability of the subject but of the method of its treatment.

The criticisms upon the handling of subjects seem to us to have some truth in them; but again the causes which have contributed to this result are intelligible and removable. Under present conditions a large number of subjects is of necessity carried to the same level;


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and increasing demands are being made for new subjects and for the encouragement of a number of interests, social, intellectual, artistic, and of varied activities not contemplated some years ago. The demands upon the time of teachers and taught grow continuously greater. As the school widens its sphere of interest, the time available for each of the many subjects regarded as necessary grows less: it is nicely adjusted to examination needs and little opportunity is available for digression or for that leisurely study which may be so profitable or for thoroughness for the sake of thoroughness. We suspect, too, that sometimes the value of drill and mastery has given way to appeal to spurious interest.

There is however one criticism to which we would direct special attention. From all quarters, Universities, Professional Bodies, firms and business houses, training colleges and many other interests and many individuals we have received strong evidence of the poor quality of the 'English' of Secondary School pupils: this weakness has been stressed even by those who might have been expected to be concerned chiefly with other aspects of secondary education. The evidence is such as to leave no doubt in our minds that we are here confronted with a serious failure of the Secondary Schools. The complaint briefly is that too many pupils show marked inability to present ideas clearly to themselves, to arrange them and to express them clearly on paper or in speech; they read without sure grasp of what they read, and they are too often at a loss in communicating what they wish to communicate in clear and simple sentences and in expressive and audible tone. If this complaint is true - and we are left no option but to believe it true - it deserves the most earnest attention of the schools. The causes of failure must be sought out and the objectives and the methods of English teaching must be overhauled. In the chapter which we give to English we have attempted to indicate in general terms some of the causes as they appear to us and to suggest the nature of the remedy; but, whether we are right or not in our diagnosis and prescription, we would urge that the success of the Secondary Schools in one of its most vital aims is here impugned, and that the causes and the remedy must occupy the most serious study on the part of all teachers engaged in secondary education.

Some of the criticism of the Secondary Schools concerns the influence of the two examinations, the School Certificate and the Higher Certificate Examinations, upon the curriculum and the handling of its constituent subjects and the outlook of teacher and pupil. This is a question which we examine later at greater length than is appropriate here, and discussion of it is not essential to the drawing of certain general conclusions from the survey of secondary education which we have attempted.

Conclusions

In this rapid survey we have tried to be just - just to history and the facts of the situation, just to the schools, pupils and teachers, and to the critics. The truth seems to us to stand out quite clearly: the Secondary Schools, which alone have provided full time education up to and beyond the age of 16 years, have often been asked to do too much.


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At the beginning of the century secondary education meant Grammar School education: forty years later secondary education officially so recognised and named means the education provided in Secondary Schools which inherit the Grammar School tradition. In these years, however, secondary education has gradually altered its meaning so as to denote a stage in the educational process rather than a type of educational programme. This alteration has been brought about, partly, by change in educational theory and ideals, partly, by the increased demand for a stage of education which would go beyond the elementary or primary stage. Into the causes of that demand we need not enquire.

The Secondary Schools, being the sole repositories of recognised secondary education, have had to provide for the needs of the pupils who entered them. They have in our opinion faithfully maintained their inheritance, but at the same time they have had to enlarge their horizon immeasurably to cater for very diverse abilities and interests; nonetheless they have been confined by limitations arising partly from their own nature and partly imposed from without. Because they have been asked to do too much and to serve too many ends, there has inevitably been compromise. Yet the very need to do justice to their various kinds of pupils has forced into the foreground the importance of the principle of child-centred education. Hence the search for new curricula; hence the pressure to relax examination regulations, for under existing conditions the schools cannot suggest that some of their pupils should not seek the Certificate sought by the rest. Meantime a curriculum on the whole suited to some is condemned because it is unsuited to others. That the schools have done their utmost to do justice to all their pupils is undeniable, but there comes a time when adjustment achieves nothing more and when compromise defeats all ends.

The time has come, we believe, when the real meaning of secondary education, the significance of child-centred education, the value of the Grammar School tradition, the difficulties of the present Secondary Schools should all be recognised and admitted. This means that within a framework of secondary education the needs of the three broad groups of pupils which we discussed earlier should be met within three broad types of secondary education, each type containing the possibility of variation and each school offering alternative courses which would yet keep the school true to type. Accordingly we would advocate that there should be three types of education, which we think of as the secondary Grammar, the secondary Technical, the secondary Modern, that each type should have such parity as amenities and conditions can bestow; parity of esteem in our view cannot be conferred by administrative decree nor by equality of cost per pupil; it can only be won by the school itself.

From one type of education to another there should be ease of transfer, particularly, though not exclusively, in the early stages, for the transition from primary to secondary education is not a break but a process in which special interests and aptitudes have further opportunity of declaring themselves and of meeting with appropriate treatment.


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Only on some such reorganisation of secondary education can the needs of the nation and the individual be appropriately met. The existing Secondary Schools would continue to perform their proper task without distraction; the secondary Technical Schools would receive an access of pupils well able to profit by the courses which they provide; the Modern Schools still in process of formulating their aims and methods would gain the scope necessary to them to fulfil the promise which they already show, and we do not regard it as impossible that eventually pupils of over 16+ may be found in them. What we are concerned with here and now is that the three main types of secondary education would be free to work out their own spheres of usefulness; all would gain and not least the individual child.


CHAPTER III

SECONDARY EDUCATION AS IT MIGHT BE

In this chapter we propose to set out our view of secondary education as it might be reorganised, and it will be convenient if we sketch first in general terms the main outline of our proposals, and discuss the proposals later at greater length.

Preliminary sketch

At the age of 11+, or earlier in some cases*, a child would pass into one of the three types of secondary education which we have postulated, secondary Grammar School, secondary Technical School, secondary Modern School. This first classification of pupils would necessarily be tentative in a number of cases, for the diagnosis of special interests and skills demanding a curriculum suited to them takes time. The next two years would be spent in what for convenience we call the 'Lower School' of one of the three types of school, and during these years a generally common curriculum would be pursued, though within limits there would be some variation. During these years the special interests of the child would be studied and, if desirable, transfer would be recommended. After two years a review of all pupils in the Lower School of all types of school would be made; promotion into the higher forms of the school in which a pupil found himself at 11+ would not be automatic, unless that were the right school for him. From the age of 13+ to 16+ a pupil would pursue a course of study suited to his abilities in the type of school which could offer it. This course would lead either to employment and to part-time continued education up to the age of 18+ or to whole-time continued education culminating in the University or in institutions offering opportunities for further study. We regard it as important that the doors to further study should be kept open along as many paths as possible, regard being had to the maintenance of the standard of such further study. The full secondary

* 11+ is a term of art; it means that the able child would go on at 10+. the average child at 11+, and some children would more appropriately go on at 12+.


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Grammar School course we consider to extend to 18+, but we think it essential that pupils from secondary Technical Schools should have greater opportunity of going on to places of advanced study than at present, and we are anxious that pupils who have left at 16+ or so and in later years show ability to profit from full-time advanced study should be able to gain admittance to it; their case is borne in mind in later proposals relating to examinations. On educational grounds we are in favour of a break of six months, in which boys and girls between the ages of eighteen and nineteen years would render public service interpreted in a broad sense, and the recommendations which we make allow for such a period. Before this break comes pupils going on to Universities and other places of advanced study would have taken the examinations necessary to secure admission and financial aid, and would take up residence after the period of service. Finally, we would envisage greater facilities for Adult education much more widely conceived and distributed than at present, believing that without part-time education and adult education the work of the schools must necessarily be incomplete.

Such is the general outline of secondary education which we have in mind, and we go on to elaborate such features of it as fall within our terms of reference.

Age of Entry upon Secondary Education

We have given much thought to the consideration of the right age for transfer to secondary education, having in view the special purpose which distinguishes the primary from the secondary stage.

The evidence placed before us and study of the views of those who have already considered similar evidence convince us that special interests and abilities do in fact often reveal themselves clearly by the age of 10+ or 11+. But this is not true of all children; in many instances the cast of mind, not sufficiently manifested by 11+, gradually reveals itself in the next two years or possibly later. It would be to the advantage of children whose interests and abilities were clearly revealed by 11+ that they should at once have an appropriate curriculum; on the other hand it would be wrong to force a particular kind of curriculum upon a child before he had shown that it was suitable for him. Accordingly any satisfactory plan for differentiating pupils must, in our view, fulfil at least four essential requirements; first, it must allow for early discovery of special abilities, no less than for late discovery, with a view to the provision of suitable curriculum and suitable method of treatment; secondly, it must proceed on the assumption that the discovery is dependent upon skilled observation over a period of time which may vary considerably with different pupils and the diagnostic methods employed; thirdly, it must leave room for the rectifying of errors of judgement or failure on the part of pupils to fulfil promise; fourthly, it must be carefully thought out without being rigid or mechanical and must allow within limits for individual choice.

The Problem of Differentiation

This process of differentiation for the appropriate type of secondary education should begin in the primary stage where the teachers have


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the opportunity of forming a judgement upon their pupils. We would regard the judgement of the teacher - based upon observation of the classroom work, the general interests and certain qualities, as for example, power of sustained effort, shown by the pupil - as the most important factor to be taken into consideration in the recommendation of the appropriate education for him. Much valuable work has already been done on the problem of devising effective school records, the usefulness of which has been sufficiently demonstrated; there is, however, need for much further investigation of purpose and method in this field, and we wish to draw attention at this early stage both to the importance of school records and to the need for further thought upon them, since at more than one point in this report their importance is emphasised. Briefly, by a school record we mean a history of the child's development compiled by teachers who have known and taught him; it would contain an objective record of progress, with notes on special circumstances deserving to be taken into account; it would thus furnish a progressive judgement indispensable for decision as to his most appropriate education in the future, and it would guide those who were later charged with that education. Such a record, compiled by teachers trained to observe and to reflect upon their observations, we regard as the best single means at present available of discovering special interest and aptitude and general level of intelligence. Some teachers would wish to use as a supplementary method of arriving at a true judgement the tests which are generally known as 'intelligence' tests, 'performance' tests and the like. Hitherto tests differentiating type of ability have not been easy to devise, though there is some evidence that recent investigation may be more successful. If such tests are used with full consciousness of their experimental nature and their proper application, they may in our opinion be used to advantage in combination with the school record based upon the judgement of the teacher. To the methods which we have discussed we would add, if it be found necessary for purposes of differentiation, a purely qualifying test conducted in the pupil's own school in the ordinary school subjects which he has taken.

We suggest therefore that differentiation for types of secondary education should depend upon the judgement of the teachers in the primary school, supplemented, if desired, by intelligence and other tests. On the basis of these combined verdicts a recommendation should be made that a pupil should continue his education at the type of school appropriate to him, due consideration having been given to the wish of the parent and the pupil. We recognise that this method of selection cannot become fully operative until there is sufficient provision of secondary education of the various types.

A 'Lower School'

However carefully devised and sympathetically carried out, differentiation at 10 or 11+ cannot be regarded as final. Opportunity must be given for the rectifying of mistakes, and for dealing with cases of late development or failure to fulfil promise. For this reason we advocate that for an average two years after entry to the secondary school the pupil


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should belong to a 'Lower School', placed in the general control of a master or mistress responsible to the Head Master or Head Mistress. This master or mistress would be charged with special oversight of the work of the forms comprising the Lower School; besides co-ordinating the teaching, in which he would share, he would have the special duty of observing the progress and development of the individual pupils; he would recommend that after due allowance of time pupils for whom the higher forms of that school could not offer a suitable curriculum should be transferred elsewhere. By the end of two years every pupil should have been sympathetically and skilfully reviewed, and at roughly the age of 13+ promotion of suitable pupils should be made into the higher forms. Such promotion should not be automatic or assumed as consequent upon entry to the lower school; it should be made only because, in the opinion of those qualified to judge, the curriculum of the higher forms offered a course of education suited to the needs of those promoted.

Thus by the use of the records of the primary school together with subsidiary tests, and by a period of observation and trial in the Lower School, differentiation would become a process, in which time and opportunity would be given for study of the relevant considerations, rather than a snap judgement dependent upon performance in an examination.

In order to ease the transition from primary education to the appropriate secondary course and to enable transfer from one type of school to another to be carried out effectively, we would advocate that the curricula of the Lower School in all types of school should be generally common. Some variation must be allowed. Pupils admitted to the secondary Grammar School, for example, clearly should begin one or two foreign languages if their best interests are to be served; at the same time the grammar school should make it possible for 13 year old entrants to begin a foreign language, and for this some generosity as regards staffing would be necessary. Pupils who need the most concrete form of education possible in the Modern School should have an appropriate curriculum, though there is no reason why a modern language should not be taught to the pupils for whom it is suitable. But we believe that the variety of course which each type of school should offer would allow a curriculum largely common to those in each school for whom the question of transfer is likely to arise, even when allowance is made for the differences in treatment of the same subjects which each type of school might consider appropriate.

Schools combining Types of Secondary Education

Hitherto we have spoken of secondary Grammar Schools, Technical Schools and Modern Schools. We have urged that in amenities, buildings, playing fields and staffing ratio they should enjoy similar conditions. It is appropriate at this point to consider whether they should occupy separate buildings or whether there are circumstances which permit of one type of school being combined with another in the same building and under the control of one Head Master or Mistress.

The phrase 'multilateral school' has frequently been used in the evidence offered to us orally and in writing. It is a phrase which few of our witnesses have used in the same sense. To some of them the


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larger Secondary Schools of today are already 'multilateral' in the sense that they offer alternative courses of study; others would carry further the diversity of courses so as to include curricula which would offer specialised courses in preparation for particular occupations; others again would extend the range of a multilateral school to include technical work such as is now undertaken in a Junior Technical School and also the curriculum appropriate to the existing Senior School. The vagueness of the phrase has in our opinion been responsible for much confusion of thought and statement, and in the interest of clarity we propose to avoid it, even at the risk of using a clumsy nomenclature.

We consider it essential to the variety which secondary education should display that there should be alternative courses suited to the degrees of general intelligence and special abilities of its pupils; the secondary Technical School presents a special problem with which we deal later. Thus, the secondary Modern School should distinguish kinds of curricula or special methods of treating subjects to suit the varied interests and capacities of its pupils; the secondary Grammar School should admit of alternative courses in which differing weight is laid upon Languages or Natural Science or Mathematics or whatever combination of subjects is desirable. Thus each school offers alternative courses which conform to its general type, and each may be described as a school with two, three or more courses. Such variety within the type we regard as highly desirable if the needs of its pupils are to be satisfied; but it is evident that variety cannot be preserved if the number of pupils falls below a minimum figure.

The question now arises whether types of school could be combined under one roof and one direction, so as to make a 'two-type' or 'three-type' school. As regards the secondary Technical School, we would observe that the Junior Technical School has in the past owed its success to its very close association with local industry; such schools have been staffed by men who were in touch with local needs and sensitive to each change in the industrial requirements of the moment. Nothing should interfere with that relationship, and it is very doubtful whether it could be maintained unless the Technical School were free to direct its own destiny. Apart however from the Technical School, a two-type school combining Grammar School and Modern School seems to be satisfactory in certain circumstances. As has been pointed out, each type of school should not fall below a certain figure if it is to offer variety of courses within itself. On the other hand the tradition of English education has always valued human contacts and is not favourable to large schools in which the Head Master cannot have sufficient knowledge of each boy; thus a maximum figure is imposed beyond which expansion is undesirable, and in this connection it must always be remembered that there are far more pupils for whom a Modern School is appropriate than there are pupils for whom a grammar school is appropriate. We envisage therefore that within the limits of these circumstances experiment will be made with a two-type school.

By the age of 13+ the main line of interest and ability displayed by the pupil would generally have declared itself, and he would find


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himself in a secondary Technical or Modern or Grammar School. We propose to consider briefly the opportunities which we should like to see available to him there.

The Secondary Technical School

In assuming a 'Lower School' of 11+ to 13+ in the Technical School we are suggesting that the Technical School of the future should undertake a responsibility which has not been borne by the Junior Technical School of the past. But we think the change desirable if the Technical School is to gain a fair share of able recruits and if it is to develop the general education of a kind suitable for technical pupils. For in our view the Technical School should give a general education, oriented no doubt from the age of 13+ towards the special technical courses which it offers, but broad in conception; and it should provide also the corporate life and the activities which are equally necessary for its pupils. Admittedly such a development would carry implications as regards buildings and staff, but without such development we do not see how technical education in this country can attract and cater for pupils in sufficient number, or equip them properly to take their place in industry and commerce and as citizens in the community.

The function of the secondary Technical School should be primarily to give a training for entry into industry and commerce at the age of 16+ to meet the demands of local industrial conditions and, wherever possible and expedient, to offer facilities for advanced work from 16 to 18. At present such work is often best carried out in Technical Colleges, with which Junior Technical Schools frequently maintain close relations. From our own point of view we feel it to be most important that a road to the technical faculties of the Universities should be open for all who can fully profit from University studies. For some pupils the path will lie through advanced work in the secondary Technical School itself, for others through the Technical Colleges. For other pupils who may develop an aptitude for particular branches of Mathematics, Science or other subjects for which provision is not made in the local Technical College the required opportunity would be given by transference to the Sixth Forms of Grammar Schools where suitable instruction is available; and the opportunity should also be open for those who qualify by means of part-time education and evening studies. The whole question of University entrance is clearly concerned, and we have not been forgetful of the Technical School pupil in the suggestions which we make in a later chapter.

We may add that at present the Junior Technical School is free from external examination, and the Technical School of the future should in our opinion be equally free.

The Secondary Modern School

On the Modern School would fall the task of providing a general education for the majority of the boys and girls in the country up to the age fixed for the limit of compulsory school attendance. It would thus carry on and expand the work of the Senior Schools which were springing up under the schemes of reorganisation initiated before the [second world] war.


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To consider its curriculum in detail is outside our scope, but in our view it would fulfil its role in the secondary education of the country if it provided curricula closely related to the immediate interests and environment of its pupils and adopted a method of approach which was practical and concrete. Classification of pupils would necessarily involve differences in treatment and content of the subjects and in the pace at which they would be dealt with; environment, rural or urban, or special characteristics of locality would all affect the curriculum both as regards its make-up and the method of handling. The aim would be to offer a general grounding and to awaken interest in many aspects of life and citizenship before the pupil passed on to the specialised occupations which modern conditions demand with increasing insistence, and not to provide any special training for particular occupations. It is evident that, if such general education is to spring from the actual and real interests of the pupils - interests which are to a great extent dependent on environment - the utmost freedom must exist as regards curriculum and its treatment, which can be determined only in the light of the special circumstances of the school. We may add that we look forward to much fruitful growth and many experiments in this field of education.

The Secondary Grammar School

The secondary Grammar School should offer to its pupils such courses as fall within the function of the Grammar School as we have defined it in an earlier page. The appeal of such courses is limited to those whose real interests are satisfied by an introduction to the matter and methods of the main departments of knowledge valued primarily for its own sake. The full Grammar School course should be regarded as continuing to the age of 18+, and a higher proportion of pupils should stay at school to that age than is usual in the existing Secondary Schools. While the Grammar Schools should send on a good proportion of its pupils to places of further study, whether Universities or Colleges of various kinds or professions, a large number of its pupils should enter commerce and industry. Specialised training, however, should not be undertaken in the secondary Grammar School, save in special circumstances. The reasons for this are set out in a later chapter. In the Sixth Forms there should be courses which have particular vocations in view, as for example Nursing or Medicine, but such courses should be, as such vocations themselves require, not unduly narrow or specialised.

It is important that the standards of work in Grammar Schools should be maintained at a high level; for on the maintenance of standards in the schools depends in large measure the quality of the studies pursued in Universities and other places of higher education. But the imposition of standards on the schools solely by external authorities we do not regard as the right way of achieving or maintaining a high level of education; it is productive of some definite harm, as we hope to show later, and by itself it fails to realise its object; if accompanied by other conditions, it becomes unnecessary. We look rather, first, to the admission of pupils who can profit by the kind of education offered in the secondary Grammar School, and, secondly, to the teachers themselves and their readiness to grasp the opportunity


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of greater responsibility which our proposals about examinations offer to them.

There is, however, one point in the Grammar School course at which external examination is appropriate, namely the point at which the school passes its pupil on to other institutions concerned with further study; ability to pursue such study with profit and success in meeting the severest tests may rightly be gauged by external standard at this point and it is the duty of those authorities, Colleges and Universities, State and Local Education Authorities, which are concerned with the award of distinction and maintenance, to require evidence of fitness to profit. But such examination should be arranged so as to disturb the schools as little as possible; and there should be no confusion between qualifying and competitive tests, with resulting harm to the less able pupil.

Part-time Education

For many pupils whole time secondary education will cease by the age of 15 or 16+. Many will be anxious to launch out into occupations and to gain contact with the world of affairs and real life. But in our view they should not suddenly be flung into employment without further regard for their welfare; they are still in need of a directing influence and a focus or point of interest if the effect of their previous education is to be made secure and if they are to be encouraged to become increasingly conscious of their responsibilities as members of a community. Up to the age of 18+ all should be brought under the influence of part-time education, the aim of which would be to carry further the main lines of interest which they had developed at school. For many the activities fostered would be largely of a recreational nature, and classes organised for this purpose would offer without unnecessary regimentation the sense of purpose which is particularly to be encouraged in pupils of this age. For some, greater stress would be laid upon classes designed to carry forward the studies pursued at school or to assist them to obtain a competent knowledge of the occupations which they had entered, and we should hope that through such classes a certain number of children of late mental development might 'find' themselves and eventually go on to whole-time study in Colleges and Universities. But for all up to the age of 18+ we would urge the need, first, of training in bodily health, through games and physical instruction and other organised activities, and, secondly, of training in English in the widest sense through classroom teaching, but still more through encouragement of reading, oral expression, dramatic work and debating. Into further detail we do not wish to enter; our purpose is served if we repeat that we regard part-time education as a necessary complement to the work of the secondary school; we look to it to ensure that the youth of the country shall receive such oversight as will enable them to pass through difficult years with an increasing sense of responsibility both to themselves and to the community.

A Break between School and University

Some of our witnesses have put before us the value of a break between the end of school life and entrance upon University studies. They point


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out that students would take up University work with increased sense of the relevance and significance of its problems if they brought to bear upon them a wider experience drawn from the realities of life, and would enter upon their new studies with added freshness of mind.

With this point of view we have all sympathy. We have no doubt that the widening of experience and first-hand contact with a broader field of activity would have a beneficial influence, from the educational point of view, upon the outlook and sense of purpose of university students. But in the existing lay-out of examinations it has been difficult to make opportunity for such a period. The arrangements for examinations which we propose in a later chapter allow for a period of six months during which University entrants would be free from examinations. We leave this period free, first, because we believe the value of such a break has been increasingly realised of late years and would have been more often insisted upon in the past if examinations had not stood in the way; secondly, because we are bound to take into account the possibility of some form of public service being undertaken after the war by all pupils from secondary Grammar Schools in their nineteenth year. As regards the second point, we have no knowledge of any plans which may be contemplated, nor are we concerned with considerations of military preparedness or any aspect of the international situation. Our position is this. From an educational point of view the value of the service which boys and girls of 18 are now giving to the country can be seen, even on the partial assessment now possible, to be very great. If after the war some form of public service were to be required, we can foresee similar educational values resulting from a period of six months given by boys and girls drawn from varying circumstances of life to work of national importance - in industry and agriculture, at sea, in the social services and in similar fields no less than in the armed forces. Such a period so spent might do much to fuse the country into a single whole with a common purpose and a common understanding. For these reasons we have left room for a period of six months free from examinations.

Universities and Colleges

The proposals which we make in a later chapter for the selection and assistance of students going on to Universities depend upon our conception of University life and work and the role which the University should play in a national society. In our view the university should contain students from all sections of the community capable of profiting to the fullest degree from its intellectual and social life and of making the fullest contribution to it. We do not believe that it is to the interest of the nation that entrance to Universities should be of a purely competitive nature, regard being paid solely to achievement in a written examination. It is essential that high standards should be preserved throughout the Universities, but we would not limit these standards to intellectual promise or achievement but include also such qualities as leadership, sense of responsibility, initiative - in short, qualities of character. We are anxious not to encourage any plan which will lower standards of intellectual achievement or qualities of character in University students, and we do not wish to make any proposals which


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would overstock the country with University graduates of mediocre capacity and attainment for whom suitable work in after-life would not be available. Continental countries have learned by bitter experience the dangers of such unemployment, and the lesson should not go unheeded in this country.

Before leaving the subject of Universities we record our conviction that residence in a college or hostel, at any rate for the major portion of the course, is essential to the fullest University life. It is often more important that hostels should be increased or enlarged than that more places should be provided in lecture rooms. We regard the encouragement of a more common life, together with an extension of the tutorial system to which residence would contribute, as among the most urgent needs in the development of the newer Universities.

The University will best be enabled to fulfil its function in the life of the nation if it brings together within its walls men and women drawn along many channels from all sections of the community and possessing endowments of intellect and character of a high order. Methods of selection must be devised to achieve this end and from the very nature of the end in view must be flexible and human. Pecuniary assistance, from whatever source it is derived, should be enough to enable the student to share to the full in the general life of the University, nor should there be any need for him to accumulate from various sources grants or awards till the requisite sum is reached. Proof of fitness in the sense described above and proof of need should entitle the student to the assistance considered appropriate.

We have spoken of Universities; the same principles regarding selection, maintenance of standard and award of assistance should apply also to other courses of further education normally entered by students at the age of 18 or 19+.

We have given the outlines of a possible reorganisation of secondary education; we have traced it from the primary school to the University. Under such a reorganisation all children would have the opportunity of the education best suited to them; for variety of type and alternative courses within the type are essential to any satisfactory system of secondary education. The reorganisation implies the raising of the school leaving age, the expansion of technical education and the enhanced importance of the Modern School. To the three types of school parity of conditions should be accorded; parity of esteem must be won by the schools themselves. Such a reorganisation offers equivalence of opportunity to all children in the only sense in which it has valid meaning, namely, the opportunity to receive the education for which each pupil is best suited for such time and to such a point as is fully profitable to him. The appropriate courses of secondary education are followed by part-time education for those who leave at 15 or 16, or by whole-time education for those who stay at school beyond the statutory leaving age.

We realise that reorganisation on the lines proposed could not be brought about in a day; increased supply of teachers trained in the right way for their new tasks and the building of schools alone present


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formidable difficulties. It is also obvious that, if full time education from 16 to 18 is to be a real possibility for boys and girls who come from poor homes, some system of maintenance allowances not ungenerously devised will be found necessary. But this is a complicated problem of administration which we have not thought it our duty to enter upon in detail. What we have done is to put forward an ideal and in the light of this ideal we have considered the terms of reference.





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PART II

EXAMINATIONS

CHAPTER I

EXISTING EXAMINATIONS

In this part we propose to review existing examinations in Secondary Schools and to make proposals for reform. We shall first describe present arrangements; we shall then take account of criticisms, and in the light of the criticisms set forth the reasons which make reform desirable; and finally we shall describe in some detail a plan of examinations intended to meet the conditions after the war. It will be understood that we are dealing only with the secondary Grammar School.

The School Certificate and Higher School Certificate Examinations

There is no need for our purpose to recapitulate the history of the School Certificate and Higher Certificate examinations. Accounts may be found in the Report of the Consultative Committee on Examinations in Secondary Schools [1911], and in the Reports on the School Certificate Examination published in 1932 and on the Higher Certificate Examination published in 1937. It is enough to summarise the main features of the examinations since 1918; for by that year the issue of a series of circulars from the Board of Education had established the main framework which the examinations have retained ever since.

The chief purposes of the circulars may be summarised thus. It was intended:

(a) to confine the number of examinations which might be taken by pupils in Secondary Schools. It was forbidden in 1918 that a grant-earning school should present pupils for any school examination other than the 'First', i.e. the School Certificate Examination, or the 'Second', i.e. the Higher Certificate Examination, to be taken about the ages of 16 and 18 respectively, that is to say, at the end of the main school course and at the end of the sixth form course,

(b) to co-ordinate the examinations, which were to be conducted by seven University Examining Bodies (increased in 1922 to eight), and to arrange for consultation with teachers concerning the conduct of the examinations,

(c) to clarify the scope and function of such examinations.

As regards the School Certificate it was intended that two main purposes should govern the conduct of the examination: they were, first, that the examination should test 'the results of the course of general education before the pupil begins such specialisation as is suitable for secondary schools' and that 'the form and not the pupil' should


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be 'the unit for examination'* - the examination should follow the curriculum and not determine it: secondly, that success in the examination should under certain conditions qualify candidates for entrance to Universities and to professions. The first of these purposes was emphasised by the nature of the certificate handed to the pupil; in the case of pupils who had attended up to the age of 16 a school recognised as efficient by the Board of Education, the certificate originally contained a statement of the course of study pursued at school, signed by the Head Master or Head Mistress, besides the record of achievement in the examination and the recognition of the examination as an approved examination by the Board of Education. The record of the course pursued at school has now disappeared from the certificate.

Whether there was any chance of these two purposes being achieved simultaneously without one obscuring the other is open to doubt; it is easy to be wise after the event; but the history of the examination has shown that the second purpose rapidly overshadowed the first. For instance, the Report of the Investigators of the School Certificate Examination in 1932 felt it necessary to reassert the first of these principles, remarking that while 'it was inevitable at the time that

* The passages quoted are from Circular 849, which issued from the Board of Education in July 1914. The following paragraphs give the context:

(iii) The first examination will be designed to test the results of the course of general education before the pupil begins such a degree of specialisation as is suitable for Secondary Schools. It will correspond very closely in its scope to the present School Certificate examinations of the English Universities, and will be based on the general conception of the Secondary School course up to this stage which underlies the Board's regulations and is set out in their recent Memorandum on Curricula of Secondary Schools. That is to say, the subjects for examination will be treated as falling into three main groups - (i) English subjects, (ii) Languages, (iii) Science and Mathematics; and the candidate will be expected to show a reasonable amount of attainment in each of these groups, and will be judged by this test rather than by his power to pass in a prescribed number of specified subjects.

(iv) The standard for a pass will be such as may be expected of pupils of reasonable industry and ordinary intelligence in an efficient Secondary School. The Form and not the pupil will be the unit for examination, and it is contemplated that a large proportion of the pupils in the Form should be able to satisfy the test. It is therefore proposed that, as is the case in most of the existing examinations, the conditions for attaining a simple pass shall be somewhat easier than those required of candidates in order that the certificate shall be accepted for the purpose of matriculation.

(v) If the examination is conducted on the principle of easy papers and a high standard of marking, the difference between the standard for a simple pass and that required for matriculation purposes will not be so great as to prevent the same examination being made to serve, as the present school examinations do, both purposes; and with this object a mark of credit will be assigned to those candidates who, in any specific subject or subjects, attain a standard which would be appreciably higher than that required for a simple pass. The Board hope that the re-organisation of the School examinations will facilitate the organisation of the conditions of admission to the Universities and the Professions. But it is no part of their plan to lay down conditions of such admission, and it will be for the Universities and Professions, on a consideration of the new examination, to say on what terms they will accept the passing of the examination as exempting the pupils from their ordinary tests for admission.


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the examination should be so arranged as to serve for the purposes of Matriculation, it is nonetheless unfortunate that the primary purpose of the examination should have been thereby obscured in the minds of the examiners, teachers and the general public.' They recommended that the School Certificate examination should be set free from the conditions attaching to Matriculation so that it might secure its primary purpose as essentially a school examination providing an appropriate test of the Secondary School curriculum at the Fifth Form stage.

Meantime, with the expansion of the Secondary Schools and the increasing variety of courses which they have devised, there has been an increasing tendency to bring about modification of rules which insist upon the selection of subjects from within 'groups' of subjects and to make room for subjects which were late in claiming a place in the school curriculum. From one point of view these changes may be interpreted as a reassertion of the principle that the examination should follow the curriculum. Nonetheless they also bear witness to the degree of importance which the School Certificate has assumed in the view of the schools and the public, for it is implied that whatever curriculum is found suitable for individual pupils shall culminate in a certificate awarded by a University Examining Body, because that certificate has come to be thought of as indispensable to the pupil and the public and to the teacher and his subject.

As regards the Higher Certificate examination, it is important to note that it was devised originally as a test of two years' work beyond the stage of the School Certificate examination. Behind it were certain preconceptions about the nature of Sixth Form work which were derived from the traditions of the older Grammar Schools, the Public Schools and Universities; these preconceptions in turn implied, first, that the number of candidates would be small, secondly, that the link with the University, and so with University examinations, would be close. Hence it was not unnatural that the Higher Certificate examination should come to be used not only for exemption from Matriculation and Intermediate Examinations, but also more recently for the awards of scholarships by Local Education Authorities and for the selection of State scholars, the University Examining Bodies making recommendations for these purposes.

In the meantime the number of pupils staying at school beyond the stage of the First examination increased rapidly, and to meet their needs new courses were devised which fitted less easily into the old conception of Sixth Form work. Simultaneously the examination was required to develop into an instrument capable of selecting state scholars-from an enlarged and highly competitive field. And so, when in 1937 Investigators inquired into the working of the examination, they found that various University Examining Bodies had proposed or were on the point of proposing ways to meet the problem of making the examination perform the double function of a qualifying and a selective test. Though some of their number would have preferred more fundamental changes, the Investigators expressed in their report the view that the proposals of the Examining Bodies should be given a


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trial. At this point the war intervened, and not long afterwards this Committee was established to consider examinations in Secondary Schools.

The Examinations in the Schools, a pupil's career

At the risk of going over familiar ground it may be worthwhile to trace a pupil's career through a Secondary School with a view to assessing the function which external examinations actually do fulfil.

The pupil may enter the Secondary School as the holder of a 'special place' obtained through success in a written entrance examination taken from the primary school. Once in the Secondary School he will find a curriculum in which certain subjects loom larger than others; he will discover that these subjects are those likely to be taken in the School Certificate examination. As he moves up the school, he is likely to give up some subjects, as, for example, Scripture, Art, Music and Crafts, and he will follow an interest which will lean to Languages and Literature on the one hand or to Mathematics and Natural Science on the other; the degree of leaning will vary much from school to school. By the time he is a year from the taking of the School Certificate examination, he will know its regulations nearly as well as his teachers know them, and he will realise that he must take certain subjects to gain a certificate at all, certain subjects in certain combinations to clear Matriculation or to obtain exemption from the preliminary examinations of Professional Bodies. It will be advisable for him to take seven subjects, as the majority of candidates in fact do, in order to allow for possible failure in any. He will with good reason concentrate on his examination subjects and tend to minimise the importance of others. A term or so before the actual examination it is probable that the school will conduct a dress rehearsal of the examination to give him experience under examination conditions. The actual examination will occupy the equivalent of six days.

The examination over, various courses are open to him. If he has failed and intends to stay at school, he will take the examination again in six months' or a year's time; if he has obtained a certificate but not Matriculation, he can take the examination again, and for many purposes unconnected with entrance to Universities it will be advisable that he should. If he has gained a certificate and wishes to enter employment at once, he will show his certificate to the employer whom he approaches. His reception may vary; some employers looking for recruits to fill particular posts will demand a certificate giving exemption from Matriculation on the assumption that this is a superior certificate (which it need not necessarily be); others will accept the School Certificate, and these are increasing in number. If he wishes to enter a profession, his certificate will, under certain conditions, obtain for him exemption from the preliminary examination of Professional Bodies.

If he has passed and stays at school, he will go into the Sixth Form. At some schools, though a minority, he will be required to take selected subsidiary subjects in the Higher Certificate examination after one year; the reasons for this practice - which is not common - are, first, that an objective to his work is desirable, secondly, that success may carry additional weight in seeking entry to certain professions, and thirdly


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that a School Certificate together with a pass in four subsidiary subjects in the Higher Certificate examination gives exemption from the Matriculation examinations of certain Universities. On the other hand he may take the Principal papers in the Higher Certificate examination, since some schools take these papers in lieu of papers set at the school. At the end of his second year in the Sixth Form he will take the Higher Certificate examination as a candidate; if he is young enough, he will take it again at the end of his third year. On success in this examination much will depend: on its results he may be awarded a State scholarship and/or a Local Education Authority scholarship to enable him to go to the University. He may sit six months later, or may have sat six months earlier, for an open award at a University; for this award he may have one or two or possibly three shots. Other paths also lie open; a Higher Certificate is often an advantage in making application for certain vacancies, as for example, in Training Colleges, though this applies more often to girls than to boys: and under certain conditions the Higher Certificate gives exemptions from parts of the First MB [Bachelor of Medicine] examination.

From this sketch many details have been omitted, as for example, that old examination papers may play a considerable part in the classroom work or that emphasis may be laid on achievement in examinations in the review of the year's work on Speech Day or in school magazine. But it is important to note that admittedly some pupils would sit not more than twice for external examinations, while others, and among them the best, might sit two or three times for the Higher Certificate and also for open scholarship awards.

The examinations clearly have moved much from their original purposes, or perhaps more accurately there has been a change of emphasis. Instead of assessing the normal work of a form which has completed a stage of education, the examinations are now a matter of supreme importance to each individual child. What concerns us is to discover how the pupil and the teacher are affected by the atmosphere of examinations which this review suggests as pervading the school at all stages, till it may become the life-breath inspiring all effort. For this purpose we recapitulate the arguments favourable and unfavourable to the present system of examinations. We lay under contribution evidence from a wide variety of sources as is shown in the list of witnesses appended to this Report.

The School Certificate Examination

(a) The case in favour

The existence of an external examination has a tonic effect upon the pupil, giving him a goal towards which to strive and a stimulus to urge him to attain it. He must reach a given standard in a given time; he must have his knowledge in a form which he can reproduce, and he gains from the necessity to acquire that knowledge for a definite purpose. Since his effort must extend over a considerable period, he is trained in perseverance and steadfastness. He has confidence in the measurement of his attainments by an external standard, by which also his fellow pupils in his own school and in others are measured; if he fails or if he succeeds, he is satisfied that the test was objective and universal,


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and this consideration is particularly valuable for pupils from schools which have not yet acquired a reputation as high as the longer established schools.

For the teacher, also a goal and a stimulus are desirable. He is provided with a syllabus of work which has been tested by experience; indeed he may put forward his own syllabus, though he rarely does, and means exist for him to bring criticism of the examination to the notice of examiners. By the syllabus he is given a sense of direction towards an end which can be reached. He must plan his work, treat it with consistent emphasis, avoiding the temptation to digress too far. He must attend equally to all pupils in his class, knowing that success or failure is as important to the bottom boy as to the top. From the syllabuses and the papers he gains a sense of standard; he becomes acquainted with achievement elsewhere as assessed under similar conditions, and in the light of it he can estimate the success of his work. As regards the examination of his work, he would be placed in a difficult position if he were asked to examine the pupils whom he had taught.

On general grounds, it is maintained, the external examination is indispensable. The school is given a standard which it can strive to reach; it can thus measure itself against other schools and the standard of education throughout the country will thus be raised. If a test is to carry any weight outside the school, there must be some approximation to uniformity of standard in assessing attainment. The test and the verdict must be objective, and conditions must be equal; there can be no prejudice and no favouritism as between school and school or pupil and pupil. Employers, parents and Professional Bodies need the Certificate; employers ask for a disinterested assessment, and would not be satisfied with a Head Master's certificate; parents look for something which will be a hall-mark of their children, valid wherever in the country they may go.

(b) The case against

The School Certificate Examination is harmful to pupil and teacher and to education. It is the task of the school to provide the goal and the stimulus, in the way most appropriate to it, without the aid of an external examination which pervades the consciousness of pupil and teacher. At present the examination dictates the curriculum and cannot do otherwise; it confines experiment, limits free choice of subject, hampers treatment of subjects, encourages wrong values in the classroom. Pupils assess education in terms of success in the examination; they minimise the importance of the non-examinable and assign a utilitarian value to what they study. They absorb what it will pay them to absorb, and reproduce it as second-hand knowledge which is of value only for the moment. Teachers, recognising the importance of the parchment to the individual child, are constrained to direct their teaching to an examination which can test only a narrow field of the pupil's interest and capacities, and so necessarily neglect the qualities which they value most highly; they are forced to attend to what can be examined and to spoon-feed their weakest pupils. Originality is replaced by uniformity; the mind of the examiner


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supersedes that of the teacher; every effort is subservient to the examination, in order that a hall-mark, estimated by those to whom the pupils is an examination number, may be stamped upon a pupil on the result of single judgement on the examinable portion of his work at a particular moment. No one can examine better than the teacher, who knows the child; and a method of examination by the teacher, combined with school records, could be devised which would furnish a certificate giving information of real importance to employer or college or profession, and yet would preserve intact the freedom of the school and would rid teacher and pupil of an artificial restraint imposed from without. As for uniformity of standard, even under present conditions two apparently similar certificates mean very different things, and illusory uniformity can be bought too dearly.

The Arguments Reviewed

In giving our own estimate of the position we would remark first that some of us have been intimately associated with this examination from early days and have had opportunity to observe its influence at close quarters.

In the last twenty years the examination has rendered useful and valuable service under the skilful and devoted labours of the University Examining Bodies. At a time when the rapid expansion of Secondary Schools caused uncertainty about standards in the different subjects of the curriculum, when newly recruited teachers bringing with them little tradition and little experience were in doubt about aims and methods, syllabuses and curricula, the programme put before them in carefully devised regulations exerted a steadying influence, gave a sense of direction, defined levels of achievement and helped in no small measure to establish secondary education on a sure and sound basis. To the beneficial influence of the examination in past years we wish to pay sincere tribute.

Yet its very success has tended to bring about its progressive disintegration. Rapidly winning recognition on all hands, the certificate awarded on the examination has gathered more authority and more significance than was ever intended at the outset, till it has become a highly coveted possession to every pupil leaving a Secondary School. As the curricula of schools have widened to meet the needs of a Secondary School population rapidly growing more diverse in ability and range of interests, the original structure of the examination has changed. Subjects have necessarily been multiplied, whether susceptible to external examination or not; rules which were framed to give a unity to the curriculum tested by examination have been relaxed. Secondary education has become too varied to be confined within a rigid scheme; teachers are becoming too enterprising to be hedged in by set syllabuses, and subjects themselves are gaining in independence and resourcefulness. In the early days a scaffolding was needed for the building of secondary education; and there was some justification for examinations dictating curriculum, for we find it difficult to accept the dictum that external examinations can follow curriculum; the time-lag is too long and the ruts grow too deep. In this sense external examinations must necessarily determine curriculum, and the earlier


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the stage in the school course the tighter is their hold. But secondary education has passed through its early phases; it can stand alone, and already finds the framework which supported it to be a barrier preventing growth. Teachers are more confident of themselves; they have been increasingly associated with the work of examinations and can no longer be said to be inexperienced.

In our view the time has passed when such guidance and direction of their work as teachers need can best be given by means of an external examination; to retain a profession in leading strings is to deny it the chance of growing up to responsibility, with resulting harm to itself and to those who depend upon its services. The examination in its present form is having a cramping effect upon the minds of teachers and pupils. On this our evidence leaves no room for doubt. A substantial volume of evidence comes from teachers who regret the curtailment of their own freedom and regret the false values suggested to the pupil by the external examination. Similarly a large volume comes from teachers who are generally satisfied with present arrangements, and regard external examination as a necessary part of a school education. Notwithstanding this evidence we affirm our belief that the time has come when the teaching profession should have the chance to shoulder its own responsibilities and thereby gain its freedom and enhance its prestige.

As regards the pupil there can, we think, be little doubt that the examination has come to dominate his mind too much. We do not see how he can be blamed; he naturally adapts his attitude according to the prevailing trends of opinion. We do not attach much importance to the plea that the pupil needs the goal and the stimulus of an external examination. We take it to be the function of the school and the teacher to provide the goal, and to be their duty to supply, if necessary, the stimulus. In so far as they surrender these tasks to others, they are in our opinion surrendering what belongs primarily to the school and the teachers.

Nor are we convinced that the attitude of employers and Professional Bodies is as favourable to present arrangements as is sometimes represented. We have been at considerable pains to gather opinions from both. We have been much impressed with the widespread dissatisfaction with the present School Certificate taken by itself as a credential for employment; it does not tell the employer what he wants to know about the applicants for a post; he demands it in default of any more revealing document. He would prefer a statement which would tell him more about the boy or girl as a human being rather than as an examinee, and this statement would be supported by the evidence of the record of the school career expressed in terms which would carry their own meaning. That firms and business houses should press this need upon our attention seems to suggest that neither the School Certificate nor at present the Head Master's letter tells them what they wish to know about an applicant.

The same attitude is manifested in considerable measure by Professional Bodies. Again the plea is that they can gather little about the entrant from the certificate. They accept it as an indication of 'general


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education' and ask for proficiency in particular subjects which are of special concern to them; but they want evidence which reveals more about the candidate, and regret the tendency to assume that the possession of a certificate in itself constitutes fitness for entry to a profession without regard to other qualities which an examination cannot assess.

The Higher Certificate Examination

The Higher Certificate examination concerns fewer pupils than the School Certificate examination, and criticism, favourable or unfavourable, is not as pronounced. It has offered a two-year course of Sixth Form work and undoubtedly has had great value in the establishment of Sixth Form work in the newer schools. Originally little depended upon it for the individual pupil; but its use as a selective examination for the award of State scholarships and Local Education Authorities' awards has increased its importance. We have noted that in 1937 the working of this examination was reviewed by the Investigators, and in their report they drew attention to the double purpose which the examination served, namely, to provide an examination testing the work of the ordinary Sixth Form pupil after two years, and at the same time to select the ablest candidates for State scholarships.

We have reviewed the matter in the light of this report and of much evidence which we have received. Our conclusions may be summarised thus:

(1) In the first place the examination too often offers to the average pupil an unduly specialised course covering a syllabus which is sometimes too ambitious. Subjects which are not part of the examination syllabus tend to be crowded out of the curriculum, and the average pupil is thus led to concentrate too rigidly upon too narrow a field; admittedly this field is narrower in some subjects or combinations of subjects than in others.

(2) Secondly, the use of the same examination for two purposes tends to result in the pupil who is not a candidate for a State scholarship being overpressed, in order that he may work with the candidate, in schools where there is not sufficient staff to provide for the teaching of both types of pupil; and, in proportion as the standard of the examination is raised to make it a better selective instrument, the effect upon the non-candidate becomes increasingly harmful.

(3) Thirdly, an examination based upon syllabuses is by no means universally recognised as the best means of selecting entrants for the Honours Schools of universities.

(4) Fourthly - though this is not a criticism of the Higher Certificate examination itself - our evidence is quite clear that a written examination taken by itself is not the best method of selecting those students who can best profit to the full from a University Course. Other qualities in addition to ability to answer examination questions are necessary. Our witnesses from universities supply evidence that some of the students who win State scholarships derive less profit than they should


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from University life and fail to make a full contribution to it. Some go even further and say that attention in the last years of school life has been unduly concentrated upon examination requirements, and assert that some students come up to the universities not only narrow in intellectual outlook, but also lacking in general interests. Admittedly many do well in their degree courses, many avail themselves of all opportunities and are valuable members of the University. We shall hope to make proposals which overcome these difficulties.



CHAPTER II

THE REORGANISATION OF EXAMINATIONS

In our last chapter we reviewed examinations in the order in which they are encountered by the pupil in his progress up the school. In this chapter we propose to offer suggestions for reform of examinations; we propose, however, to reverse the order of treatment, dealing first with examinations at the Sixth Form and secondly at the Fifth Form stage. Our reasons are two: first, we wish to leave room for a break between school and University, and this necessarily affects the arrangement of Sixth Form examinations; secondly, the true function of the Fifth Form examination becomes evident if the purposes of the later examinations have first been clarified.

As has been said on an earlier page, it is possible that after the war boys and girls from secondary Grammar Schools will be required to undertake some form of public service. We know nothing of any plans; but we think that on educational and social grounds such service is desirable, and we assume that on those grounds it would last six months. The secondary Grammar School would be affected in at least two ways. In the first place, since the University terms begin early in October and such service is best rendered in the summer months, it is clear that Sixth Form pupils must have taken all necessary examinations by March of their nineteenth year before leaving school. Unless, therefore, the date of the school year is altered, the Sixth Form course of 16 to 18+, now occupying six terms, would necessarily be reduced to five terms. On this arrangement the period now usual between entry for University scholarships in December or January and entry for a State scholarship in the following July would be halved. We think that from this reduction of the time between the two examinations great advantage would result both to the individual pupil and to the work of Sixth Forms. In the second place, the average leaving age of the secondary Grammar School might rise. At present a certain number of pupils leave after a year or so in the Sixth Form, that is to say, at 17+. With a period of public service lying ahead of them, they might well think it better to remain at school for a few months more rather than to leave school and enter employment.

Sixth Form Pupils

In order to understand the problem fully it is necessary at this stage to give an account of the pupils to be found in Sixth Forms and the


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objectives which they set before themselves; the proposals which we make with regard to examinations will then be seen in relation to the needs which they are designed to meet.

To deal first with those pupils who will go to the University:

(a) There is the boy (or girl) of outstanding and exceptional intellectual ability and of scholarly mind, to whom work comes naturally and examinations do not come amiss; he takes both in his stride. On sheer intellectual merit alone, apart from any other consideration, he may justly win a place at the University.

(b) There is the boy (or girl) of good intellectual ability, alert and able and interested. His energies may spread over a wide field of work and games and general school life. For him a highly competitive examination, which offers no hardship to our first category, must necessarily involve a degree of hard and concentrated work which may in some cases lead to temporary overstrain, but in most or all must result in curtailment of interests and activities. Yet he will profit to the full from the University; he may be expected to gain at least a second class and will have made his contribution to the general life.

(c) There is the boy (or girl) who is not a natural student but is of reasonable intellectual capacity; interested in ideas, theoretical or practical, without being good at examinations; of strong personality and character, able to take the lead, and an asset to any common life. Such men or women a University cannot afford to be without.

Such, roughly, are the Sixth Form pupils who must be taken into account in any scheme devised for the selection of entrants to a University, and the proposals which we shall make have them in mind. But there are other pupils in Sixth Forms besides those going to Universities, and these we group as follows.

Many boys and girls enter colleges and major institutions of further education, such as Training Colleges, Domestic Science Colleges, Physical Training Colleges and the like. Such institutions require evidence of fitness to enter upon the course which they offer.

Professional Bodies recruit largely from Sixth Forms, taking pupils of 16 or 17 or 18 years of age. They too require evidence that an entrant has the general education, and the attainment in particular subjects, which are necessary to successful study of professional courses.

The Civil Service recruits boys and girls from sixth forms for admittance to the Executive Class, employing its own examination. The minimum age of a candidate is at present 17 years. The Service Colleges also hold competitive examinations for boys of similar age.

Finally, many pupils leave after varying periods in the Sixth Form to take up work in business houses at home or abroad. In a few cases the possession of a Higher Certificate is an advantage to the applicant, but generally the School Certificate is all that is required.

It will be remembered that in the last categories there are boys and girls of high ability and character who, if they had wished, might have gone on to a University, but have elected to pursue a different course.


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Such, briefly described, are the groups into which Sixth Form pupils may fall, as defined by their future career. Their needs must be met by a scheme of examinations which will be effective in realising their various purposes, but will at the same time cause least harm to individual pupils, and least dislocation of sixth form work. We therefore make the following proposals.

Entrance Scholarships to Universities

We do not all share the views of those who would abolish entrance scholarships awarded by Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge and by Universities. Competition for such scholarships need not be harmful either to individuals or to schools if it concerns only those who are of sufficient ability to engage in it. Harm results, it is admitted, if too many candidates are subjected to strain in order to win such a scholarship, because without it the opportunity to enter the University is denied. The best products of the schools can undertake such examinations without strain or harm, and we would leave such scholarships open for competition as representing the 'blue ribbon' of achievement. Nevertheless we make certain suggestions about the award of such scholarships; in doing so we are moved not by any wish to meddle with scholarship examinations, which are primarily the responsibility of the Universities, but rather by concern for the welfare of the Sixth Form pupil of the secondary Grammar School.

We are of opinion that:

(1) The winning of a College scholarship* at Oxford or Cambridge or a University scholarship elsewhere should in itself constitute a claim upon public funds for assistance towards the cost of living at the University, subject to evidence that such assistance is necessary. The cost of living should be so estimated as to cover all the expenses incidental to full participation in the many-sided life of the University. There should be no need for a successful candidate to search round for means of supplementing the College or University award. Such scholarships should be awarded, for three years and should be extended on sufficient cause being shown.

(2) The election of a candidate to a college or university scholarship should in itself contribute evidence that he is a fit person to be matriculated.

(3) The Universities should make arrangements to hold their scholarships simultaneously in the same week in December. Only in this way, we believe, can the tour of Colleges and Universities by an unsuccessful candidate be ended; that it should be ended we believe most schoolmasters would agree. If it is objected that a candidate ought to have more than one chance, since illness may incapacitate him in a particular week, we would point to the examination in March which we discuss later.

* In considering whether 'close' scholarships and exhibitions came within the scope of this paragraph, regard would have to be paid to the standard. It would be necessary to show that in standard they were equivalent to a State scholarship, that is to say, that the winners showed promise of a first or second class degree.


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(4) It is to the interest of the Universities and Colleges that they should continue to have complete freedom to award in their own way the scholarships which have carried and should continue to carry the greatest distinction. At the same time it is desirable that there should be full co-operation between College or University examiners and those concerned with examination for state scholarships. In such co-operation we see the best means of ensuring that College and State scholarships are sufficiently in line to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens and complications upon the work of Sixth Forms. Though it may be difficult, there should be real and close contact between schools and College examiners, and we hope this will gradually develop through the representation of teachers on University Examining Bodies.
State Scholarships and Awards at the University and Major Institutions for Higher Education

In the paragraphs which follow we recommend that the existing system of State scholarships and awards made by Local Education Authorities should be revised.

Objections to the Present System

The objections to the present system of aid to students going on to Universities and Colleges can be briefly set out. In the first place, the aid is inadequate both as regards the total sum made available and the sums generally made available to individuals. Secondly, the aid is unevenly distributed; in some areas it is easier than in others to obtain it, partly because competition is less keen, partly because aid is more generously provided, partly because the resources of the Local Education Authorities are unequal. It is unevenly distributed also in the sense that it is often more readily available for students going on to Universities than to other places of higher education. Thirdly, the aid is derived through many channels, University scholarships, awards made by Local Education Authorities, State scholarships, private scholarship funds, school-leaving exhibitions, with resulting uncertainty and scramble. Fourthly, aid is available on differing standards of performance; for example, whereas in one area it is granted to any applicant who holds the Higher Certificate, in another area competition is severe. Fifthly, it is usual for regard to be paid entirely, or almost entirely, to performance in a written examination, a test which, though of the highest importance, is felt in many quarters to be insufficient by itself.

In putting forward an alternative scheme we have taken into account two desires which have been strongly supported in the evidence submitted to us. On the one hand our witnesses desire that the State should be concerned in the award of aid to students, because, it is felt, the State alone is in a position to secure the evenness of standard which is essential to confidence in whatever plan is adopted, to bring about the conditions in which opportunity between areas may be as equal as can be, and to exercise a general control to see that new demands are met as they arise.

On the other hand they desire that Local Education Authorities should be concerned in the award of aid to students, since it should then


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be possible for special circumstances to be taken into account with greater sympathy and justice than is possible in a scheme administered solely by the State. In this connection it is also pointed out that certain Local Education Authorities take the greatest interest not only in making these awards but also in following up their students through their University courses.

Aims of the Proposed Scheme

In devising the scheme which we put forward we have aimed at securing the following advantages:

(a) co-operation of State and Local Education Authority; in inviting this co-operation we wish to combine the advantages of central oversight and local knowledge of special circumstances.

(b) evenness of opportunity as between areas.

(c) maintenance of standards.

(d) freedom from arbitrarily imposed limits in making awards; the only limit which we envisage would be that imposed by dearth of sufficiently qualified candidates.

(e) selection by examination; opportunity is, however, left open for the making of awards to students who, though not in the highest rank intellectually as shown in written examination, yet are eminently fitted to go on to the University.

(f) use of existing machinery of examinations and of the accumulated experience of those hitherto concerned with them.

(g) possibility of awards to major institutions other than Universities.

The Proposed Scheme

The scheme falls into two parts: the first relates to awards, made by normal methods and based on an annual examination, to students going on to Universities: the second relates to awards made by Local Education Authorities on special grounds to students going on to universities and major institutions other than the Universities.

I. We propose that each year in March an examination shall be held in approved subjects and combinations of subjects. The examination would be conducted by University Examining Bodies and would take the form of 'scholarship papers', that is to say, papers free from prescribed books or detailed syllabuses of work. As a result of the examination University Examining Bodies would recommend certain candidates as showing promise of high achievement in a University course. The list of recommended candidates would be divided into two parts; part A would contain those of high intellectual distinction, that is to say, capable of obtaining a first class or a good second class; part B would contain those of good intellectual attainment whose claims might be considered if there were other outstanding merits disclosed by the school record but undiscoverable by written examination.

The recommendations would be made to the Local Education Authority of the candidate, the name or names being forwarded at the same time to the Board of Education.


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The recommendations would then be reviewed by boards appointed for the purpose; they would be composed, we suggest, of representatives of Local Authorities and Universities and the teaching profession, and should be small. They would take into consideration all available evidence as to the fitness of the recommended candidates to derive full profit from a University education; such evidence would consist chiefly of a school record together with a report from the Head of the School. The boards would also interview the candidates, using the evidence submitted to them as the basis of their questions; but for the present we attach more weight to the review of the school record than to the interview. Research is greatly needed into the methods of conducting interviews as well as into methods of preparing school records, and we suggest that use should be made of the experience which is accumulating at the present time as a result of the selection of candidates for commissions in the Services. As a result of this review and interview taken together a board might think fit to raise a particular candidate from part B of the list to part A, on the grounds that his intellectual attainments were sufficient to justify a University course while his merits on other grounds constituted a high claim to it.

A board would then send its list of recommendations to the Board of Education with such comments as might be thought desirable to explain any changes between the recommendations and the original list forwarded to the Board of Education by the University Examining Body. The Board of Education would then make the awards.

The scholarships would carry with them sufficient aid to cover such expenses as were necessary to enable the holder to pursue his course and to share to the full the general life of the University. They would be awarded for three years and would be extended on sufficient cause being shown. Special consideration will need to be given to the question of close scholarships and grants available under charitable trusts so as to prevent overlapping with State scholarships. Deduction would be made on grounds of parents' income, though the scales for estimating parental contributions will need revision in view of the heavy incidence of taxation.

The cost of these scholarships would be defrayed entirely by the State.

II. Apart from the State scholarships awarded as described above, it would be open to Local Education Authorities to make additional awards of their own to suitable candidates. Some of these awards would be made on special grounds, as for example distinction or high promise in some direction not normally tested by University Examining Bodies. Such awards might be tenable at a University or at a major Institution. A Local Authority would make such awards at its discretion and the State would pay half the cost.

The Board of Education would exercise such general oversight in such ways and at such stages as it considered desirable with a view to the maintenance of standards, the equality of awards and equity as between areas. For example, it would at its discretion call for scripts from time to time or ask for representation at interviews of candidates or for access to the records and reports taken into consideration in the making of recommendations.


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We think it neither possible nor desirable to recommend the assignment of any quota of State scholars to particular Universities. We recognise the attraction which Oxford and Cambridge exercise and its effect upon the newer Universities. Yet we are anxious to preserve the freedom of Universities to admit whom they will and the freedom of the individual to make application for entry where he wishes. Justice is best done to the University, College and individual by a plan which throws the duty of making application for a vacancy upon the holder of State scholarship or award and which limits the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in its intake of such applicants. How that limit is to be fixed is not for us to decide; but we hope that a satisfactory method can be devised.

Some Local Education Authorities grant loans to students of merit who wish to go on to advanced education at a University or elsewhere. It has been represented to us that loans of this kind are much appreciated and that repayment is generally made quickly and without any sense of hardship. Many of us feel that, if a student is really of merit high enough to justify assistance, it should be given without the obligation of repayment, which in many cases is bound to be a burden in the first years of earning, and that encouragement should not be given to a young man or woman to borrow for any purpose. This is a question which Local Education Authorities will decide for themselves; we would only say that the circumstances which justify loans seem to us to be exceptional.

A Proposed 'School Leaving Examination' to be taken normally at 18+

We propose that twice each year an examination should be conducted by University Examining Bodies. The normal time for taking this examination would be in March; the date for taking a supplementary examination would probably be in July. It would be taken normally by pupils at the age of 18+ in order that they may

(i) give evidence of proficiency to pursue University or professional studies and may so satisfy University Entrance requirements and may obtain exemption from preliminary examinations of Professional Bodies or satisfy the requirements of Training Colleges, or

(ii) show that they have pursued a course of Sixth Form work with profit.

It is appropriate that this examination should be conducted by external agencies because it is intended to look forward to further study in places other than the schools. We attach importance to the normal age of eighteen for three reasons. It is important to good Sixth Form work that there should be an undisturbed period of at least five or six terms, free from examination, in which the method of work distinctive of Sixth Form studies can be encouraged. In the next place we consider 18+ to be the lowest age at which entrance to Universities should normally take place; as a result of the war there has been a marked tendency for the age of entrance to be lowered, but we do not regard this tendency, if it became permanent, as in the


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interests of the individual and have reason to think that much opinion in the Universities would support this view. A test to show fitness to enter the University occurs most naturally just before entrance, and we would therefore place examination for this purpose normally in a pupil's nineteenth year. Further, there are grounds for believing that some Professional Bodies would regard this age as appropriate for entry into professions, since it would give them a more mature recruit.

The purpose of this examination would not be to provide evidence of a 'general' or 'all round' education. Such evidence is best furnished by the school record of the pupil, which under the proposals which we shall make would include a statement of the boy's career at school, the course of study which he had pursued and the general degree of success achieved at about the age of sixteen. We look to the examination at 18+, which we will for convenience call the 'School Leaving Examination', to provide such evidence to pursue a particular line of study as individual faculties of Universities and particular Professional Bodies may see fit to require. The examination would be of a purely qualifying nature: no competition would be involved and therefore there would be no double purpose to be served. A pupil might take one or more subjects, as the faculty or Professional Body required for its own particular line of study. The subjects in which the examination could be taken would be limited in number, and the standard should be between the 'subsidiary' and 'principal subject' standards of the present Higher Certificate examination. We think that a prominent feature of this examination should be a Paper containing a wide range of alternative questions, testing the use of English and bringing out the candidate's interests: we have in mind something of the kind required by the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.* It will be for Universities and Professional Bodies to consider whether they will not make this paper a necessary requirement. We believe such a paper to be desirable and preferable to an Essay.

The question of gaining exemption from the First MB [Bachelor of Medicine] examination is discussed in a later chapter on Natural Science. Here it is only necessary to say that we hope the Medical Schools will see fit to grant exemption from part of that examination if a candidate qualifies in Chemistry, Physics and Biology in the 'School Leaving Examination'. Similarly we hope that, in the interest of the work of the schools,

(i) the Civil Service Commissioners would be willing to recruit for the Executive Class at a minimum age of eighteen and to bring their examination requirements as closely as possible into line with the examination which we propose,

(ii) the Service Colleges, as for example Woolwich, Sandhurst and Cranwell, and those who conduct the examination for special entry into the Royal Navy, would, so far as is possible, order their

* The Regulations for the Higher Certificate examination state that the General Paper will contain:
(i) Topics of a general and literary type for English composition;
(ii) Topics for English composition dealing with current affairs, practical problems, applications of science, or requiring a report on a meeting or discussion, etc;
(iii) One prose passage in each of the following languages for translation: Latin, French, German, Spanish.


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Entrance examinations as regards scope and standard of work in particular subjects on the same lines.

We do not suggest that either the Civil Service Commissioners or the Colleges should use this examination; clearly that would be impossible, since entrance is competitive and the School Leaving Examination is qualifying. But it is of great importance to the schools that Sixth Forms should not have to be broken up into special groups pursuing different courses of work to satisfy different regulations, when in fact the differences may not be very great or vitally necessary. It would help the schools if the common elements in the appropriate courses leading to University Entrance or the Civil Service examination or Accountancy, for example, could be handled in the same group of pupils, even though there might be some difference in the number of subjects necessary: it is to the interest of the schools that as many purposes as may be shall be served by the same examination, or, when the same examination is impossible, by the same kind of teaching.

In the same way we hope that Training Colleges would see fit to use this examination as one of the means of selecting their students.

Finally, we see no reason why pupils intending to take up posts in industry or commerce should not take the School Leaving Examination in a limited number of subjects. Many of them will, in fact, pursue courses of study in conjunction with their occupation; some of them may take external degrees or seek the qualification of the various professional and technical associations, and exemption from University Entrance examinations might be of value to them; but evidence that they had pursued a course of study of Sixth Form character would be of service to all.

The Proposed Examinations in Relation to Sixth Form Work

The proposals which we make for examinations in Sixth Forms offer two clearly defined paths, leading to the objectives of:

(i) competition for the highest awards carrying distinction and assistance;

(ii) satisfaction on a qualifying basis of the requirements of entry to further study and to particular careers. That these paths should be clearly defined we regard as essential; along each path there should be standards and methods and pace appropriate to those who tread it; the attempt to make one path lead to differing objectives can lead to nothing but confusion and must result in harm to very many Sixth Form pupils. We would urge that consideration of our proposals should start from their fundamental purpose, namely, to define objectives clearly and to adopt the most direct and simple method of achieving them with due regard to the needs of individuals, the quality of Sixth Form work and the interests of advanced study.

Summary of Suggestions about Qualifications for Entrance to Universities

From the point of view of the schools we have been compelled to consider the question of University Entrance, and we have made suggestions which may here be summarised and amplified.


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(i) We have suggested that the award of a University scholarship or a College scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge should carry exemption or contribute to exemption from University Entrance Examinations. The same should hold good for winners of State scholarships.

(ii) We now suggest that unsuccessful candidates for State scholarships should, if their performance merits it, be awarded similar exemption in whole or in part on the recommendation of the University Examining Body. There is no contradiction between this suggestion and our previous contention that the examination should not serve two purposes. It is reasonable that a good candidate who fails to obtain a scholarship should be able to establish in the same examination his fitness for a University education; but the fact that this examination would be difficult and would be conducted on 'scholarship papers' should be enough to deter weaker candidates with no chance of a scholarship from using the examination as a method of qualifying for University entrance; for these the School Leaving Examination is the suitable method.

(iii) We have advocated the establishment of the School Leaving Examination as a means of qualifying, inter alia, for University Entrance. It is right that it should be externally conducted because it must be available for all those who wish to enter Universities, whether they come through the secondary Grammar School, or through part-time education or technical colleges or business or adult education. It is not for us to attempt to say what should be required. We may hope, however, that the necessary conditions will not be too complicated and the number of subjects not too numerous: it is essential to good Sixth Form work that the whole of a pupil's time should not be given to examination requirements. We may add that any arrangements which will allow conditions satisfying one University to satisfy others would offer great relief to schools and pupils. Perhaps the time will come when the required evidence of general education can be furnished to the University by the school itself, so that examination for University Entrance would be necessary only in the subjects of particular importance as the groundwork of the University course which the candidate proposed to study. But it is not within our competence to pursue this question further.



CHAPTER III

THE REORGANISATION OF EXAMINATIONS, CONTINUED

Examination at 16+

In the suggestions of the previous chapter a reorganisation of examinations has been sketched which would allow a large variety of purposes to be served at the moment when it is fitting that they should become relevant, namely, just before entrance to further study or to higher


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posts in commerce or industry at the age of eighteen or so, and after a period of at least five or six terms of uninterrupted Sixth Form work. Having provided the means for the fulfilment of those purposes at the appropriate time, we now consider examination at an earlier stage in the school course.

Reform of the School Certificate

An Ultimate Objective

We propose in the sections which follow to set forth an ultimate objective; we realise that there are circumstances which make its immediate adoption inadvisable. Accordingly we go on to indicate the stages by which in our opinion movement towards this end should take place.

We believe that in the long run it is to the advantage of the secondary Grammar School and the education which it offers that there should be a new conception of the function of examination at 16+, and a change in the nature of any School Certificate awarded at this stage. Examination plays a necessary part in the school economy; we need not go into the reasons for this. But it should be a subordinate part, and similarly in any certificate of performance the results of examination should be only one element in a comprehensive survey of the pupil's life at a secondary Grammar School. If this is the right place of examinations in school economy and in a school certificate, we think that ideally the examination is best conducted by the teachers themselves as being those who should know their pupils' work and ought therefore to be those best able to form a judgement on it.

Looking at the matter from the side of the teachers, we think that an examination conducted at this stage by teachers themselves as part of a general assessment of their pupils would be in the interest of their freedom and lead readily to valuable experiment. With this development would come greater responsibility - responsibility for shaping the course of their work by learning how to appraise it rightly. On the basis of wider freedom and greater responsibility rests the increased status which in our opinion the teaching profession should in the future enjoy. Looking at the matter from the side of the pupils, we think that an education which is really child-centred can come about only if freedom is allowed to those who alone can make the individual child the centre of education, namely the teachers themselves.

These are ideals which in our view should be kept steadily in the forefront of educational movement in the years to come; for it will be increasingly difficult to reconcile an external examination at 16+ with the full realisation of the aims of the schools and with enjoyment of that freedom which will then be held to be a vital necessity.

Stages to its Attainment

But, setting in front of us an objective to which we hope progress will be sure and steady, we recognise that sudden and immediate change is inadvisable. For we face here an issue which divides the teaching profession itself; some teachers welcome, some reject the idea of internal examination. The public too may not be fully prepared for


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immediate change, though we think that there is a considerable volume of opinion to which change would be acceptable. But it may be the part of wisdom to take one step at a time, provided always that the ultimate objective is kept steadily in view. Having set it before us, we now indicate the steps which lead to it.

The present School Certificate examination is concerned with a course of work which lies wholly within the scope of the schools. The end of the course at which the examination comes is normally reached by pupils of 16+, though by some the examination can be taken when they are 14+, by others it is taken when they are 17+. Only a small percentage of the candidates in this examination actually go to the University, which normally recruits at the age of 18+. The anomalies in this situation are obvious. In the first place the Universities are strictly concerned only with that small minority of candidates which will go on to a University, yet they examine all. In the second place the Universities examine that small minority two or three years before entrance to the University is normally to be expected. The direction therefore which change should take is sufficiently clear: it is towards placing the conduct of the examination in the hands of the teachers; they alone can best judge the needs of the mass of their pupils and they ought to be the best judges of the success or failure of the methods they employ.

Change in this direction is indicated by yet another consideration. If the present School Certificate examination is retained without alteration or prospect of alteration, it will mark off the secondary Grammar School from other forms of secondary education. A system will then be established under which parity in secondary education will become impossible. For the objective of the School Certificate has become so associated in the public mind with secondary education that the establishment of the Technical School and the Modern School as forms of secondary education will be prejudiced from the outset. The alternative would be that all forms of secondary education should normally look towards the School Certificate examination - a hypothesis which is so out of relation to the needs of the Technical School, where an internal examination, we understand, is working well, and so inimical to the character and future development of the Modern School as to be unthinkable.

Accordingly we propose that for the present

(i) the School Certificate examination should continue to be carried out by the existing University Examining Bodies, and in each case should be conducted by a Standing Committee consisting of eight teachers, four members of Local Education Authorities, four University members, and four of HM Inspectors acting as assessors. These Committees would report to the Secondary School Examinations Council and to the respective Examining Bodies.

(ii) all encouragement should be given to the schools to offer their own syllabuses and some of the prescribed syllabuses should be lightened.


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(iii) the examination should become what is known as a 'subject examination', that is to say, an examination in which pupils would take whatever subjects they wished without restriction as to minimum number of subjects or 'groups' of subjects; that a certificate recording the performance of the pupil in each subject, expressed in grades - as, for example, excellent, good, satisfactory, weak - should be granted to each pupil, it being understood that 'good' is equal to the present credit standard. It is to be noted that this change could not be effected without two years' notice being given by the Examining Bodies.

We propose also that during the next few years investigation into the best methods of keeping school records should be set on foot. Though the beginnings of research into the question of school records have been made, much yet remains to be done. So important do we regard this matter that we make it a recommendation of this Report, that the Board of Education and Local Education Authorities should consider measures for improving the method of keeping school records and for helping teachers by means of short courses, conferences and school visits to devote attention to their compilation. There should be special machinery at the Board of Education for collating the results of such enquiries as these and others and giving publicity to them. The task which will fall upon teachers is the task of discovering what are the necessary data for giving a judgement upon a child, and how such data are best obtained, recorded and used for the making of a full and trustworthy judgement. As long as reliance is placed on a written examination (both at the 11+ and the 16+ stages) the necessary incentive to teachers to improve their judgements is likely to be lacking. At the end of a very few years valuable experience will have been gained by teachers; they will have taught their classes with a differently framed examination in view and will have taken a greater share in its conduct. The country will be in a better position to judge the merits of a different conception of examination at the age of 16+.

The time will then come when a decision must be taken by the Secondary School Examinations Council, or whatever authority is constituted after the war to deal with such problems, whether (a) the examination can be made wholly internal or (b) whether a further transitional period is necessary in which steps must be taken to give the teachers still greater control of the examination, the connection with the Universities in its present form being severed. It is impossible to say what conditions will then obtain and therefore impossible to say what considerations will then be relevant: it may be that factors in the situation will be the advance of other types of schools to full secondary status, the granting of maintenance allowances to enable pupils to enter the Sixth Form, the conditions of entry to Universities and professions and the extent to which a certificate of general currency is still thought to be desirable for pupils of 16 years of age. In any case the validity which will secure that general currency through the growth of public confidence seems to us to be a natural development from the growing realisation that the schools will form a fully responsible


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national service working under the supervision of the Board of Education or the Local Education Authority or both - a supervision which is exercised by a strengthened Inspectorate which will maintain close and constant touch. We should expect that sufficient progress would have been made in seven years from now to enable a wholly internal examination to be adopted; we include in this seven years the two years' notice which the University Examining Bodies will be required to give as regards the change to a 'subject examination'.

A New Form of Certificate

The suggestions which we have made point to a new form of school certificate, falling into two parts. The first part would contain a record of the share which the pupil had taken in the general life of the school, games and societies and the like. It would, in short, give a reader some idea of the way in which he had used the opportunities offered to him by his education, using the term in its widest sense. The second part would contain the record of the pupils' achievement in the examination taken at the end of the Main school course. During the interim period the record would state the pupil's performance in the examination conducted under the arrangements which we have indicated. When the examination had become internal, the record would relate to performance in an entirely internal examination. Such a certificate would give a summary of the pupil's career as known to his teachers and as appraised in a test; it would be a document which would give real information about his capacities and performance as shown in the whole field of his school career.

The Career of a Pupil in the Secondary Grammar School

On a previous page we sketched the course of a pupil through the Main school and the Sixth Form of a Secondary School under present conditions. We may now sketch the career of another pupil under the proposals which we have made for a re-ordering of examinations.

At 11+ he would enter the secondary Grammar School; he would enter the Grammar School rather than any other type, first, because in the opinion of the teachers of his primary school, such opinions being supported or qualified by whatever tests might be thought desirable, the education offered by a Grammar School would be most suitable for him; secondly, because his parents concurred in these recommendations and wished him to be so educated.

For the next two years his work would be kept under review by the master in charge of the Lower School. If by the end of the two years it became clear that a different kind of secondary education suited him better, he would be transferred to a school which offered it. If he remained in the secondary Grammar School, for the next three years (normally) he would pursue a course of study consisting of subjects chosen and treated with greater freedom than is possible at present. At 16+ (normally) he would take a school certificate examination, no particular subjects being required as obligatory. As a result of


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completing his course in the Main school he would receive a certificate giving a record of his school career and a statement of his performance in examination. He would then leave or pass into the Sixth Form. Here the nature of his ability and his plans for a career would determine the path which he would take.

If he aimed at a College scholarship or a State scholarship, both of which would carry full maintenance, his course of work would be definite and clear; if he failed to obtain a College scholarship, he could later try for a State scholarship or an award by a Local Education Authority in one and the same examination, his course of preparation being suitable for either. If he failed to obtain either and intended nevertheless to go to a University at his own expense, he would, if the examiners thought him worthy, be recommended for exemption or partial exemption from any further entrance examination. He would, however, be ill-advised to take this examination primarily with the aim of obtaining such exemption, for the nature of the papers and the standard required would reduce his chance of success.

If his aim were a professional career or entrance to a University or a College, his course of work would be equally definite; he would take, normally at 18+, the externally conducted School Leaving Examination in such subjects as were relevant to his needs, and in this way would gain exemption from preliminary examinations. If his aim were a business career entered upon at 18+, he would also take this examination, and receive a statement testifying to his success in his course of Sixth Form work. If he intended to enter the examination for the Executive class of the Civil Service or for the Service colleges, he would find himself able to work for the most part alongside his fellows who were preparing for the School Leaving Examination.

Though there would be three examinations - the College examination at Universities, the examination for State scholarships and awards by Local Education Authorities, and the School Leaving Examination - it is unlikely that a pupil would need to take more than two and many would take only one. If the schools are wise in their advice, the pupil really qualified to sit for a College scholarship would, if unsuccessful, stand a good chance of obtaining a State scholarship, or failing that, exemption from University entrance. If the choice were between assistance to the University and entrance to the professions, he would need to take only two examinations, the State scholarship examination and the School Leaving Examination. (It is true that in present circumstances the competition for places in women's Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge and London may make it imperative for girls to take the College examinations with a view to securing a place. There is no doubt that this competition leads to serious overstrain and difficulty in the girls' schools. It is a problem which can probably be fully solved only by the provision of more extended accommodation, but to some extent difficulties may be relieved by greater co-operation among the women's Colleges themselves. We make no suggestions because we regard the solution of this problem as being outside our terms of reference. Nevertheless we state it because we have evidence from the schools that it is one which requires immediate consideration.)


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CHAPTER IV

THE INSPECTORATE

The maintenance of the present spirit and professional competence of His Majesty's Inspectors, and a generous development of their numbers, are so essential a foundation for the success of the proposals which we make that it is right to devote a separate chapter of our Report to this topic. The Inspectorate has made a remarkable history for itself. At their beginning in the nineteenth century inspectors were inquisitors; they assessed payment by results, their visits were feared by teachers and by taught, they were thought of as officials without sympathy whose whole business was to operate a machine. There are countries, and among them are some of the Dominions, in which this tradition has led on to its natural result, that the teaching profession and the Inspectorate, if not hostile, are always on guard, each against the other, and educational progress does not come easily in an atmosphere of suspicion. But in this country our experience has been far happier, and the Inspectors of Secondary Schools, entering upon their task at a time when the system of payment by results has been discarded, from the first established a far more sympathetic tradition. They have had to concern themselves with the keeping of regulations, and their attitude has of necessity had a critical side. But the criticism has been always intended to be constructive, and the inspectors have shown themselves to be collaborators rather than auditors; they have looked at problems from the schools' point of view, and sought to help in finding a solution of difficulties. Those whose memories go as far back as to 1902 will remember how widespread among the Heads and Governors of schools was the suspicion of the Board of Education and of all its instruments and processes. Now forty years later there must be few of the fully independent schools of the country which have not sought inspection of their own free will, and there are none which would refuse it. Since 1902 again there has come about the great growth of education provided and directed by the Local Education Authorities, often with the assistance of their own Inspectors; the problems which must necessarily and continuously arise as the result of our combination of local freedom and initiative with a measure of central control have been on the whole happily dealt with, and a proportion of the credit for this is again due to the Inspectorate. The whole story is a striking testimony to their wisdom and sympathy, and it records a strength in our educational system which is of natural and unplanned growth and upon which reliance can confidently be placed. For this reason we do not hesitate to build on it.

In the interval between the wars, owing to the rapid growth in the number of Secondary Schools, and, since the outbreak of the present war, owing to evacuation and the depletion of the Inspectorate itself, the burden of work has become too great for the numbers available. Inspectors have had too much to do; full inspections of schools have become rarer than they should be, individual visits to schools have tended to become less frequent and more hurried. A growing burden of purely administrative work has been placed upon their shoulders,


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largely arising from the imperative needs of the situation created by the war, but needing to be lightened as soon as possible. The system is not working as well as it did, but the cure for this is simple. What is required is a generous recruitment in numbers, if possible, without loss of quality. This patent need will become all the clearer if we set down the functions which we regard as belonging to the Inspectorate in our future educational system.

On one side of their work it must remain true that the Inspectors shall be the eyes and ears of the Board of Education, reporting regularly what is being thought, said and done in the schools. On another side of their work they provide a guarantee to the public that the schools are doing their work honestly, maintaining their standards and responding to new needs as they arise. On yet a third side they have to keep the friendship and the willing co-operation of the teaching profession. These three functions can be satisfactorily fulfilled only if the Inspectorate as a public service has a certain independent status, and this has been happily marked by the fact that from their inception they have been known as His Majesty's Inspectors. They must be a guarantee to the nation in any real democratic system that the business of the schools is education, and that it is being carried out in freedom according to the ideals and methods which are proper to it. They must therefore themselves be recognised as men and women who in important problems are expected to exercise an independent judgement, and to be free to say what they think. Just in order to emphasise this claim and this responsibility we feel that the Inspectorate should continue to be known as His Majesty's Service.

We believe that the Inspectorate should be numerous enough to conduct at least once in every five years a full inspection of each school and to maintain a real contact during the intervening years. There is general agreement that these inspections act as a great tonic to the schools, not so much to the pupils as to their teachers; they are invaluable to Governors and to Local Education Authorities. They stop drift by stating problems clearly, and seeking solutions; they ask questions, and do not leave them unanswered; they impose upon all teachers the necessity of being in a position to give reasons for what they are doing; they may themselves be part of an educational routine, but they are the enemy of unthinking routine in the schools themselves. For all teachers alike they are an instrument of cross-fertilisation; they bring to the knowledge of men and women, who still - though not so much as in the past - are apt to be cut off from information and contact, helpful suggestions and descriptions of the manner in which similar problems of organisation and method are being solved elsewhere. They can show where help can be got and light found for dark places.

They must also be numerous enough to maintain continuous contact by providing for regular informal visits term by term, and whenever special occasion arises. This function is as important as the full quinquennial Inspection. It enables the Inspector and the staffs to get to know each other, and promotes a readiness on the one side to state problems as they arise and to seek aid, and on the other a willingness to give such aid, or to show where it may be found - a task always


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more readily accomplished when there is personal knowledge and confidence on both sides. In each district there must be an inspector who knows the schools and the people who teach in them.

We emphasise these duties in considerable detail because their successful performance lies at the foundation of the whole system of secondary education which we hope will be developed in this country. This we regard as a national service, of which the integrity and efficiency will be guaranteed by public control exercised by the Local Education Authorities, and directly or indirectly by the Board of Education. Inspectors commissioned from either side of this partnership will make this control real; they are the right men for the work, just because they know the schools in a human way by regular contacts and can estimate the manner of work that is being done in them. They can correct misdirection of effort and promote the raising of standards that are too low by means at once more subtle and more direct than are possible by any system of purely external regulation. Indeed it is not too much to say that without the constant supervision and stimulus that will come from the enlarged Inspectorate that we have in mind, and without the guarantees of standard that the collaboration of the Inspectorate confers on the schools, the system of internal examination at what is now known as the School Certificate stage, with all the advantage of freedom and of experiment which we hope that it will bring to the teachers, cannot be made to work, because it will not carry with it the necessary public confidence.

It has not been easy of late years to recruit the Inspectorate from men and women of the high qualifications that are required. There are needed for the task not only wide professional knowledge and some experience, but patience, tact and sympathy, together with the ability to understand the point of view of those who differ as well as to be clear and persuasive in setting forth a better way. The salaries paid will need to be revised, but it seems to us even more important that fluidity should be established between the various branches of the teaching service to a greater extent that is at present the case. The tendency of that service, to which the secondary branch of it offers no exception, is to harden off into separate castes or compartments with very little interchange between them. It is natural, but it is unfortunate. It seems to us that there ought to be greater fluidity of movement within the scale of salaries and pensions. We see no reason why men and women of experience, who have risen, for instance, to the control of their department in a Secondary School, should not become valuable recruits to the Inspectorate without loss of initial salary or pension rights. Similarly we see no reason why Inspectors should not from time to time become Heads of Schools, permanently or for a term of years, and we can see considerable advantages if they did so. Indeed this should be a two-way street, for some of the heads of schools would make good inspectors. Like considerations apply to the qualifications of officers of Local Authorities, where the possession of teaching experience is commonly regarded already as a qualification. Conditions of employment ought not to render interchange more difficult than need be: what we are concerned to emphasise is that the whole educational service of the nation is one. Its members ought to work in close


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co-operation with the sympathy that comes from mutual knowledge and understanding, and to this a greater freedom for individuals to move from one function to another would contribute in a helpful manner.

Some of us think that the time has come to change the name by which the Inspectorate is known, since that name carries with it from far-off days associations which the teaching profession does not welcome. It is a name which too readily suggests something official and external, but it is the human co-operative side of the work which we should wish to emphasise in the name by which we know its representatives. They are partners from inside and not inspectors from outside in the work of national education. We would accordingly suggest that they be renamed His Majesty's Educational Advisory Service. Such a title would then more closely correspond to their true function and the change of name only represents the change which has taken place in practice in the last two generations.

There are at present in existence several branches of the Inspectorate and in particular a division into Elementary, Technical and Secondary. They should constitute a single Educational Advisory Service, and all branches of it should carry equal esteem, as they do now. Whether this carries with it parity of salaries, it is not for us to say without a much fuller study of the problem of recruitment than we have been able to give. It is necessary to get the right men and women, and the hard facts of the market may make varying scales necessary. We do not know. But what we do feel strongly is that the entrants to this service do not by the fact of entry become educational Jacks-of-all-trades, competent to inspect and advise in any type of school and at every stage. Experience will determine function. The man or woman who has had a training in advanced linguistic or scientific studies may be out of place in dealing with the problems of teaching his subjects in the primary school, and similarly the man or woman who can help the primary teacher from a rich experience might be helpless in the Sixth Form studies of the secondary Grammar School. What is essential everywhere and all the time is that the Inspectorate or the Educational Advisory Service, by whichever name we call them, should carry the confidence of the teachers; the teachers must feel that they are receiving advice and guidance from those who are as expert as themselves, or still more expert. Parity of esteem is an obscure phrase, but it does not mean that any man can do any job, nor does democratic equality mean that the layman can replace the expert. Indeed a planned and educated democracy can only come into being with expert guidance in many fields, and a readiness on the part of the general population to follow the expert because he is the man who knows. In the teaching service there must be specialisation as between broad types of school education, and the Inspectorate which is part of that service must follow the same rule.

We hold therefore that the status which we have described should be permanently assigned to the Inspectorate as a semi-independent service bearing His Majesty's commission and charged with the duties of advising the President of the Board of Education and educational administration generally in matters that concern them, of helping the


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schools with counsel and advice, and of guaranteeing to the nation at large that the schools are doing their duty by the children. In this way we shall not intensify what is called bureaucratic control in education, but shall be taking a long step towards rendering it impossible for such external and impersonal control ever to develop into a serious danger.





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PART III

THE CURRICULUM

CHAPTER I

THE CURRICULUM IN GENERAL

We pass to the considerations which in our opinion must be taken into account in determining the curriculum of the secondary Grammar School of the future. At the outset it must be stated that we have no intention of treating the curriculum with any attempt at exhaustiveness. We shall not trace the historical causes which have shaped it; nor are we concerned to discuss fully its underlying principles. Details of technique or method fall outside our purpose, for we regard them as matters for the individual teacher. The purpose of the chapters which follow is limited; starting from a fundamental principle inherent in Part I we wish to draw out its implications for the framing of curricula and for a method of approach to the teaching of the various subjects.

The Basic Principle of the Curriculum

We take as a basic principle our belief that the purpose of education is to provide the nurture and the environment which will enable the child to grow aright and to grow eventually to full stature, to bring to full flowering the varying potentialities, physical, spiritual and intellectual of which he is capable as an individual and as a member of society. To this end we postulated in an earlier chapter that there should be varied forms of secondary education; to this end also we now assume that within the form of secondary education with which we are concerned, the Grammar School, there should be freedom to frame curricula which will do justice to varying needs and will give opportunity to realise the powers that are in the child.

The child is to grow aright and to grow eventually to full stature; but he starts with the stature of a child, physical, spiritual and intellectual. His experience and his interests are limited; to some extent they differ according to the nature of his home and the environment of his home. They must widen naturally as he grows; attempts to enlarge them hurriedly or prematurely for particular ends can bring nothing but the loss arising from forced growth.

Thus the belief in the child as the centre of all education gives a perspective and a vision to education. It assigns to their right place, as means to an end all the organisation and paraphernalia of education, schemes of work, subjects and examinations and the rest, and compels attention to the overriding purpose of them all; it opens up to teachers the limitless opportunities of supplying the nurture suited for individual


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growth rather than of coercing into a mould, and it offers a warning to all who would impose upon children the outlook and interests and responsibilities of an adult.

We go on to draw out certain implications of this belief as far as they relate to curriculum.

The Claims of New Subjects: Education for Life

Much evidence has been submitted to us which urges the claims of many subjects and topics of teaching for inclusion in the curriculum. We have given much consideration to that evidence, though it soon became apparent that, if all the claims were to be met, the school week would be insufficient for the new subjects without taking into account the old. Running through such pleas as a common element is the desire that education shall equip pupils to meet the conditions amid which they will later live their lives, in fact to prepare them for life; the pleas differ as regards that aspect of life for which preparation should be made. Attention is drawn to the duty of the individual to take an informed interest in international relations, in the economic and social structure of society, in government and administration, local and central, to be instructed in the history and economic resources of other countries, especially the newer countries, to be trained to recognise and resist propaganda and partisanship and the appeal of the printed word merely because it is printed. Others emphasise preparation for a livelihood and urge that vocational training should find a larger provision in all schools. Others again have in mind the right use of leisure and ask that pupils shall be equipped by the right training at school to employ their free time to advantage. Others point to specific situations for which school should prepare by instruction in First Aid, in seamanship and agricultural work, in cooking (for boys), in carpentry (for girls), in Mothercraft for elder girls. The list could be much extended.

With the general motive running through these claims all sympathy must be felt, for education must prepare for life: indeed that is its purpose. None the less such sympathy must be qualified by two considerations.

In the first place we do not believe that life in its many phases can be anticipated, to the extent often suggested, by children at school through specific training to meet contingencies and situations. We remind ourselves that the pupil must grow into an enlarged experience, and that premature attempts to deal with aspects of life beyond his experience can lead only to unreality and so will defeat their own purpose.

Secondly, the very subjects and topics proposed to us for special attention themselves depend for their study and appreciation upon the ordinary subjects of the curriculum, which would be largely displaced if all the matters for which we have received claims were to become the subject-matter of direct instruction. At least some knowledge of past History and of Geography are necessary to an acquaintance with


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international affairs or with Social and Economic History or with American or Colonial History; vocational training needs knowledge of Mathematics or Languages or Science. There is real danger that in the end the superstructure will become too heavy for the shrunken foundations, or that in preoccupation with ulterior purposes to meet specific ends the immediate requirements of the pupil for general purposes will not be satisfied.

Education and an 'Enlightened and Instructed Public Opinion'

In some of the evidence submitted to us we detect a tendency to suppose that the problems which will engage the attention of the nation after the war can be solved or partly solved in the schools. At the root of this supposition lies the belief that the solution of these problems depends upon an enlightened and instructed public opinion, and that in forming such public opinion a beginning should be made in the period of school life.

Again with this point of view we have much sympathy, for we regard it as of supreme importance that the schools should send out pupils who will later be sensitive to such problems and perhaps able to help in their solution. But we could not follow some of our witnesses as far as they would wish to lead us; for we remember, first, that the interests and experience and mental grasp of the child are not those of the man, and secondly, that an enlightened public opinion does not depend wholly upon instruction in the problems or their data, but upon much else besides which is antecedent (both in logic and in experience) and seemingly irrelevant to those problems. We view the matter thus.

The school is a society of young people from 11 years of age to 18 years of age. It fosters within itself a life of its own which is dependent on the co-operation, the disciplined effort, the goodwill and good understanding of all its members. Within that life it can do much to call out in a sphere which has its limits, and in situations with which it can cope, qualities of sympathy and understanding, to create a sense of duty and obligation - in short, to achieve the spirit from which a successful common life is derived. Through the work of the classroom and of 'societies' it can provide the basis of knowledge which judgement must use as its material, and can develop an attitude of enquiry into facts and critical evaluation of judgements made upon them. Knowledge and enquiry and criticism together foster the intellectual aliveness which should be a characteristic of the secondary Grammar School. These qualities of spirit and these habits of mind we regard as an indispensable preparation for an enlightened public opinion; and the contributors of the evidence to which we have referred would doubtless agree.

It is when we pass to the consideration of the contribution which a school can make to instructed public opinion that we cannot follow them all the way. The child, and the child regarded as potential citizen and not as actual citizen, is the centre of education, and the processes of education must develop as his experience and interests widen and his powers grow strong. Nothing but harm can result, in our opinion, from attempts to interest pupils prematurely in matters which imply the experience of an adult - immediate harm to the pupil from forcing


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of interest, harm in the long run to the purpose in view from his unfavourable reaction. Admittedly, a stage is reached in the child's growth when his immediate environment of home and school widens and his interest stretches out to a larger world and its problems; but this stage is reached at different ages and the degree of interest varies greatly. For most pupils the widening of horizon proceeds most naturally and therefore most securely from their immediate interests and from their ordinary work. Further, however an instructed public opinion may be formed after the age of school, we are sure that at school no ready-made solutions ought to be imposed upon children. The problems are complex, the facts to be reviewed and the considerations to be taken into account are very large, and over-simplification carries its own dangers.

To sum up, a school can make its best contribution to this end if

(i) it fosters the qualities of a sympathetic and understanding mind and a sense of responsibility,

(ii) it promotes an attitude of free enquiry and develops power of independent judgement and intellectual alertness,

(iii) it gives some knowledge of facts and events which have determined the world in which its pupils will live, and

(iv) in response to their naturally widening interests makes them aware of the problems which will engage their attention later.

The first three are achieved most effectively through the ordinary life and work of the school directed and handled with consciousness of the end in view; the fourth should be the subject of further direct attack in the forms containing the older pupils.

Education for Citizenship

In this connection we wish to consider one of the many topics which have been brought to our attention for inclusion in the curriculum, namely education for citizenship. From what has already been said we hope it is clear that we regard it as of vital importance that education should give boys and girls a preparation for their life as citizens. We agree with the contention of the evidence which has reached us that British men and women should have clearer conceptions of the institutions of their country, how it is governed and administered centrally and locally, of the British Commonwealth and its origins and working, and of the present social and economic structure, and that they should realise their duties and responsibilities as members of these smaller and greater units of society. Of all this we have no doubt. But we remind ourselves that the growth from childhood to adolescence and so to citizenship is a gradual process and that, if the later stages are to be sound, the earlier stages cannot be forcibly hurried through. The practical problem is to discover how much can appropriately be taught to children at different stages of their development and how that teaching can best be given. Our own belief may be shortly put thus. Teaching of the kind desired can best be given incidentally, by appropriate illustration and comment and digression, through the ordinary school subjects, particularly History, Geography, English and foreign Languages and Literatures, Nevertheless lessons devoted explicitly


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to Public Affairs can suitably be given to older boys and girls certainly at the Sixth Form stage, and probably immediately before this stage. The most valuable influence for developing that sense of responsibility without which any amount of sheer information is of little benefit is the general spirit and outlook of the school - what is sometimes called the 'tone' of the school. At the moment we make no further observations on this brief statement; for it is one of the purposes of the chapters which follow to amplify and develop it indirectly.

Some Suggested New Subjects

The principle from which we started helps us to view in some perspective claims advanced for other subjects as a necessary part of the curriculum: some of such subjects are Economics, Social Studies, Colonial History, American History, Russian History, Comparative Religion, Ethics, Clear Thinking. The claims of some of these can be met in so far as it is desirable and possible to meet them in schools by a change of emphasis and a reconsideration of the content in History and Geography; and the greater freedom which we hope will be available to teachers would give scope for changes of this sort. But again we would urge that the best approach is through the existing subjects. Ethics is not a suitable subject for formal study in schools, except as it arises in the course of the ordinary work of the Sixth Form. Comparative Religion is beyond the range of boys and girls of secondary school age. If a need is felt for special lessons in Clear Thinking, it would seem to indicate that for some reason or other the subject-matter of the traditional subjects, which after all represent great provinces of human thought, is not used to advantage; lessons in Logic divorced from the content of the material of lessons in those subjects does not seem to us likely to satisfy the need or to give back to those lessons what was clearly deficient in them.

Again, suggestions have been made for set instruction in certain skills and for the imparting of certain information which in our opinion are best acquired elsewhere than in the classroom - in societies and clubs, in voluntary classes and through out-of-door activities, in camp, in school journeys and visits. Much was done in this way before the war; but the many and miscellaneous 'jobs' which schools have since undertaken and the improvisation to which they have been put and the widened opportunities of evacuated schools have reinforced their belief in the educational value of such activities. Direct instruction in the classroom is liable to formalise and so to turn into channels of set task and routine what is best left to a freer treatment.

The Problem of Framing a Curriculum

We conclude, then, that new subjects are not required in the curriculum, and we return to the position from which we started - that education is to provide the nurture and the environment in which the child shall grow aright and shall grow eventually to full stature and to develop the powers physical, spiritual and intellectual of which he is capable. As far as these powers can be developed by the curriculum, it must meet the needs of the pupil and must provide for the discovery and the satisfaction of special interests, aptitudes and skills. This process of


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discovery would start in the primary school, be continued into the lower school of the secondary Grammar School, and by the time the age of 13+ was reached some indication as to interests and inclinations would have declared itself. These individual interests and capacities it is the function of the curriculum of the Grammar School to develop, but it is essential to that development that a training should be given in certain skills and in the acquisition of certain knowledge which are necessary to communication and to the ordinary affairs of life and social relationships. Of this essential training we treat later.

The curriculum then must do justice to the needs of the pupil, physical, spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic, practical, social. This is the problem which those who construct curricula have to face. Their task is not easy, for they recognise that the needs of pupils vary considerably, and they have to reconcile the satisfaction of the varying needs with practical considerations of the timetable, and the limits imposed by staff and buildings. None the less it is from the ideal that any discussion of the curriculum must proceed; and in the light of it we propose to consider certain other statements sometimes advanced about the curriculum.

Parity of Subjects

It is sometimes said that within the curriculum there should be parity of subjects. We do not enquire into the origin of this idea, but we must admit that it seems to us to mean only one thing, and that so obvious as to be almost a truism. We take it to mean that it is equally open to any subject for which provision is normally made in the school to be included, or to rank as a major subject, in the curriculum of a pupil, if it is to the best interest of the pupil that it should be included or should so rank. But in this there is no implication that every subject must necessarily find a place in the curriculum of every school or pupil, or that it must be continuously taught or that it should run throughout the school. Too much attention has been paid to the 'weighting' of subjects in relation to each other as though they had claims of their own, independent of the needs of the pupil.

Balance

In the same way the phrases 'the balance of the curriculum' and 'breadth of curriculum' and 'all-round curriculum' seem to be misleading and indeed to have misled. The phrase 'the balance of curriculum' throws the emphasis in the wrong place; subjects are not in themselves complementary or antithetic or even antidotic to one another, as they sometimes seem to be regarded; a broad curriculum is not necessarily one in which a large number of subjects is carried continuously through successive forms; nor, we suspect, is the all-round pupil as common as is often assumed when curricula are under construction. To say that a pupil who gives much time to Natural Science should also give some time to English does not mean that of itself Natural Science needs an antidote in the shape of English; but that on the whole, and only on the whole, the scientific interests of pupils, if wrongly guided, attract their attention away from general reading and from standards of clear and easy expression. The curriculum cannot be balanced by opposing, say, Art or Music to the study


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of Languages or Mathematics. A broad education might be based upon very few subjects handled by a teacher with breadth of outlook. We labour this point because we feel that we are here dealing not merely with a kind of shorthand employed for brevity's sake by those who are engaged in teaching, but with something which has gone deeper, namely a tendency to regard subjects as having claims in their own right both absolutely and in relation to others without real regard for the supreme consideration, which is the special needs and special aptitudes and abilities of the pupils themselves. In the same way we think it difficult to find any principle of what is called integrating the curriculum if it is to take place round a subject or a group of subjects, still less round a single idea, as, for example, leisure or self-expression or activity or citizenship. If anything is to be integrated, it is not the curriculum that must be integrated, but the personality of the child; and this can be brought about, not by adjustment of subjects as such, but by the realisation of his purpose as a human being, which in turn can be brought about only by contact with minds conscious of a purpose for him. Only the teacher can make a unity of a child's education by promoting the unity of his personality in terms of purpose.

Specialism

From what has been said it will have been seen that we deplore the exaggerated importance which to our minds has been given to subjects as such. They seem to have built round themselves vested interests and rights of their own; their prestige is not felt to be as high as it should be if they do not run continuously up the school or receive equal attention in the School Certificate Examination, and, as a result, a certain sensitiveness has been created. There seem to be two main reasons for this; the first is that subjects are largely taught by specialists who rightly attach importance to the subject they teach; the second is that the inclusion of the subject in the syllabus of the School Certificate Examination and the number of pupils who take it as candidates in that examination are apt to be taken as measures of the degree of recognition accorded to the subject.

Two results seem to have followed. In the first place, subjects have tended to become preserves, belonging to specialist teachers; barriers have been erected between them, and teachers have felt unqualified or not free to trespass upon the dominions of other teachers. The specific values of each subject have been pressed to the neglect of values common to several or all. The school course has come to resemble the 'hundred yards' course, each subject following a track marked off from the others by a tape. In the meantime, we feel, the child is apt to be forgotten.

In the second place, a certain sameness in the curricula of schools seems to have resulted from the double necessity of finding a place for the many subjects competing for time in the curriculum and the need to teach those subjects in such a way and to such a standard as will ensure success in the School Certificate Examination. Under these necessities the curriculum has settled down into an uneasy equilibrium, the demands of specialists and subjects and examinations being nicely adjusted and compensated.


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Although we have expressed ourselves strongly, we realise that there is much devoted teaching in which the needs of the individual child take precedence over every other consideration. Nor do we wish to minimise the good which has been done by the work of teachers who have devoted all their efforts to the study and practice of a particular subject and have taught it as specialist teachers. To them is due in large measure the re-thinking of aim and method and content in all subjects of the curriculum which has been so marked a feature of secondary education, and to them has been due the creation of standards. This has all been most valuable work. We know, too, that there are Head Masters and Head Mistresses who, in spite of the limitations under which they work, succeed in planning curricula which pay regard to the special needs of pupils and make the most of the special gifts of individual teachers. But, after making all allowance, we still feel that specialist claims have created specialist minds which have tended to see education as divided into compartments or departments preoccupied with specific ends; and in these circumstances ends common to several subjects or to all have come to receive less than their due attention.

With greater freedom in secondary schools, with the opportunity of less specialised courses in Universities and Training Departments and with a growing appreciation of the fundamental purpose of education, we hope the time is not far distant when specialism, while retaining special knowledge, will look beyond its own limits and have more general regard for the pupil's needs as a whole.

We agree that for most subjects distinctive and specific values and ends and means to those ends can be claimed. Mathematics and Modern Languages are aiming at different things, their concepts and symbols and methods are different; nonetheless there is a sense in which as educational media they are pursuing the same ends. In the same way, the study of English Literature and Art are sometimes put by framers of curricula in different camps, roughly labelled literary and intellectual on the one hand and practical and aesthetic on the other; but, as is obvious, there is much common ground, Literature making an aesthetic appeal, while Art may present severe intellectual problems for solution. It is precisely the common aims and common ground which we feel are in danger of being neglected, and yet this common ground is the seedbed of sound learning, and therefore needs most careful tilling in the lower forms. We would ourselves ask for less learning and more soundness, and we feel much sympathy with the exaggeration of the parent who says that he does not care what his boy is taught so long as he is well taught.

Sound Learning

Sound learning is more easily recognised than defined. Every teacher knows it - when, for example, he comes out of his class with the conscious conviction that, no matter if his boys forget what he has just passed on to them as information, no matter what they are going to be, no matter whether the lesson is capable of being turned to direct use or not, nevertheless it was good for both teacher and class to be there, engaged together on something of value. An interviewer, an oral examiner, a parent can detect when a boy talks with easy mastery


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about something he knows as though it were part of him and of real meaning to him, and not half-digested or learned merely by rote, possibly for use on just such an occasion. A pupil himself, whenever he reflects upon such a matter, knows when on any tract of study he is sure of himself, when knowledge has been assimilated and significance grasped for more than temporary purposes.

In sound learning content is of less importance than the disciplines which all systematic effort, mental or otherwise, imposes on those who make it. Effort expends itself on material, and the material is provided by the basic ideas of the main departments of human knowledge to which the pupil is introduced. To change the metaphor, the tools necessary for thought and communication, for measurement and comparison, are forged and their use is demonstrated and practised. From sure grasp of material and the practised use of tools upon it there results sound learning - the power to distinguish between what is known and half-known, ease of movement within a limited area, the application of a fact or a method learnt in one context to the needs of another context, a belief that small things matter, detection of relevance, accuracy and precision, satisfaction with a small task well done, dislike of pretentiousness, honesty of thought and sincerity in expression. These may sound ambitious terms to apply to the work of a child of eleven or fourteen years of age; they stand nonetheless for something which at humble levels the schoolmaster can detect, in which he rejoices and in which he finds his reward. It is this sound learning, we believe, which preoccupation with subjects tends to obscure. Preoccupation with subjects tends to throw them out of relation to one another and to result in the overweighting of syllabuses and the pursuit of particular ends to the exclusion of common purposes. There is no intention of neglecting sound learning; rather it has been lost sight of because it has been assumed. And in the interest of his pupils no schoolmaster, whatever his subject, must take it for granted, for it is of the essence of his task. Only if his eye is all the time upon this, is he at liberty to stress the specific values of a subject.

The Form-Master

At this point we pause to consider a topic to which we attach much importance as being fundamental to the argument which we have hitherto pursued; consideration of it is a necessary preliminary to our further remarks on curriculum and the subjects comprising it.

The thread running through this chapter so far has been that the child is the centre of education, and that the curriculum and the treatment of the curriculum are to be fitted to his needs: that subjects exist for the child and not the child for subjects. The implication of this doctrine for the teacher is very great; it affects his outlook, his equipment and training, the conditions under which his work is arranged, his conduct of lessons. While it is not our task to consider in any detail the University and professional training of teachers, we must of necessity set out our views upon certain aspects of this training.

We believe that the reinstatement of the form-master, in the old sense of the word, would prove of incalculable benefit to real education. This cannot be done merely by the recasting of timetables, which might


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result only in putting the teaching of several subjects into the hands of one teacher who was equipped neither by knowledge nor interest to deal with them. Nor can it be done by assigning forms of pupils to individual teachers only for convenience of organisation and for purposes of general discipline, as is sometimes the practice now. By the reinstatement of the form-master we mean that each form of pupils would be the special care of one master, whose interest and work it would be to watch over the general development of his pupils in all spheres of school life; he would teach them in more than one subject, teaching those subjects with regard to the promotion of that sound learning of which we spoke above and having time at his disposal for the unhurried treatment of whatever seemed to him to need attention at the moment, For part of the week he would lend, as it were, his pupils to other masters to be taught other subjects, but he would retain active interest in the content and aims of the work, in the progress of his form and its individuals. Taking a synoptic view of the work of the form he would direct his own teaching to better advantage; because he saw more of his pupils than other masters, he would know more of them as boys and they would know him as a man as well as a teacher; he would be in a position to advise about many aspects of their school life because he had seen their life from their point of view. The form-master, or the form, would have a form-room, instinct in course of time with its own genius loci.

We should regard the form-master as essential to the best handling of the work of the lower and middle forms and desirable in the upper forms of the Main school.

Perhaps it will be objected that the placing of more than one subject in the hands of a form-master would lead to a deterioration in the teaching of those subjects, that the initial stages of any subject should be entrusted to the most skilled specialists, that the modern technique of teaching each subject is so exacting that it is difficult for a teacher to master several, that equipment in knowledge and training - in short, 'qualifications' - would be deficient.

To these objections we would reply as follows: If there is a risk of deterioration in the teaching of individual subjects, it is a risk which would be more than compensated by the tilling of that ground which is common to related subjects, a task which it would be a special object of the form-master to carry out. The ultimate gain to the real education of the pupil would in our view more than offset any loss in performance in individual subjects; indeed it is more than probable that the effect on those subjects would in the long run be beneficial rather than harmful. Moreover, we do not regard it as an axiom that the necessary knowledge and technique to teach more than one subject with success is beyond the reach of most teachers, though we admit that there has been a tendency to believe that this is so. We take it that one of the functions of an honours course at a University is to give students such mastery of subject-matter and methods in one field that they will have the curiosity and the power to adventure into adjoining, or even distant, fields of knowledge. Teachers have been confined, or have confined themselves, too rigidly within the limits of their 'paper' qualifications, and loss has resulted both to themselves and to the schools.


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Thus, two causes - there may be others - seem to have contributed to the rigidity of which we have spoken; the first is a feeling of diffidence in handling a subject which has not been taken in a degree course, the second is a feeling that lack of special training in the technique and methods of teaching a particular subject is necessarily a disqualification for teaching it. These are intelligible reasons, but we suggest that they are not as valid as they are often held to be. The good teacher must| at all times be a learner if he is to avoid staleness and eventually stagnation, and, if he has been trained in the methods appropriate to one subject, he should not find great difficulty in mastering the methods appropriate to the teaching of a related subject.

None the less we would advocate the more general institution at Universities of degree courses which allow two or three subjects to be taken at a 'general honours' level. It is not for us to recommend combinations of subjects, for we should not wish such courses to contain only students who intended to be teachers. From the point of view of the schools, English, Latin, Greek, Divinity, History (including Public Affairs), Modern Languages, Geography and Art seem to be the subjects which would with greatest profit lend themselves to combinations which would offer at the same time a line of sufficiently unified study. Similarly we would recommend wider adoption of courses in Natural Science which would combine the special sciences, though, as we know, such courses already exist.

In the schools the influence of students trained in such courses would be great. There are some students for whom specialised courses do not seem to be best suited as a means of developing their interests and abilities; they would profit through being able to move over a larger field, though admittedly with less depth of knowledge; they would handle several school subjects with added confidence, and they would bring a breadth of view into their teaching which would react upon their handling of those subjects. We must not be understood to imply that such a course is best suited for all students intending to be teachers; clearly some minds gain most profit from a University course of the more specialised type, and such minds are needed in schools. Nor would we wish to imply that the best course for a form master would necessarily include two or three subjects; clearly many men with qualifications in one subject only may make admirable form-masters; our contention is that for many intending teachers a broader course would be of greater profit and that the schools also would gain from the presence of more teachers so educated. Nor should such education constitute a handicap to them in their career, for we believe that many men and women so educated would be well fitted to take up responsibility as Heads of schools.

In the same way we would advocate that students in training at University Training Departments should gain a closer acquaintance than is often the case at present with the general aims and technique of subjects other than that in which they have taken their degree. The presence in those Departments of students who had followed general honours degree in the University would make the provision of such wider training desirable, indeed necessary; but perhaps those who actually need it most are graduates in one of the more specialised


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courses. We think that at present many students on completing their training are convinced that for the rest of their lives they can and must teach only one subject, and this belief has contributed to the specialist outlook so prevalent in schools. Their reading has been along one groove of interest, their training has often, we think, worn that groove deeper, till they feel, partly, that they are not qualified to stray out of it, partly, that they lose status and prestige if they do, being classed then as 'general practitioners'. But we would urge most earnestly that it is essential to the welfare of the schools that they should have on their staffs teachers of wide outlook - wide enough for them to realise that knowledge is one and to consider the pupil as a 'whole' man. Only thus, in our view, is any curriculum, however devised and delicately adjusted, likely to be integrated in any sense of any value.

We have digressed thus for two reasons: first, to bring out certain implications of the previous argument of this chapter, secondly to prepare the way for the further remarks which we make on curriculum. We return therefore to our previous consideration of sound learning, and starting from it attempt to come to closer grips with the curriculum itself.

Three Elements of Education

There are three elements which are essential to a good education; we call them elements because they are not subjects in the usual sense of that word, though they nevertheless have their defined place in the curriculum. They are not limited to set hours or set places; they pervade the life of the school, in and out of the classroom, they are the concern of all who take a share to guiding its work and its play, and upon a right attitude towards them and upon a right treatment of them depends a major part of the achievement of the school in its primary task of realising the powers of the individual pupil and of equipping him as a member of society. These elements, which in our view are more than subjects because in one form or another they run through almost every activity, intellectual and other, which a school fosters, are (i) training of the body, (ii) training of character, (iii) training in habits of clear thought and clear expression of thought in the English language.

In other words we maintain that every teacher, if he is to do the best for the pupils committed to his charge, must regard as within his province and as of supreme importance the attitude of each pupil to his own bodily welfare, to moral and spiritual ideals and to the clear and correct use of his own language.

According to this view, no matter what may be the subject or subjects to which a teacher may give most of his time, the subject or subjects should be of minor importance to him compared with the general welfare of the 'whole' pupil, regarded as a being who is possessed of a physical body, who is moved by ideals of conduct and thought to a certain behaviour, individual and social, and who needs for the formation and expression of ideas a sure power of using his own language.

(a) Physical Welfare

General policy as regards Physical Education in a school is the province of the Head Master; the carrying out of a scheme of physical training


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and games and sports and all those activities specially directed to this end is the responsibility of those specially qualified to undertake this task, and for this purpose school time will be set aside. In a later chapter of this Report further consideration is given to policy in regard to Physical Education and to the use of the periods so set apart. But at the moment we are anxious to stress the point that teachers as a whole can do much to influence the attitude of their pupils to physical health and well-being. Without being experts, without necessarily sharing in the conduct of school games, they can take such interest in the physical welfare of their pupils as to reinforce the efforts of those to whom it is a special concern. On their attitude to fresh air and good lighting, if only in their own classroom, to the activities of forms of individual pupils in the gymnasium or on the playing field, to evident fatigue in lesson hours, to defective nutrition, to posture and bearing, may depend to a large extent the success of the more direct and formal physical instruction; for on such care and interest may be built up the general attitude of the pupils themselves to all matters relating to physical well-being. Many teachers who have a strong call upon the respect or admiration of their pupils in intellectual matters could do incalculable good by making clear, if only by incidental evidence, that they set store by the physical welfare no less than the mental advancement of those whom they teach.

(b) Ideals of Character

We take it for granted that it is part of the function of a school to set before its pupils ideals of character and of conduct, individual and social, and to provide through its own manifold activities means of realising in some measure and in varied ways the aspirations which in the last resort constitute the justification of these activities and furnish their motive power. Again we consider such matters to be the concern of all engaged in the work of the school, and to penetrate every department of its activities, whether inside the classroom or outside it. The outlook and the behaviour of the pupil, his standards and habits of judgement whether as an individual, as a member of the school community and later as a citizen, depend to great extent upon the nature of the influences which bear upon him at school; such influences are often most powerful when least consciously exerted. Growth in ideals takes place best in an environment in which those ideals find embodiment in everyday life, and to that spiritual environment every teacher can make his contribution.

For the fashioning of such an environment many teachers will wish to provide a religious sanction and for that reason many will wish to take part in religious instruction. In a later chapter we draw a distinction between religious education and religious instruction and treat of both more fully; the point which we wish to make at this stage is that an environment which will foster the growth of ideals, spiritual, moral, aesthetic and intellectual, whether consciously rooted in religious sanction or not, cannot be fully created without the contribution of each teacher who shares the daily life of the school community.


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(c) English

The third element of education which we postulate is training in English, that is, clear expression in English, both spoken and written, based on the logical arrangement of ideas. To such training every teacher has a contribution to make, and such contribution we hold to he of vital importance to the pupil and to the whole business of his education. Weighty evidence presented from varied quarters, and sometimes conflicting in other respects but agreeing in this, points to the need for improvement in the training given in English in the sense in which we used the term above. It has often been urged that English is the concern of all teachers, no matter what their subject, but we are compelled to stress once again the real need that this essential obligation should be carried out. Why the standard of English exhibited by the average Secondary School pupil should be such as to excite constant criticism has caused us much thought; special periods are set apart in the curriculum of schools for English, and a paper in English is taken by all candidates in the School Certificate Examination. In our chapter on English we set out some reasons for the failure; at this point we would draw attention to what we believe to be one of them. Of recent years greater emphasis has been placed on the teaching of English than formerly; it forms part of the curriculum of every pupil, and the periods set aside for its special treatment have been placed in the hands of those who have made a special study of its problems. Meantime other subjects have also been placed in the hands of specialists. Thus the very provision of special periods for English and the concentration of the teaching into the hands of a few - both of which measures are justifiable in themselves - may have led to a diminution of the attention which teachers of other subjects pay to this important purpose of all education. Such neglect may take place unintentionally or may arise from preoccupation with the special purposes and needs of other subjects. Yet, even from the point of view of those subjects, clear arrangement of ideas and their clear expression must be regarded as of the utmost value. The matter can perhaps be put shortly thus: English should be the concern of every schoolmaster, as schoolmaster, no matter what his specialist subject, and he is a schoolmaster before he is the specialist teacher of another subject.

If we are right in believing that these three elements in education are fundamental, and that therefore they are of concern to every teacher, important consequences follow which will affect the training of teachers. Not that we think that in themselves courses in physical education, or lectures on the corporate life of a school or on the teaching of English, given to students in training, will necessarily result in the achievement of the object which we have at heart; for we believe that in the last resort the teacher's earnest attention to these elements will proceed, first, from the recognition of them as satisfying primary needs of the pupil and, secondly, from that love for his pupils which we assume as indispensable in the good teachers. By awakening such recognition and by presupposing such an attitude to be the foundation of the teacher's work, training can do much to prepare the ground for a fulfilment of the purposes which we have been discussing.


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The General Nature of the Curriculum

On an earlier page we have defined it as part of the function of the Grammar School to give a pupil an introduction to the main departments of human knowledge and activity and to give him some acquaintance with the methods employed in them. Such departments will naturally and obviously include Mathematics and Natural Science, Languages and Literature - departments which, with such sub-divisions as are appropriate to school education, have always been the basis of the Grammar School curriculum, though admittedly other subjects also have been included.

These main departments must still provide the main fields of learning for the secondary Grammar School pupil, and the suggestions about curriculum which we make in subsequent paragraphs start from this belief. But there is one realm of human experience which for historic reasons is not always given the full opportunity to which it is entitled in the Grammar School curriculum - namely Art in the broadest sense, including Music and Handicraft. For reasons into which we do not enter at the moment its relation to the curriculum has often been ill-defined, and in too many instances its place has been precarious and uncomfortable.

We have attempted in a subsequent chapter on art to discuss its relation to the curriculum as a whole and to suggest the means by which it can and should justify its importance; to this chapter we would refer the reader. In the meantime we would urge that, apart from the satisfaction to the individual pupil, training in Art at school offers powerful means of raising public taste in matters relating to environment, housing, town planning, furniture, interior decoration, and the like. No doubt the first and most direct influence, even if subconsciously exerted, is the site and design of the school itself, its buildings, furniture, pictures. More direct approach comes through some form of Art or Craft teaching; exactly what form is the most suitable is for those concerned with Art to decide, and it may well be that some unifying factor, which will give direction and cohesion to the various forms of Art, needs to be discovered. Without Art, Music or Craft the individual may be very much the poorer as an individual; the State is the poorer which does not contain those whose power of appreciation has been trained and whose sensitiveness to beauty has been awakened. If, on the other hand, its citizens have been made alive to the beauty of the world and to the ugliness imposed upon it, to the differences between good and bad design in architecture or pictures or chairs or ornament, the standard of public taste will quickly rise and exert a powerful influence towards the replacement of ugliness by what is beautiful in al| spheres of national life. To this end the schools can make a powerful contribution.

We have prefixed this brief statement to our remaining observations on curriculum in order to explain why we make suggestions which allow every pupil the opportunity to make a beginning in Art, Music and Handicrafts, to give them up or to pursue them further.


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The 'Lower School' of the Secondary Grammar School

We are now in a position to consider in more detail the curriculum of the Grammar School, and we take first the 'Lower School'.

It will be remembered that we postulated for each type of secondary school a Lower School containing pupils of the average ages of 11+ to 13+; one of its functions was to discover from close observation of the child whether he was suited by the type of school in which he had been placed at 11+ or whether one of the other types would be of greater advantage to him. Then at 13+ there was to be a review, and entry into the Lower School of any type of secondary school would not carry with it automatic promotion into the upper part of the same school. In order that the process of review and the resulting transfer, if any, may take place with success, it is necessary that the curriculum of the Lower School of the three types of secondary schools should be such as to enable those in charge of it to discover abilities or interests in the pupils which would recommend them for types of secondary education; at the same time the curriculum must be such as to enable the pupil to start his education from 13+ with the right sort of grounding. We believe that a roughly common curriculum could be devised which would fulfil satisfactorily these purposes. It is not for us to say exactly what form the curriculum of the Lower School of a secondary Modern School or a secondary Technical School might take, but we think we can safely assume that the curriculum of either would furnish good evidence of a pupil's need of secondary Grammar School education, and certainly we should expect the Lower School of the Grammar School to detect special aptitude for Technical or Modern School education. We take it that the chief difference in the curricula of the Lower Schools would be that in the Grammar School by the age of 13+ one foreign language would have been begun by most or all pupils and two foreign languages by many, whereas in the modern or technical schools one foreign language would have been begun by some pupils. Transfer to the Grammar School would not be dependent, however, on a modern language having been begun at the Modern or Technical School; we contemplate that the Grammar School would make arrangements - as has already been done in fact - for starting exceptional pupils in a foreign language at the age of 13+; their capacity to profit rapidly from such teaching would have been disclosed by their marked gifts in English. We suggest these arrangements because it is to the interest of the Grammar School pupil not to delay a start in foreign languages till 13+, and yet pupils transferred from Modern Schools should have the opportunity to start a foreign language. Moreover, we are anxious that transfer should not be impeded when it is to the real interest of any pupil.

It would be of the greatest benefit to the Lower School, both for the efficient fulfilment of its function of discovering aptitude and for the arrangement of curriculum and the treatment of subjects, if it were placed in the charge of a Lower School master acting under the Head Master. He would be a man who, qualified by suitable experience, had given special thought to the aims of the Lower School, who took a comprehensive view of the needs of pupils of this age, who would relate subjects to one another, both as regards content and method, and who


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would study the pupil as an individual. He would be assisted largely by form-masters, who also would endeavour to assess the boy as a whole. He would then be in a position to advise the Head Master and the parents as to the type of secondary education which would best suit the pupil. At the same time a suitable foundation would have been laid for whatever type was chosen. Nor would there be fear of discontinuity of aim or method between the Lower School of a Grammar School and the higher forms. Though in a sense a separately organised and compacted group of forms, it would look forward as regards aim and method to the work of the Upper forms, and experience suggests that there is nothing to prevent the school as a whole being a real unity.

In the Lower School of the Grammar School we would ask for a curriculum comprising Physical Education, Religious Instruction, English, History, Geography, Mathematics, Natural Science of the kind which we shall describe later, Art, Handicrafts, Music and one or two foreign languages. These are traditional subjects under traditional names; but we cannot replace them by any other subjects more 'real' or more necessary or more desirable or more useful. Everything depends on their treatment both as regards themselves and their relation to one another and to the environment of the pupils and the special circumstances of the school. Though we have used the traditional names - for there are no others which will serve as well - the last thing we contemplate is that these subjects should be rigidly taught as subjects according to a rigid timetable; we think that form-masters should have ample discretion to combine subject matter as they can and wish, to pay attention to special needs, to digress and to take advantage of special opportunities which may be presented at the moment. Syllabuses no doubt there must be, but the covering of a syllabus at a preconceived rate, must, if necessary, give place to those considerations of sound learning of which we spoke earlier, and of fundamental skills such as handwriting and spelling. The training of a right attitude to such ideals as precision and mastery and clarity and thoroughness is, in our view, of more importance than covering a set tract in each subject, desirable though that may be.

It will be observed that Art, Music and Handicraft are included as necessary subjects; this is in accordance with the views which we have expressed on an earlier page. About the place of foreign languages and the considerations which deserve to be taken into account as regards the early teaching of other subjects, more is said in later chapters. At the moment we would invite attention to the value of relating History and Geography to local surroundings and the present experience of young children; Art, Natural Science and to some extent Mathematics may with great gain draw upon problems and phenomena within reach of every day experience without sacrificing a foundation necessary for later study: Handicrafts may be brought into relation with various school activities and perhaps with local crafts and industries.

The Curriculum of the Higher Forms

As regards the curriculum of the higher forms of the Main school we would say in advance that we do not propose to prescribe courses of


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study or to assign numbers of school periods to subjects, or to insist on the inclusion of particular subjects - with certain exceptions - at any stage or to define the length of course suitable to their study. These are matters on which in our view the school must take its own decisions having in mind the purposes in view. In advocating that there should be freedom to schools to devise curricula suited to their pupils and to local needs, we are fully aware that, particularly in the early stages of freedom, there will be a risk of curricula being put into operation which after a short time will prove themselves in need of drastic revision; But it is a risk which must be taken. We look to conditions of greater freedom than now obtain to compel careful thought about curriculum and the right treatment of subjects. Without such thought and the liberty to carry it into practice, curricula cannot be suited to the general and special needs of pupils, and secondary Grammar Schools cannot exhibit that variety within a common purpose which is essential to further growth and vitality.

At the same time we would point also to certain regulative influences which will tend to prevent too wide divergences. In the first place we would refer back to an earlier chapter in which we spoke of the essential characteristics of the Grammar School and its purposes for the type of pupil for whom it exists. In setting up its ideal of sound learning, in introducing its pupils to the main departments of human knowledge and experience, in acquainting them with achievements and aspirations of human thought and practice, in training them in the methods and disciplines used by Mathematics, Art, Language, Literature and Natural Science, the Grammar School, if it is to be true to its traditions and its aims, will find a principle by which to test its own curricula. In the second place, the general needs of the pupil who finds his right place in the Grammar School will, on the whole, be much the same, and, though the curricula in this or that Grammar School may vary, they will stand as species to a genus which determines itself through its own intrinsic nature. Thirdly, conferences and exchange of ideas among teachers can do much to create a consensus of opinion unfavourable to ill-judged curricula. Finally, we rely on the sanity and conscience of Head Masters and Head Mistresses. We would look to these influences to give guidance in the wise use of freedom rather than to administrative regulation or examination requirement, however lightly imposed or carefully devised; for in the last resort, if freedom is to mean anything, the final decision must be with the schools themselves.

It is not to be expected then that we should set out specimen curricula in detail. We confine ourselves to setting out certain principles which seem to us of importance, first, for the work of the Main school, that is, up to 16+, and, secondly, for the work of the Sixth Form.

Throughout the school we assume that special provision in classroom time will be made for Physical Education, Religious Instruction and English. Again, opportunity for one or more of the subjects, Art and Music and Handicraft should be available throughout the school, so that pupils whose interest has been awakened in the Lower School, where the subjects were compulsory, should be able to retain and extend that interest. For those of marked ability, particularly in Art and Music, we hope that special facilities will increasingly be made available.


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From 13+ onwards some differentiation of curriculum is legitimate according to the main interests and abilities of pupils, provided that at all stages there is provision also for other subjects selected to meet other needs and other interests. Such differentiation generally follows two main lines of interest, namely, 'humanities' and Natural Science and Mathematics; in the years 14+ and 15+ this differentiation is probably best shown in increased emphasis on suitable subjects rather than in widely different choice of subjects.

We have spoken of main lines of interest as the principle of differentiation. We are not afraid of differentiation at this stage of the main school; but the difficulty hitherto has been to give the increased emphasis to subjects for which the pupil shows marked leanings. The average pupil has hitherto carried up to the Fifth Form six or seven or eight or more subjects, each studied in a consecutive course, generally for four or five years. Under the greater freedom which we hope will eventually arise, the number of subjects taken in the last two years might with advantage be reduced, and a different degree of emphasis be laid on some subjects in preference to others, according to the interest and capacity of pupils. It is often desirable in the case of some pupils to keep alive certain subjects rather than to stimulate them all to the same degree of activity. In our view, the carrying on of a large number of subjects to the same standard has entailed a stereotyping of curriculum and a uniformity which is not in the interests of school or pupil. Not every subject need necessarily be continuously taught throughout the Main school to all pupils. Some, but not all, subjects can without loss be dropped and resumed; continuity is not essential to them, though to Languages, for example, it is essential. Nor need any given subject be taught in the same way to all pupils. English for those with a natural turn for Languages and Literature may be one thing, for others it must be another thing; natural science or mathematics for linguists would not be the same as for those who have a special leaning in those directions.

We do not think that we are supporting a plan which must necessarily lead to 'bitty' or 'scrappy' curricula. There is a logic in subjects - more compelling in some than in others - which marks out stages representing objectives and achievements which are worthwhile; the structure of the subject itself dictates that, if a halt is made, it should be made at this or that point. That stage, or that point, is not necessarily in all subjects and for all pupils that at present indicated by the syllabus and standard of the School Certificate Examination; on the other hand it cannot be fixed by caprice, for the nature of the subject matter dictates its own appropriate objectives and its halting places, according to the purposes to be served. Attention to these natural landmarks will, we believe, prevent the 'scrappy' curricula to which we have alluded.

Foreign languages, Mathematics and Natural Science we have regarded as of fundamental importance in the Grammar School curriculum, and therefore all should be part of the curriculum of all pupils; we contemplate that instances would be very rare and abnormal in which in spite of good teaching the abandonment of one of these subjects should be recommended; and we should assume that the


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blind spot for one of these subjects would be compensated by special ability in other fields. If two of these subjects proved to be too much for a pupil, clearly he would not be likely to profit from the Grammar School curriculum and would profit more from a course of another kind.

We take it that there can be no doubt of the strong position which foreign languages will continue to occupy in Grammar School education, and we do not think it necessary to justify that position. We assume that all pupils in such a school will begin one or two or three foreign languages, and that it is desirable to start the learning of the first language on entry to the Lower School. The conditions under which a second or third language should be begun by those for whom is desirable are discussed in the chapter on foreign languages; there too we put forward certain considerations concerning the choice of foreign languages. As regards Mathematics and Natural Science, we think it essential that all pupils should have had the opportunity to study them before they reach the age of 16+, though this does not mean that the content of the syllabus or the time given should be the same for all pupils.

We regard the reservations and conditions which we have set out in the preceding paragraphs as necessary for safeguarding the interests of certain types of pupils and for encouraging the diversity within a common purpose which secondary Grammar Schools should foster.

The curriculum for children of 14 and 15 would thus generally - though not necessarily - include History, Geography, Natural Science, Mathematics, and one or more foreign languages.

From 15+ the load of subjects should in our opinion become lighter and it can be made lighter without necessarily leading to undue specialisation. The compromise which in education must always cause thought and anxiety is the compromise between breadth and depth. At the moment, speaking generally, a broad area of ground is dug and it is dug all to the same depth; we should prefer that much the same area should partly be trenched deep and partly dug over. Part of the criticism, we believe, of the Secondary School pupil arises from his study of too many subjects with the same degree of intensity: and we should recommend that in the last year or even the last two years of the Main school course, four subjects should be studied as chief subjects, and that contact with some should be maintained and opportunity be given to make acquaintance with others. The main brunt of the task of education would be borne by the chief subjects: range and variety would be given by the others. We feel that there is much to be said for introducing pupils at 16+ to new subjects or activities, and that the prospect of such introduction should interest teachers of those subjects, since the later age gives them opportunity for a different approach and a different presentation. In this connection we would draw special attention to some relevant observations in our chapter on History.

Our terms of reference do not justify us in going further afield into questions of method. We make no mention therefore of the place and use of private study periods in the curriculum nor do we make mention of broadcast lessons which we regard as a subject for special enquiry.


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There are, however, two points to which a brief reference may be permitted. Our evidence makes it plain that the recommendations of the pamphlet on 'Homework' published for the Board of Education meet with general approval from many different quarters, though there is also regret that they are not more frequently put into practice. Secondly - and this is a matter not unrelated to homework - we feel convinced that on the whole too much written work is demanded and that unnecessary and excessive note taking is tolerated. It is probable that one of the causes of deterioration in handwriting is to be traced to the hurried taking of voluminous notes and the writing of exercises against time. We invite the attention of teachers to these matters, adding that it would seem to us that the form master should be in a position to exercise some control and much influence in both.

The Sixth Form

Our views upon the curricula of the Sixth Form have to some extent been indicated in our chapter on examinations. For convenience, however, we would recapitulate considerations which were put forward there and gather together very briefly suggestions bearing upon the choice and treatment of subjects which appear in the chapters on the subjects of the curriculum. We feel that full treatment of Sixth Form work in general is not here necessary, for it has been well undertaken in the pamphlet on Sixth Form work published for the Board of Education; to it we would draw attention.

The proposals which we put forward about examinations taken in the Sixth Form would work towards the simplifying of organisation and the planning of work. Our contention was that two clearly defined types of course would establish themselves leading to an appropriate objective: in one case a competitive examination leading to University and College scholarships and State scholarships, in the other a qualifying examination, leading to the University, to professions, Training Colleges, Service Colleges and business posts. The main work in each course would be distinctive of each type, and there would be no question of the same examination attempting to serve two purposes with consequent harm to the less able pupils. In the next place we have urged that examinations for scholarships should be put on a broader basis, with resulting effect upon the work of the schools; at the same time pupils working for the qualifying examination at 18+ would take in it whatever subjects were necessary or appropriate to their particular objective, the rest of their time being free for use as the school thought best for them.

In the chapters which follow we have discussed more fully certain types of Sixth Form work to which we would draw attention, but it may make for convenience if we refer briefly to them here.

(a) It is desirable that some form of Natural Science should find a place in the curriculum of Sixth Forms, other than those taking Natural Science as a specialist study. We think that lectures on the development of scientific theory, on modern applications to various fields of activity, on scientific methods and their limitations would be of value to pupils who do not give special attention to the subject - and possibly


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to those who do. In connection with such lectures we can imagine a most satisfactory course of reading in portions of the scientific classics.

(b) Lectures and discussions upon aspects of Colonial and American History, the British Commonwealth and its growth and significance, Public Affairs and Administration are of great value and importance at this stage; for pupils are of an age to feel interest in the problems which such studies present; and to grasp their meaning; by preliminary reading they can themselves become acquainted with necessary facts, and such reading the teacher can take as a basis for further lectures and for discussion.

We are convinced that this is the most appropriate place in the school course for special treatment of such subjects, having regard to the nature of their matter and the necessity of a basis of knowledge supplied by other subjects. Much experimental work will no doubt be necessary in order to discover suitable methods of treatment, and perhaps the historical approach will be found to be less satisfactory than the topical.

Possibly it will not be superfluous to add that we do not contemplate the addition of all or several of these lines of study to normal sixth form work at the same time: but we think it desirable and possible that some should have been treated during the two or three years which a pupil normally spends in the sixth form.

(c) In our chapter on foreign languages we urge that more could be done than at present in the provision of two or three-year courses of Languages begun on entry into the Sixth Form. Experience shows that rapid progress can be made if such study is undertaken on a basis of a knowledge of other languages learned in the Main school, and it is often found that, since a boy's future line of study or occupation is now becoming apparent, a motive is furnished which accelerates progress.

(d) In the chapter on Domestic Subjects we draw attention to the value of intensive courses in these subjects, and of pre-Nursing studies for girls of Sixth Form age and status.

(e) In the section on Commercial education we have set out considerations which we think should be taken into account in arranging special courses for pupils, both boys and girls, going into Commerce after spending some time in the Sixth Form. Apart from courses which make provision for training in skills and methods appropriate to office work, there is room, in our opinion, for training which would give a wide yet well-directed course of study preliminary to business life and would have as its basis the study of Geography, Mathematics and Statistics, descriptive Economics, and Public Administration. To this we make fuller reference in our chapter on Geography.

Libraries

Of recent years the importance of a library in a school has received greater recognition than formerly, and its proper use has received study and attention in the schools themselves. It is becoming rare for a school to have no library, and on the whole improvement is being made as regards the supply of books, equipment and furniture. In the last ten years enquiries into the function of school libraries have been held and courses for school librarians have been organised; the Carnegie


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report drawing professional attention to the subject has appeared; organisations have been formed to foster the interests of the school library and periodicals have been published; in this work teachers have been actively concerned. Progress has been made with the establishment of liaison between School Libraries and Public Libraries. Indeed it may be doubted whether during the last ten years any other branch of the life of the Secondary School has shown such vigorous and promising growth. Our purpose is to give encouragement to these developments, not by attempting to summarise the very considerable body of thought which is now growing up regarding the school library, but by singling out one or two points for brief consideration.

Some of the chapters on individual subjects of the curriculum make reference to the need for the provision of books in the school library. It is of real value that there should be available for advanced students a number of specialist works which are often too expensive for the individual to buy. They will be few, and are perhaps best housed in the classroom and kept under the control of the teacher in charge of the subject. It is important that the school library should not be regarded merely as a classified collection of books of which the function is primarily to supplement the teaching of the various subjects of the curriculum. For in the library the boundaries imposed by subjects and syllabuses are removed to offer a width of outlook which is part of the preparation for the use of books throughout life; if there is one result which the satisfactory use of a library should achieve, it is to leave with the pupil the conviction that knowledge is essentially one.

The first function of the school library is to provide opportunities for the pupil as a reader, not as a member of a form or a school or any group, but simply as an individual who, whether for the special purposes of the moment or as an abiding interest, has an interest in books, either for recreation or study or reference, from curiosity or whatever motive impels anyone to open a book or turn its leaves. There is therefore something much more individualist about reading in a library than there can be in classroom instruction, and for this reason the library often makes special appeal to the pupil of thoughtful mind who can read or work alone and appeals less to the pupil who needs the presence and the stimulus of others.

The pupil as a reader may use the library for purposes of reference, for recreation (whether this takes the form of light or serious reading) and for supplementing the work of the classroom. The first of these purposes is readily admitted by schools, and the earliest acquisitions of a library naturally include books of reference. Similarly, responsibility for encouraging the habit of reading and of promoting intelligent choice of books is recognised by all schools, though achieved in varying degrees, since success depends upon the arrangements made for the wise use of the library. The third purpose of the library, namely to supply pupil and teacher with collateral reading upon the subjects of the curriculum, is no less recognised; indeed sometimes there may be a danger of this purpose overshadowing other purposes, so that the library becomes little more than an adjunct to classroom teaching. As we have said, we think that these purposes should be kept distinct.


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There are two ways in which a better use could be made of school libraries; their importance has in some schools been progressively realised, but in most schools much remains to be done. The first is training in the right use of books and in appreciation of their place in life; the second is encouragement to undertake substantial reading round a selected topic or theme, such reading implying the critical use of a number of books and including practice in the selection of relevant material. Just as in writing about the various subjects of the curriculum we select certain aspects to which we wish to draw attention, so in writing about the school library we select these two purposes of the library as being those which at present deserve emphasis.

To a question put to her by her father, a school girl once replied that the difference between a 'school walk' in the country and an 'ordinary walk' was that in the one you were shown things, in the other you saw things. The moral both for the pupil and for the teacher applies to training in the use of a library. Boys and girls will see more in books if they are put into the way of using them properly; at the same time such training should not go beyond the barest needs; for, once the main bearings have been indicated, discovery is the main delight of the journey. Hence the task of training pupils to use the books in a library calls at once for sensitiveness and self-restraint on the part of the librarian or teacher; that his aim is to make himself superfluous does not minimise the importance of his task, in this as in any other field. If a large proportion of the pupils in a secondary Grammar School are to gain familiarity with the use of books, preliminary training, undertaken especially in the lower forms, makes an important contribution to this end. There is no need for us to elaborate the kind of training which we have in mind - the use of the catalogue, the differences between books of reference, as for example, a dictionary and an encyclopaedia, the use of tables of contents and indices and so on; our intention is rather to commend the work which is being done in this way, and to urge that all opportunity should be taken for making public established schemes and experiments yet on trial with a view to a wider practice of this essential preliminary to the full use of school libraries.

In the same way much thought has been given to the working out of programmes of study undertaken in the library by older pupils, particularly those in the Sixth Form, whether individually or in groups. In this field there has been much advance and much experiment. The effect of such study upon the quality of Sixth Form work and its influence upon the individual has been abundantly demonstrated in many schools in which the right conditions have been provided. Here again it is beyond our province to go into detail, but we would invite schools in which the value of such work is not yet understood to explore its possibilities.

Similarly we cannot enter into discussion of the library itself, the room, the books, the equipment, the duties of librarian. All we do is to observe that, if a library is conceived of merely as a central storehouse of books of reference, few conditions as to the room and its equipment need to be satisfied; if on the other hand the library is to fulfil other functions and in particular those on which we have laid emphasis, much else is implied; the nature of the room, its furniture, its books, the


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scope of the duties and the equipment of the master or mistress acting as librarian, the relation of the library to the general intellectual life of the school are all affected. We would add that, if a school possesses a room of dignified beauty, ample size and undisturbed quiet, it is fortunate indeed. For certainly on some of the pupils in every generation the school library and its associations will then exercise a lifelong influence for good.

Accordingly we urge, first, that the material resources of a library should be such as to encourage its enterprising and enlightened use as an important factor in the education of pupils; secondly, that measures should be increasingly taken to acquaint librarians and teachers with recent advances in thought and practice as regards the functions of a school library, so that benefiting from the pioneer work of others they may work out in their own school schemes which will be most suitable to the conditions available or possible therein.


CHAPTER II

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Of the three elements of a good education of which we spoke on an earlier page, we deal first with Physical Education.

A pupil has a right to expect, and it is the duty of those who undertake responsibility for his* education to ensure, that his body shall be educated as well as his mind. On healthy growth and vigour of body largely depends his intellectual development, and right discipline of the body can contribute powerfully to moral strength. If his health and physical development do not reach the highest limits of which they are capable, he can neither draw from his school what he should draw nor give to it what he should give. Moreover, when he has left school, his health is a matter of the utmost importance to himself, his family and his fellow workers and fellow citizens.

Thus it is part of the task of a school to provide an environment in which its pupils can grow up in health and fitness, and within that environment to offer such general training as is necessary for a full and varied Physical Education and such special training as the circumstances of the school may suggest. Accordingly we shall speak first of the conditions which should exist, and then of Physical Education in its general and special forms, and finally we shall summarise what we regard as the needs of Physical Education to which special attention seems to be due.

We include in the necessary conditions, first, a right attitude toward nutrition, including school dinners, and then all the material surroundings and activities conducive to health and necessary to Physical Education; school buildings which give light and air and warmth, playing fields for games, gymnasia, both covered and open; facilities for remedial work and medical inspection, for swimming and athletic

* 'his' and 'he' include 'her' and 'she'.


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sports; provision of school dinners under suitable conditions and in a suitable room. On none of these matters do we claim to have special knowledge, and it would be wrong of us to treat fully of any of them; they are subjects for consideration by experts. But we would observe that the conditions upon which successful Physical Education is dependent must include something no less important than bricks and mortar and wide acres, namely a right attitude on the part of the school as a whole towards health and physical welfare - an attitude which, taken up by successive generations of pupils, is strengthened into a habit and a tradition, intangible, it may be, but capable of being caught by pupils from the life of the school. Thus the mainspring of Physical Education is to be found in something outside itself, in an attitude of mind, and its aim in the last resort is a right attitude to life on its physical side.

To these conditions Head Master and staff and, guided by them, senior pupils all have their contribution to make. The creation of the right attitude is in their hands alone, and it is for them to work out in their full knowledge of their school what are the implications of a right attitude, not only as regards Physical Education itself but also as regards its relation to the intellectual activities of the classroom.

The contribution which all members of the staff can make to the general aim of Physical Education is much the same in all schools. Briefly, it means attaching due importance to the physical welfare of pupils and so reinforcing the efforts of those specially concerned with Physical Education. By such co-operation it will become apparent to pupils that Physical Education is not a 'subject' confined to special periods and places and teachers, but that it is directed to an end more pervasive, that it is a part of that care of the physical self which can contribute to an abundant life. We certainly do not contemplate that teachers shall fuss, that pupils shall become self-conscious and valetudinarian, that the First XI shall be encouraged to take too exalted a view of their worth. But we do consider that it is part of every schoolmaster's task to consider the physical welfare of his pupils as within his province and to take and to show interest in it. He should have regard to the ventilation and lighting of his classroom, to the posture and bearing of his pupils, to signs of fatigue and overpressure; a word in season, as every good teacher knows, will do much to alter the outlook of an individual or a form.

The point of real importance is that boys and girls should learn that men and women whom they respect perhaps for intellectual ability and quality of mind regard physical health and endurance as being among ideals worth pursuit. If the right attitude towards physical well-being is to be fostered in a school, it is essential that all its teachers, perhaps even more if they themselves have no success to show in athletics or games, should contribute to the creation of that right attitude. Only thus can it be something taken for granted as an ideal, something natural to the place, unselfconscious and without distortion or exaggeration; only thus, in short, can Physical Education itself in its widest sense be at its healthiest.

Before we pass to Physical Education in the narrower sense, we would emphasise that continuity is of as much importance in Physical Education


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as in any other aspect of education. It is of importance therefore that those concerned with it in the secondary school should know what is the previous history and record of the pupils whom they receive front the primary school. It would be of great advantage if a continuous record of the physical 'history' of each child were to be kept through the nursery school and the primary school and finally be available to the secondary school. The medical officer and the instructors of the secondary school would then have before them certain data about new entrants which would be of value to them in planning Physical Education and in interpreting its effects, in detecting disabilities and ascertaining their causes and their remedies.

The record then should be carried on from primary school to secondary school, where it should be maintained in as full a form as is needed. Medical inspection, which has proved of great benefit in the past should take place more frequently than at present, and we would draw attention to the need for close co-operation in this matter between the Medical Officer and those who carry out the Physical Education of the school. This will mean not only an increase in the number of doctors, but also a special training directed to this end. It will imply, too, further call upon the time of teachers of Physical Education, who, in our opinion, should regularly confer with the Medical Officer so that the precautionary and remedial measures prescribed by him may be carried out successfully. Remedial exercises recommended by the Medical Officer should be carried out by people suitably qualified for the purpose.

The 'physical record' of pupils should be made available to the staff, at any rate as regards essentials; for, if they were aware of these essentials, much indirect aid would be given to them in creating the right attitude to physical health of which we spoke above, and in supporting in special cases the efforts of the Medical Officer and teachers of physical training.

The general scheme of Physical Education to be put into operation in a school must in our opinion vary somewhat according to needs and conditions. A systematic course of physical training in the narrow sense should form an integral part of that scheme and should follow the lines which research and expert opinion have laid down. There should also be organised games, athletics, dancing and swimming and such other wholesome outdoor activities as the circumstances of the school suggest or allow; many boys' schools will wish to include also boxing, wrestling and fencing.

It will usually be best if the general direction of the scheme and observation of its working as a whole is made the responsibility of one teacher. The last thing, however, that we would wish to suggest is that he should displace or discourage keen members of the staff who may be in charge of certain games or sports in which they are particularly interested or skilled. Nor do we believe in severe regimentation of the Physical Education of the pupils of the country or of a given school; the problem here, as in other spheres, is to discover the middle way between excessive regimentation and a loose reliance upon individual intention, spasmodic voluntary effort and casualness which cannot


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produce either the right attitude of mind or the desired physical results. But, given the goodwill of the staff and reasonable tact on the part of the master upon whom lies chief responsibility for the working of the scheme, that middle way is not difficult to find.

We have been impressed by the strength of the evidence put before us in favour of a daily period of organised physical activity, whether this takes the form of physical exercises or games or other activity. We would make this recommendation with the caution, however, that all schools have not the same circumstances and that no scheme of Physical Education should be such as to lead to fatigue; and we add that to us the important points are that such activity should be organised under skilled direction and should take place under suitable conditions determined by circumstances and should apply to all pupils, no matter in what form they may be. We are not prepared to say what are those suitable conditions; we must leave pronouncement upon them to others, but we would say, first, that much can be done under conditions by no means ideal; secondly, that provision of such a period when conditions are quite unsuitable will result in no gain but probable loss; thirdly, that many schools are in need of far better facilities for Physical Education than they now enjoy; fourthly, that every opportunity should be taken to carry out the work in the open air.

The lack of facilities for the training of men teachers as compared with those for the training of women teachers is well known. We do no more than draw attention to this serious defect once again. But we are anxious to urge that the differences of opinion, which our evidence proves to exist, as regards the right training for teachers should be resolved and a long term policy conceived on generous lines should be put into operation as soon as possible in the interest of the Physical Education of the schools. To the solution of this problem we make only the following contributions.

In the first place we hold that in training departments of Universities Physical Education as a necessary constituent in a good education should receive greater attention than is at present the practice. We are not suggesting that every student in training should go through classes designed to fit him in turn to take classes of children, though experience of such training would be of value to him in his capacity as a teacher of any subject; but we do suggest that the claims of Physical Education upon his sympathetic understanding as a schoolmaster should be brought to his attention.

In the second place teachers of physical training should have some other subject at their command and should take active share in its teaching. We urge this for these reasons:

(i) continuous teaching throughout the week imposes a considerable physical strain upon instructors, and as instructors advance in years this strain increases.

(ii) it is important that there should always be some young and vigorous teacher engaged in the physical instruction of a school; often opportunity can be given for this only if the senior instructor also takes some share in other teaching.


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(iii) it is desirable for the sake of the teachers themselves that they should have some other interest and occupation which would not only offer change from their usual work but would also take them into departments of school life into which they would not otherwise go. Such a practice would help to destroy the common conception of Physical Education as an isolated pursuit taught by specialists who are interested in little else. Physical education would be drawn into more intimate relationship with other aspect of education and a greater unity would be achieved.
Since we believe that the general scheme of Physical Education suitable for a school can be satisfactorily worked out only by those who know its full circumstances, favourable and unfavourable, we recommend that each school should formulate for itself its own standards of achievement and fitness and efficiency. A standard, which is easily achieved by one school owing to its favourable environment or to the native qualities of its pupils, may to another school present too formidable a task. Moreover, the very nature of the tests and standards should vary from place to place according to the opportunities presented by conditions, as, for example, the nature of the environment.

We have naturally given thought to the project of awarding County or even National Badges of physical achievement, and expecting all boys and girls to compete for them. It is a scheme which at first sight is attractive, but it remains our opinion that it is one thing for each individual school to put before its pupils a reasonable standard of progressive development, and quite another to set up a county or national norm. We fear that this would in effect establish a measuring rod for comparing one school with another, and might result in a system under which individuals would be unduly depressed both in their own opinion and in that of their fellows. It is, in our opinion, a system of external regimentation which might upset the balance of values on which true education depends, and for this reason, in this as in other fields, we would leave it to each school to work out a progressive course which for that school is the best, and of which it is the best judge.

But we think it a good thing that schools should devise for themselves standards of physical achievement, as many do. The raising of personal performance, won through the surmounting of individual difficulties by discipline and endurance, is of profound moral significance as well as physical. Individual effort to surpass one's own achievement, no less than co-operation and team work, is altogether to be encouraged. Among such standards we should certainly welcome carefully devised tests of endurance, of resourcefulness and enterprise suggested by the nature of the surrounding country.

In this connection we would make mention of 'Scouting' and 'Guiding', School Camps, tours, sailing clubs, which for many boys and girls provide whether in term or in holidays an incentive and means to training in resourcefulness, self-reliance and ideals of usefulness and independence. Besides Scouting, other courses and schools and movements have been brought to our notice; their aim is to bring boys and girls in touch with sea and mountain, and in open-air tasks and ventures to build up the moral strength and create the physical


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endurance which come from such contact. To such enterprises we would draw attention; for we believe that in the future the nation must pay greater heed to the vocations which depend directly upon sea and land and air, and we think that fuller co-operation and understanding between those concerned with education and those who live their lives in such callings would contribute much to restore the attractiveness of such callings and to spread a deeper appreciation of the challenging opportunities and the full life which they offer. The experience of the war has shown that the young people of this country can respond to situations demanding courage and endurance; these qualities, we should hope, will be directed during school days to activities which give them scope and which lead on to occupations making the same demands in the circumstances of peace.


CHAPTER III

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

It will perhaps make for clearness if we begin with an attempt to estimate the conditions as they are, first, in the nation as a whole, and next, in the Secondary Schools. If at first sight these appear to be profoundly discouraging, there are rays of light to be discerned in the darkness, and it is not wisdom to make ourselves out to be worse than we are. There is an illusion, for instance, that we have suddenly become a nation of unbelievers, and that two or three generations ago we were thoroughly Christian. But no one who weighs the evidence of history in this or any other country can suppose that the political and economic systems have ever been effectively Christian; indeed it is a common cry today that Christianity cannot be called a failure because it has never been tried, and there exists an almost instinctive desire, particularly among the young, that it shall be tried both within and between the nations, and in no formal and conventional manner. This is an element of real promise for the future, and it is the foundation of the present genuine demand that there shall be an opportunity for religious education in all schools. There is a general feeling that something has been missed which ought not to be missing, and we have to admit that of the three agencies which shape the child's religious consciousness, the home, the Church, and the school, the home has very generally ceased to be the place of religious instruction and simple Bible teaching, and the Churches, particularly in the towns, are often, but not always, very scantily attended. It is true that children are sent to Sunday Schools, but it is alleged, not without truth, that this is frequently done in order to give to their elders a period of Sunday rest. Despite recent improvements the teachers are too few and sometimes too unskilled to be helpful, and their pupils are glad to leave what they regard as a childish phase behind them. Nevertheless it is misleading to paint the picture in dark and unrelieved colours. People in general, it must be repeated, are very conscious that there is something missing, and that their lives lack purpose and meaning. There is a


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general acceptance of Christian ethical standards as the highest teaching known to men. There is a vague but widespread desire that the young people shall not miss that which somehow their elders have missed, and which does give value to life. And there is evidence from the high schools, the Universities, and various student and youth associations that among the young there is a movement of minds impatient of bare formularies yet eager for the truth, a feeling after God if happen they may find Him.

It is surely therefore an hour of opportunity and not of discouragement. If there is little home teaching and scanty attendance at the services of the Churches, there remains in the educational system an influence which no boy or girl can escape, and which may establish a clearer vision in the future where now there is so much confusion. We begin therefore by accepting as fundamental and true the position taken in the admirable chapter on Scripture in the Spens Report, the whole of which indeed we should wish to be read in conjunction with this Chapter, 'No boy or girl can be counted as properly educated unless he or she has been made aware of the fact of a religious interpretation of life. The traditional form which that interpretation has taken in this country is Christian, and the principal justification for giving a place in the curriculum to the study of the Scriptures is that the Bible is the classic book of Christianity, and forms the basis of Christian faith and worship.' It becomes pertinent, then, to ask what is the present position in the schools, and particularly in those that are Secondary.

There is a strong hope that a way may now be found for Religious Instruction to be given, subject to a conscience clause, in all grant-aided schools on the basis of agreed syllabuses. At the primary stage of education little difficulty is likely to arise, since such syllabuses are, and should be, concerned with very simple elements; but at the secondary stage the problem before the teacher is more complex. For those schools which have a leaving age of 15 or 16 an agreed syllabus will be found of general value, so long as freedom to make reasonable variation within it is preserved. The problem for them is mainly how to present the subject suitably to pupils who are disposed to learn, if they are interested and see the purpose of the teaching, and to be idle, if they are bored. For those schools, however, which teach pupils up to the age of 18 or 19 the issues are more complex and difficult. They have to deal with fully awakened curiosities, with the impatient intolerance and the eager idealism of youth: a conventional syllabus may mean that when they are asking for bread they may receive a stone. Such being the hard task of those who give Religious Instruction in Secondary Schools, what is the present adequacy of the teachers of the task? The Spens Report in the emphasis which it laid upon the various methods by which the teachers might become more adequately equipped, by implication declared them to be at present unequal to the demand made upon them. But it is well to face unpleasant facts explicitly. The time given to this important subject is nearly always confined to one period a week, and there are many schools in which it is dropped altogether when the shadow of the School Certificate Examination begins to loom on the horizon of the pupil. We have important evidence from trustworthy witnesses, who have very special


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knowledge of a field in which they are doing valuable work, that the cause of the great disparity in the interest in religious teaching shown by the pupils in different schools is the disparity in the knowledge of the subject on the part of the teacher; their experience tends to show that only a minority of those who teach Religious Knowledge in Secondary Schools are even fairly well qualified for their work. This is a strong opinion, but it ought to be qualified by recognition of the fact that the standard in girls' schools is definitely higher than in those for boys. They say explicitly 'We are constantly told by masters wishing our help that they have had no religious teaching themselves since they ceased attending Scripture lessons when they began to prepare to take the School Certificate Examination, and men who say this are not men who take one form of Scripture but, in many cases, those who have been put in charge of Scripture in the school as a whole, being required to teach several forms, to provide a Scripture syllabus, and to select such books as are used in class.' Truly, if the hour of opportunity is here, the need for improvement is urgent.

Having considered these facts as they are, and having concluded that the Secondary Schools as they are cannot even generally be regarded as equal to the demand which in this field is made upon them, we pass to broader considerations. We begin by drawing a distinction between Scripture Knowledge and Religious Education. The first is definitely a subject of the curriculum, but the second is not, and we believe it to be very much the more important. For this reason we place Religious Education in the sense which is indicated below, with Physical Education and English as outside and above the curriculum, being the concern of all teachers at all stages, and from this point of view we do not believe that the schools show up so badly as they do on the side of formal instruction, though they would themselves be the first to confess that they fall short of perfection. The development of the religious consciousness is not, and cannot be, the subject of a syllabus: it grows from the environment, favourably and naturally if the environment is favourable and natural, atrophied or distorted if the environment is materialist in its values and purely competitive in spirit. It is a growth from a life that is lived. There can be and there are schools in which you are effectively taught that you find happiness by unselfishness and by helping your neighbour, and the ideal forms itself naturally from the life that is lived in them. There can be, and there are, schools in which truth and knowledge are sought for their own sakes, and there exists a jealously safeguarded tradition of sound learning, in which again the ideal of goodness lives in the standards of the school so that its members strive not to fall short of them, and beauty is felt to be relative to everything that is studied or made or done. If none attain perfection, and few approach it, yet the strength of our Secondary Education is that on the whole, when measured by these standards, the schools incline more to the better than to the worse. There is a tradition that there can be inspiration in the dwelling together of the teachers and the taught, that the Head and the staff, the Sixth Form, and the main body of the pupils can and often do find a common life which has a spiritual basis, a fertile seed-ground from which do naturally spring the love of God, and the love of one's neighbour.


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It is obvious that these intangible spiritual values come not so much from what teachers say and teach, from curricula and examinations, but from what they are, and what they are seen to be, inside and outside the classroom. A wise and famous Head Master once said that the rules for a schoolmaster were as simple to state as they were hard to fulfil: they were only that he should know what he wanted his boys to know, that he should be what he wanted his boys to be, and that he should add enthusiasm. On this depends mainly the religious life of the school. It is, however, fair to ask whether there are any specific pieces of planning which will promote the fulfilment of this end. In some ways it is easier of fulfilment in the boarding-school than the day-school, because the boarding-school commands the whole life of the pupil, waking and sleeping, work and leisure, because it has in chapel a place in which spiritual truths can be naturally and explicitly set forth, and because it has in its preparation for confirmation or for church membership an instrument of great power in developing the spiritual awareness of young people. The day-school has not the same chances, and too often, though not always, it may be fighting a battle with conflicting standards or with indifference in the home. But it can do much. It can make of school prayers something of which the school can be proud, if the pupils are trained to take part, and to give their best in speech and music. It can arrange, where goodwill exists, that every year there shall be a service of re-dedication in some convenient central place of worship, which may be the local Cathedral or Abbey, parish Church, a Free Church place of worship or some secular building of sufficient inspiration. There can always be at least one, and perhaps several, to be chosen from forms of social work which can be supported or pioneered by the school: as a rule these should be concrete and local in character and of a kind in which the pupils can take some active part. In all these ways Religious Education can be made more real.

Having laid down these conclusions which we regard as fundamental because they affect the whole school life from start to finish, and touch not without inspiration every subject that is studied, we turn back to Religious Instruction or Scripture Knowledge or Divinity, which take its place among the other subjects of the curriculum. We find ourselves here in general agreement with the Spens Report, which we do not wish to supersede but to supplement. We agree that the proper approach to the study of Scripture in school is historical and objective, and that the best teacher is one whose interest in the subject and desire to teach it proceed from religious faith. We recognise equally that the three main departments into which Biblical study at school are likely to fall are 'the religious ideas and experiences of Israel, of which the record is to be found in the Old Testament, the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, and the beginning of the Christian Church'. At this point we remind ourselves that the usual allowance of time in a Secondary School is 45 minutes a week, or 27 hours a year, and that, even if this is carried continuously for five years, which in a good many schools is not the case, this allowance yields only 135 hours, for the whole school life. Even for the second only of the main departments specified above it is insufficient, and for any other subject of the curriculum such a tiny allowance would be regarded as ridiculous. We strongly endorse the


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recommendation that the time-allowance should be not less than the equivalent of two periods a week, and we believe that if the rigidity of Certificate Examinations be modified, and the schools given greater control of their own curricula, this arrangement can easily be made.

The Spens Report goes on to consider the weakness which causes so much of the difficulty, and leads to so much neglect of the subject in the schools, and finds it in the lack of sufficient professional knowledge on the part of the teachers. Teachers are unwilling to take Scripture because they are timid, because they know that they do not know enough about it, because they think that formularies must be followed and because they are afraid that questions will be asked to which they think that they are not free to give a sincere answer. They are also unwilling to take Scripture because they are themselves specialist teachers of some other subject, and it is not their business to travel outside it; some even feel that they lose status if they do. Since nearly all teachers in the Secondary Schools today are specialists in the sense that they teach a subject or a pair of allied subjects, it follows that there is no one left to teach Scripture. It is usual to meet this difficulty by the proposal that Scripture must be 'specialised' also, and there is no doubt that in a large school a specialist teacher of Scripture has a very useful part to play. It is much more doubtful whether the difficulties of the small school can be met by the visits of a specialist from outside, who gives his services to two or three schools. It is in the nature of the young not to regard the efforts of the visitor from outside as worthy of as serious consideration as that which they find it expedient to bestow on the efforts of the regular staff. The subject becomes, to use a common phrase, a 'frill on the curriculum', and, if we are right in finding a close and vital relation between Religious Education and Religious Instruction, the result would be unfortunate. This undue specialisation on the part of teachers is the cause of some serious trouble in Secondary education because it has gone too far: the child is in danger of not being known as a human being by anybody, but only as being good in French, bad in Geography, weak in Science, and so on, so that we hear increasing talk of the disintegration of the curriculum and the chaotic state of Secondary education. We believe that it will help the schools generally, and the teaching of Scripture particularly, if a teacher of the type of the old form-master can be reintroduced into the schools, a man or woman qualified to teach two or three subjects. A problem of serious importance for Secondary education therefore arises, which can be solved only by and in the Universities. The Spens Report looks for the introduction of specialist teachers of Religious Knowledge on a wide scale, and we seek to supplement this by bringing back into the schools in much larger numbers teachers qualified in several subjects. But in neither case do the Universities supply the need. They do indeed give Degrees in Theology, but this is not the qualification for which we are looking in the specialist teacher: the approach of the trained theologian to his subject is far too academic and technical for the schools. If on the other hand a would-be teacher wishes to combine his main subject with Religious Knowledge, he finds that he cannot offer this course in any University. He can indeed


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obtain a Diploma in Religious Knowledge, but it will take him an extra year which he cannot afford. Moreover while the schools do not want more than one specialist, they do require a number of teachers who are equipped with the necessary knowledge. Not here alone, but here perhaps more keenly than anywhere else, we feel the need of a General Honours course at the Universities*, and, as at several of them the arts side is largely recruited from future teachers, it is not unreasonable to ask that they should pay more special attention to the future vocational requirements of their pupils, and to the needs of the schools which are expressed in our evidence from many quarters.

It is not fair, however, to cast the whole of the blame on the Universities. Even as things are, the women teachers have surmounted the difficulties better than the men. It has been put to us in evidence that the Head Mistresses take this subject more seriously than Head Masters, speaking generally, and give more personal attention to it, that the enquiry carried out by the Head Mistresses' Association a few years age has proved fruitful, and that women teachers have found a way in which to qualify as specialists, largely by way of the Lambeth Diploma in Theology, to a much greater extent than the men. More can clearly be done than the boys' schools at present think possible. We are of opinion that more use can be made of Short Courses and Refresher Courses in Religious Knowledge of the type of which the course provided by the Board of Education and managed by the Dean of St Paul's and Professor SH Hooke has been now for some years a successful example. But the Education Authorities should promote such Refresher Courses for their teachers, and should include Religious Knowledge among the subjects that can be taken.

Something may also be expected from the development of school libraries, of which there should always be a section in each school for the use and benefit of Common Room, which should not be allowed to fall out of date. This is a topic which need not be dealt with here; but it may be observed that teachers need not be at a loss what to buy for themselves, or for use by their pupils, since they have in the Institute of Christian Education a skilled body, largely the creation of their own profession, ready and able to advise them.

It may be felt at the end of this discussion that the homely proverb seems to apply, that at any rate so far as men teachers are concerned 'You can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink'. It is a perfectly good reason for refusing to teach a subject that you do not know enough about it. But the answer to this is surely that enough can be learned by anyone who regards the subject seriously and is willing to take trouble. It is a perfectly good reason for refusing to teach the subject that you reject the validity of any spiritual interpretation of the Universe. But how few do this! Most teachers believe in God, and in the revelation of the Divine in man by his

* At the University College of North Wales, Bangor, courses in Biblical History and Literature have recently been arranged. Designed primarily for intending teachers and not available for ministerial students except by special permission, they may be taken as subjects for an Arts degree during the first two years. They are also available as an Accessory Course for Honours Students in the departments of Greek, English, Welsh, History and Philosophy.


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response to the standards of truth, goodness, and beauty. Thereby they do find a point of contact with the generally accepted teaching of Christianity. There are many, we suspect, who do not take part in Religious Instruction because they think that narrower demands are made upon them than actually are made. Serious enquiry, if they would undertake it, would remove much misconception, and reassure many who have hesitated to take the subject.

Behind all the other misgivings lies the genuine fear of the introduction of tests for teachers; to these we are strongly opposed. No sensible person suggests that a teacher, whatever his subject, should not be allowed to teach in a Secondary School unless he was ready to teach Scripture. But a local authority or head of a school would be perfectly justified in advertising that a teacher was needed, capable of taking a form in Latin, English and Scripture, and no one could feel that there was any intolerance in what would be an action of plain common sense.

We feel therefore that this fear, though real, is not based on substantial grounds; at the same time we assume that the right of particular children to 'contract out' will always be safeguarded. The requirements which we would make of the schools are very few and simple. We would lay on each school the duty of using a syllabus designed to meet the needs and capacities of its own children. Apart from any special arrangements which need to be made for denominational instruction in accordance with the requirements of the trust deed or other definite obligation, such syllabuses could be framed for pupils up to the age of 16 by common agreement, as in the case of the primary schools, but with this difference that they should be wide enough to admit of some differences of approach and some variations of treatment. In the Sixth Form stage we believe it to be the truest wisdom to grant as much freedom as possible from formal requirements, laying down merely that the teaching must be on a definite plan, and not of denominational character, and that the responsibility rests, as indeed is true of the whole course of Religious Instruction in the Secondary School, primarily on the Governors and Head Master or Head Mistress, subject to the authority under which they act.

Here, as elsewhere, we believe and trust in diversity of practice. We would require that the subject should be taught with proper equipment and with a due allowance of time, and that it should extend throughout the school course. We think finally that it should be subject to Inspection, by the officers either of the Board, or of the Local Authorities, as may be most appropriate, because we believe that such inspection would be carried out with sympathy and a desire to help in what is, in its higher levels, a difficult task. We do not believe that this is a subject which, if it is taught in the spirit which we desire, can properly be examined, save in the cases where the teacher sees fit to examine his own pupils.

We would assign this large measure of freedom to the Secondary Schools because we believe that Religious Instruction is but a part of Religious Education as a whole, and that, if there is life in it, it will


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grow, and meet a genuine need of the young. But if there is no life in it, and it is not in the hearts of the teachers, neither agreed syllabus nor inspection nor examination nor any machinery whatever will have power to make it other than a dead thing.


CHAPTER IV

ENGLISH

In an earlier section the supreme importance of 'English' has been stressed: it has been regarded as an 'element' of education which is of vital importance to all subjects and should be the concern of all teachers. In this section we develop our views upon English, and we shall begin by distinguishing two senses in which we shall use the word.

(1) By English we mean in the first instance training in the comprehension and arrangement and expression of ideas, and the chief objective of the training is clarity - clarity in presenting the idea to oneself, and in presenting it to others and in arranging it in relation to other ideas similarly presented. English in this sense lies behind all subjects, for in them the logical arrangement and the clear expression of ideas are demanded, in them and through them such training is given. For the most part such training properly takes place through the medium of the mother tongue, and English in the broad sense lies behind the exchange of question and answer in any lesson conducted orally, behind the history essay, the geography note, the description of a scientific experiment, the oral or written translation of a foreign language, behind acting and repetition, the reading of the lesson and the debating and literary societies. The usual subjects of the curriculum offer ample material and opportunity for training in English in this sense, even if further and special opportunities were not provided in English lessons.

(2) In addition, as a specific subject in the curriculum, English involves

(a) further training in the use of the English language, usually undertaken by means of exercises in composition and essay writing, the teaching of formal grammar, and the study of prose passages;

(b) the study of English literature.

In drawing attention to these two aspects we do not mean to suggest that they are exclusive of each other; clearly the direct study of English language and the reading of books, in addition to all else which they achieve, furnish the means for a more concentrated attack upon the same general objectives as are contemplated in English in the broader sense. The attack is more concentrated, partly, because the material is specially selected, partly, because special periods are devoted to this purpose; on the other hand the English inherent in the teaching of other subjects is necessarily only one of the many objectives of those lessons and the need for attack on it may easily be obscured.


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As has been said in an earlier section, in the course of our enquiries we have been furnished with much evidence on results of English teaching in Secondary Schools and the varying competence of the Secondary School pupil in English. This evidence comes from many varied quarters; it is backed with authority and experience, and is entitled to very serious consideration. It frequently pays tribute to the efforts of English teachers, and yet it contains severe criticism of the way in which the Secondary School pupil uses his own language. Briefly the criticism is this, that too many boys and girls after leaving the Secondary School show themselves deficient in ability to master the thought of a passage or chapter and to express their ideas in writing or orally with precision and clarity.

Now it is easy to expect too much from the 16 or 17-year-old boy or girl, to generalise from a few instances and to forget or minimise what actually is being accomplished. Yet, after making all allowances and recognising the efforts of the schools, we are impressed with the weight and volume of the indictment, and we have searched for the causes and the remedies; for, if true, the criticism exposes a severe weakness in education which cannot be suffered to persist. We put forward the following reflections on the causes of this weakness.

(i) There has been a very marked tendency for the teaching of each subject to be placed in the hands of specialists devoting all or most of their time to that subject. This tendency, combined with the increased emphasis placed upon English in the curriculum, has led to the appointment of English teachers devoting all or most of their time to the subject in periods specially set aside for that purpose. Now this tendency has brought certain gains: English has won recognition in the curriculum: close attention has been paid to the purposes of its teaching and much thought given to method. But it may also have brought disadvantages; teachers of other subjects have been tempted to feel that, since English was now the responsibility of others more skilled than themselves, their obligation in this respect now lay more lightly upon them and they were free to devote themselves to the special needs of their own subject and the examination requirements. A pupil might then well feel that, since English was the special province of the English teacher, he was not called upon to expend the same effort upon the English of work submitted to other teachers. The further result has been a disposition to regard attention to English as something to be turned on when a specific limited purpose was in view, as, for example, an English essay, or the satisfaction of particular teachers who happened to be 'faddy' about English. English then becomes something to be added or withheld at will and not regarded as inherent and of the greatest moment in all expression of ideas, no matter what the subject.

(ii) In the second place English has come to be too closely associated with (a) the study of literary texts and (b) the essay.

(a) In the study of great literature, more especially in what is called imaginative literature, too much attention has been paid to aspects which are of secondary importance and the higher

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values have been obscured. The values with which the teaching of English literature is concerned are final and absolute: they cannot be broken down into constituent parts: they are beyond analysis and wait upon the appreciative powers of the pupil, which are to some extent beyond the help of the teacher. It is true that in literature natural gifts can be trained or strengthened, but they cannot be newly created or enhanced beyond a certain point. Since the values are of this kind, it is impossible, at least at this stage, to test a pupil's appreciation of them by means of an external examination. Hence there is a temptation, difficult to resist, to treat of secondary aspects of the books which are being read. For example, a teacher may study the way in which an author treats his theme in comparison with the way in which other writers treat their theme; he may examine logical structure or interpret passages through consideration of vocabulary and allusions. These are desirable methods in the right circumstances; the danger is that examination in English literature almost inevitably leads to overemphasis on this kind of treatment in circumstances in which it is not suitable. An effect of such emphasis is that pupils tend to regard the study of books within the canon of English literature as a special study of its own, unrelated to English in its other senses, and once this artificial distinction is set up the subject of English literature does not exert the influence which it should upon the pupil's use of English. The right method in a given case depends on the book read, on the teacher and the pupil; different books call for different methods, and different teachers would approach the same book in different ways; a method suitable for one class would not be the best for another. The personality of the teacher is in the last resort a decisive influence, both for the interpretation and for the appreciation of a book. We think therefore that at school English literature can be studied successfully only when there is freedom given for the 'variables' of which we have spoken - the teacher, the book under study and the pupil - to be adjusted to each other in the most appropriate way. And that right adjustment cannot be dictated in advance; it is discovered during the process of teaching and learning.

To sum up, we take the view that from its own nature the teaching of English literature is limited as regards objective and method in a particular way; it is dependent upon special qualities in teacher and pupil and upon a special relation between them; it is concerned often with what is past analysis or explanation, and with values which must be caught rather than taught. If English literature is made the subject of direct frontal attack, the value of the teaching is destroyed. When, in the interest of training in the English language, it is so attacked, the purpose neither of the teaching of English literature nor of training in the English language is achieved.

The case is otherwise with the training in the study and practice of the English language. Opportunities for such training are


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provided in the teaching of almost every subject and they can be turned to advantage by any teacher. Direct and frontal attack can be made, for no gift other than that possessed by every grammar school pupil need be presupposed. Success in this larger field of the use of English is not dependent upon success within the more definite field of English literature. While it is desirable that enjoyment of English literature should be fostered in as many pupils, as possible, it is essential that every pupil should be trained to understand his own language and to use it with ease and correctness, both in speech and in writing. This training has a wider objective than the study of English literature as such; and for many, if not most, students at the school stage, it is much the more important.

(b) The practice of essay writing, in the form which it often takes, has had a harmful influence on the development of the power to write naturally and effectively. Whatever else is necessary to it, good writing, we feel, must spring from a desire to say something; it must proceed with a superabundance rather than with a dearth of something to say, and it must have within itself a clear purpose other than that of fulfilling an imposed task. But, as we shall show later, these conditions are by no means always satisfied, and there is a danger that the essay may be detached from the circumstances which alone can give it reality and may thus become an artificial exercise. The influence of the essay when so treated has been harmful; it has created in the minds of many pupils an unnatural habit of thought and expression, and this, because it is unnatural, proves of little value for meeting those occasions in later employment or further study on which a plain connected piece of writing for a specific purpose is required.

(iii) It happens too often that little stress is laid upon oral expression as a means of developing ease in social relationship; by oral expression we do not mean speech training, though that may be a necessary ingredient, but such practice and facility in expressing thoughts aloud in the presence of others as will lead to some degree of confidence and at least the appearance of ease of manner. This defect, which has been brought to our attention, is clearly often due to lack of opportunity in home surroundings; but the schools can do much to bring out their pupils, particularly perhaps, older pupils, and so to enable them to show initiative and to be forthcoming in speaking with strangers.

We pass now to the practical remedies which we propose; they are dictated to us by the distinction which we draw between the purposes and methods of training in the study and use of the English language and the purposes and methods of the reading of English literature.

(a) We would insist once again on the need for every teacher to realise that he is a teacher of English in so far as his subject gives opportunity. It is not only the contribution which he can make by insisting upon correctness and clearness in the written work shown up to him or in the oral replies to his questions that counts;

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the fact that he, a teacher of Natural Science or Geography, should value these things has a powerful moral effect, and brings home to the pupil that his use of English is of universal concern in any relationship upon which he may enter.

(b) All subjects offer scope for training of this kind, but some more than others, since they give more frequent opportunity for the writing or speaking of English. We would lay special responsibility in the matter of English upon teachers taking such subjects, and would urge upon them the truism that the values of English are more important in the long run than the specific values of those subjects, though clearly those subjects make their own contribution to English.

(c) We would go further than this and would urge that, especially in the lower forms, English and one or more subjects, particularly the so-called English subjects, should be in the hands of the same teacher. The direct attack upon English should for the most part spring from the reading of books, read primarily for what they say rather than for the way in which they say it; it does not matter whether these books are taken from the so-called 'subjects' of Travel, or Natural History, or Geography or History or whatever it may be; our point is that training in English needs a subject matter and a motive, and we regard it as essential that part at least of the subject matter and the motive should derive from a source other than a self-contained study of English. For the Fourth and Fifth forms there are numerous prose books which can be systematically taught and which are not only worth intensive study but cannot properly be treated in any other way; such books therefore offer excellent material for the training necessary at this stage. Whatever else is undertaken, one book of this kind should always be under study; it should be reasonably difficult, its contents should be mastered; it should be the basis of thorough and methodical exercises and tests, and from it should spring much of the work in composition.

We think then that our purpose will best be carried out if the master charged with main responsibility for the training of a form in the study and practice of the English language has in his hands other subjects than English. Besides the intensive study of a text described in a previous paragraph, he should encourage extensive reading in whatever field most appeals to individual pupils; for this purpose he will need the resources of a good library and should study the ways in which its use may be developed.

(d) Fourthly, we would invite the earnest attention of all teachers to the importance of giving full opportunity to their pupils to hear English spoken, whether in drama or speeches or in reading aloud by a master in the classroom, and to utter English themselves, whether in acting, or in debating society or discussions or reading aloud, or saying passages learnt by heart, or lectures given by pupils in the classroom or in societies. They must gain experience at school in framing sentences and speaking them, they must get the 'feel' of correct English on their tongue,


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they must be accustomed to utter in the presence of others and to frame consecutive sentences aloud. To good and constant oral work in the classroom large classes admittedly present an obstacle, but not such as to preclude it altogether. A high standard of reading aloud can be established in a school and can become so powerful a tradition that boys themselves will become the severest critics of slovenly or inaudible reading; inter-form competitions, dramatic performances and debates all contribute to this end; and the important thing is that pupils should hear good reading and should be placed in a position to be sound judges of it.

There has recently been a considerable growth of interest in speech training. But, whether this term is used improperly to denote the treatment of such defects as lisping or lalling [imperfect pronunciation of r] or stammering, or more correctly a training in the controlled use of the breathing and vocal apparatus with a view to producing speech sounds for the highly-trained specialist, it is not as yet practicable to propose that every school should have such an expert on its staff, and, if it were, there would be a danger that what should be the concern of every teacher might become the jealously guarded province of one.

We content ourselves with recording our belief that no school is doing its duty by the community which does not do everything in its power to bring its pupils to use such speech that everything they say can be easily apprehended in any part of the country. We have in mind mainly the correction of faulty vowel sounds and slovenly articulation, and we hold that the aim proposed can be achieved without complete stereotyping of the spoken word, and that it does not follow that dialect (whatever may be understood by that word) will be extinguished, even though the man who uses one speech in his native town or family circle may be using another when he is addressing strangers.

There is one further point which must be mentioned here. It is demonstrably easier to train children in certain habits of speech at an early than at a later age. Again it is not clear why only pupils in Grammar Schools should enjoy such benefits as can be conferred by training in speech. It is not within the scope of the present Report to suggest how responsibility in this matter should be divided between primary and secondary schools, but it seems incontrovertible that the former cannot divest themselves of responsibility.

(e) Fifthly, we would assert our belief that premature external examination of pupils at school in English literature is not only beset with every difficulty but is productive of much harm in its influence on the teaching of English literature and eventually upon English as a whole; and for that reason we would advise against any such form of examination. The teacher's success, we feel, can be gauged by himself or by one of his immediate colleagues who knows him well: but it is difficult, if not impossible, for the outside examiner to measure by standardised question papers anything but the coarse fringe of so sensitive and elusive a thing


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as successful literary teaching. The external examiner is therefore compelled to give disproportionate attention to what he can measure and to test this measurable element in ways which are readily standardised. The teachers then cannot help turning their attention to matters of secondary importance, such as structural analysis or historical commentary; yet neither analytical nor historical method can reach the heart of a great book, whether poetry, drama, fiction or essay.

Released from the necessity of embarking upon literary study with his pupils in such a way as will yield measurable results, the teacher would be free to revert to his real work, which is, quite simply, the reading of good books with his pupils; indeed we wish that this simple notion of 'reading' could replace in many minds the more pretentious and often harmful idea of 'literature'. He will choose books which are worth reading and he will read them with his pupils because they could not read them without help. Whether results can be measured or not will not concern him; the real test of his success is one which, from its nature, cannot be applied: it is to be found in the desire of the pupil to read more. Moreover the teacher will be free to relate the teaching of composition to his treatment of the books under study and to adjust such teaching to the capacities and interests of his pupils.

(f) Finally, we come to the equipment of the teacher which will best fit him for the kind of attack upon the subject which we have in view.

It is obvious that a degree in English has certain advantages and many teachers possessing such a degree have been conspicuously successful; they have given special thought to aim and method and have established the subject on a firm footing. Nevertheless we do not regard such a qualification as indispensable. For example, a teacher who has read Classics or Modern Languages can be and often is an excellent teacher of English.

We emphasise this view because we have been at pains in this chapter to point out the dangers of too technical or specialist approach to the subject and to urge that as regards one part of its field English is of universal concern.

We think that our ends will best be served by fitting more teachers to teach more subjects than English, and for this purpose the general honours degree in three subjects or a degree involving English and advanced work in some other subject should be of great value. Teachers so qualified will be enabled by sympathy and equipment to make those contacts with English through other subjects which give added reality and naturalness to the study of the mother tongue, and through English itself to bring to bear upon other subjects power of comprehension and standards of expression.

Further, we would urge that, in the course of training of teachers in University Training Departments and in Training Colleges, the


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elements and the objectives of the methods of training pupils in the study and practice of the English language should receive at least as much stress as the aims and methods of the specialist subject in which the teacher's main qualification lies. We urge this because our plea, that English in the broad sense is the concern of all teachers, is not likely to result in the revolution in attitude which is essential to better teaching unless their responsibility in the matter is brought home to students in training, and unless they are so equipped as to feel some confidence in undertaking this vital element in their work.


CHAPTER V

HISTORY

Perhaps no subject of the curriculum with the exception of English admits of more varied interpretation than the subject known as History. By some teachers the purposes of the teaching are regarded as so comprehensive and of such paramount significance in education that the place of History and its accompanying studies, Geography and Social Studies, would absorb the major portion of the curriculum. By other teachers it is felt that History demands an adult mind and adult interests; that at school, at any rate below the sixth form, little more can be effected than the erecting of a chronological scaffolding of the main events in the history of man; the building itself can be undertaken only by further reading interpreted in the light of sufficient experience of human motive at its best and worst. Some would urge that to many children the romance and strangeness of the remoter past make most appeal, interest being lost as present times are approached in all their complexity and even remoteness of issues; others would disagree and testify that as the modern age comes under study pupils gain a sense of reality and relevance. Yet others would say that some pupils have no interest in process and development and how things came to be as they are; description of things as they are now makes the only appeal. Looking to wider issues, some would point to the needs of a modern democracy and would urge that democracy can work only if its members have enough political and social sense to make it work; they would enlist the aid of History teaching in schools as a main instrument in the education of democracy, and would extend the range of school History and Geography to cover 'Civics' and 'World Politics' and Economics. Others again would emphasise the extreme difficulties and the incessant temptations which confront a teacher attempting to explore complex and technical and controversial problems with immature children.

The schools then are faced with many problems; what is the function of History teaching? Is it the same for all pupils? If regard is had to the age and development of the children in the schools, how can the schools make contribution to the education of members of a democracy through such subjects as History and Geography? This is a problem


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perpetually pressed upon the schools by those who expect them to make a larger contribution than they can.

The content and the treatment of school history depend then upon the purposes with which it is taught. Of recent years the conception of history as merely a record of the past has tended to be enlarged by a wider understanding of its purposes in the curriculum; it has increasingly been recognised that, whatever its other purposes, the record should be related at suitable points to the present. The war has accelerated that process of recognition and the obligations of teachers of history have become increasingly apparent. The interdependence of peoples, and the far-reaching effects of political, social or economic ideas beyond their place of origin, the shrinkage of the world and the new orientations which are compelled thereby - these have widened horizons and brought about the beginnings of a new perspective. For example, modern Europe, the British peoples overseas, the United States of America have become vitally significant and, while the scope of History has become enlarged, a new intimacy has been created. Nonetheless, in spite of the widening of the bounds of interest, the conviction remains that the child at school is first a citizen of the United Kingdom and that his extension of interest and grasp takes place most naturally outwards from the history of his own country and his own people at home and overseas to the larger field of foreign history.

Thus, the conception of History teaching in schools is widening; it emphasises the significance of history for the understanding of recent and contemporary conditions and events; it extends its sphere of interest, yet it uses what is familiar as its point of departure for broader studies. With this tendency we believe most people feel all sympathy. In particular we would assert as our own view:

(a) that the history of Britain must remain the core of the History syllabus, and to that core the history of other peoples must be organically related. Little good can come from imposing new subjects on the curriculum or adding new and separate blocks of history to the syllabus. But much good can come from the rewriting of old chapters, with perhaps greater attention paid to biography, with many omissions and such insertion of new matter as the wider outlook entails;

(b) that the history of Britain at home and overseas in the latter part of the nineteenth and the twentieth century should receive adequate treatment. This difficult period clearly should not be dealt with at too early an age, and in our view probably not before fifteen. Since then some pupils leave at 16+, it becomes imperative that, whatever else they may undertake in history in the last year of the Main school, they should devote some time to this vital period.

It is not for us to enter into details of method of treatment. Yet we would suggest that a very broad interpretation should be put upon history in this year of school life; particularly perhaps in the treatment of most recent times, the special knowledge and interests of other members of the staff - teachers of Geography and Natural Science and Art or Languages - should be laid under contribution, in whatever form


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this may be possible and convenient. Varied approach need not necessarily destroy unity of plan. If the work is to be tested by examination, it can be effectively tested, in our view, only by examination set and marked at the school itself.

It is in the Sixth Form that real historical study begins. The History Sixth will naturally undertake the work appropriate to it both as regards periods and treatment. But in all divisions of the sixth form we would welcome, though not necessarily as a continuous course nor as excluding other historical work, the study of contemporary events, government, public affairs, a survey of the British Commonwealth of Nations, its achievements and its tasks, and the history of other nations and questions of international relations. At this age problems of this kind interest many pupils, though by no means all; and newspapers and wireless keep such questions perpetually before their notice. We do not dwell at length on the content of such work in history either in the Fifth or Sixth Forms; it is bound to be individual in character and to depend on the particular interests and knowledge of the staff. For we think that it would gain in width and interest if the special knowledge of various members of the staff were used from time to time to illustrate aspects of the main theme; courses of this kind should not become the special preserve of the history teacher, though clearly they must be planned and largely undertaken by him.

It is in such a treatment of history in the last years of school life that we believe the best contribution can be made in schools to the growth of an informed democracy, in so far as that contribution can be made through classroom instruction. We have naturally had under careful consideration the question of the teaching of civics. Such teaching has had its successes and its failures. We would not ourselves approach the preparation of a child for life as a citizen in a democracy through direct instruction in the duties of the good citizen, and for two main reasons: first, because we think that good citizenship finds its sanction in something at the same time more fundamental and more pervasive than classroom instruction, that the qualities which make a good citizen are taught by or caught from the quality of the general life of the school; secondly, because the instruction, which can be of value only if those qualities are presupposed, springs most naturally and effectively from the study of ordinary school subjects, particularly History, provided that those subjects are treated, when appropriate, in such a way as to be of relevance and significance to the present day. It is to this last proviso that we would call attention, for it is here that reform in our opinion is most needed. For this reason we have made the recommendations which we have made and which we summarise thus:

(i) by the age of sixteen every pupil should have had the opportunity of studying those aspects of British and World History which relate to the conditions of the age in which he lives; arising from this work would spring naturally the fuller treatment of the British Commonwealth, of the United States of America and of Russia, which is possible in the Sixth Form;

(ii) in the Sixth Form the greater maturity of the pupils and their widening interests make it desirable that more direct approach


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should be made to contemporary history, and to questions of central and local government, public affairs and special studies in the history of foreign nations or the British Commonwealth, including such topics as the growth of democratic ideals.
The work of the lower forms will depend upon the purposes envisaged in the teaching of history to children of the ages of 11+ to 14+; but it is clear that, if modern History is the proper study for the older pupil, earlier periods must be undertaken in the lower forms. This will involve a replanning of syllabuses in many schools; how the course of the early years should be planned is best left to the teachers themselves. Many will not wish to omit a survey of civilisation from ancient times; others no doubt will shape part of their course on a basis of biography or social history, or regard a chronological framework of history as indispensable, omitting long stretches of events and concentrating on outstanding features. However the problem is approached, an overcrowded syllabus must be avoided.

In connection with the work, particularly of the Main school, we would emphasise the value of illustrative material. Provision should be made for the acquisition of such material and for its storing in such a way that it is easily available; for this purpose the setting aside of a room as a 'History room' is felt by some teachers to be an advantage, while others dislike concentration of material in one place on the ground that it is less readily available to other members of the staff who also teach History. This is a question which can be decided only in the light of the organisation of the teaching of each school. Apart from the acquisition of such material, much depends on the skill and aptness with which it is used.

It is particularly important that books of the right kind should be available in the school library, as much for the lower forms as for Sixth Form work. Direction in their choice and in methods of use is very necessary.


CHAPTER VI

GEOGRAPHY

Without attempt at precise definition it may be said that Geography is the study of man and his environment from selected points of view. Yet Natural Science, Economics, History, the study of local conditions as regards industry or agriculture might also be said to be concerned with environment. For this reason Geography is a good school subject, since it finds it easy to make contact with other subjects; for environment is a term which is easily expanded to cover every condition and every phase of activity which make up normal everyday experience. This expansiveness of Geography carries with it an advantage and a temptation; the advantage is that Geography at many points invites other subjects to join with it in a concerted attack upon the same topic from various points of departure, and in so doing calls attention to the common purposes and utilities of those subjects. On the other hand


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enthusiasts for Geography may be inclined sometimes to extend their range so widely as to swallow up other subjects; in so doing they widen their boundaries so vaguely that definition of purpose is lost, and the distinctive virtues inherent in other studies closely pursued are ignored in a general survey of wide horizons. Such virtues cannot be ignored without loss.

Again, Geography as the study of environment, proceeds from immediate surroundings to more remote surroundings. From the nature of its own subject-matter, therefore, it finds it easy to obey the precept that the enlargement of experience at which the study of school subjects aims should take place from what is familiar and concrete towards the less familiar and the abstract.

These then are reasons why we urge that Geography should be a compulsory subject in the early stages of the school course; they are not, however, such as to preclude it from a place among advanced studies.

From what has been said it is clear that as regards Geography perhaps more than any other subject the planning of the course of work must be closely related to the circumstances of the school, and among these circumstances must be included not only the physical environment of the school, but also the nature of the other subjects undertaken there and the gifts and sympathies of teachers concerned with those subjects no less than of those concerned with Geography. That Geography in a given school should take into account the physical surroundings of that school is familiar enough; it is equally important that it should consciously relate itself to the other studies pursued at that school and to the particular aims and scope of those studies. This does not mean that Geography is placed in a subordinate position as a handmaid to other subjects; it means only that Geography should be wise enough to understand its own advantages, and in that understanding to realise its own specific aims in close association with other subjects.

No general report therefore can attempt to discuss in detail the course of work which schools might undertake; for the scope and range of the Geography syllabus is peculiarly dependent on special circumstances. We would confine ourselves therefore to two points.

(a) The course of Geography in schools might reasonably be expected to include:

(i) the elements of physical geography;

(ii) studies on various scales (e.g. world, continent, region, parish);

(iii) training in such skills as map reading, the use of atlases and of books of reference;

(iv) field-work and first-hand knowledge of town and country and of life in town and country;

(v) opportunities for the study of the geographical aspects of ventures which challenge or inspire human effort as, for example, exploration, mountaineering, flying.

A framework such as this can ensure no doubt a reasonable body of general knowledge and of facts and their relations, but we would emphasise at this point the importance of a good grasp of facts; sometimes


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modern Geography teaching, we think, is inclined to forget it, and some of our evidence bears this out. We would draw special attention, however, to the value of field-work, for it is in such work that we find a point of departure for broader studies which will give opportunity for co-ordination of subject-matter and co-operative effort by teachers; these studies perhaps approximate most nearly in the secondary sphere to the 'project' of primary education, and offer means to derive first-hand knowledge from immediate experience of data ready to hand.

We would urge that such field-work, or local survey, should find a place in every syllabus. Admittedly timetable arrangements, cooperation among teachers, the time needed for preparation of suitable schemes may present difficulties; but in our opinion every effort should be made to surmount them, and to make way for a type of work which holds out great promise as an introduction to practical citizenship and as a means of bringing about the unified approach to different fields of learning which we have desired.

The value of setting aside a single room for the teaching of Geography has already been proved by experience. The room must be of good size, conveniently placed and large enough to allow for the ready use of the various aids to teaching - maps, pictures, models and the like - and for the tables which are more convenient than desks in the teaching of this subject.

(b) Geography is a subject which in conjunction with such subjects as Modern Languages, History, Economics, Public Affairs, Statistics makes up a course of studies in the Sixth Form particularly suitable for pupils who will read Economics or History at the University or will go on to posts of an administrative nature in business or public concerns. Such courses tried in different quarters have proved their value; Geography, broadly interpreted, has offered a framework or provided a cement which has held together other subjects and given unity to the course.

It is not realised even now as widely as it should be that the advance in geographical knowledge has been so great that general truths have been established for which the evidence two generations ago simply did not exist. No one can realise more vividly than the trained geographer that the great regions of the earth are interdependent, and no one can base the approach to world harmony on sounder foundations than he. The advanced study of geography is not only of economic but of high political value, and, though it makes use of the contributions of several sciences which for its purposes are ancillary, it imposes its own unity upon them. For that unity is imposed by nature itself; it is the unity of the region which is the subject of study. It may be that Physics and Chemistry, Botany and Biology, Geology and Meteorology may all in turn be called into conference, and in the hands of a poor teacher the subject may become as motley and disintegrated as it is sometimes thought to be. But in the hands of a good teacher it will not be so. He will use the study to bring out all the facts that nature has given, and to establish the vital truth that, while there is much in nature which governs man inevitably, on the basis of that knowledge and that knowledge alone man can proceed to the discovery that there is much


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in nature which he in turn can govern and direct. Without this firm basis in Geography we cannot proceed with confidence to the planning of the economic or the political design of the future world. It is for this reason that the subject is a good foundation for enlightened citizenship, that it is good material for Sixth Form study, and will in our opinion hold a place of increasing importance in the future. Whether we look to the town, country and regional planning which must have place in this, country, or to the much greater task of planning in interdependence the industrial and agricultural regions of Europe and the the world, whether we consider the problem of developing colonies without exploitation or directing rightly the growth of primitive populations and the supply of raw materials, it is Geography which will give the basic knowledge and remind us continually that the world is not only one but extremely diverse. It is to be hoped that in the future geographers trained in this full sense will not be so rare as they are today.


CHAPTER VII

MATHEMATICS

Amid the changes in curriculum which have taken place in the last forty years Mathematics perhaps more than any other subject has retained the position assigned to it by tradition. At the present time it is very rare indeed for any boy to give up Mathematics during the main school course or to omit it from the subjects which he offers for the School Certificate Examination. With girls the situation is different; in girls' schools the place assigned to Mathematics varies far more than in boys' schools according to the attitude of the Head Mistress and the strength of the mathematical staff. Thus in some schools very few girls drop the subject; in others a third or even more omit it from the School Certificate Examination.

As regards the examination itself Mathematics is taken by about 90 per cent of the total number of candidates and thus ranks next to English and French. The position of these three subjects has, of course, been influenced to great extent by the 'group' requirements. At the same time it is sometimes felt, particularly in girls' schools, that there are a number of pupils, who, being weak in most subjects or having a blind spot for Mathematics, find the standard of the examination in Mathematics hard, and often great difficulty is experienced in bringing them up to the required level.

The position of Mathematics, however, is not to be explained only by tradition or by examination regulations. Even if the value of the subject on other grounds is excluded, there yet remains the practical consideration that for many pupils Mathematics is necessary for their careers; for others it is necessary in order to gain admittance to courses of advanced work in other subjects, whether at the University or elsewhere.

Mathematics then occupies a position in the schools strongly entrenched by tradition, the influence of examinations and practical


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considerations of career or utility. Yet it would be a mistake to imagine that as a result of the security so enjoyed methods and aims have become stereotyped. In this subject no less than in other traditional subjects there has been much rethinking of aim and method. Compared with the theory and practice of thirty years ago, from which standpoint we suspect that some of the criticism made on mathematics is directed, Mathematics has reformed itself; the various branches of the subject have coalesced, dead matter has been pruned away; the course has gained in unity and embraces content which some years ago was reserved only for advanced students; progress has been accelerated and laborious formal proof and rigidly logical sequence have been replaced by shorter methods and by the demonstration of Mathematical principles and their practical application. Many teachers would be the first to agree that in many respects revision of syllabus might with advantage be carried even further, particularly in the lower forms of schools; but they would point to the changes already made as an earnest of others to come.

The point which concerns us first in the above review of the situation is the place of mathematics in the curriculum. In practice, the subject occupies more time throughout the main school than any other single subject; admittedly English in the broad sense in which it runs through many subjects engages more time, but this is natural and desirable, and it might equally be said that Mathematics is inherent in branches of Natural Science teaching. For pupils who show ability in Mathematics or who need or may need that it should be carried to an advanced stage for purposes of a career we are not disposed to suggest a reduction in the content of the Mathematical course or in the time given to it. On the other hand we are not convinced by the evidence put before us that pupils, whose abilities lean most markedly in other directions or whose disability in Mathematics is established beyond reasonable doubt, should devote the same attention to Mathematics or be expected to cover the same ground in the same way as those whose interests and needs justify Mathematics as an important part of their school course. It may be objected that at present the situation is met by the two courses 'Elementary' and 'Additional Mathematics' required for the School Certificate Examination. Yet reference to recent figures shows that, whereas 91 per cent of the candidates took 'Elementary Mathematics', only 5 per cent took 'Additional Mathematics', and we understand that the great majority of that 5 per cent consisted of boys. In short, we should recommend that differentiation should be carried further than these figures suggest, that while a high standard, such as that conveniently indicated by 'Additional Mathematics', should be retained for a proportion of pupils, and reached by a larger proportion than at present, it should also be possible for some pupils to undertake a course in Mathematics different from, and less exacting in content than the normal course.

We believe the establishment of this principle to be right not merely as a concession to those who show marked disability in Mathematics, but also in the interest of those whose interest and ability have been shown to lie elsewhere.


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As regards the pupil whose tastes are 'all round', who is equally able in Mathematics and in Languages, for example, and in Art, we think it impossible to make any general observations; it may be to his advantage, or it may not, to carry Mathematics to as advanced a stage as he is capable of carrying it; this is a problem which can be decided only at the school in the light of such considerations as probable career, special promise in particular ways, general cast of mind, nature of the teaching, total load carried by the pupil.

We are thus faced with a set of needs which demand satisfaction and which we may summarise thus:

(i) to discover aptitude, mathematical or other,

(ii) to establish at least a groundwork of Mathematics necessary for everyday affairs,

(iii) to furnish opportunity for the ablest boys and also for those who, while not among the ablest, need or may need Mathematics for a career,

(iv) to provide for those who through lack of ability or interest in Mathematics make little progress,

(v) to provide for those who, while having ability for Mathematics, yet on account of special abilities and tastes in other subjects prefer and are well advised to undertake a lightened course in it.

We suggest that all these needs could be met without difficulty in the larger schools and most of them in the smaller.

(a) In the first three years of the secondary Grammar school Mathematics should in our opinion be taken by all pupils. Opinion is on the whole in favour of Mathematics being taught during these years, as well as later, in 'sets' arranged to allow for varying ability. We regard three years as a minimum for all pupils for these reasons; first, it is essential that all pupils should gain at least a knowledge of such Mathematics as is necessary for everyday affairs and some acquaintance with the most elementary mathematical principles; secondly, full opportunity must be given for mathematical ability or disability to declare itself after experience of the personality and the teaching methods of more than one teacher. We stress this latter point because we regard the early stages in Mathematics as most important, a pupil's liking and appreciation of the subject often depending on the way in which it was presented to him then.

(b) We contemplate that for the succeeding two years the majority of pupils should continue a course of Mathematics which would be appropriate to those who need Mathematics for their career; some of them would certainly carry the subject to a higher level than the rest.

This 'normal' course from 11+ to 16+ should include, we believe, parts of Arithmetic, Algebra, Graphs, Geometry and Trigonometry, treated not as isolated subjects but with the fullest measure of co-ordination. For the treatment of Mathematics now stresses frequent numerical illustration, and this change has affected not only Trigonometry, making it more suitable for less able pupils, but also Algebra and Graphs. Graphs would not be taught as a separate topic, but rather to illustrate and help forward the subject in hand. In


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Geometry formal proofs of geometrical propositions would give way to informal explanations and the use of algebraical and trigonometrical methods where appropriate. Solid Geometry would be touched upon in the first lessons and references to three dimensions would recur throughout the course. On the ground that they stultify the teaching, few rules would be learnt, and pupils would be taught to rely upon a few fundamental principles and their own power to use them. The process, already advanced, of purging away old-fashioned topics from Algebra, Arithmetic and Geometry would be carried still further. The method of treatment would naturally vary according to the abilities of pupils; we do not suggest that the same treatment would be suitable for all.

For many pupils it would be desirable and possible to cover more ground. The nature of an 'additional' syllabus would depend very much upon the choice of the individual school. Sometimes Mechanics is included in the syllabus of Physics, and when this is done the additional course in Mathematics might reasonably consist of an introduction on unambitious lines to the differential and integral calculus with such parts of numerical co-ordinate Geometry and Algebra and Trigonometry as are necessary. If Mechanics is not part of the Physics course, it would reasonably be treated in Mathematics. Another suitable topic would be the use of the globes, involving emphasis on certain parts of spherical Geometry and Trigonometry. The mathematical aspect of the terrestrial globe has gained added importance and interest from the development of flying. The celestial globe has a double function, the purely astronomical and its application to navigation. Both Astronomy and Navigation would be suitable parts of the additional course and would make great appeal. But in the choice of content for this additional syllabus the individual schools should have complete freedom.

(c) For pupils who during the three years instruction from 11-14 showed little ability or were little attracted by the subject, we should recommend a lighter course, different in content and less exacting in time than the normal course outlined above. Throughout it practical applications and illustrations would be stressed. It would include Arithmetic extended to include elementary Trigonometry, the elements of Algebra, that is the formulation of arithmetical problems in algebraic shape, equations such as arise from and are useful in Arithmetic: such parts of Geometry as are needed for mensuration and Trigonometry, and for the construction of simple solids; formal proofs in Geometry would be omitted, but geometrical questions in the form 'Is it true?' would be used. Possibly some elementary Mechanics including experimental work would be attempted.

In the Sixth Form Mathematics would become, under the arrangement for examinations suggested in an earlier chapter, (i) a subject for scholarship examinations either alone or in conjunction with Natural Science, (ii) a subject for the School Leaving Examination taken at 18+ for entry to Universities and professions and for other purposes. On this we make no observations. But we would suggest that Statistics is a suitable study for boys in the Sixth Form who are likely to go into posts in business or to read economics at a University. For we think that in Statistics, Geography, descriptive Economics and aspects of


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Public Administration, together with a foreign language, an excellent introduction to their later work and studies could be provided.


CHAPTER VIII

NATURAL SCIENCE

The view which we take of the place of Natural Science in the curriculum can be put quite shortly.

We take it as self-evident that, if education is to fit pupils to live in the modern world and to gain acquaintance with the main departments of human thought, a study of Natural Science should find a place in the education of all pupils. But this does not mean that pupils with little capacity or interest in Natural Science should necessarily take it throughout the Main school, or that the time given to it or the content of the course should be the same for all pupils in the same school; allowance must be made for strongly developed interest and abilities in other fields, and equally for interest in Natural Science and the probable needs of a future career. The framing of all courses and the choice of illustrative material should in our opinion be influenced so far as may be feasible by the environment of the school. Yet that influence should not be so great as to cause the syllabus to become 'specialised'; we urge this particularly with regard to Natural Science in rural schools, for we do not think it in the interest of agriculture or rural industries themselves that the teaching in schools should be directed too closely to these ends.

We would suggest that for the first stage the course in all schools and for all pupils should consist of a general approach to the main fields of Natural Science. This kind of approach has come to be known as 'General Science'. General Science is the name given here to an elementary course of study of Natural Science for which the subject matter, related wherever practicable to the everyday experience of pupils, is drawn from the whole field of Natural Science and treated as a coherent whole, so that the question of the traditional division into separate Science subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and Geology does not arise. The course of study, by the scope and treatment of its subject-matter, is designed to give pupils, among other things, some knowledge of natural laws and their applications; some acquaintance with scientific methods of thought and investigation and some appreciation of the influence of scientific thought and achievement on human lives. We would advocate the adoption of some form of General Science as the most suitable introductory course. But the content or the method or the length of course cannot be prescribed in detailed terms for any school; from many points of view the early part of the syllabus is the most individual part, since it depends upon the powers of the teacher and the opportunities provided by environment to awake the interest, to excite the wonder and curiosity and to offer the breadth of outlook which will create the right attitude towards Nature and enquiry into its workings. It should start from the interest


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of the pupil in what he can and does actually see; and in the earliest stages should range rapidly over a wide field, giving a quick survey of the scope of Natural Science, of the immensity of its horizon and of the main fields into which its search penetrates. At the outset of his studies the pupil should gain a first definite impression that nature in all its vastness and all its minuteness is the realm into which he is being led. There would be no randomness under a proper method of treatment, since the point of departure would be his own interest and experience, extended by directed observation.

For this first initiation we would use, if it were not likely to be misunderstood, the old term 'Physiography' in its literal sense; unfortunately that word towards the end of its life was restricted and its connotation is now not suitable for the elementary work in schools. Nonetheless we feel that the original intention of the word was correct and that an attempt to carry it out would help to set young pupils on the right road. 'That is not Science!' a fourteen-year-old pupil exclaimed, 'That isn't done in a laboratory.' 'This is not Science; it's Astronomy!' is another authentic protest uttered with all the contempt which thirteen years could command. Of course, similar misunderstandings occur in all subjects; but we feel most strongly that in Natural Science the first introduction is of the utmost importance. It should create as early as can be an attitude of mind which is ready to accept as Natural Science observation and discussion about rocks and stars, sea and season, food and machinery, air and animals; the bell-jar and thermometer should, in our view, wait till pupils return from a preliminary survey undertaken through description, picture and field-work.

After the first stage certain alternatives lie open to schools. Some will teach General Science throughout the Main school, as they do now. Some schools, we should suggest, should arrange two courses of 'General Science'; one of them would be designed with appropriate time for pupils not likely to treat Natural Science as one of their major subjects; the other, though still General Science, would go further and deeper and no doubt would emphasise one or more of the constituent Sciences; it would serve the needs of pupils likely to make Natural Science one of their chief subjects in the Sixth Form. The choice of General Science as appropriate for the whole of the main school would depend upon the sympathies and qualifications of the staff and upon the laboratory accommodation available. In other schools it might be preferred to have a course in General Science for some pupils, and for others a course in which the subjects Physics and Chemistry and Biology would be taught on more independent lines than is contemplated in General Science.

We have studied with considerable care the case for General Science and the case against it. We realise that both as regards content and method it is still in the experimental stage and that its wider introduction into schools must take time. But in our view it holds out great promise, and is much to be encouraged. The method employed - 'topic' or 'problem' or other - is clearly a matter for the teacher: whatever method is adopted, if scientific principles


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receive adequate stress, as they can, General Science will possess the coherence which some of its critics call in question. To this end we urge that degree courses comprising several subjects of Natural Science should become more common, and be more commonly taken, in Universities, in order to increase the numbers of teachers who can undertake the difficult task of teaching General Science. Before leaving the Main school we add one more observation. General Science must be thorough enough to provide a good foundation for Sixth Form work; any deficiency in this respect is sometimes made a point of criticism. We believe that the foundation can be sound enough for a structure of good Sixth Form work to be erected upon it, if in the last stage of General Science in the Main school the specialist teacher of Physics or Chemistry or Biology is given opportunity to assert his special point of view, to treat of topics inside his special science with more detail, and to isolate them from other special sciences to a greater degree than is desirable in earlier stages of the course. In other words, in the Fifth Form set which contains pupils likely to take up Natural Science in the Sixth Form, the separate sciences should begin to be treated separately by teachers with special qualifications in them, and a bridge should thus be made between the General Science appropriate to earlier stages and the intensive study of special sciences appropriate to the Sixth Form.

We pass now to Natural Science in the Sixth Form, and the matters to which attention is invited concern, first, those pupils who specialise in Natural Science and, secondly, those to whom it is not a main interest.

The rigid specialisation prevalent in Science Sixth Forms has long been the subject of criticism in the schools and in the Universities and beyond. Our attention has been drawn to it once again in evidence submitted to us from many quarters. Eminent scientists have pressed it upon our notice, urging that the cause of Natural Science itself in the Universities and thereafter is not served in this way. Teachers themselves deplore it, realising that they are not consulting the best interests of their able pupils by rigidly confining their outlook and demanding the assimilation of a largely factual knowledge; if such treatment is bad for able pupils, it is worse for less able pupils. Put shortly, and no doubt in exaggerated form, the issue is this: the Universities complain that their science students are one-sided; they find difficulty in reading for themselves, in extracting the essence of what they read and in expressing themselves; their general interests are few and narrow, and even in their own field they do not take the synoptic view which is necessary to good work. The industrialist puts forward two main points; the University man whom he employs in the first place shows too little practical grasp of his science, however good his theoretical knowledge may be, and, secondly, he often fails at conference or meeting to do justice to the point of view which his knowledge and skill entitle him to put forward because he cannot express it clearly and cogently. The schoolmasters complain that they are set an impossible task. On the one hand they are asked to train their boys for College entrance scholarships, and those papers demand that, as each new field of Natural Science is opened up, it shall be added to the school syllabus, till a scholarship paper of today is now comparable with a tripos paper of twenty years ago. On the other hand to meet that demand they must


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ask for more and more school time, and so must neglect or exclude other subjects to the detriment of the general education of their pupils. To this complaint the examiner in College scholarship examinations would reply as follows: when he sets a problem from a new field, he is asking only for the application of familiar principles to new circumstances, and ability so shown is taken into account in the award of scholarships; he certainly does not wish that the new field should be added to the Sixth Form syllabus: if it is added, not he but the schoolmaster is to blame.

The initial step to end this pernicious deadlock must be taken, in our opinion, in the Universities. We venture to submit that a pronouncement, conceived and expressed on broad lines, should indicate the qualities of mind and character, the general and particular training which it is desired to see in students undertaking University studies in the various fields of Natural Science. The second step follows naturally: that University entrance scholarships, and those who teach candidates for such scholarships, should carry out the spirit of that pronouncement and should not set up another objective inconsistent with it. At present each of the older Universities speaks with two voices: the 'departments' ask for one thing, the College entrance scholarship examinations, intentionally or not, invite another; the schools cannot wholly be blamed if they listen to the insistent demands of a stiff examination which is designed to select on knowledge of Natural Science from a large number of competitors. If the ideal qualities of the science student, who will eventually have to take his place in industry, in research, in teaching and in countless other occupations, are broadly conceived and stated, then the scholarship examinations, and work in preparation for them, cannot be less broadly conceived if they are not to set up an alternative objective with the inevitable consequence.

Remodelled on lines which will demand less factual knowledge but a surer grasp of principles and method, scholarship examinations might in our opinion be no less effective means than at present for the selection of pupils who will eventually profit from science studies and employ them later to advantage in whatever field they may. Such a change would bring relief to the minds of many teachers, for they would know that they would then be able to pay attention to the general development of their pupils as well as to progress within a special field. The effect of such a pronouncement, and of consequent change in scholarship examinations, would change at once the nature and the spirit of Sixth Form work.

Finally, we come to the vexed question of the 1st MB [Bachelor of Medicine], a subject which we approach as laymen concerned with the work of Sixth Form pupils. The problem may be summarised as follows, and in this summary we confine ourselves to main issues and disregard the many difficulties with which the existing machinery of examination and exemption confronts the schools. On the one hand the Sixth Form boy or girl is anxious to shorten a long medical course by taking, while at school, an examination which demands knowledge of subjects which he can learn at school, and which he has learned for some years. With this point of view his teacher has all sympathy and would add that there


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is much to be said for giving a pupil in his last year or so at school an objective and a course of work which are directly related to his later studies. Yet, as things are, this sympathy is qualified by two misgivings. The first of them is that the course of work demanded by the examination absorbs too much time and must be begun too early, particularly by the less able boys; too narrow a course of sixth form work is in the interest neither of the pupil's general development at school nor of his success as a recruit to the medical profession, in which understanding of men is no less important than technical knowledge. The second misgiving is that portions of the work demanded are irrelevant to the studies of the Medical Schools; thus time which should be devoted to general subjects is unnecessarily absorbed by studies, and in particular by aspects of Physics and Chemistry, of which neither the purpose nor the use is apparent.

On the other hand medical opinion, as officially represented to us, regards it as preferable that the courses leading to the 1st MB should be taken in a Medical School; but, since the general principles of the physical and biological sciences should form part of any general education, the 1st MB examination might reasonably be taken from schools which have adequate teaching and laboratory facilities, but only by those candidates who by virtue of their ability have reached a satisfactory standard of general education at a sufficiently early stage. Arguments in favour of taking the examination from a Medical School are that (i) laboratory facilities at school rarely approach those of a University department, (ii) too early specialisation at school is avoided, (iii) school instruction cannot give the medical trend necessary for future medical students are in the minority and teachers are not closely enough in touch with medical needs; the subjects of the 1st MB examination should be taught by those who are in touch with colleagues who teach professional subjects and have opportunities for research, (iv) to ensure a right adjustment to University life, which some students find not easy, it is desirable that the work of the first year should cover subjects with which school work has already given familiarity.

It is not part of our task to appraise these arguments, and we understand that enquiries into the question of medical education are being undertaken in other quarters. Our concern is with the higher work of schools and the entry of pupils into the Medical Schools. Nonetheless we regard this matter as of such importance that we go on to put forward suggestions which might contribute to a solution.

We think that it should be possible for pupils to take the 1st MB examination, or parts of it, from school. But we agree that in their own interest as individuals and as doctors the education of intending students should not be too narrow or specialised during the last years of school. At the same time we recognise that for the purposes of a medical education Biology and perhaps to a less degree Physics and Chemistry need a vocational trend and that this trend can be given only by those who are in close touch with the latest progress in medicine.

It is suggested therefore

(i) that Physics, Chemistry and Biology should be taught in schools without any attempt at vocational trend but on orthodox academic lines;

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(ii) that the syllabus and requirements of the 1st MB in these subjects should be reduced and carefully defined so that pupils should not be asked to cover unnecessary ground and should be able to give a good proportion of time to other subjects than Natural Science;

(iii) that exemption from the 1st MB examination should be made possible by means of the 18+ examination, the School Leaving Examination, of which we have spoken in an earlier chapter;

(iv) that the vocational trend which is necessary should be given to Biology, Chemistry and Physics in the first year of the medical course when Anatomy and Physiology are dealt with;

(v) finally, that medical students who do not take the 1st MB at school should have opportunity to take it in the science department of the University.

It is by no means an innovation to urge that pupils in Modern, Classical and History Sixths should include in their curriculum some treatment of Natural Science. The reasons do not need to be set out here. But experience has shown that it is not easy, first, to devise an approach which within a moderate allowance of time will commend itself to pupils whose interests lie elsewhere; secondly, to secure teachers who are anxious and able to make that approach. Admittedly the problem is not simple; broad issues must be treated in a broad way. The history of the progress of scientific thought, the limitations which Natural Science imposes on itself, the study of the work of the 'masters' preferably in their own writings in order to bring out their development of method, its application to modern problems and its social consequences - these may indicate the kind of approach which we have in mind. Sometimes it would be attractive to bring the work into very close relation with other studies, classical or modern; at other times to break away and open up untouched fields. We are of opinion that this aspect of Natural Science in the Sixth Forms of schools deserves more thought and experiment than has yet been given to it, and many teachers, not only teachers of Natural Science, would welcome suggestion and guidance.


CHAPTER IX

MODERN LANGUAGES

A rough estimate of the relative position of Foreign Languages to each other in the curriculum of the Main school can be formed by a comparison of the School Certificate examination candidates for 1939; they were: French 93.1 per cent of the total entrants, German 13.2 per cent, Spanish 1.6 per cent, Latin 35.3 per cent, Greek 2.5 per cent; 355 candidates took Italian, 7 candidates Russian. These figures leave out of account pupils who did not take the examination and pupils in the Sixth Form.

Similar figures have been quoted in various quarters in past years to draw attention to the predominance of French and the relatively


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weak position of other languages in the curriculum of schools, and in the evidence presented to us a strong plea, which we support, has been made for a readjustment which would increase the number of pupils learning other languages, especially German and Spanish.

The position occupied by French needs no lengthy explanation; the historical relation of France and England, the connection of French and English cultures and their common origins - these in themselves account for the special place which the French language has maintained in English education. In addition, teachers trained in the French language have themselves trained their pupils to teach. French and a routine of French teaching has been set up. The question is whether as a nation and as individuals the British people can afford, on grounds cultural, international and economic, to neglect the languages of nations whose achievements are great in varied fields and with whom it must come into contact in the spheres of international relations and commercial dealings; knowledge and understanding of these nations is of no less importance for ultimate ends than knowledge of our nearest neighbour. To take but two specific examples, the Literature and Art of Germany and Spain, it may be urged, are worthy subjects of study; both have intrinsic claims comparable with those of French, quite apart from their great political and commercial importance; the languages provide the discipline and the emotional appeal which is demanded from the study of a language as a school subject; their practical value in industry and commerce is great, and in the national interest the need of men and women so trained must be satisfied.

And so the plea is made that there should be, not a new burden on the curriculum, but a gradual redistribution. As regards Spanish, the following proposals have been made to us:

(i) As new secondary schools are founded, Spanish should be adopted as the first (or only) modern language in a great number of them. Education Authorities should be asked always to consider this.

(ii) In new post-primary (one-language) schools - and the raising of the school leaving age must increase their numbers - and in any elementary schools in which modern language teaching may henceforward be started, Spanish should, except for special reasons, be the language studied, since the chief aim here is to advance the pupil as far as possible in a short space of time, and in its early stages children can make more rapid progress in Spanish than in French or German. For schools of this type a specially constructed and simplified course should be used.

(iii) In secondary schools, where two languages are aimed at, Spanish should be in a considerable number of cases the first language studied. In every large urban area there should be at least one school in which Spanish is the first language.

(iv) Pupils of high linguistic capacity should be encouraged by teachers to study Spanish, whether as a first language, or as a second. Schools with a large proportion of such pupils should be encouraged by the Inspectors of the Board of Education and by Local Authorities to adopt Spanish.


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(v) Such schools as are able at any time to switch over to Spanish as a first language, or to introduce it as a second language, should be given every encouragement to do so.

(vi) A liaison bureau should be created as soon as possible between the schools on the one hand and the Chamber of Commerce and larger business houses on the other. At the present time there is little correlation of supply and demand.

Few would be prepared to deny the strength of the case for a more extensive knowledge of foreign languages in this country. The Englishman's ignorance of foreign languages has long been notorious, and no one can doubt that post-war conditions will call for men who can take up appointments abroad with facility in languages and with acquaintance with the life of other nations.

We think that the schools can make a real contribution to a wider knowledge of languages other than French and German for the purposes contemplated. But we are not convinced that they can achieve all that is demanded of them, or that, if they attempted to supply it, criticism of their product would not then be made on other grounds; we are in doubt as to the wisdom of some of the means suggested to realise the end in view, and we hold that a case has yet to be made for regarding any other modern languages and literatures to be in as close a relation to English literature and history as the language and literature of France and Germany.

A school can put a pupil into the way of learning a foreign language quickly and well; it can give him the general education and the groundwork which will fit him for the work he is to do, but it cannot provide the finished article. The foreign department of a bank or a business firm could not rely on the schoolboy's knowledge for the answering of letters or the transaction of business, nor could it place responsible negotiation in the hands of any salesman or representative travelling abroad who could claim so limited a knowledge of the language of the country in which he was to do business. For confident use of the language, even for interpretation of documents and letters received, a familiarity which will be sensitive to tone and to shades of meaning and nuances is indispensable. No school instruction can give such familiarity, for it can be acquired, in our opinion, only by residence in the country. If industry and commerce require skill of this kind, as we believe they do, they cannot look to the schools to provide it. The only reasonable course is that they should find the men whom they want and should enable them to learn the language in the country itself.

Again, it has been impressed upon us that the agent or representative of firms abroad needs other qualifications than ease in the language; besides personal qualities such as initiative and enterprise, he needs sympathy with ideas and an outlook different from those with which he is familiar at home; he must be alive to modes of thought and expression which are not like his own. We agree with this and hold that the best means to develop such sensitiveness is a wide knowledge of foreign languages. We should therefore consider a pupil to be best equipped if he had experience also of at least one language other than that of the country in which he proposed to take up occupation.


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Thirdly, in the past the demand for pupils leaving Secondary Schools with a knowledge of Spanish or German has not been great; it may be greater in future. If Spanish, for example, became the first or only language in a large number of schools, it seems doubtful whether even the best of the pupils would be absorbed into posts in which the language would be used. In our view, public opinion would regard such a change as undertaken primarily for practical purposes, and failure to direct pupils so trained into suitable posts might well react unfavourably on the status of Spanish. It might be argued that a career should be reasonably assured before the secondary Grammar Schools were justified in making changes of the kind suggested, though this is not of course an educational argument. We have cited Spanish as an example; but the same considerations hold good of Portuguese or Russian or Italian.

Finally, we cannot view the matter solely as one of practical utility in terms of employment or career. The majority of Grammar School pupils will not take up work in which a knowledge of modern languages will be the first or even a major requisite. If pupils who will go on to read Modern Languages at a University are disregarded, the great majority of the remainder can use a modern language learnt at school either as a tool in their further study of other subjects, or for the odd occasions on which it is of value to them or for pleasure or not at all. The needs of this majority have so far best been met, in our opinion, by French and German. France and Germany have profoundly affected English literature; in Natural Science, Philosophy, Art, political ideas and every branch of learning and every aspect of practical affairs their influence has been incalculable; at every turn French and German thought and language confront the educated reader and the intelligent citizen. If it is one of the functions of education to teach each age to know itself, then among languages now spoken French and German can at the present time rightly claim in our opinion chief role as teachers, though in the immediate future the balance may be substantially altered. We enter this caution because, though no one can as yet estimate with accuracy the range and the depth of the impact which Russia will make on the post-war era, it is probable that it will be real and deep, and a live education must concern itself with what is significant for the future. There is intense interest among the young in all things Russian, the Literature, the Art, the Music, the Ballet, as well as the political system. Yet it is not at present a matter of practical politics that Russian should become one of the languages studied in the early years of the secondary grammar school: it is possible that the language is in any case too difficult for this stage. But there is a good case, in London and the larger urban centres, for starting the experiment of two-year intensive courses in Russian in the Sixth Form: for the rest it is fortunate that much of what is best in the literature and thought of Russia is available in good English translations, and can be used by the teacher in many other types of lessons than those of modern languages. In saying that not much can at present be done in teaching Russian at school, because of the present dearth of teachers, if for no other reason, we are speaking of the present only. But even now we think it incumbent on all schools which keep their pupils to the age of 18 to make them acquainted with the ideals and the achievements which


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have changed the face of human society over a great area of Russia and Asia, and cannot be without significance to the coming generation; to be rightly and properly understood they must be studied in the unprejudiced atmosphere which should be characteristic of a good school.

To sum up, we think that, although a claim can be made both for the cultural and for the utilitarian value of any modern language, the traditional emphasis on French and German is still justified on educational grounds, though we would gladly see some redressing of the balance in favour of German. None the less we believe that the claims of foreign languages other than French and German should be fully and generously met, especially those of Russian and Spanish.

We would therefore make the following recommendations:

(i) French and German might be alternative more often than is the practice in schools; in particular German should be taken by Science pupils.

(ii) Spanish should become a chief language in some schools and particularly in areas where commerce has special ties with Spanish speaking countries; such schools would become known as producing pupils with knowledge of Spanish, and firms in other neighbourhoods would satisfy their needs from those schools.

(iii) Courses of foreign languages beginning in the Sixth Form should become much more common than at present. Great progress can be made in a modern language by pupils who, beginning it at 16+, build upon a foundation of another language and the experience acquired in learning it in the earlier years; in particular German and Spanish and Italian lend themselves readily to this treatment, and we would suggest that under favourable conditions Russian should also be included. We believe that by this method several ends would be attained; first, commerce would obtain a more valuable recruit than the pupil who had devoted himself solely to one language; secondly, pupils intending to read Modern Languages at the University would have a groundwork sufficient for them to build on; others would acquire at least a reading knowledge of languages which would be useful to them as tools in their further studies or in occupations. We attach great importance to a development of modern language work of this kind in Sixth Forms.

(iv) Commercial and industrial firms should realise that, though the schools can give pupils a good start in foreign languages, they cannot bring them to the state of proficiency required for business purposes, and that it is for the firms themselves to make possible the only means of acquiring such proficiency, namely, residence in the foreign country itself.

(v) Schemes for foreign travel proposed in the interest of education or for the improvement of international relations should not be subsidised unless some specific purpose and detailed arrangements for its fulfilment have been thought out, and unless the greatest care in selection is exercised. Proposals have reached us suggesting that extensive aid should be made available to enable pupils who


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are still at school, or who have just left, to travel abroad. That English students should travel abroad more than in the past seems to us very desirable; but we suggest that little good and a poor return for money so expended is likely to result unless carefully selected students are sent with a specific purpose and the achievement of that purpose is insisted on.
A beginning in foreign languages cannot be postponed to the age of 13+ without great loss, and we have therefore included foreign languages in the curriculum of the Lower School, and consider that the first language should begin at 11+. Pupils who show promise should start a second language almost at once; we disapprove of a simultaneous beginning of two languages, but we are by no means convinced that a whole year need elapse before the second language is begun, particularly when the early stages are taught on entirely different lines, as is the case with Latin and French, or, perhaps to a less degree, German and French. We would suggest, too, that Latin might be the first language more often than is at present the practice, as some teachers of English recommend.

Once a language has been begun it ought not to be given up within two years. We believe there are very few pupils (and they are likely to become fewer in Grammar schools), who are unable to learn a foreign language with profit; it would be unfair to them to withdraw them from its study before they have given two years to it. Pupils vary as regards the ease with which they adjust themselves to the new surroundings and subjects of the Grammar school; the teaching in the first year may fail to enlist sympathy and call out effort; the pupil himself, after a disappointing start, may come to discover what is required of him. Even a course pursued for only two years may make a contribution of value if planned as a general language training as well as the study of a specific language, and two years constitutes a first stage in which the simplest principles of language structure can be mastered and familiarity gained with a small working vocabulary.

It is sometimes suggested that, since all pupils in a school are not likely to make the same use of a modern language when they leave, there should be a different treatment of it to suit different purposes. To this we would reply that the earlier part of a well-planned course is so general as to be essential to all later study, to whatever purpose it may be directed, and therefore difference of treatment could scarcely be made with advantage till late in the Main school course. In the later stage there might perhaps in a large school be a division between those pupils who should have a literary approach and those who need a practical approach; it is sometimes felt that by one group of pupils texts which lead to University work should be read, by another group informative books on the life and manners of the country concerned. Yet even so some of the material would undoubtedly be common; for there is no reason why a pupil destined for business should not gain some acquaintance with German poetry, while the future University student will certainly need to know something of the life and the geography of the country whose language he is studying. Courses of


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modern language reading directed to a special purpose, for example, Natural Science, should not be undertaken before the Sixth Form.

Finally, we would urge that, however courses of foreign languages are framed in the future, they should be worthwhile, exacting and dignified. It has been represented to us that, with greater freedom for the schools to plan curricula and courses for themselves, there may be a danger of syllabuses of work being adopted which offer superficial attractions but lack solid basis, which though encouraging and improving oral work may encourage glibness on trivial themes and the reading of texts lacking in scholarliness and dignity. We are aware of the dangers, though we think they may be exaggerated. We think we are right, however, in believing that in general scholarly standards would at least be maintained, and opportunity be given for the raising of standards in many quarters.


CHAPTER X

CLASSICS

We are not prepared to follow the lead of those reformers of the curriculum who would eject the study of Classics from the secondary Grammar School on the ground that their study is irrelevant to the purposes of modern society. We do not take the view that modern society purposes to turn its back upon its own English culture and to deny to succeeding generations one of the means of understanding themselves and their inherited traditions. We are not afraid of the word 'traditions', for continuity is essential to culture, and a deliberate cut condemns an age to ignorance of the influences which have made it and therefore denies to it real knowledge of itself. We are not led by mere conservatism to wish to preserve for the future the study of the Classics because their study is traditional in the Grammar Schools of the past; rather we would say that it is traditional, not from accidental reasons, but from a sincere conviction, however variously expressed, that, unless a culture attains to and preserves self-knowledge, its continuity is not assured; failure in self-knowledge is a symptom of threatening decay. To such failure we would not willingly contribute, and we therefore regard it as imperative that one of the necessary means of self-knowledge, on which the vitality of a culture depends, should be promoted in the schools which are especially fitted for the purpose.

From this point of view we wish to put forward certain considerations, beginning first with the Universities and, passing then to the schools. Our concern with the Universities naturally relates only to the effect of their requirements upon the work of the schools.

We regard the study of Latin as of fundamental importance for University work in English, Modern Languages and cognate subjects, in History, Law, Philosophy and Theology. On the other hand, in view of the increased and increasing demands made by the growth of Natural Science and the need for its students to use modern languages


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in their work, a modern language and, in particular, German might with advantage be demanded as a compulsory subject alternative with Latin, to be taken by students intending to study Mathematics, pure and Applied Science and Medicine in Universities where this provision does not now apply. We make this suggestion not because we think that Latin seriously studied is of no value to, say, a student of Medicine but because we see much disadvantage in a hurried course of Latin perfunctorily undertaken at the last moment merely in order to satisfy not very exacting regulations. The alternative would be to demand a knowledge of Latin which could not be so acquired; but in view of the absorbing claims of Natural Science upon the time of the schools and the divided opinion of those who direct Natural Science studies at the universities this is not a proposal which at the moment we regard as practicable.

In this connection we would express our belief that scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge awarded for Classics should not be reduced in number with a view to re-allocating some to other purposes: rather we think scholarships for other subjects should be increased. We urge this for two reasons - first, Head Masters and parents must be assured that Classics in schools can lead to a career at the university, and assurance on this point is particularly necessary in the case of Classics; secondly, Schools other than Classical Schools at the University are by no means dissatisfied, we understand, with students who have taken Classical scholarships and elect to read some other School either at once or after taking Honour Moderations or the first part of the Classical tripos.

So far the argument would require that Latin should be the concern only of those who intend to undertake certain kinds of advanced studies, though it should be remembered that those undertaking such studies have increased in number recently and are likely to increase more. But the culture of an age does not depend only upon its most advanced students and the influence which they exert in their later lives. It is equally important that at lower levels also a process of self-knowledge should be encouraged; indeed this is one of the professed aims of much suggested reform of the curriculum. To this process modern methods of approaching Latin teaching can make their own special contribution.

It is not part of our task to set out in full the nature of this contribution. All we would do is to insist that much rethinking of aim and method has taken place in the teaching of Latin in recent years, and judgement on classical teaching which is based only on experience of thirty years ago is now wide of the mark. The best teachers realise that for pupils who will not go on to University studies the course must be so framed and handled that its value is consciously sought and achieved within four or five years. Directed in this spirit and aided by modern textbooks composed with this end in view, modern methods of teaching achieve their own purposes. The pupil gains a feeling of the reality of the past and its continuity with the present; he touches at first hand - thence comes the feeling of reality - the beginnings of ideas and institutions and practices and words which he meets in more complicated form in other studies; conceptions of permanent and universal relevance to


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western civilisation are presented to him in their elemental simplicity, untrammelled by later associations and the accidents of modern use. This first-hand introduction to a few of the root ideas of civilisation is made by means of a language which demands high mastery of the logic of sentence structure and sensitiveness to order, arrangement and correctness. In the initial stages the learner will use textbooks specially designed to provide valuable reading material in language specially adapted to his need; in later stages he will make acquaintance with a few masterpieces of Latin literature. The result will be that his range will have been extended and his present outlook enriched by association and by new significance; to many situations which will confront him later, whether in the field of language or thought or ideas, he will bring the experience of similar occasions presented to him even in four or five years' study of Latin.

We do not propose to discuss in detail the aims and methods which the modern approach to the teaching of Latin is adopting with increasing confidence and advantage. We content ourselves with drawing attention to a recent pamphlet published for the Board of Education - 'Suggestions for the teaching of Classics' - in which the main trends of recent developments in practice are set out; we would commend this pamphlet to the notice of Head Masters and Head Mistresses and to Classical teachers. But we do not leave the subject of Classics without inviting consideration of two or three other points of practical details

(a) A convention has grown up that Latin should be the second foreign language undertaken by a pupil. We would suggest that it should become a more frequent practice for pupils who show promise of linguistic and literary ability to take Latin as their first foreign language - a measure which is approved by some teachers of French, as well as a larger number of teachers of English.

(b) The usual course of Latin at present occupies four years or five years in the Main school. There is much to be said, on grounds which we need not here rehearse, in favour of an early start. But we hope that the greater freedom which we desire to see in schools will give opportunity for pupils who are late in showing aptitude for languages and have therefore not started Latin to undertake an intensive, though not hurried, course in Latin in the higher forms of the Main school and to continue it in the Sixth Form.

(c) It has been suggested to us that freedom from an externally imposed syllabus would result in ambitious programmes carried out with little regard to depth or thoroughness. We see no reason why this result should necessarily follow. Rather we look to that freedom to enable teachers to make a much more real and thorough attempt to treat both the language and the background of Latin authors with the comment and digression which will enable contact to be made between ancient and modern ways of thought and practice. We should expect the change in most cases to intensify effort and increase a sense of purpose.

(d) We hope that wherever circumstances are favourable opportunity will be given for Greek to be introduced for as many pupils as can


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derive real benefit from its study. The study of Greek seriously undertaken finds ample justification in the eyes of those who pursue it and of those who direct their later studies in whatever field they may lie, and we regard it as essential to the well-being of literature and learning in this country that there should be a sufficient number of men and women with knowledge of Greek. We would encourage, too, in sixth forms the study of selected Greek literature in translation. We are not advocating superficial treatment of Greek thought or civilisation undertaken without sufficient knowledge or adequate study of the literature itself, whether in the original or translation; but, if competently directed in such a way as to demand exacting effort, the study, for example, of dialogues of Plato or of plays in translation makes its own distinctive contribution to sixth form work of many types.

(e) Next we would make brief reference to the 'qualifications' of teachers of Classics. The review of the position undertaken by the Board of Education in 1927 showed that many teachers with inadequate qualifications were engaged in the teaching of Classics. Since then there has been improvement, but there is still room for much more. In our view it is desirable that the upper forms should be in the hands of teachers who have taken a Classical degree, whether they teach Latin only or Latin and Greek In the lower forms there is much to be said for the teaching of Latin by those who have combined Latin or Classics with English or History as a major subject in a degree course. In an earlier chapter a plea has been made for degree courses which would include the study of two or three subjects, and we think that Latin or Greek or both in conjunction with other subjects pre-eminently offer such a course.

Finally, we would refer to one aspect of Classics which of late years has received less attention than formerly - we mean the importance of a knowledge of ancient thought and literature, language and history for the study of Divinity. It is an opportune moment to reassert this importance, for much thought is now being given to religious instruction and the teaching of Divinity. To us it seems essential that a high standard of knowledge and scholarship should be maintained in the teaching and learning of Divinity both in Universities and schools, and that among the educated public there should be those who, though not concerned with teaching, have the knowledge and understanding necessary to contribute to informed opinion. To such studies at their best Classics seems to us to be a handmaid whose services cannot be forgone, and we would urge that this close and necessary association should be fostered in some at least of the secondary Grammar schools of the future; the first and most obvious means of establishing that association would be the reading of the Greek Testament.


CHAPTER XI

ART, MUSIC, HANDICRAFT

Art, Music and Handicraft have certain affinities which entitle them to be discussed together.

They have not received the attention in schools which is due to them. They were received as late-comers; when they were taught,


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they occupied a place outside the regular curriculum and were taught as 'extras' or spare-time activities. The right teachers were not easy to find; the rooms and equipment demanded have not always been available; and the subjects have therefore lacked a good tradition in the schools. There is, however, another reason for their neglect. When they were adopted into the curriculum, they occupied an uneasy position, lying apart from the rest of it; there seemed uncertainty - less perhaps as regards Art - how they were related to other subjects, and they themselves did not always justify their inclusion on grounds which carried conviction. And so they are often regarded as an offset or relief to other subjects, appealing to some special powers of the mind otherwise neglected; in short, emphasis has been laid on their unique and special values. But, as we have urged in the chapter on Curriculum, a curriculum which will satisfy through its unity of purpose cannot be constructed merely by balancing subjects as reliefs or offsets to each other.

These subjects, though they are sometimes grouped together as the 'aesthetic' subjects, are not unique in carrying aesthetic appeal, in cultivating taste or aesthetic sensibility, in training in the understanding and appreciation of design or harmony. It would be superfluous to argue that one of the main concerns of literature is precisely with these things within a certain fixed experience; a history essay may show a sense of form, arrangement, structural unity; a composition may be ill-designed or well-designed; a translation may show sensitiveness to shades of meaning; a mathematical proof may appeal because of its neatness or elegance or clarity; the study of Nature is not oblivious of beauty. We might develop this further and we should not regard ourselves as guilty of verbal play; we point in all sincerity to ground common to these subjects and to the rest of the curriculum. There is of course other common ground; Art, Music, Handicraft, no less than other studies, provide an experience of concentrated effort, an occupation for leisure, a channel of communication; but we are concerned especially here with their claims to cultivate aesthetic sensibility. Nor is it true that these subjects make no demand on powers other than that of appreciation. To plan, design and execute an elaborate stage setting may call for qualities of mind not unrelated to those required for the solving of a mathematical problem or the planning of an essay.

If then the view is taken that the ground which is common to Art, Music, Handicraft and other subjects is their first title to inclusion in the curriculum, some guidance is available as to the position which these subjects might be expected to occupy in schools. The matter may be put plainly thus: if through Literature or Languages or Mathematics, or whatever it may be, a boy is learning to appreciate form and design and structure and composition, he will lose much if he does not go on to appreciate them also in Painting, Sculpture, Music and the Crafts; he will be incomplete. If - no doubt a rare case - he has learned to appreciate them in the one field and has had opportunity to appreciate them in the other but has failed, then he should not be forced to do what he cannot do; his curriculum will not include time for Art in any form, and it will not be unbalanced, for it will fit him. If in the field of Literature and the other subjects his power of appreciation of aesthetic


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values is not marked, he may none the less find himself in Art or Music or Handicraft, and it may be that having found himself there he will become more sensitive in other fields. Thus, opportunity should at some stage be given to undertake these subjects, to give them up or to pursue them further. They should not in our view be compulsory at all stages.

Secure in this position, Art, Music, Handicraft may now draw attention to their unique and specific values. On these we need not dilate; all we would do is to suggest that they do not furnish the subjects with their first and surest title to inclusion in the curriculum. Changes in psychology may lead to changed views about 'emotional release'; training in critical power might come to be regarded as more important in secondary Grammar schools than creativeness; educational theorists might come to attach a different meaning to 'reality'. The special values of Art and Music will remain what they are, both for the artist and musician and their public, and life is poorer without them. But there is a danger in attempting to justify and recommend them by linking them with pleas which may at some time diminish in cogency as educational or psychological theory changes. As long as Languages, Literature, Mathematics and Natural Science remain subjects of the curriculum, Art, Music, and Handicraft can with certainty claim a place for themselves as offering, in another field, an extension of the opportunities given by those subjects. It will be readily understood from the argument hitherto advanced that we put a broad interpretation upon the terms Art, Music and Handicraft. There has been perhaps in the past a tendency, now happily less marked, to limit these subjects to particular forms and to regard as necessary in the pupil some degree of executive ability. While we should hold that nothing can take the place of learning to work upon a material or through a medium, development of aesthetic sensibility is not necessarily dependent upon such work. Most children have at least latent power of appreciation, which can be brought out, even if they are deficient in executive ability. Much is now being done by visits and by lectures, exhibitions and concerts, to bring children under influences which will awaken and strengthen aesthetic sensibility, and we regard this as a valuable step forward and wish to encourage further development along these lines.

We submit, then, that the justification for the inclusion of these subjects lies, first, in their likeness to other subjects, and, secondly, in their own special values. They have been hampered in finding their right place, partly by their late claim to a place in the regular curriculum, partly by inadequate presentation and appreciation of their case; and from these causes certain disabilities have resulted. The disabilities experienced by the three subjects have not been dissimilar and may be discussed together.

In the first place we suspect that the attitude of Head Masters and Head Mistresses has not always been entirely sympathetic. Some of their difficulties, it is true, have been great; they have been confronted with the pressure of subjects, the utilitarian demands of pupils, the apparent lack of 'results' in some of the teaching, and deficiency of space and equipment. Nonetheless we are impressed with the achieve-


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ment of schools which, though equally handicapped as regards demands of other subjects and lack of facilities, have managed to make these subjects real influences in their general life.

Lack of teachers is well known to be serious. Some schools, as is equally well known, have managed to secure the services of a gifted teacher who can direct and inspire the teaching of his subject and gain the respect of his pupils and take a full part in the common life of the school. But not all schools are so fortunate, and there is much evidence of teachers in this field who are unsuitably qualified for work in schools in the subject which they profess.

Again, small schools find it impossible to appoint a specialist teacher in all these subjects, for they do not need their full-time services. The employment of part-time teachers, not always easy in itself, may carry its own disadvantages. To meet this difficulty we would recommend that teachers should be qualified to teach one or more of these subjects or should combine them with other subjects of the curriculum, and this is a course in which we see merit not only on grounds of convenience. Training in two or more subjects need not present, we think, insuperable difficulties.

Thirdly, lack of room and lack of equipment have undoubtedly presented serious impediments to the development of Art, Music, and Crafts, particularly in some of the older school buildings. A hard-worked assembly hall has often had to serve too many purposes and classrooms have served as Art-rooms; Craft-rooms and Workshops have lacked the space needed and too often have been makeshift.

Finally, these subjects which depend so greatly upon individual genius and taste cannot in our view be brought at the school stage within the confines of external examination, however sympathetically devised, without considerable loss of the freedom which is their life. In urging that these subjects should be given more generous scope in schools, we urge also that they should preserve liberty to develop on lines best suited to the individuality of teacher and pupil, and should be enabled to pay regard to environment and to local activities and crafts.

Music

We have recommended that opportunity should be given to pupils in the Lower School, that is from eleven to thirteen years of age, to receive instruction in Music. It would help the work of the Lower School if there were some continuity between the work of the contributory primary schools and the Grammar School, and the record of the child passed on from one school to the other might contain useful information as to capacity or incapacity in Music shown in the early years. The Master taking Music in the lower forms of the Grammar School would then be able to make allowance for failure owing to physical defect or sheer lack of taste or ability.

In this connection it is important to draw the distinction between power of appreciation and executive skill, and to observe that the children who after tuition are incapable of singing or playing an instrument (probably fewer in number than is commonly supposed) yet do


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derive great enjoyment and value from being shown how to listen to music. It is part of the teacher's work to cater for both; admittedly the 'teaching' of appreciation is a matter which calls for exceptional skill, if harm is not to be done by the forcing of the teacher's judgement upon the pupil.

On the other hand, with little training very many pupils can take their place in choir or orchestra, and gain thereby benefits which are not only musical. Training in articulation and breath control is a necessary part of the training of a choir, and when 'speech-training' is undertaken in special classes it is often, as it should be, directly related to instruction in singing. Again, membership of a choir or an orchestra gives valuable experience of co-ordinated effort and achievement; the individual has to subordinate himself to the collective purpose of the whole, which none the less depends upon him; children who are unable to take part in other co-operative activities often gain self-confidence and a sense of community from singing or taking part in an orchestra alongside their school-fellows. Another point which we would make for music is that deficiencies in what is called 'background' do not or need not impede progress or stand in the way of superlative achievement in Music; advantages of home atmosphere likely to help in some subjects count for less in Music, and the musical child starting more on a level with his fellows gathers confidence and a sense of status.

Art and Handicrafts

Art and Handicrafts should in our opinion receive the broadest interpretation in schools. If we were right in drawing attention on an earlier page to the close relationship between Art and many other subjects, the term must not be limited, as we suspect it sometimes is, to training skill in the representation of things seen or to undue concentration on what is called 'imagination', or to pictorial Art to the exclusion of Craft, which for many pupils is the more natural form of expression and the more natural approach to the study of design.

Opportunity should be given for pupils to receive training in the necessary skills, and such opportunity would receive justification on the grounds that such training co-ordinates hand and eye and develops control, and that design is often best understood through the experience of wrestling with a material. Such justification should not be minimised, and we have suggested that opportunity for this training should be available at all stages for pupils whose interests make it desirable. Even within the training, we suggest, there is room for some widening of view, which would help to commend the subject to older pupils whose main interests lay elsewhere; for example, a little guidance in the technique of drawing would go a long way to help pupils to make the sketches and diagrams necessary in Biology, Geography, Nature Study and Field Work, Scouting, Local Surveys and Local History, and no doubt in other subjects and activities.

But apart from training in skill there is, we suggest, a much broader field of Art education; we hesitate to call it 'appreciation' for fear of being misunderstood - it is simply encouragement of the boys and girls to see with seeing eyes, to be aware of form and colour and design. This sensitiveness is often actual or potential in pupils who lack executive


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skill or find no pleasure in what they execute. To appreciation of physical environment training in executive skill may make a desirable, and for many pupils an essential, contribution, but it does not make the whole or the only contribution. We are anxious that all children, and not least the older, should have the opportunity of seeing the place of Art in the spiritual and social and economic life of the present and the past. The study of a civilisation or an age can scarcely be undertaken without reference to its Art; we should like to see the importance of this vital connection brought out in the teaching of History and Geography and Literature, partly for the sake of those studies, but also in order that the significance of that connection may be realised for today. In appreciation of environment there may be found a link which can join up various forms of Art teaching and give them unity, as, for instance, architecture and town planning and interior decoration. And so we would urge that by lectures and discussion, by visits to centres of Craft and Industry and to exhibitions, there may be kept before children the importance of Art as a powerful influence for good or ill in modern life, the enrichment which it can bring to their lives and their own responsibility as its guardians in the future.


CHAPTER XII

DOMESTIC SUBJECTS

At the outset we must define what meaning is attached to Domestic Subjects in this chapter. We find this definition to be necessary because we are aware of a tendency to include under this heading a general oversight of health and physical welfare, orderliness and neatness and behaviour at school meals - in fact to embrace all aspects of physical life at school.

We are thinking mainly of schools with an age range up to eighteen years, and we limit the province of Domestic Subjects to Needlework, Cookery, Laundry and Housewifery; we make reference to Hygiene and Nursing, but we do not intend these last topics to be included whenever we refer to Domestic Subjects.

The grounds for including Domestic Subjects in the curriculum are variously stated in the evidence submitted to us: briefly, they are, first, that knowledge of such subjects is a necessary equipment for all girls as potential makers of homes; secondly, that the subjects have the advantage of offering a practical approach to theoretical work; they teach thinking through doing and help to awaken interest in other subjects; thirdly, that, for girls who are likely to go on to Domestic Science Colleges or to take elsewhere courses which may lead to a variety of posts, they are necessary subjects and should therefore be taught at school.

The first of these reasons seems to us to be of fundamental importance both in its assumption and in its consequence. It is assumed that the majority of girls do not receive at home a training sufficient to turn them into good makers of homes. If this is true - and we cannot


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disprove it - then the opportunity of some minimum course of training at school is a necessity for all girls as girls and the training at school must necessarily take nothing or little for granted and must start from the beginning.

The second reason views the matter from a different angle and bases the claims of Domestic Subjects on educational values. For many girls, it is felt, Domestic Subjects provide a centre of interest natural and congenial to them: certain other subjects, for example Natural Science, are seen to have a meaning if they are related to something which has a dominant appeal. Further, the practical nature of Domestic Subjects evokes a ready response in girls whose abilities do not lie in the field of 'academic' studies; through practice they are led to some appreciation of theory.

The third reason is confessedly vocational; a girl is going to take up some occupation in which knowledge of Domestic Subjects is necessary and she desires to be sufficiently prepared at school to enter upon a course of training.

While these three motives for learning and teaching Domestic Subjects are sufficiently familiar, their implications do not seem to us to be always understood. The first implication is that for different girls different treatments of these subjects are needed. Those for whom they furnish a valuable medium of education clearly need an appropriate course, conceived and treated to suit them; those whose education can most fittingly be carried forward through other media need a course which aims at giving them the practical knowledge and skill which it is held should be the possession of all. The second implication is that the place assigned to these subjects in the curriculum must not be the same for all; if for some girls they are an integral part of the educational process, since without them mental development would suffer, then for those they must be begun at a point in the school course, and continue for a time, determined by strictly educational considerations; if on the other hand for other girls they are not regarded as essential in the way just described, then their place in the curriculum, the age at which they are studied, the length of the course and its treatment are all affected.

Accordingly we take the view that every girl before she leaves school should have had the opportunity to take a minimum course which would give her the essential elements of Needlework, Cookery and Laundrywork. At what point in the school course such instruction should find its place we do not say; some schools will think it more appropriate at one stage, other schools at another stage. All we would do is to make the suggestion that, for the purpose which we have in mind at the moment, an intensive course rather than a course thinly drawn out over several terms may offer positive advantages.

For many girls much more than the minimum course is clearly desirable. Whereas in the minimum course underlying principles with appropriate practical application would be stressed, in the longer course practice would occupy a more prominent place, the aim being to develop a craftsmanship which would lead to the establishing and the understanding of principles. For this longer and fuller course the necessary time must be given. Again, different views may be taken as to the best


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age at which such work should be begun, the scope of the syllabus and the time necessary for covering it.

Similar discretion should in our opinion be left as regards the framing of courses for Sixth Form girls. At this stage the scope and treatment will call for special consideration in view of the age of the girls and their purposes. We invite special attention to courses which combine individual and social interests, which give specialist training based upon scientific principles, which offer intensive courses in homecraft allied with a general training in other subjects. Such courses are suitable for different groups of girls.

A number of subjects sometimes loosely grouped under the head of Domestic Subjects have been brought to our notice; they are such subjects as pre-Nursing courses, Hygiene, First Aid, Parent-craft.

With the institution of pre-Nursing courses in Sixth Forms we have the utmost sympathy; the nursing profession in our opinion ought to draw increasingly from girls who have reached the stage of Sixth Form studies. We hope, therefore, that suitable teaching and facilities will be more commonly available in future, and that with this end in view those responsible for the arrangements for entry to and training in the profession will be ready to co-operate to an increasing extent with school authorities. With regard to the other topics we feel it impossible for us to make any general recommendations. Successful teaching of Hygiene and related subjects seems to us to depend entirely upon the right relation between teacher and taught; accurate knowledge, a right method of approach, a sympathetic attitude of teacher to pupil and pupil to teacher, and the confidence of each in the other are such essential prerequisites to any suitable treatment of these subjects that their inclusion in school instruction must remain a matter for school authorities. The kind of topic included under these subjects sometimes falls to the care of the teacher of Physical Education, or of the teacher of Natural Science or Domestic Subjects or of the school Medical Officer.

No one without full knowledge of the staff of a school can possibly say whether these subjects should be taught at that school or not, how far they should be carried, how they should be handled or by whom they should be taught. All we are prepared to say is that, if a school feels that for certain pupils at a certain stage of their school career it is desirable that there should be instruction in the subjects indicated above, and if suitable teaching and appropriate conditions are or can be made available, then the school should be free to offer such instruction.

The view has been expressed that as a result of the experience of the war women have undertaken work which hitherto has been regarded as men's work, and men have found themselves increasingly concerned with domestic matters; it is therefore suggested that girls should have the opportunity of learning Handicraft and boys Domestic Subjects. We do not ourselves contemplate a state of affairs in which every boys' school would have a kitchen for the teaching of cooking and every girls' school a workshop. Normally, we believe, such opportunity must be offered to those who desire it through 'Scouting' and 'Guiding' and similar interests. In co-educational schools, however, facilities are


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already available and in some of such schools a few boys show themselves interested in cooking and a few girls in carpentry. This is a development which we would bring to the notice of co-educational schools in general.

If we seem to have made recommendations which are vague and general, it is because we think we are dealing with a subject in the process of making, not because we regard it as unimportant or unnecessary. On the contrary, when we consider that all boys and girls will be at school for a longer period, we feel that the scope of Domestic Subjects, their proper treatment, the time to be devoted to them, and the stage or stages in the curriculum which would be appropriate, should all be carefully considered, if necessary, by a special enquiry. The whole question is bound up with that of the imperfect housing of a section of the population, in rural areas and particularly in the overcrowded areas of the towns, and a flood of light has been thrown on the results of these conditions by the experiences of evacuation [i.e. the removal of people from large towns during the second world war]. It is clear that the teachers in the schools should know the home conditions of the parents, and should try to secure their co-operation: their syllabuses should reflect what is possible and practical, and lead on to better things by carefully planned steps. The schools themselves cannot cure the social evils which exist; but if other agencies can produce housing conditions for all, which make civilised life possible, the schools can be powerful allies in teaching the next generation how to use them. More liberal provision in equipment and material and time will probably be found to be necessary, but this is one more illustration of what we believe to be true, that the best results will follow if each individual school is left free to tackle its problem in the way which will most help its own pupils.


CHAPTER XIII

EDUCATION FOR COMMERCE

To what extent the secondary school can and should give any special training to pupils destined to enter commerce is a question which has given rise to much discussion in the past. We have considered it again with considerable care in the light of the evidence which we have collected and with reference to the reorganisation of secondary education which we have suggested and the particular place which the secondary Grammar School occupies in secondary education as a whole. Under the suggested reorganisation a pupil would find himself in the secondary Grammar School because the kind of curriculum best suited to his needs would there be provided for him; the nature of that curriculum has been set out in chapter I of Part III.

The question may then be asked whether the pupil who has completed his course there has a place in commerce. He has followed the curriculum and received the education suited to him as an individual; has he also been educated in a manner compatible with entrance to a business life?


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A great deal of our evidence encourages us to believe that business and commercial houses need the secondary Grammar School pupil and would welcome him after full training according to the curriculum appropriate to that type of school. It is pointed out to us that the qualities of intellect and character desired in business life - power of ready comprehension, adaptability, judgement, initiative and the like - are qualities which are best fostered by a broad curriculum rather than by attention to special studies. Two further points are urged; first, that it is impossible to tell in advance exactly what may be the nature of the employment awaiting the Grammar School pupil intending to enter commerce, and any satisfactory preparation except of a general kind is therefore impossible; secondly, that business experience cannot be anticipated at school; many of the operations involved in business training cannot be appreciated in the necessarily artificial surroundings of the school classroom, but only in actual business experience itself. Any attempt to forestall by special training the nature of the employment and the situations arising in that employment is in the interest neither of the pupil as an individual or as a potential recruit to commerce, nor of the commercial house itself which will eventually employ him.

At the same time our evidence rightly stresses that within a broad general education there are many subjects and many methods of treatment and that some of these are of greater relevance than others to the recruit to commerce. For example, a background of world Geography, with more detailed study of countries of commercial importance, a knowledge of recent History with treatment of its economic and industrial aspects, Mathematics which takes examples from real life and at the higher stages affords an introduction to statistical methods, a foundation of knowledge of a foreign language - all these form a valuable element in training for commerce. The most important of all is necessary for all pupils and no less for the recruit to commerce - it is 'good English', clear and correct expression, both oral and written, correct spelling and punctuation and legible handwriting; and our evidence leaves no doubt whatever that a sound standard of English is of greater importance than the rest.

These subjects, treated in the way indicated, fall within the traditional curriculum of the Grammar School and, in so far as they are the right training for recruits to commerce, the Grammar School can supply that training, provided that one condition is satisfied, namely, that the pupil remains at school till the end of the Main school course.

To this condition we attach the utmost importance. If business employers and public and semi-public organisations attach value to the kind of training which the secondary Grammar School can give to the right kind of pupil - and our evidence shows that they do attach value to it, and in our opinion rightly - then they must be prepared to allow the full time for the completion of the stage of Grammar School education reached normally by the pupil at about 16 years of age. If they require any further training of a special vocational character - and we discuss such further training later - it must come after the normal Grammar School course and must not form part of it. No criticism of


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the secondary Grammar School can be valid unless the school is allowed to carry out its own task in its own way at least to the end of the main school course. We press on all concerned the importance of this point and its implications for the age of recruitment.

We may now ask whether the secondary Grammar School can and should supply any form of specialised preparation for commerce, and we consider first training in Typewriting and Shorthand.

We have been at pains to gather skilled opinion on the teaching of these subjects. We are advised that both for Typewriting and Shorthand short intensive courses are found to be more effective than the same number of lessons spaced out over a longer period of time, that homogeneous and well-graded classes are desirable, and that successful training implies also skilled teaching, efficient equipment and ample space. The implications of this advice are clear; successful training implies, first, concentration of pupils in such numbers as will afford suitable grading of classes and justify special equipment and tuition, and, secondly, concentration of the course of study into a period of time devoted specially to it.

Following then the double line of argument - that the completion of the Grammar School course is important to the pupils and to their careers, and that the best training in Typewriting and Shorthand is given intensively with appropriate facilities readily available - we arrive at the following conclusions, as far as secondary Grammar School pupils are concerned:

(a) Training in Typewriting and Shorthand and office routine can usually best be given by a course in Commercial Schools or in commercial departments of Technical Colleges after the completion of the school course of the secondary Grammar School. We look forward to the development of such classes as the right means of providing the skilled tuition and the intensive training appropriate to these subjects. We do not, however, exclude the provision of commercial classes in the Sixth Form of schools which are strong enough to provide the conditions and teaching skill necessary to a fully successful course.

(b) If the special facilities offered by a Commercial or Technical School are not available in a particular district, then a class in a secondary Grammar School should be formed if there is a reasonable demand. It should be composed of pupils who have completed the course of the secondary Grammar School or of the Modern School; they should devote six months or so mainly to intensive training in the skills of Typewriting and Shorthand. For such a class special facilities as regards equipment and tuition would have to be made available. Such a class or classes would be most likely to meet a need in a district where there was only one secondary school, as, for example, in a country town lacking a Technical or Commercial School. Such a course taken in the secondary Grammar School should not ultimately form any part of the examination taken about the age of 16+, the reason being that that examination would have been taken before a start was made upon the special training in Typewriting and Shorthand.

We pass now to a broader type of preparation for commercial occupation which begins after the completion of the Main school course and requires in our opinion two years for its accomplishment.


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Many schools have in the past provided a course which included such subjects as Geography, Modern Languages, Economics, History, Public Affairs and Statistics as a preparation for posts in commerce and business of various kinds. Sometimes such courses have led up to University work in Economics and allied subjects, pursued either at the University or externally. We believe that a valuable preparation can be given in this way provided that the course lasts for two years and is in the hands of fully qualified teachers, preferably equipped with some experience of business affairs. Not every secondary Grammar School can provide teaching of this kind, nor would the number of pupils wishing to take such a course justify its provision.

To sum up, then, there should be available for the needs of Commerce a great variety of sources of supply. At the age of sixteen candidates should be forthcoming from several streams ranging from the specialised secondary schools, through the wider but still practically based types of the Modern Schools to the products of the unspecialised curricula of the secondary Grammar School. Beyond all these would extend two more years of part-time continued education, part of which should give opportunity for the acquisition of the specialised skills that are required in the particular business which is concerned. We believe that there are also a good many potential recruits of real ability for whom it is worth the while of the employer to wait until they have completed the full course of school education up to 18; we hold that courses designed to give a broad and intelligent apprehension of the conditions, both national and international, which govern commerce and industry in the modern world, can be given in various forms not only in the Grammar School but also in the Technical and Modern Schools, as they will come to be developed in the future. But, if education is to perform its task, it is essential that its fruit should not be picked before it has had time to ripen. Employers of all types, and especially the Civil Service of the future, should recognise the two main ages of recruitment, for pupils leaving secondary Grammar Schools, as coming at 16+ and at 18+; the task of preparation and of selection would then become for all concerned both simple and definite. We have only to add the observation that the schools will have performed their difficult task only if they can send out boys and girls of open and receptive mind who are conscious that they have but made a beginning and have much to learn, and who are ready to go on learning.


CHAPTER XIV

WALES AND THE TEACHING OF WELSH

In writing the preceding chapters of this Report we have made no distinction between England and Wales; for educational progress, as we foresee it, will take place both in England and in Wales on much the same lines. But there are two points of difference to which we call attention.

In the first place, the suggestions which we have made about examinations affect the Central Welsh Board rather otherwise than they affect


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the other seven Examining Bodies. If these suggestions are adopted, it appears to us that change in the existing machinery of examinations in Wales would be necessary. It is not for us to say what form this change would take; it is a matter which must be taken up by the appropriate authority in full knowledge of all the facts of the situation at the time. All that we can do is to draw attention to the new situation created by our suggestions; and for the convenience of those whom it will concern we have appended a short note on the history and functions of the Central Welsh Board.

The second point of difference is the place which the Welsh language occupies in the culture of Wales and therefore in the schools. To the question of bilingualism we devote this chapter.

The broad conceptions of education that are characteristic of England, and their consequent translation into school systems, curricula, syllabuses and method are no less valid for Wales. It is, however, inevitable that a country which, alongside a great neighbour, has retained its language, literature and cultural institutions should seek to maintain and confirm in its educational life these distinctive features; and inevitable also that it should encounter in the process problems which are peculiarly its own. This means that the approach to education in Wales must put in the foreground the question of the maintenance of the language, since the preservation of national culture would have little meaning, in Wales at least, unless it implied primarily and above all else the maintenance of the language. One of the aims and one of the greatest problems of the schools of Wales is and must continue to be that of making their pupils efficiently bilingual.

The pursuit of such an aim is linked up with the clear necessity for equipping the children of Welsh schools at the same time with the language and background which will enable them to participate fully and efficiently - and on equal terms with English children - in the life of the British Community as a whole.

The general principles enunciated in the earlier chapters of this Report would apply to the Grammar School in Wales no less than in England. In their application to Wales, certain fundamental differences must be borne in mind. They arise from the following facts:

(i) Wales is a country with a language, history and culture of its own.

(ii) In rural Wales, which comprises three-quarters of the geographical area of Wales, the Welsh language is still the home language of the very large majority of the inhabitants. In industrial South Wales English is the home language of a majority of the inhabitants, as it also is in some measure in the coastal areas of Wales and in the border counties, though the minority is substantial.

(iii) Welsh literature and cultural institutions have a history of over a thousand years. Their life and vigour persist today. Modern Welsh writers, both in prose and in poetry, are widely read; weekly and monthly periodicals maintain their hold upon the life of the people; Welsh drama flourishes; the National Eisteddfod - concerned with Literature, Music, Drama, Art and Crafts - has


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been able to meet, though on a smaller scale, in all but one of these difficult war years.

(iv) Wales is joined to England by geographical, economic, and political ties. Welsh men and women have found their careers across the border, and Englishmen and women have found careers in Wales.

These are the considerations that make the problem of secondary education in Wales a complicated one, as is inevitable in a bilingual country. Some of the complications can be removed by ignoring some of the factors enunciated above, but very little consideration is needed to show that such a solution is in reality no solution at all, because of the principle enunciated in the chapter on Curriculum:
'The child is to grow aright and to grow eventually to full stature; but he starts with the stature of a child, physical, spiritual and intellectual. His experience and his interests are limited; to some extent they differ according to the nature of his home and the environment of his home; they must widen naturally as he grows; attempts to enlarge them hurriedly or prematurely for particular ends can bring nothing but the loss arising from forced growth.'
Since we have asserted the principle stated in the same chapter -
'That the purpose of education is to provide the nurture and the environment which will enable the child to grow aright, and to grow eventually to full stature, to bring to full flowering the varying potentialities, physical, spiritual, and intellectual, of which he is capable as an individual and as a member of society',
it must follow that a curriculum which does not sufficiently regard the society of which the child is a member, and to which he will return as a citizen, fails in its purpose.

We may say, therefore, that the Grammar School in Wales has, over and above the functions it shares with England, two special functions:

(a) It must pay heed to the language, literature, history and culture of Wales. More especially, the Welsh speaking pupil must be given ample opportunity to study his own language and its literature, and the English-speaking pupil must be given opportunity to acquire a knowledge of Welsh. Furthermore, both types of pupils before they leave the school should know about the history and traditions of Wales.

(b) At the same time it must be ensured that the pupil, before he leaves the school, has acquired a sound knowledge of English. He must be able to speak and write English correctly and intelligently and to read English books with pleasure and profit. He must also be made aware that, while he is first and foremost a citizen of Wales, he is also, in a wider sense, a member of the community of men and women who form the population of this island, and in a yet wider sense a member of the community of nations which form the British Empire.

These considerations, if they are given due weight, will affect the shaping of the curriculum at every stage. In particular, they will affect the curricula in Welsh, English, Classics, Modern Languages and History.


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A. LANGUAGE STUDY

It has been noted above that the large majority of the inhabitants of three-quarters of the area of Wales speak Welsh as their home language. The language of the Infant Schools - or a substantial proportion of them - in this area is Welsh, and, while few of the children will have reached the Junior School without some knowledge of English, it is not until that stage that formal teaching of English begins. The pupil will therefore enter the secondary school having studied English for 4-5 years, and in the Welsh speaking areas the language which he will hear at home, in the street, and in his place of religious worship will be Welsh. He will have heard little English except in school and from his wireless set [radio]. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that when he enters the secondary school his knowledge of English has not reached the stage at which the language can be freely used as a medium of instruction in all subjects, especially in those subjects which are new; and experience has shown that it is frequently desirable during the first year to use Welsh as the medium of instruction in these subjects, so as to make certain that the pupil has grasped the fundamental principles.

So far as these pupils are concerned, the pattern of the scheme of language study is to some extent already determined. He must continue and develop his study of the language and literature of his native land, and he will have to pay considerable attention to his first 'foreign language', which is English. That this is in itself a problem of considerable dimension every English Master or Mistress in the Secondary Schools of Welsh, Wales knows only too well. Some pupils, while their spoken English is inadequate, are yet able to profit from lessons ordinarily taught in English. It is for these, no less than for others, that speech training is of the first importance. This is dealt with in Chapter iv of Part III of the Report. How many other languages can be added to the scheme will then depend on the linguistic ability of the individual pupil. There will be some for whom Welsh and English will present sufficient difficulty; others will be able to add one or perhaps two other languages, and a few of the more gifted may even be able to take up others at the Sixth Form stage. The governing principle should always be that for the Welsh speaking pupil an acquaintance with one or more modern languages and/or Latin and Greek cannot compensate for an inadequate mastery of his own language and its literature and of English.

The second type is the pupil who enters the secondary school able to speak Welsh and English with reasonable fluency. The home language of this pupil will almost certainly be Welsh, but, living in a bilingual area, he will have picked up a fair knowledge of English in his daily life outside the Junior School which he has been attending, though that school will have done its share in developing his knowledge and will have been at some pains to correct some of the English which he has picked up outside. Here again the governing principle in determining the scheme of language study should be the same. The first aim should be the twofold one of developing the pupil's knowledge of his native language and seeing that he is given as thorough a knowledge of English as is possible. Here, however, the pupil's acquaintance with English, on entry, will make it possible to add one or, for the more gifted pupil, even two or more languages with less danger of strain. It need hardly be added that the framing of a satisfactory scheme of language study


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always involves considerable staffing and timetable difficulties, and the smaller the school the greater these difficulties become.

The third type is the monoglot English-speaking pupil. The majority of these will be found in the large Secondary Schools of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. At first sight it would appear that the problem of dealing with this pupil is not different from that of dealing with a pupil in an English Secondary School, but a closer scrutiny will reveal elements that are not present in the English problem. The most important of these is the choice of foreign languages to be studied. Many of these pupils will have begun to learn Welsh as a second language in their Junior Schools, and it is obviously desirable that their study of Welsh should be carried a stage further in the Secondary School. But, even for those who have learnt no Welsh hitherto, it becomes a question whether their first 'foreign' language should not be Welsh - the language of their own country and the language spoken by thousands of their fellow-pupils in other parts of Wales. Whatever linguistic discipline is undergone in learning a foreign language will be undergone in learning Welsh equally with other foreign languages, and for the pupil who will take his study of foreign languages no further than the School Certificate stage Welsh is as desirable as any, since the opportunities for pursuing study after that stage are nearer to hand. When this order of priority has been determined, the number and choice of other languages will again be very much a matter of the pupil's linguistic capacity.

When the principles enunciated above have been determined, the choice of other foreign languages to be studied will be guided by the suggestions made in the chapter on Modern Languages and special regard should be paid to the first and second recommendations of that chapter. Earlier in this Report the problem of the adequate staffing of the Secondary School has been referred to. In Wales, in face of all that has been said above, it is clear that there are special considerations which call for generous standards. A full consideration of these and other allied problems is to be found in 'Welsh in Education and Life', the Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the President of the Board of Education to inquire into the position of the Welsh Language and to advise as to its promotion in the educational system of Wales, published in 1927.

B. HISTORY

Paragraph 13 of the chapter on 'The Principles of the Curriculum' in the Report of the Consultative Committee on Secondary Education [Spens Report 1938 Chapter 4] states that 'for education one needs the influence of a concrete tradition or way of life. There is undoubtedly a common Western European tradition, derived mainly from the Graeco-Roman civilisation as it was transformed by Christianity, and one of the chief functions of secondary teaching is to make boys and girls conscious of it and regard it as something to be reverenced and preserved. But the right way to do this is to begin by making them conscious of that tradition as it exists in their own country ... The national tradition in its concrete individuality must, for the reasons adduced, be the basis of an effective education.'

In the section of the [Spens] Report (Chapter 10) dealing with the special problems of Wales it is stated that 'the distinctively national traditions


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of Wales, in our opinion, require also that a place should be given in all schools to the history of the Principality which should be taught as far as possible in close connection with Welsh literature and with physical and economic geography,'

The study of the history of Wales in as close an association as possible with its literature and geography appears to be the natural medium for giving the native tradition a basic place in the post-primary curriculum. The characteristic political and social features of each period are reflected with exceptional faithfulness in its contemporary poetic and prose literature. The preservation of the essential unity of Wales throughout the centuries cannot be understood without reference to geographical features. The teaching of Welsh history should not be divorced from British and European history in its treatment of the great movements which have vitally affected the development of Britain and Western Europe or of the frequent and crucial contacts, affecting the destinies of both nations, which characterise the common history of England and Wales. It is, however, desirable that the essential groundwork of the story of Wales should be presented on lines which will adequately equip pupils with a knowledge of the distinctive and individual development of the Welsh people.

Such treatment should aim at giving greater coherence and continuity to Welsh history than has generally prevailed, and should result in awakening in the pupils a greater awareness of the past and a more intelligent understanding of the forces and movements which have created modern Wales.

The study of Welsh History, therefore, should be an essential part of the History curriculum at all stages in the Welsh secondary Grammar School. Further, it should be taught, not as a supplement to the mainstream of British History, but as a natural unity which can give to Welsh pupils, through a knowledge of the sequence of events, both an understanding of organic growth and a fuller consciousness of the continuity of native tradition. The objective, therefore, in this respect will be to give the pupils within their capacity a clear, coherent and consecutive impression of the past of Wales, which will lead to an understanding of contemporary conditions and provide a firm basis for future study.

Enough has been said to give our point of view, that the general lines of educational advance in Wales are likely to be much the same as in England and that Wales has a culture of its own closely dependent upon the maintenance of the Welsh language which is treasured today. How that culture can best be cherished in Welsh schools can be decided only by those who share its traditions and love its language. On such matters they must be in a position to exercise independent judgement. For the spirit which has maintained the national institutions and ideals of Wales was of spontaneous growth, and, if it is to be retained in its fullness, must be carried forward by those who understand and value it. At the same time education knows no bounds of space any more than of time; to be at its best in any place it must be aware of the work of others in similar fields, and must foster a self-reliance which does not exclude desire for self-comparison with other standards. For it is essential to a national education that its scope and standards should furnish a title to the widest recognition and should be interchangeable with those prevailing elsewhere.


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BRIEF SUMMARY OF MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS
RELATING TO REORGANISATION OF

(a) SECONDARY EDUCATION

(b) EXAMINATIONS

We attach a brief summary of main recommendations.

It is recommended that:

Reorganisation of Secondary Education

(1) In accordance with the principle of child-centred education the definition of 'secondary education' should be enlarged so as to embrace three broad types of education, each type containing within itself the possibility of variation and each school within the type offering alternative courses.

(2) (a) These three types of secondary education, which may be distinguished as those of the secondary Grammar School, the secondary Technical School and the secondary Modern School, should be accorded all the parity which amenities and conditions can bestow.

      (b) In suitable circumstances secondary schools of different types should be combined.

(3) Each type of school should be so organised, particularly in the lower forms, as to make transfer from one to another as easy as possible.

(4) At 11+ all pupils in primary schools should pass into a secondary school belonging to one of the three types named above. The term '11+' should be regarded as a convenient administrative term: within it should fall children of 10+ and 12+ in whose interest transfer to secondary education should be accelerated or delayed.

(5) Differentiation of pupils for the kind of secondary education appropriate to them should be made upon the basis of (a) the judgement of the teachers of the primary school, supplemented if desired by (b) 'intelligence' and 'performance' and other tests. Due consideration should be given to the choice of the parent and the pupil.

(6) In each secondary school of whatever kind pupils of the ages 11+ to 13+ should form a 'Lower School'. The curriculum of the Lower School should be roughly common to all schools. During his progress through this Lower School the pupil should be under the supervision of a Master or Mistress charged with the special responsibility of recommending, after skilled observation, the type of secondary education most appropriate in each case at the age of 13+.

(7) During the years 11+ to 13+ transfer should take place as desirable; but at 13+ the pupils in each Lower School should be reviewed and be recommended to the school giving the most appropriate kind of secondary education. Promotion from the Lower School into the higher forms of the same school should not be made as a matter of course.


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Part-Time Education and a Break in Education at 18+

(8) Up to the age of 18+ all pupils should either receive full-time education or be brought under the influence of part-time education, and full consideration should be given to the educational and social advantages of the performance of public service for a period of six months falling between school and University or other courses of higher education.

The School Certificate Examination

(9) In the interest of the individual child and of the increased freedom and responsibility of the teaching profession change in the School Certificate Examination should be in the direction of making the examination entirely internal, that is to say, conducted by the teachers at the school on syllabuses and papers framed by themselves.

(10) For a transitional period of seven years the examination should (a) continue to be carried out by existing University Examining Bodies, but should be conducted in each case by a Sub-Committee containing strong representation of teachers; (b) become a 'subject' examination, pupils taking whatever subjects they wish to take. A certificate stating the performance of the pupil should be given to each candidate; to this statement should be added by the school authorities an account of the pupil's school record.

(11) At the end of the transitional period the decision should be made whether conditions make possible a change to a wholly internal examination, or whether there should be a further transitional period in which teachers would take still greater control of the examination, and the Universities still less.

An Examination Taken Normally at 18+

(12) To meet the requirements of University Entrance, of entry into the professions and other needs, a School Leaving Examination should be conducted twice each year for pupils of 18+. Pupils should take in this examination the subjects required for their particular purpose in view. Its purpose should not be to provide evidence of a 'general' or 'all-round' education.

University Scholarships

(13) The present Higher School Certificate Examination should be abolished and State and Local Education Authority scholarships should be awarded on a different basis.

(14) The winning of a College scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge or a University scholarship elsewhere should constitute a claim upon public funds for assistance towards the cost of living at the University, subject to evidence of need.

(15) For the award of State and Local Education Authority scholarships an examination should be held in March by the University Examining Bodies; the recommendations of Examining Bodies would be made to Local Education Authorities and would be reviewed by special boards appointed for the purpose, who would take into account performance in the examination and the school records of the candidates. The final award should be made by the State, which should bear the


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cost of scholarships. The value of the scholarships should be such as to enable the holder to take full part in the life of the University. It should be open to Local Education Authorities to make awards to candidates to assist them at Universities or other places of advanced education; the State should pay half the cost of such awards.

(16) The proposals made with regard to the examination taken at 18+ and the examinations for State and Local Education Authority awards should be put into operation as soon as possible.

General

(17) With a view to making their services more readily available to the schools and increasing public confidence in the internal examination at 16+, the Inspectorate should be increased in numbers, and be relieved of purely administrative work as far as may be found possible.

(18) The keeping of school records from the primary stage to the end of the school course should be made the subject of immediate investigation and research.

(19) The Board of Education should establish machinery for encouraging researches into educational problems and should collate and publish their results.


Apart from these recommendations we express the hope that:

(1) The Civil Service Commissioners and the Service Colleges will order their examinations in such a way as to fit in with the suggested reorganisation of examinations.

(2) The Medical Schools will take account of the 18+ examination with a view to granting exemption from part of the 1st MB [Bachelor of Medicine] examination if certain conditions are fulfilled by the candidate.

(3) Universities will consider the possibility of taking performance in College scholarship examinations and the examination for State scholarships and also the school record into account in granting exemption or partial exemption from University Entrance examinations.

(4) Universities will hold their scholarship examinations simultaneously in December.

(5) Consideration will be given by Universities to the desirability of instituting more commonly than at present General Honours Degrees.

(6) The implications of the proposed reorganisation of examinations and the increased freedom which it will eventually give to teachers will be taken into account in the training of teachers.


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In signing this Report we record our common approval of the general principles which have been there formulated and of the general lines of advance which have been there broadly shaped for the guidance of the future. It is not to be expected that in a document of such length and of such detail each separate item could command an equal measure of assent, nor do our signatures mean this. They do, however, declare that after the consideration of much evidence from many different sources and after long and full discussion we have reached a common mind as to the developments which we deem to be desirable in our educational system during the next few years. Our readers will, perhaps, count it to our credit that in a period of rapid evolutionary changes we do not think it wise to read too closely and too confidently the possibilities of the distant future.

We have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servants,
CYRIL NORWOOD (Chairman)
MARY G CLARKE
OLAVE M HASTINGS
AWS HUTCHINGS
PD INNES
JOSEPH JONES
JE MYERS
ERNEST W NAISBITT
PERCIVAL SHARP
SH SHURROCK
TERRY THOMAS*
W NALDER WILLIAMS
RH BARROW (Secretary)
*Reserves his position on the internal examination.

23rd June, 1943


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APPENDIX A

NOTE ON THE WELSH CENTRAL BOARD

(i) The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889, one of the Endowed Schools Acts, provided the machinery for establishing and maintaining a complete system of 'Intermediate and Technical Schools' throughout Wales and Monmouthshire. In many ways the framers of the Act were in advance of their time in contemplating new types of Secondary School curricula, which have actually developed here and there in both England and Wales only in more recent years; but in practice the new schools were of the Grammar School type, and in many cases existing Grammar Schools were absorbed into the system, which ultimately included 105 schools.

(ii) Provision for the maintenance of the schools was made by creating for each County a Fund (governed by a Scheme made by the Charity Commissioners on the lines of Endowed Schools Acts and administered by a County Governing Body), consisting normally of:

(a) existing educational endowments in the area;
(b) the product of a ½d rate;
(c) a special grant from the Treasury equivalent to (b);
(d) the 'whisky' money.
The Treasury grant depended, as do the grants of the present time, on the efficiency of the schools and compliance with the appropriate Regulations. There thus arose for the first time the need for some machinery to satisfy the Charity Commission and the Treasury that the new system was working properly and that the grants were justified. The Board of Education was not yet on the scene; and although three of the Welsh University Colleges were in existence, the University of Wales was not established as such until it received its first Charter in 1893. By that time most of the county schemes made under the Welsh Act were in their final stages, after three years of intensive effort by the 'Joint Education Committees' established for each county under the Act. During these years a number of national conferences of the County Committees were held, and in the course of these conferences the idea emerged of a special central body to continue the work of co-ordination and advice, as well as to undertake the examination and inspection of the Intermediate Schools. Some well-known people favoured giving these tasks to the Welsh University, which was much under discussion in the same period, but ultimately all the 'Joint Education Committees' combined to make the necessary applications for a Scheme setting up the Central Welsh Board, and after further discussions with the Charity Commission and the Treasury the Scheme was approved by Her Majesty in Council in 1896, by which time a large portion of the Intermediate Schools were settling down to work. The Board is thus not a University body.

(iii) The Central Welsh Board itself consists of about 80 members, mainly representative, appointed by the Local Education Authorities for Higher Education (successors of the old County Governing Bodies), the University of Wales and Associations of Teachers, both Secondary and Elementary. It meets twice a year and functions through an Executive Committee. The chief officers of the Board are the Chief Inspector, who is also Chief Examining Officer, and three assistant Inspectors in addition to a Clerk who acts as Secretary and Accountant. The income of the Board is derived mainly from:

(a) Statutory levies on the Welsh Local Education Authorities for Higher Education under Section 42 of the Education Act 1918 which took the place of the contributions previously laid down in the Welsh Act schemes.
(b) Exchequer grants, now paid under Regulations made by the Board of Education.
(c) Examination fees (similar to those charged by English University Examining Bodies) in respect of examination of schools other than intermediate schools.

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(iv) Just as the Intermediate Schools developed on the lines of the older Grammar Schools, so in due course the examination system of the Central Welsh Board was forced by pressure of circumstances to model itself on that of the English Examining Bodies. Under Scheme the Board are empowered to examine schools other than Intermediate Schools. The Intermediate Schools, however, must be examined by the Central Welsh Board under the provisions of the Welsh Act schemes. The only examinations of the Central Welsh Board are now the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate Examinations.

(v) The inspection arrangements of the Central Welsh Board extend only to the Intermediate Schools, the other Secondary Schools in Wales being inspected by the Board of Education. Since the Welsh Department was established in 1907, separate arrangements for the inspection of Intermediate Schools have hardly been necessary, and they are now in many ways undesirable. In practice it has been found necessary in recent years to make arrangements with the Central Welsh Board whereby the Board of Education Inspectors materially assist the Inspectors of the Central Welsh Board in conducting full inspections of Intermediate Schools, and in return Inspectors of the Central Welsh Board sometimes assist at the inspection of non-Intermediate Schools.

(vi) Legally the Central Welsh Board is the Governing Body of an Endowed Foundation regulated by Scheme under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, which is one of the Endowed Schools Acts. This Scheme and the Schemes regulating the County and County Borough Intermediate and Technical Education Funds are interdependent as regards finance, inspection and examination.

The County and County Borough Schemes originally contained, and in the main still contain, provisions requiring external examination and inspection of the Intermediate Schools. The following clause is typical of many now in operation:

'Yearly Examination and Inspection of County Schools.

(1) The County Council shall, in concert with the Central Board, provide and pay for a yearly examination and inspection of all the County Schools by competent Examiners unconnected with the schools. In carrying out this clause they shall comply with the Treasury Regulations.

(2) The Board of Education may in any year by an Order direct that Examiners for any school shall for that year be appointed in any other manner, and Examiners for that school shall for that year be appointed in manner so directed.

(3) The Examiners shall report in writing to the County Council on the proficiency of the pupils, and on the condition of the Schools as regards organisation, methods of instruction, and discipline, as shown by or in the course of the examination and inspection.

(4) The County Council shall send copies of the Examiners' report to the School Governors and Head Masters of the Schools, and (in cases where the examination is not held by the Central Board) to the Board of Education.'

These Schemes also lay down the annual contributions which the Council of the County, or County Borough, must make to the funds of the Central Welsh Board out of the income of the Intermediate and Technical Education Funds. The clauses in question have, however, been modified by Section 42 of the Education Act 1918, which provides as follows:

Payments to the Central Welsh Board.

'42-(1) For the yearly sum payable to the Central Welsh Board under the Scheme regulating the intermediate and technical education fund of any county, as defined by the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 there shall be substituted:

(a) a yearly sum equal to a percentage not exceeding twenty-two and a half per cent fixed from time to time at a uniform rate for

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every county by the Central Welsh Board of the sum produced by a rate of one halfpenny in the pound for the preceding year, calculated in the manner provided by sub-section (3) of section eight of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889; and

(b) a yearly sum equal to five per cent of the net income for the preceding year of any endowment comprised in the intermediate and technical education fund of the county, or, in the alternative, for each year during such period as may be agreed with the Central Welsh Board, such yearly sum as that Board may agree to accept in lieu thereof.

(2) For the purpose of ascertaining the said net income there shall be deducted from the gross income all proper expenses and outgoings in respect of administration and management of the endowment (including charges for interest on and repayment of loans and replacement of capital), and any sums required by the scheme to be treated as capital, and the term "endowment" shall include augmentations acquired by the investment of surplus income whether derived from endowment or county rate, or from any other source, but not property occupied for the purposes of the scheme.

(3) The power of charging capitation fees for scholars offered for examination conferred on the Central Welsh Board by the scheme of the thirteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, regulating the Central Welsh Intermediate Education Fund shall cease.

(4) The provision of this section shall have effect and be construed as part of the schemes regulating the Central Welsh Intermediate Education Fund and the Intermediate and Technical Education funds of counties in Wales and Monmouthshire, and may be repealed or altered by future schemes accordingly.

They have been further modified by Section 82 (2) of the Local Government Act 1929, under which the 22½ per cent of one halfpenny rate is now related to a standard year, so as to protect the Central Welsh Board against any decrease of income which would otherwise have resulted from "de-rating".'

Under the terms of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, the Board of Education has to report annually to Parliament that, upon consideration of the Central Welsh Board reports on the result of their inspection and examination, the Board of Education are satisfied that the conditions required to be fulfilled by a school in order to obtain grant under the Welsh Act have been fulfilled by all the schools eligible to receive the grant.


APPENDIX B

List of Bodies and Individuals who gave Oral Evidence or submitted Memoranda or otherwise assisted the Committee

Admiralty (Education Department)
Air Ministry (Education Department)
Civil Service Commission Home Office (Children's Branch)
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ministry of Labour and National Service
Ministry of Education, Northern Ireland
Scottish Education Department
University Grants Committee
War Office

Secretary of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board
Secretary of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
Secretary of the Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations
Secretary of School Certificate Examinations, University of Bristol
Secretary of the School Examinations Board, University of Durham
Secretary of the University of London Matriculation and School Examinations Council
Secretary of the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board
Clerk of the Central Welsh Board


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Association of Directors and Secretaries for Education
Association of Education Committees
Association of Municipal Corporations
County Councils Association
Federation of Education Committee (Wales and Monmouthshire)
National Association of Inspectors of Schools and Educational Organisers

Consultative Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of Universities and University Colleges
Association of Assistant Mistresses in Secondary Schools
Association of Head Mistresses
Association of Head Mistresses of Boarding Schools
Association of Head Mistresses of Recognised Private Schools
Association of Principals of Domestic Science Training Colleges
Association of Principals of Technical Institutions
Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects
Association of Teachers of Speech and Drama
Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions
Association of Technical Institutions
Association of Women Science Teachers
Headmasters' Conference
Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools,
Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Institute of Handicraft Teachers
The Joint Four Secondary Committee for Wales and Monmouthshire
National Association of Organisers of Physical Education
National Union of Teachers
Science Masters' Association

Association of British Chambers of Commerce
Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants
Association for Education in Citizenship
Auctioneers and Estate Agents Institute of the United Kingdom
Bank of England
Boy Scouts Association
British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education
British Association for International Understanding
Committee Representing the British Council, Secondary Education, Higher Education and Commerce
British Thomson Co Ltd (Apprenticeship Committee), Rugby
Central Welsh Board
Chartered Institute of Patent Agents
Chartered Institute of Secretaries
Chartered Insurance Institute, London
Chartered Surveyors Institution, London
Classical Association
Corporation of Certified Secretaries
Corporation of Insurance Brokers
Council for Curriculum Reform
Council for Legal Education
Educational Handwork Association
Electrical Association for Women
English Association
Federation of British Industries
General Council of Medical Education
General Medical Council (General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom)
Geographical Association
Historical Association
Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd London
Incorporated Society of Auctioneers and Landed Property Agents
Incorporated Society of Musicians


[page 147]

Institute of Actuaries
Institute of Bankers
Institute of Builders
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland
Institute of Christian Education
Institute of Company Accountants
Institute of Costs and Works Accountants
Institute of Incorporated Practitioners in Advertising
Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants (Incorporated)
Institute of Physics
Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Electrical Engineers
Institution ol Mechanical Engineers
Institution of Naval Architects
Law Society
Library Association
Ling Physical Education Association
London County Council
Mathematical Association
Modern Language Association
National Association of Juvenile Employment and Welfare Officers
National Association of Maternity and Child Welfare Centres
National Council on Commercial Education
National Farmers Union
National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland
National Froebel Foundation
National Union of Agricultural Workers
New Education Fellowship
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
Committee on Education in Appreciation of Physical Environment
Royal Academy of Music
Royal College of Music
Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Surgeons
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Sanitary Institute and Sanitary Inspectors Examination Board
Society of Antiquaries
Society for Education in Art
Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors
Textile Institute
Messrs Tootal, Broadhurst, Lee Co Ltd (Education Department) Manchester
Trades Union Congress
Welsh Secondary Schools Association
Workers' Educational Association

Miss MF Adams, Chairman of Committees, Association of Head Mistresses
Mr WP Alexander PhD, Director of Education, Sheffield
Mr Ernest Barker LittD LLD, Professor of Political Science, Cambridge University
Mr WA Barren, Joint Hone Secretary of the Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Mr RH Barrow, HM Staff Inspector of Classics
Mr SEJ Best, Head Master of Carlton High School for Boys, Bradford
Mr AG Bishop, Assistant Master at Cheltenham College, Glos.
Mr FJ Borland
Mr RS Born, Assistant Master at Kingsbridge Grammar School, Devon
Sir Lawrence Bragg OBE MC FRS, Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics, Cambridge
Miss MD Brock LittD, Head Mistress, Mary Datchelor Girls School, London


[page 148]

Miss J Brown Assistant Mistress at North Walsham High School, Norfolk
Mr WH Carhart, Hon Secretary of the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools
Miss WM Casswell, Head Mistress of Edgbaston High School, Birmingham,
Miss A Catnach, President of the Association of Head Mistresses
Mr FA Cavanagh, Professor of Education, King's College, London
Miss KS Chamberlain, Assistant Mistress at Brincliffe County School for Girls, Birmingham
Mr RH Charles CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Elementary Schools
Miss Clarence Clark, Assistant Mistress at Mary Datchelor Girls' School, London
Sir Fred Clarke, Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Education, University of London
Mr WA Claydon, Head Master, The Grammar School, Maidstone
Miss Tegwen Clee, Assistant Mistress at Llanelly Girls County School, Carmarthen
Mr J McGill Clouston, Head Master of St Clement Danes Grammar School, London
Miss M Clutton, Association of Assistant Mistresses in Secondary Schools
Mr TD Corker, Chairman of the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools
Miss DM Cox, Late HM Staff Inspector of Domestic Subjects
Mr R W Crammer, Head Master of the City Boys School, Leicester
Mr LB Cundall, Assistant Master at Henry Thornton School, London
Mr WE Cunliffe, Assistant Master at Latymer School, Edmonton, London
Mr J Davies, Assistant Master at the Boys' Secondary School, Caerphilly, Wales
Mr AE Dean, Warden of Goldsmith's College, University of London
Mr FRG Duckworth CBE, HM Senior Chief Inspector
Miss DE de Zouche, Vice-President of the Association of Head Mistresses
Mr F Eames, General Secretary of the Incorporated Society of Musicians
Mr HW Edwards, Vice-President of the Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Mr W Elliott, HM Chief Inspector of Technical Schools
Mr D Emrys Evans BLitt, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales
Mr RJ Evans, President of the Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Mr A Fellows, Assistant Master at Chigwell School, Essex
Mr EM Field, Society for Education in Art
Mr TP Fielden BMus DMus, Warden of the Music Masters Section of the Incorporated Society of Musicians
Mr PT Freeman MBE PhD, Head Master of Peter Symonds School, Winchester
Mrs AF Gardner
Mr Maxwell Garnett CBE ScD
Mr John Garrett, Head Master of Raynes Park County School, Surrey
Mr GCT Giles, Member of Executive, National Union of Teachers
Mr P Goodyear, The Institute of Handicraft Teachers
Miss L Grier, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Miss ER Gwatkin, formerly Head Mistress of Streatham Hill High School, London
Mr HE Haig-Brown, formerly Chief Education Officer, Surrey County Council
Miss GS Haigh, Chairman of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects
Mr HW Hale, Member of Executive, National Union of Teachers
Mr J Halliday, The Institute of Handicraft Teachers
Sir Philip Hartog KBE CIC LLD
Miss Caroline Haslett CBE
Mr FH Hayward DLitt
Mr ET Heather, formerly Chairman of the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools
Mr BLQ Henriques, Warden of Bernhard Baron St George's Jewish Settlement
Sir Maurice Holmes KCB OBE, Permanent Secretary, Board of Education


[page 149]

Sir Lawrence Holt, Director of Messrs Alfred Holt & Co, Blue Funnell Line, Liverpool
Mrs EM Hubback, Hon Secretary of the Association for Education in Citizenship
Mr HEM Icely, Reader in Education, University of Oxford
Mr ML Jacks, Director of Department of Education, Oxford University
Mr RW Jackson, Head Master of the City of Norwich School
Mr GB Jeffrey DSc FRS, Astor Professor of Mathematics, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Chairman of the Matriculation and School Examinations Council, University of London
Mr D Vaughan Johnston, Chief Inspector of the Central Welsh Board
Mr T Hughes Jones, Assistant Master at Newtown County School, Montgomeryshire
Mr FR Hurlstone Jones, Joint Hon Secretary of the Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Mr GRW Jenkins MC, HM Inspector
Mr Thomas Jones, Vice-Chairman, Education Committee, London County Council
Mr James Kenner DSc PhD FRS, Professor of Technological Chemistry, University of Manchester
Mr AS Langley, Acting Head Master of the King Edward's High School Birmingham
Mr RG Lean, HM Staff Inspector of Physical Training
The Reverend Canon Spencer Leeson, Head Master of Winchester College
Mr AD Lindsay CBE LLD, Master of Balliol College Oxford
Sir Richard Livingstone DLitt LLD, President of Corpus Christi College Oxford
Mr GRB Loch OBE, HM Inspector
Sir Guy Locock CMG, Director of the Federation of British Industries
Miss Lucy A Lowe DLitt, Member of the Somerset County Education Committee
Mr N Marrow, Assistant Master at Watford Grammar School, Herts
Mr AR Marshall DSO MC, HM Staff Inspector of Science
Mr FJC Marshall, National Association of Organisers of Physical Education
Miss GM Marshall, Member of the Secondary Schools Sub-Committee of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects
Miss A Martin, The Society for Education in Art
Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice KCMG CB, Principal of Queen Mary's College, London University
Mr R Meldrum
Mr J Wickham Murray, Secretary of the Higher Education Committee, National Union of Teachers
Mr FAB Newman, HM Staff Inspector of English
Mr AE Nicholls, Head Master of Hele's School, Exeter
Miss VM Nicholson, Assistant Mistress at Rutherford College Girls' School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Miss FN Norman, Vice-Chairman of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects
Mr W Oakeshott, High Master of St Paul's School, London
Mr CW Parkes OBE, late HM Staff Inspector of Mathematics
Mrs EA Parkes, HM Inspector
Miss HD Pearson, Past President of the Association of Assistant Mistresses in Secondary Schools
The Right Hon The Lord Eustace Percy PC, Rector of King's College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Mr AW Pickard-Cambridge DLitt LLD FBA
Mr GJR Potter, Head Master of the High Pavement Secondary School, Nottingham
Mr CA Richardson, HM Staff Inspector for Training of Teachers
Mr FWG Ridgewell, Chief Science Master at Beckenham County School, Kent
Miss EL Ritchie, Head Mistress of the George Dixon Grammar School for Girls, Birmingham


[page 150]

Mr JO Roach, University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
Mr Charles Robertson, Chairman, Education Committee, London County Council
Mr CA Ronald, HM Staff Inspector of Modern Languages
Mr W Rowlands, Head Master of the County School, Portmadoc
Sir E John Russell OBE DSc FRS, Director of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden
Miss NL Saunders, Assistant Mistress at Blyth Secondary School, Norwich
Alderman the Reverend W Saunders, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Welsh Board
Mr EG Savage CB, Education Officer, London County Council
Sir Ernest Simon, Chairman of the Association for Education in Citizenship
Mr JH Simpson, Principal of the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea, London
Miss Skillicorn, Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge
Mr JW Skinner PhD, Head Master, Culford School, Bury St Edmunds
Mr Frank Smith PhD, Professor of Education, University of Leeds
Mr WH Spikes, Member of Executive, National Union of Teachers
Mr GH Stainforth, Assistant Master at Wellington College, Berks
Mr GA Stephens MD BS, President of the Royal Institution of South Wales
Mr DCG Stileman, Head Master of Burford Grammar School, Oxon
Mr JW Stork, Head Master of the Grammar School, Portsmouth
Mr CA Stott, Assistant Master at Aldenham School, Herts
Miss E Strudwick OBE, Member of the Executive Committee, Association for Education in Citizenship
Miss HV Stuart, Head Mistress, Sherborne School for Girls, Dorset
Miss EM Tanner, Head Mistress of Roedean School, Brighton
Mr LW Taylor, Secretary of the Incorporated Association of Head Masters
Mr V Taylor, HM Staff Inspector of Handicraft
Mr ER Thomas, Head Master of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-on-Tyne
Mr WC Elvet Thomas, Assistant Master at Cathays High School for Boys, Cardiff
Mr AR Thompson, Head Master of Solihull School, Warwickshire
Mr John Trevelyan, Director of Education, Westmorland County Council
Mr CW Valentine DPhil, Professor of Education of the University of Birmingham
Mr A Voysey, Agricultural Assistant to the Kent Education Committee
Mr JP Walker, National Association of Organisers of Physical Education
Mr AM Walmsley, Assistant Master at Northampton Town & County School, Northants
Miss A Warburton DMus, Member of the Music Mistresses Committee of the Incorporated Society of Musicians
Miss Olive A Wheeler DSc, Professor of Education, Department of Education, University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire
Sir Wynn P Wheldon DSO, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Department, Board of Education
Miss K Whitehead, Head Mistress of the High School for Girls, Brackley, Northants
Mr J Howard Whitehouse, Chairman of the Society for Research in Education; Warden of Bembridge College
Mr JCV Wilkes, Warden of Radley College, Berks
Miss GH Williams, President of the Association of Assistant Mistresses in Secondary Schools
Mr Llewellyn Williams, Head Master of Gwendraeth Valley Secondary School, Llanelly, Carmarthen
Mr Moses Williams, Professor of Education, Department of Education University College of Swansea
Mr WJ Williams, HMc Chief Inspector of Schools for Wales
Mr CE Winn, HM Staff Inspector of Music
Mr JH Wolfenden, Head Master of Uppingham School, Rutland


[page 151]

INDEX

Adult Education 16
Aid to University Students 38, 40
Age of entry 15, 16
Agriculture 56, 108
American History 59, 76, 100
Art 69, 72, 122-127
Board of Education 26, 27, 39-40, 47
Break between School and University 16, 22, 23, 35
British Commonwealth 76, 100
Broadcast Lessons 74
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 42
Capacity, variety of 2, 3
Central Welsh Board 133, 143-145
Character, ideals of (see also Religious Education) 67
Citizenship, Education for 58, 100, 104
Civics 98, 100
Civil Service 36, 42, 43
Classics 119-122
Classification of pupils (see Differentiation) 15
Colleges 23
Colonial History 59, 76
Combined types of Secondary School 18
Commerce, Education for 130-133
County Badge 83
Crafts 69, 72, 122-127
Curriculum 2, 61, 69
    Balance of 60
    Basic principle of 55
    Common 70
    Examinations and 9
    of the Higher Forms 71
    Integration of 61, 66
    of Lower School 70, 71
    Common purposes of 4, 5
    Types of 4
Differentiation 16, 17, 73
Domestic Subjects 76, 127-130
Economics 103, 133
Education:
    Child-centred vi, 14, 45, 55, 57, 63
    for Citizenship 58
    for Commerce 130-133
    for Life 56
    and Public Opinion [no page number given]
    Purpose of ix
'Elements' of Good Education 66-68
English 13, 68, 72, 91-98, 131
Essay Writing 94
Examination:
    External 20, 21, 22, 30, 41, 45, 96, 125
    First MB [Bachelor of Medicine] 42, 111-113
    Higher School Certificate 26-29, 34, 35
    Internal 45, 46, 48
    Proposed School Leaving 41-43
    School Certificate 26-29, 30-34, 46
    at 16 plus 45
Examinations in the School, a pupil's career 29, 48
First MB [Bachelor of Medicine] Examination 42, 111-113
Foreign Languages 70, 73, 74, 76, 118
Form-master 63-65, 71
French 113-119
General Honours Degrees 65, 89, 97, 122
General Science 108-110
Geography 101-104
German 113-119
Grammar School:
    Curriculum of (see also Secondary) 7
    Distinguishing feature of 6, 72
Greek 121, 122
Guiding 83, 129
Handwriting 75
Higher School Certificate 26-29, 34, 35
History 98-101
Homework 75
Hygiene 127, 129
Inspectorate, HM 50-54
Institute of Christian Education 89
Intelligence Tests 17
Interviews 40
Italian 117
Junior Technical Schools 5, 19
Latin (see Classics) 118
Libraries 76-79, 89
Loans 41
Local Education Authorities, awards by 34, 38-41


[page 152]

Lower School 15, 17, 70
    Curriculum of 18
Maintenance Allowances 25, 47
Mathematics 73, 104-108
Matriculation 28, 29, 37
Medical Inspection 81
Modern Languages 113-119
Modern School 15, 70
Multilateral School 18, 19
Music 69, 72, 122-127
Natural Science 73, 75, 108-113
Nursing 21, 127, 129
Parity 14, 46
Part-time Education 22, 44
Physical Education 72, 79-84
    Teachers of 82, 83
Physical Welfare 66, 79, 80
Private Study 74
Professional Bodies 33, 36, 42
    Preliminary Examinations of 29, 41
Public Affairs 76, 103, 133
Reality 12
Religious Education 67, 72, 84-91
Review of Pupils 15, 18
Russian:
    History 59, 100
    Language 116, 117
Scholarships to Universities 37-38
School Certificate, Reform of 45, 48
School Records 17, 47, 81
Science (see Natural Science)
Scouting 83, 126, 129
Secondary Education, meaning of 1
Secondary Grammar School 21
    Distinguishing feature of 6, 72
    Career of pupil in 48-49
Secondary Modern School 20, 46
Secondary School Examinations Council 46, 47
Secondary Schools 5, 13, 14
    Criticisms of 9-13
    Curriculum of 9
    Functions of 9
Secondary Technical School 15, 20, 46
Senior Schools 5, 20
Service Colleges 36, 42, 43
Sixth Form 75, 100, 101, 103, 104, 107, 110, 113
Sixth Form Pupils 35-37
Sixth Form Work 43, 44
Social Studies 59, 98
Sound Learning 61, 63
Spanish 113-119
Specialism 61, 65, 88, 92, 110
Speech Training 94, 96
Spens Report 6, 85, 88
State Scholarships 34, 38-41
Statistics 103, 133
Subjects 61
    New 56, 59, 74
    Number of 73, 74
    Parity of 60
Teaching Profession 45
Training Colleges 43
Training of Teachers 63, 65, 68, 82, 97, 98, 125
Transfer 14, 18, 70
Typewriting and Shorthand 132
Universities 4, 15, 23, 119
    Entrance to 23, 34, 41, 43, 44, 119
    Scholarships to 44, 110, 111, 120
University Examining Bodies 32, 38, 39, 41, 46
Wales 133-138
Welsh 133-138
Written Work 75
Women's Colleges 49