5 Principles for Action
by W. P. ALEXANDER
The theoretical arguments which have for the last twenty years been advocated with a good deal of fervour have suffered from the absence of any factual evidence. The advocates of the comprehensive school have been able to claim potential virtues for it and the opponents have been able to point to serious disadvantages, neither being able to strengthen their argument with experience. We have known what grammar schools could do and do well; increasingly we have recognised that secondary modem schools were capable of achieving standards higher than had been expected; but the comprehensive school was an unknown quantity in this country.
It is, therefore, of particular value that Dr. Pedley should have made a survey of some fourteen schools, some of which have been running long enough to provide useful factual information. It is, I think, clear that the survey must be examined for a few pointers rather than conclusive evidence; it is much too early for that. But these pointers are important. They tend to support neither those who favour the comprehensive school nor those who insist on a tripartite system.
Let us take a few points which seem to emerge. The claim of the advocates of the comprehensive school that differentiation at eleven plus will cease, proves to have no foundation. On the other hand, the fear expressed by the critics of the comprehensive school that the brighter children will be seriously penalised equally proves to be unfounded. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the evidence is the clarity with which it shows that some children who, are, in fact, not admitted to grammar schools prove ultimately to be suitable for education of that kind. This to me is a critically important point. The idea that the child who is just admitted to a grammar school should be educated quite differently from the child who just fails to gain admission is, I am sure, fundamentally unsound. Therefore, it follows that if there are to be different types of secondary school it is imperative that there should be substantial overlap in the education provided in the different schools. Nor do I accept that there are only two alternatives which present themselves - on the one hand the comprehensive school and
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on the other the tripartite system. I believe the comprehensive school in an area like Anglesey or the Isle of Man is wholly justified by reason of the spread of population in these areas. (In passing, it is to be noted that there are children not included in these comprehensive schools because they are dealt with in special schools where their educational needs can be met to better advantage.) Let us note with satisfaction that some of the fears that the comprehensive school of limited size could not afford a reasonable opportunity for brighter children can now be set at rest. With appropriate staffing and good organisation it is quite clear that a comprehensive school of quite limited size can provide a very good education and can provide opportunity at Ordinary and Advanced level for children of appropriate ability. But let us note also, having regard to the size of the sixth-forms involved for these children, that it would be a rather expensive organisation for sixth-form work if it were applied to the country as a whole.
But let us look at some of the other pointers. The school of a thousand or more pupils apparently does present a problem for the headmaster. It is more difficult to retain the personal atmosphere in which the interplay of adult and child mind is fully effective. The headmaster does tend to be essentially an administrator. Let us note, too, that we already have a great many secondary schools in this COWl try of the order of five or six hundred children. If, therefore, we are to be strictly practical, one of the things we must discuss is how best to use these buildings in the interests of the children. If we were to make these schools fully comprehensive we would have sixth-forms of limited size in each, involving very considerable expense, as well as a major staffing problem. If teachers for advanced study are limited in number - as indeed they are - an organisation of this kind would certainly present a problem. On the other hand, if we follow the tripartite pattern there is no doubt that we make too sharp a differentiation between the child just admitted to the grammar school and the child who just fails to be admitted. This becomes particularly true when the proportion admitted to grammar school is about twenty per cent or more. I imagine this problem will find its solution in compromise.
I believe a school which is largely comprehensive has a great deal to offer to the great majority of pupils but, in general, I think it will be found just as necessary and desirable both in the interests of the pupils and in the interests of reasonable economy that, where possible, a special school providing perhaps for five per cent of the age-group should be available at the top end, just as special schools are available at the bottom end of the curve of ability. If
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we are to use existing premises, then I think we can accept the pointers from this survey as showing that we can do a very good job on a largely comprehensive basis. On the other hand, most of the difficulties which are made evident in this survey would disappear if the special high schools offering courses designed for the pupils of really high ability were available. The general high school would follow the pattern of the schools which are quoted in the survey, offering facilities for G.C.E. in a wide range of subjects, but not having to cope with the problem of the real flier, any more than they are at present asked to cope with the problem of the educationally sub-normal.
The survey provides no evidence on the question of the effect of these schools on creating a sense of unity. It seems to me the important thing is that in the ordinary high school or in the special nigh school there should be a broad cross-section of social groups. That may well be made extremely difficult by a strict application of territorially based comprehensive schools of limited size. It is indeed more likely where the school draws from a wider area.
Reviewing these articles of Dr. Pedley, it seems to me to make it increasingly important that we should try to avoid arguments on what single pattern of the organisation of secondary schools is best. I am quite sure, there is no single organisation which should be applied in every area. The important thing surely is that we should try to find the important basic principles which any organisation of secondary schools should secure. Let us try to seek clarification on some of these principles.
1. We must avoid an organisation which makes the decision at eleven plus in any way final even though we recognise that we have to arrange groupings at this stage.
2. Throughout the whole of the secondary school course, the opportunity to take any examination at any level should be open to any child who shows the necessary ability and is prepared to stay the necessary time.
3. To meet the requirements of (2) above, we should try to avoid a situation in which transfer from school to school is made necessary.
4. Each school should as far possible be socially cross-sectional.
5. The size of the school and its general organisation should not nullify the influence of the headmaster or senior members of staff on the pupils and should enable the individual child, whatever' his ability, to be a significant member of the school community.
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6. The choice of subjects of study for each child should be as wide as possible at every stage. In particular, in the advanced work a child of high ability should not have his choice of study restricted by the organisation of the school.
7. The organisation as a whole should be as economic as possible in terms of manpower.
8. The organisation as a whole should be able to use the very many satisfactory buildings which now exist and should not depend on a complete rebuilding of the secondary school system; that is, it should be practicable.
9. The organisation should have special regard to the interests and needs of the area which it serves.
10. The amount of time spent in travel by individual children should be as limited as possible consistent with the maintenance of an effective general educational organisation.
It is interesting to conjecture how the application of these principles would work out in practice in different areas. I do not think there is any reasonable doubt that in an area like Anglesey or the Isle of Man the application of these principles would lead to the organisation which they have in fact brought into being. The establishment of different types of secondary school in either of these areas would not be a satisfactory solution. If, for example. a grammar school were established in Anglesey to be a reasonably effective size it would have to draw from the whole of the county and would have to take such a high proportion of the age-group that the other schools would fail to satisfy the requirements I have indicated. The comprehensive schools in Anglesey and the Isle of MaD with careful organisation and generous staffing in the upper part of the school do in fact provide an effective organisation for those areas. Let us look at an urban area with considerable density of population. In such a case I should have thought the application of the principles indicated above would lead to the establishment of a few special high schools for about 5 per cent of the age-group and the establishment similarly of a general system of high schools offering a full range of courses including courses leading to Ordinary and Advanced level work in the G.C.E. I assume, of course, the existence of facilities for special education for the sub-normal and other handicapped pupils. It seems to me such an organisation effectively satisfies the principles indicated above and indeed has added advantages. It enables the ordinary high school to be of limited size without creating any great problems.
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It enables manpower to be conserved, especially among the highly qualified specialists who deal with the academic fliers. It secures, economically, the wide range of studies at the sixth-form stage which are desirable for the most brilliant pupils. At the same time it gives all the pupils the full opportunity oft doing any course of education including G.C.E. either at ordinary or advanced level without transferring from one school to another. Nor would I rule out in such an area that the high schools might offer particular biases or interests. There might be free choice between such high schools. For example, one high school might have a particularly strong upper school in modern languages and pupils might well choose that school for that reason. Another might be particularly strong in mathematics and science in its upper school work, and so on. The suggestion that each of these high schools must be territorially based seems to me not strictly necessary in an area where several high schools would be within easy reach of a large number of pupils. I have no doubt that there are a good many more solutions of the problem of organisation of secondary schools which satisfy the principles indicated. Indeed, it may well be that in one area there will be several alternatives operating satisfactorily. A county area, partly urban and partly rural, might well have a different organisation in different parts of the county, each suitable for the needs of the particular area which it was serving. The most important points at this stage are surely these: we should reject the idea that one pattern must apply to the whole country. We should reject most firmly that the organisation of secondary schools should be determined by political or other considerations which appear sometimes to have little regard to the educational needs of the children; we should retain flexibility and be prepared to experiment; above all, that we should be trying, in organising secondary education, to meet the needs of all the pupils to the best of our ability and not sacrificing one group in the interests of another. The first purpose of secondary education should be to provide opportunities to the children who attend. The opportunity should be as wide as possible and should remain open as late as possible.