Bullock (1975)

(page numbers in brackets)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages (i-xxxvi)
Foreword, Membership, Contents, Introduction

Part 1 Attitudes and Standards
Chapter 1 (3-9)
Attitudes to the teaching of English
Chapter 2 (10-35)
Standards of reading
Chapter 3 (36-44)
Monitoring

Part 2 Language in the Early Years
Chapter 4 (47-50)
Language and learning
Chapter 5 (51-74)
Language in the early years

Part 3 Reading
Chapter 6 (77-96)
The reading process
Chapter 7 (97-114)
Reading in the early years
Chapter 8 (115-123)
Reading: the later stages
Chapter 9 (124-138)
Literature

Part 4 Language in the Middle and Secondary Years
Chapter 10 (141-161)
Oral language
Chapter 11 (162-187)
Written language
Chapter 12 (188-193)
Language across the curriculum

Part 5 Organisation
Chapter 13 (197-212)
The primary and middle years
Chapter 14 (213-219)
Continuity between schools
Chapter 15 (220-237)
The secondary school
Chapter 16 (238-242)
LEA advisory services

Part 6 Reading and Language Difficulties
Chapter 17 (245-265)
Screening, diagnosis and recording
Chapter 18 (266-276)
Children with reading difficulties
Chapter 19 (277-283)
Adult literacy
Chapter 20 (284-295)
Children from families of overseas origin

Part 7 Resources
Chapter 21 (299-313)
Books
Chapter 22 (314-327)
Technological aids and broadcasting

Part 8 Teacher Education and Training
Chapter 23 (331-346)
Initial training
Chapter 24 (347-356)
In-service education

Part 9 The Survey
Chapter 25 (359-510)
The Survey

Part 10 Sumary of Conclusions and Recommendations
Chapter 26 (513-560)
Conclusions and recommendations

Appendix A (561-576)
Witnesses and sources of evidence
Appendix B (577-584)
Visits made
Glossary (585-595)
Index (596-609)

Report of the Committee of Enquiry appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Science under the Chairmanship of Sir Alan Bullock FBA

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1975
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

[page 511]

[page 513]

We have chosen to present our conclusions and recommendations in a manner which requires some explanation. The form in which they are set out constitutes a summary of the Report, and it was with reluctance that we singled out a smaller number as representing our principal recommendations. Our reason for this reluctance was that we have been opposed from the outset to the idea that reading and the use of English can be improved in any simple way. The solution does not lie in a few neat administrative strokes, nor in the adoption of one set of teaching methods to the exclusion of another. Improvement will come about only from a thorough understanding of the many complexities, and from action on a broad front. We are therefore concerned to emphasise that the selection we have made as representing our principal recommendations should not be regarded as itself a summary of the Report. In the main body of conclusions and recommendations there are many which we consider of equal importance but which do not lend themselves to this kind of direct statement. We are anxious that the complete summary, and the Report it represents, should be read as a whole, for it would be altogether misleading to take these 17 recommendations as a distillation of what we have to say. For this reason they have not been placed in order of priority, but follow the order of the chapters in which they are elaborated. The numbers in brackets draw attention to the more detailed presentation of the recommendation in the ensuing longer list, and these in turn give a reference to the paragraphs in which the proposal is developed. If there is one general summarising conclusion we offer it is that there is nothing to equal in importance the quality and achievement of the individual teacher, to whom most of our suggestions are addressed. All our recommendations are designed to support and strengthen the teachers in the schools, for it is with them that improvements in standards of reading and language most assuredly lie.

Finally, we must again emphasise our awareness that the Report is published at a time of financial difficulty and in a period of serious inflation, and we have deliberately not attempted to cost our proposals. As the Introduction makes clear, we acknowledge that this is not an easy time at which to make recommendations that call for increased expenditure, for national resources are under pressure and local authorities are likely to be faced with stringent restraint. We have felt it essential, however, to indicate plainly what we believe needs to be done, even if some of our recommendations cannot be implemented at once.

1 A system of monitoring should be introduced which will employ new instruments to assess a wider range of attainments than has been attempted in the past and allow new criteria to be established for the definition of literacy.

(21-35)

[page 514]

2 There should be positive steps to develop the language ability of children in the pre-school and nursery and infant years. These should include arrangements for the involvement of parents, the improvement of staffing ratios in infant schools, and the employment of teachers' aides whose training has included a language element.

(39-55)

3 Every school should devise a systematic policy for the development of reading competence in pupils of all ages and ability levels.

(56-69; 71-90; 93-96; 171)

4 Each school should have an organised policy for language across the curriculum, establishing every teacher's involvement in language and reading development throughout the years of schooling.

(137-139; 190; 89; 171)

5 Every school should have a suitably qualified teacher with responsibility for advising and supporting his colleagues in language and the teaching of reading.

(148-149; 171)

6 There should be close consultation between schools, and the transmission of effective records, to ensure continuity in the teaching of reading and in the language development of every pupil.

(155-167; 198)

7 English in the secondary school should have improved resources in terms of staffing, accommodation, and ancillary help.

(178; 181-188)

8 Every LEA should appoint a specialist English adviser and should establish an advisory team with the specific responsibility of supporting schools in all aspects of language in education.

(191-194; 224)

9 LEAs and schools should introduce early screening procedures to prevent cumulative language and reading failure and to guarantee individual diagnosis and treatment.

(195-203)

10 Additional assistance should be given to children retarded in reading, and where it is the school's policy to withdraw pupils from their classes for special help they should continue to receive support at the appropriate level on their return.

(219-223)

11 There should be a reading clinic or remedial centre in every LEA, giving access to a comprehensive diagnostic service and expert medical, psychological, and teaching help. In addition to its provision for children with severe reading difficulties the centre should offer an advisory service to schools in association with the LEA's specialist adviser.

(213:224-225)

[page 515]

12 Provision for the tuition of adult illiterates and semi-literates should be greatly increased, and there should be a national reference point for the co-ordination of information and support.

(228-244)

13 Children of families of overseas origin should have more substantial and sustained tuition in English. Advisers and specialist teachers are required in greater strength in areas of need.

(245-246; 251-252; 254-262)

14 A standing working party should be formed, made up of representatives of the DES and LEAs, to consider capitation allowances and the resources of schools, and a satisfactory level of book provision should be its first subject of inquiry.

(283-287)

15 A substantial course on language in education (including reading) should be part of every primary and secondary school teacher's initial training, whatever the teacher's subject or the age of the children with whom he or she will be working.

(308-313; 316)

16 There should be an expansion in in-service education opportunities in reading and the various other aspects of the teaching of English, and these should include courses at diploma and higher degree level. Teachers in every LEA should have access to a language/reading centre.

(317-332; 210)

17 There should be a national centre for language in education, concerned with the teaching of English in all its aspects, from language and reading in the early years to advanced studies with sixth forms.

(333)

CHAPTER 1: ATTITUDES TO THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH

1 There is no firm evidence upon which to base comparisons between standards of English today and those of before the war, and the comparisons ventured are sometimes based on questionable assumptions. Nevertheless, standards of reading and writing need to be raised to fulfil the increasingly exacting demands made upon them by modern society.

(1.1-1.4; 1.8; 1.10)

2 There appears to be little substance in the generalisation that large numbers of schools are promoting 'creativity' at the expense of the 'basic skills'.

(1.8)

3 Language competence grows incrementally, through an interaction of writing, talk, reading, and experience, and the best teaching deliberately influences the nature and quality of this growth.

(1.10)

[page 516]

4 The pupil should be helped to develop increasing technical control over his language so that he can put it to increasingly complex uses.

(1.10)

5 English in the secondary school is often taught by teachers with inadequate qualifications for the task. English should be recognised as requiring substantial specialist knowledge, and the allocation of teaching assignments should reflect this fact.

(1.11)

CHAPTER 2: STANDARDS OF READING

6 Definitions of the terms 'literate' and 'illiterate' vary to so great an extent as to make them of little value as currently employed.

(2.1-2.2)

7 The level of reading skill required for participation in the affairs of modern society is far above that implied in earlier definitions of literacy.

(2.2)

8 Comparability of levels of 'literacy' between countries is difficult to determine. However, there is no evidence that standards in England are lower than those of other developed countries.

(2.3)

9 There is little empirical evidence to show whether television has had adverse effects upon standards of reading. However, such evidence as exists suggests that in general an increase in television watching has reduced the amount of time spent in private reading.

(2.5-2.7)

10 There is no firm statistical base for comparison of present-day standards of reading with those of before the war; and in terms of today's problems it is questionable whether there is anything to be gained from attempting it.

(2.11)

11 The tests at present in use in national surveys are inadequate measures of reading ability, since they measure only a narrow aspect of silent comprehension.

(2.13)

12 The two most serious limitations of the tests are the effects of ageing (2.14) and their inability to provide adequate discrimination for the more able 15 year olds. (2.14-2.16; 2.19 and 2.31-2.34). The effect of both would be to produce a levelling-off in the rate of increase in scores.

(2.16)

13 The changes in the last decade in the scores of 15 year olds on both tests are not statistically significant, and standards in this age group remained the same over the period 1960-71. In the light of the limitations of the tests this fact is not in itself disturbing.

(2.19)

[page 517]

14 There is no evidence of a decline in attainment over the years in the lowest achievers among 15 year olds. Since national surveys were instituted in 1948 the standards of the poorest readers have risen, and the gap between the most able and least able has narrowed. This reflects upon the capacity of existing tests to measure the achievement of the most able readers.

(2.19:2.29)

15 There was no significant change in the reading standards of 11 year olds over the decade 1960-1970, but such movement as took place after 1964 was in all probability slightly downwards.

(2.20; 2.29)

16 There is evidence to suggest that this probable slight decline in the scores of 11 year olds may well be linked to a rising proportion of poor readers among the children of unskilled and semi-skilled workers.

(2.22-2.25; 2.29)

17 There is some evidence that children of seven are not as advanced as formerly in those aspects of reading ability which are measured by tests.

(2.26-2.28)

18 It is unrealistic to expect every child to be a competent reader on leaving the infant school. But the foundations of reading should be firmly laid there and not left until the child reaches junior school.

(2.28)

19 It is no longer sufficient to rely upon a 1948 baseline for measuring the movement in reading standards, and the present methods of monitoring them are inadequate.

(2.29)

20 Within schools literacy is a corporate responsibility in which the leadership should be provided by specialist teachers but in which other teachers should share.

(2.30)

CHAPTER 3: MONITORING

21 A system of monitoring should be introduced which will employ new instruments to assess a wider range of attainments than has been attempted in the past and allow new criteria to be established for the definition of literacy.

(3.1-3.3)

22 Responsibility for monitoring should lie with a national research organisation, and 1977 should be the target date for the introduction of the new system.

(3.5)

23 The monitoring procedure should be administered at the ages of eleven and fifteen.

(3.6)

[page 518]

24 The monitoring instruments should be responsive to developments in the curriculum and should avoid setting up 'backwash' effects on the teaching in the schools.

(3.5)

25 The reading test should assess a variety of reading skills in a variety of reading materials, and should contain both multiple choice and open-ended questions.

(3.8)

26 As a temporary expedient the NS6. test should remain in operation to ensure a continuing baseline until a new datum can be established.

(3.8)

27 The monitoring of standards of achievement in writing should be introduced, and the test should consist of a variety of tasks requiring different kinds of writing.

(3.9)

28 The scripts should be assessed by:

(i) 'impression marking', a qualitative assessment made by small teams of markers;
(ii) the application of coding schemes to determine accuracy in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

(3.10-3.12; 3.24)

29 Multiple choice and interlinear tests might be employed as additional items.

(3.12)

30 It is not at present practicable to introduce the monitoring of Spoken English, but research should be conducted into the development of suitable monitoring instruments and economical procedures.

(3.13)

31 In the monitoring of reading and writing the test material should be drawn from a large pool stocked with carefully developed items representing all the skills to be assessed.

(3.15-3.18)

32 The question pool should be constructed by research officers in accordance with the advice of a consultative panel of teachers, LEA advisers and other educationists, and HM Inspectorate. The team carrying out the survey will be permanent in the sense that although its members may change it will maintain a continuity of function and experience.

(3.16; 3.23)

33 A system of light sampling should be introduced, with testing carried out at termly intervals to yield a rolling estimate of standards.

(3.19-3.21)

34 When the new monitoring system is firmly established it might, if felt necessary, be selectively applied to give more detailed information about standards in certain areas, e.g. EPAs.

(3.22)

[page 519]

35 Adequate research and development work should precede the introduction of the new system.

(3.24-3.25)

CHAPTER 4: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING

36 Language has a unique role in developing human learning; the higher processes of thinking are normally achieved by the interaction of a child's language behaviour with his other mental and perceptual powers.

(4.1-4.7)

37 Children learn as certainly by talking and writing as by listening and reading.

(4.8-4.10)

38 The surest means by which a child is enabled to master his mother tongue is by exploiting the process of discovery through language in all its uses.

(4.8-4.10)

CHAPTER 5: LANGUAGE IN THE EARLY YEARS

39 Many young children do not have the opportunity to develop at home the more complex forms of language which school education demands of them. All children should be helped to acquire as wide a range as possible of the uses of language.

(5.4-5.10)

40 Parents should be helped to understand the process of language development in their children and to play their part in it.

(5.10)

41 This understanding should begin in the secondary school, where older pupils should be made aware of the adult's role in young children's linguistic and cognitive development.

(5.11)

42 The study of young children's language by secondary school pupils should wherever possible be firmly based on practical experience in nursery and infant schools.

(5.12-5.13)

43 In antenatal clinics the question of the child's language development should take its place alongside that of his physical and emotional growth as a matter of vital concern to expectant parents.

(5.14)

44 Health and education authorities should co-operate to devise ways of providing expectant parents with advice and information on the language needs of young children.

(5.14)

45 Authorities should introduce home visiting schemes to help the parents of pre-school children play an active part in. the children's language growth.

(5.15-5.18)

[page 520]

46 There should be research into the development of television programmes aimed at making parents aware of their children's language needs and helping them to fulfil them.

(5.19-5.20; and 22.19)

47 In nursery and infant schools there should be planned attention to the children's language development. It should be the school's conscious policy to develop in all children the ability to use increasingly complex forms. A careful record should be kept of their progress.

(5.28-5.29)

48 Language should be learned in the course of using it in, and about, the daily experiences of the classroom and the home, but within this framework teachers might find support in some language programmes and in guidelines or checklists.

(5.24-5.29)

49 There should be more opportunities for children to be in a one to one relationship with adults in school. The additional adults should work in close association with the teacher in helping to carry out the policies she has devised for the children's language development.

(5.32-5.38)

50 The existing language element in the training of nursery nurses and assistants should be extended to take account of the needs outlined in this chapter.

(5.32)

51 In addition to the contribution of nursery nurses and nursery assistants the teacher should have the support of trained aides who have taken a course on language development in the early years. Ideally such a course might be developed as a second-stage course under the administration of the NNEB.

(5.32-5.34)

52 Schools should encourage the involvement of parents to provide additional conversation opportunities for young children. They should build on pre-school contacts where these have been established.

(5.35-5.38)

53 The design of nursery and infant schools should take account of the need for spaces to which adults can withdraw for work with individual children and small groups.

(5.41)

54 In areas of social disadvantage every school should have a pupil-teacher ratio which will make it possible for one or more members of staff to maintain close liaison with the home.

(5.42 and 13.19)

55 As so many of the above recommendations depend on the involvement of an appropriately qualified teacher, the staffing ratio of infant and nursery schools should be improved to allow these additional responsibilities to be undertaken with full advantage.

(5.32-5.43)

[page 521]

CHAPTER 6: THE READING PROCESS

56 There is no one method, medium, approach, device, or philosophy that holds the key to the process of learning to read.

(6.1)

57 Too much attention has been given to polarised opinions about approaches to the teaching of reading. What is needed is a comprehensive study of all the factors at work and the influence that can be exerted upon them.

(6.1-6.4)

58 A detailed understanding of the reading process should inform decisions about the organisation of teaching, the initial and in-service education of teachers, and the use of resources.

(6.3)

59 Word recognition is not merely a matter of learning unique whole-word forms, and over-simplified ideas about this aspect of reading are unhelpful as guides to action.

(6.7-6.12)

60 The accurate perception of individual letters and groups of letters is an important factor in learning to read. Young children should be helped to learn the characteristics of letters through a variety of games and activities, not through formal exercises.

(6.7-6.15)

61 The matching of sounds and symbols is of critical importance in learning to read, and the child should steadily acquire an increasing amount of phonic knowledge. However, teaching techniques which fail to recognise the complexity of this process may have an adverse effect on subsequent reading development.

(6.20-6.23)

62 The learning of sound-symbol correspondences should take place in the context of whole word recognition and reading for meaning. It is important, however, that children should first have had a full range of pre-reading experiences.

(6.20; 6.25-6.26; 6.37; 7.24)

63 At the earliest opportunity children should be introduced to morphemic structure, i.e. the relationship between spellings and meaning.

(6.24; 7.23)

64 Fluent reading depends to an important extent on the ability to anticipate that certain sequences of letters, words, or larger units of meaning are likely in a given context.

(6.27-6.36)

65 Failure to develop this competence may partly explain the difficulties experienced by some pupils in making progress beyond a reading age of 8 or 9.

(6.36)

[page 522]

66 The most effective teaching of reading is that which gives the pupil the various skills he needs to make the fullest possible use of context cues in search for meaning.

(6.35)

67 Comprehension skills consist in the interaction between the author's meanings and the reader's purpose, in the course of which the reader confirms or modifies his previous ideas and attitudes.

(6.39; 8.14-8.17)

68 The majority of pupils need a great deal of positive help to develop the various comprehension skills to a high level.

(6.40-6.41; 8.14-8.17)

69 An important aspect of reading behaviour is the ability to use different kinds of reading strategy according to the reader's purpose and the nature of the material. Pupils should acquire the skills which will free them from dependence on single-speed reading.

(6.42:8.18)

CHAPTER 7: READING IN THE EARLY YEARS

70 Parents have an extremely important part to play in preparing the child for the early stages of reading.

(7.1-7.6)

71 Measures should be taken to introduce children to books in their pre-school years and to help parents recognise the value of reading to their children. Important sources of initiative are Children's Librarians, LEA advisers, nursery and infant schools, voluntary bodies, and radio and television.

(7.2-7.5)

72 Schools should be enabled and encouraged to lend books to the parents of pre-school children and to provide book-buying facilities for them.

(7.4-7.5)

73 It should be established from the beginning in the mind of the child that reading is primarily a thinking process, not simply an exercise in identifying shapes and sounds.

(7.6)

74 The notion of reading readiness needs to be critically examined. It should not be allowed to deny a child access to early experience of reading, provided that the experience carries meaning and satisfaction for him.

(7.7)

75 Learning to read should be seen as a process of gradual evolution in which a variety of pre-reading activities merges imperceptibly with activities that may only at some later stage be unhesitatingly described as reading. A child's readiness for a particular step should be judged by his performance in the one that preceded it, not on a preconceived idea about his mental age or his intelligence.

(7.7-7.11)

[page 523]

76 Children showing signs of visual or auditory impairment should be referred for testing and appropriate treatment.

(7.9-7.10; 17.4)

77 There is great value in using as the children's early reading material their own writing, derived from their school experience and their life outside school.

(7.13-7.15)

78 If reading schemes are used they should be regarded as only an ancillary part of a school's reading programme, which should draw upon a wide range of other resources. Before starting on a reading scheme children should have had a wide range of preparatory reading experiences and acquired certain 'learning sets'.

(7.21:7.25)

79 Reading schemes which use contrived and unnatural language prevent children from developing the ability to detect sequential probability in linguistic structure.

(6.34; 7.18)

80 In selecting reading schemes schools should take careful account of such features as syntactic structure, the principles followed in selecting the vocabulary, and the attitudes implicit in the content.

(7.17-7.19)

81 A good reading scheme is one which provides a sound basis for the development of all the reading skills in an integrated way. There are disabling limitations in (a) look-and-say schemes which give no direct assistance with phonics, (b) phonic schemes designed on narrowly conceived principles.

(7.22-7.25)

82 We are not unanimous on the value of i.t.a., but believe that schools which choose to adopt it should be given support. Teachers should examine i.t.a. on its merits and not be influenced by the more extreme arguments of its advocates and its opponents.

(7.27-7.29)

83 Most teachers are eclectic in their teaching of reading, making use of both look-and-say and phonic methods. The difference in effectiveness lies not in their allegiance to any one method but in (a) the quality of their relationships with children, (b) their degree of expert knowledge, and (c) their sensitivity in matching their teaching with each child's current learning needs.

(7.20; 7.31)

84 Careful organisation based on clear thinking about sequence and structure is essential in the planning of an appropriate reading curriculum for each individual child as well as for the class as a whole.

(7.30)

85 Every child should spend part of each day in reading or pre-reading activities. The teacher should give each child individual attention several times a week, helping him with his reading and keeping a meticulous check on progress.

(7.31; 17.8; 17.12)

[page 524]

86 Individual attention should not be confined to poor readers, for average and above average children also need it if they are to make optimal progress.

(7.31)

CHAPTER 8: READING : THE LATER STAGES

87 In the middle years there should be an emphasis on (a) reading for pleasure and personal development, and (b) extending the pupils' reading from the general to the more specialised.

(8.1)

88 The extension of reading skills in and through normal learning activities is likely to be more effective than separately timetabled specialist reading periods.

(8.6-8.8; 15.8)

89 There should be certain commonly agreed approaches to the teaching of reading as part of the school's policy for the development of language across the curriculum.

(8.9; 12.7-12.8)

90 The subject teacher in the secondary school should be capable of helping the pupils develop the special reading techniques which will improve the efficiency of their learning within his subject.

(8.2-8.4; 8.9; 8.11-8.19; 12.7-12.8; 15.8)

91 Pupils could be helped to organise their reading by (a) formulating advance questions which lead to disciplined enquiry, (b) surveying and evaluating sources of information, (c) applying organised study methods to the reading material.

(8.11-8.13)

92 Exercises in English text-books or kits of one kind or another are inadequate for developing comprehension.

(8.14)

93 Pupils should acquire a variety of comprehension skills - literal, inferential, and evaluative - in a range of contexts in which they are put to a practical purpose, i.e. in the various subjects of the curriculum.

(8.15-8.17)

94 Flexible reading strategies, i.e. the ability to skim, scan, or read intensively as the occasion demands, should be acquired at school and should be exercised throughout the curriculum.

(8.18)

95 The capacity for self-evaluation is an important instrument for learning. Pupils should be shown how to assess the effectiveness of their own reading.

(8.19)

96 Pupils should acquire while at school the wide variety of skills they will need to cope with the reading demands of adult life.

(8.5; 8.20)

[page 525]

CHAPTER 9: LITERATURE

97 Literature brings the child into an encounter with language in its most complex and varied forms and is a valuable source of imaginative insight. It should be recognised as a powerful force in English teaching at all levels.

(9.2)

98 There is a strong association between voluntary reading and reading attainment. Teachers should devise various ways of extending their pupils' interest in fiction and of increasing the amount and range of their voluntary private reading.

(9.3-9.4; 9.7-9.8; 9.20-9.21)

99 The teacher should know the pattern of each child's reading and should keep a record of it to guide him in extending its range. The secondary school teacher should be informed of the pupils' reading experience in the primary school and the nature of the work that has grown out of it.

(9.5; 9.20; 14.6; 14.11; 17.21)

100 The supply of narrative books - particularly good modern fiction - should be increased in primary schools. We believe that narrative is often neglected in favour of information books.

(9.6)

101 The teacher should have an extensive knowledge of fiction appropriate for the various needs and levels of reading ability of his pupils.

(9.6)

102 Relevance to the child's own experience is important in young children's early reading material, but the equal importance of fantasy, fairy tale, and folk tale should be acknowledged.

(9.10)

103 The experience of literature for many older secondary school pupils is confined to summaries, model answers, and stereotyped commentaries. The demands of examinations should not be allowed to distort the experience of literature.

(9.13-9.14; 9.23-9.24)

104 Thematic work offers valuable opportunities in the teaching of English and humanities, but it should extend and not restrict the range and quality of the pupils' experience of literature.

(9.16-9.17)

105 Where English becomes part of a humanities or integrated studies programme the involvement of an English specialist is essential. There should be detailed planning and continuous consultation to ensure that English teaching is maintained at the highest level within the larger context.

(9.18)

106 All pupils should experience poetry in circumstances which emphasise its enjoyment and its relevance to their lives and their interests.

(9.22-9.24)

107 Teachers should share responsibility for an awareness of recently published poetry and for building up a collection of poetry in printed form and on tape, cassette, and disc.

(9.25)

[page 526]

CHAPTER 10: ORAL LANGUAGE

Talking and Listening

108 Exploratory talk by the pupils has an important function in the process of learning.

(10.1-10.3)

109 A child's accent should be accepted and attempts should not be made to suppress it. The aim should be to provide him with awareness and flexibility.

(10.5)

110 Children should be helped to as wide as possible a range of language uses so that they can speak appropriately in different situations and use standard forms when they are needed.

(10.6)

111 The teacher's own speech is a crucial factor in developing that of his pupils.

112 A stimulating classroom environment will not necessarily of itself develop the children's ability to use language as an instrument for learning. The teacher has a vital part to play and his role should be one of planned intervention.

(10.10-10.11)

113 Oral work should take place in both large and small group situations, with an emphasis on the latter.

(10.11-10.12)

114 Pupils should learn to regard discussion as an opportunity to investigate and illuminate a subject, not to advance inflexible points of view.

(10.14-10.16)

115 There should be a conscious policy on the part of the teacher to improve the children's listening ability. This is best achieved not through formal exercises but by structuring opportunities within the normal work of the classroom.

(10.20-10.22)

116 Efforts to develop ability in talking and listening should be supported by audio-visual resources on a proper scale.

(10.22-10.23; 22.5; 22.12)

117 External examinations in oral language are of value where they minimise artificiality and help the process of developing ability in a wide variety of uses. There should be further research into the kinds of examination best fitted to achieve this.

(10.25-10.28)

118 As part of their professional knowledge teachers should have:

an explicit understanding of the processes at work in classroom discourse;

(10.4; 10.29)

[page 527]

the ability to appraise their pupils' spoken language and to plan the means of extending it.

(10.9-10,10; 10.29)

There should be more opportunities for teachers to study these and other aspects of language in development work and in-service education.

(10.29)

119 There should be further research into the development of children's spoken language and the best means of promoting it.

(10.29)

Drama

120 Drama should be recognised as having a valuable contribution to make to the development of children's language.

(10.31; 10.36-10.37)

121 The written word can provide origin and stimulus for improvisation, and improvisation can illuminate the written word. In dramatic work in school the two should complement one another.

(10.33)

122 Drama in external examinations at 16+ should be substantially based on practical work rather than on the learning of facts.

(10.40)

123 In secondary schools there should be constructive discussion of the place of drama in English teaching and its contribution to other subjects.

(10.41)

CHAPTER 11: WRITTEN LANGUAGE

124 There is often a lack of a clear rationale for the work to which the term 'creative writing' is applied. The main activity in the area of 'personal' writing should arise from a context created out of the corporate enterprises of the classroom and the experiences of the pupils rather than from prepared stimuli.

(11.3-11.5)

125 The teacher should extend the pupil's ability as a writer primarily by developing his intentions and then by working on the techniques appropriate to them.

(11.5)

126 Progress in writing throughout the school years should be marked by an increasing differentiation in the kinds of writing a pupil can successfully tackle.

(11.8)

127 Pupils should be given the opportunity to write for a variety of readers and audiences. They should be faced with the need to analyse the specific task, to choose the language appropriate to it, and to establish criteria by which to judge what they have achieved.

(11.9)

[page 528]

128 Competence in language comes above all through its purposeful use, not through the working of exercises divorced from context.

(11.19-11.20; 11.25)

129 Extensive reading and writing are the basis of language growth, but pupils should receive specific instruction in such practical matters as punctuation, structure of words, some aspects of usage, and certain technical terms helpful for the discussion of language.

(11.24-11.25)

130 Spelling needs to be taught according to a carefully worked out policy, which should be based upon the needs and purposes of the pupils' own writing, not upon lists of words without context. Jn individual or small group work the pupil's attention should be directed to the internal structure of the words he needs to learn and to the commonest spelling rules.

(11.12)

131 The ability to spell should be regarded as a part of the common responsibility for language development, which should be shared by teachers of all subjects.

(11.12-11.14; 11.41-11.49)

132 Children should be given instruction and practice in handwriting and encouraged to develop a concern for the appearance of their written work.

(11.50-11.55)

133 Linguistics and other specialist studies of language have a considerable contribution to make to the teaching of English, and they should be used to emphasise the inseparability of language and the human situation. Linguistics should not enter schools in the form of the teaching of descriptive grammar.

(11.26)

134 We endorse the recommendation of earlier Reports that English should be assessed at 16+ and some members believe the opportunity should not be denied to any pupils in ordinary schools, whatever their level of ability.

(11.31-11.38)

135 English requires a wide and flexible range of assessment, a need which is better met by externally moderated school-based assessment than by rigid syllabuses.

(11.39)

136 Post O Level English syllabuses should contain a language element for all pupils who wish to opt for it, and A Level or whatever examination may replace it should include a paper on this basis.

(11.40)

CHAPTER 12: LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

137 In the primary school the individual teacher is in a position to devise a language policy across the various aspects of the curriculum, but there remains the need for a general school policy to give expression to the aim and ensure consistency throughout the years of primary schooling.

(12.3)

[page 529]

138 In the secondary school, all subject teachers need to be aware of:

(i) the linguistic processes by which their pupils acquire information and understanding, and the implications for the teacher's own use of language;

(12.1-12.2; 12.4-12.10)

(ii) the reading demands of their own subjects, and ways in which the pupils can be helped to meet them.

(12.7-12.8; 15.8; 8.9; 8.11-8.19)

139 To bring about this understanding every secondary school should develop a policy for language across the curriculum. The responsibility for this policy should be embodied in the organisational structure of the school.

(12.11-12.12; 6.44; 8.9; 8.11-8.18; 15.33)

CHAPTER 13: THE PRIMARY AND MIDDLE YEARS

140 There is a very wide variety in the pre-school experience of young children, and this diversity underlines the need for contacts between infant school, nursery, playgroup, and home.

(13.1-13.3)

141 These contacts should include:

(i) exchanges of visits between nursery school teachers, infant school teachers, and playgroup leaders;

(13.3)

(ii) opportunities for the parent and young child to spend some time in the infant school in the term preceding admission.

(13.3)

(13.3)

143 At the earliest opportunity parents should be made aware of the value the school places upon books, and should be able to borrow them for reading stories to their children before they start school.

(13.3 and 7.4)

144 There is no one form of organisation of schools, or classes within schools, which will suit all situations. The organisation should be based on the educational needs of the children in question, the strengths and weaknesses of the teachers, and the quality of the other resources, material and human, both inside the school and out.

(13.4-13.12)

145 We believe, however, that the form of classroom organisation best suited to language development is a flexible one in which independent work by individuals and small groups is the principal form of activity.

(13.15)

146 Careful planning should precede any organisational change, and new ways of working should not be introduced until the staff has been able to

[page 530]

prepare for them. Changes in the organisation of a school should be matched by changes in classroom practice, which should be consonant with it in spirit and intent.

(13.12)

147 Throughout the primary and middle years there should be a gradual development from the firmly based class-teacher relationship through co-operative working to a degree of specialism for the older children. Language permeates the curriculum and should not be abstracted from it in the primary school in the form of a specialist subject. Nevertheless, in group work the older children should benefit from the specialist knowledge of a member of staff with responsibility for language.

(13.13)

148 Every school should have a teacher on the staff responsible for supporting his colleagues in language development and the teaching of reading. In the allocation of above-scale posts English should be given a high priority.

(13.14; 13.22-13.23)

149 Authorities should provide these consultant language teachers with in-service training at the level recommended in paragraph 24.14.

150 Schools should be staffed in September according to the largest number of children expected in the ensuing school year.

(13.16)

151 An improvement in the staffing ratio should be related not simply to a reduction in average class size but to the opportunity to create very small groups as the occasion demands.

(13.17)

152 In their staffing policy authorities should take account of the need for additional help in schools which involve parents and/or secondary school pupils in work with young children.

(13.20 and 5.28-36 and 5.11-12)

153 Additional staff should be made available to schools in inner-city areas and other areas where marked social disadvantage affects reading and language development.

(13.20 and 5.38)

154 The design of schools should recognise that educational methods and patterns of organisation are in a continuous process of evolution. A building should provide spaces for large and small group work, including opportunities for reading and writing in the privacy and quiet of the enclosed space. Design of new buildings and remodelling of existing ones should also take account of the involvement of parents and additional adults in helping with the language development of individuals and small groups.

(13.22)

[page 531]

155 Head-teachers have a vitally important role in the promotion of successful language work and reading in the school. They should fulfil this by:

(i) placing a high priority on language and reading in the curriculum and organisation of the school, and consulting with their staff to produce a planned policy to improve them;

(ii) organising the careful evaluation of new ideas and approaches in language and reading;

(13.29)

(iii) encouraging their colleagues to have positive expectations of every child and to keep careful records;

(iv) encouraging in-service training within the school and ensuring that the benefits from attendance at outside courses are absorbed by the whole staff;

(v) working alongside their colleagues in the classroom.

(13.25)

A. Infant/First School to Junior/Middle School

156 The heads and staffs of infant and junior schools

(and first and middle schools) should jointly plan the transition of the children between the two stages. Their planning should include such measures as:

(i) regular inter-staff discussion;

(ii) an exchange of visits and teaching assignments;

(iii) an opportunity for small groups of infants to spend occasional days in the junior school in the term before transfer;

(iv) setting up common working and quiet areas where schools occupy the same building;

(v) joint activities of various kinds.

(14.1)

(14.1) There should be a common understanding of objectives in the teaching of reading. It should be recognised as a developmental process in which it is unrealistic to expect uniform levels of achievement for every child at a given age.

(14.2)

158 Where possible the schools should jointly plan a programme for the development of reading. At the very least each should have a thorough knowledge of the other's methods and approaches. There should thus be:

(i) an avoidance of sharp breaks in practice, e.g. in the use of the initial teaching alphabet and traditional orthography;

(14.2)

(ii) co-operation to ensure that in addition to the stimulus of new material the child has the security of the familiar when he transfers to his new school.

(14.6)

[page 532]

159 A full set of records should be handed on between schools, giving details of:

(i) the nursery and infant teachers' appraisal of the child's language development;

(14.3-14.4; 17.8)

(ii) the specific nature of any reading difficulties which the child is experiencing.

(14.4; 17.15-17.20)

(14.5)

161 There should be continuity as far as possible in any policy for:

(i) involving parents in extending children's language opportunities;

(14.3; 5.35-5.38)

(ii) arranging book-shop or book-club facilities within the school.

(14.6)

162 There should be close liaison between the secondary school and the junior and middle schools from which it receives its pupils. In addition to joint activities of various kinds, this liaison should include such measures as:

(i) the appointment of a member of the secondary school staff to maintain contact with the contributory schools;

(ii) an exchange of visits and teaching assignments between members of the staffs.

(14.7)

(14.7-14.9)

163 The secondary school should receive from the primary schools detailed information in the form of teachers' assessments and objective data. These should give the secondary school English department a knowledge of:

(i) the child's language experience over a long period;

(ii) the extent and range of the pupil's reading;

(iii) any reading difficulties that may have persisted, and the steps taken to deal with them.

(14.10-14.11)

(14.11)

[page 533]

165 Primary and secondary school teachers should meet for discussion and study of children's written and spoken language.

(14.13)

166 There should be an exchange of visits between schools and, where possible, of teaching assignments between primary school staff and members of the secondary school English department.

(14.13)

167 Co-operation between schools should include contacts between children, which might include such activities as:

(i) the writing of stories for young children by older secondary school pupils;

(ii) story-telling, reading, and talking sessions, in which older secondary school pupils work with children in the infant schools under the guidance of the teacher.

(14.14-14.15; 5.10-5.12)

168 Specialised English and integrated studies should not be regarded as mutually exclusive.

(15.6-15.7)

169 Where a school decides to include English in integrated studies it should ensure that:

(i) the English department is fully involved in the planning and operation, and gives guidance, support, and resources to the teachers from other subject areas;

(ii) English retains a valid presence, with the language and literature work recommended in chapters 9,10, and 11 fully represented.

(15.1-15.4; 15.6)

(15.6)

171 The English department should consider the development of reading skills at all levels as one of its most important responsibilities. As part of the school's policy for language across the curriculum it should offer guidance to colleagues in the extension of reading ability in all the pupil's learning activities. For this purpose it is desirable that there should be at least one member of staff with advanced qualifications in reading.

(15.8; 12.7-12.8:8.3-8.4)

172 Ideally, secondary school drama should be an essential part of work in English while at the same time having scope as an activity in its own right.

(15.9)

173 Where drama exists only within the English department one of its members should be appropriately qualified and carry the responsibility of supporting and advising his colleagues. Where it has come to be concentrated within a separate department the teachers should work in very close co-operation with the English department.

(15.9)

[page 534]

174 The majority of the Committee have reservations about arrangements by which pupils are streamed or setted for English according to ability. These members believe that where it is practicable mixed ability grouping offers most hope for English teaching, provided it receives a great deal of thought and planning.

(15.10; 15.12)

175 The complexities inherent in mixed-ability teaching are considerable. If a school decides in favour of mixed ability grouping for the teaching of English it should ensure that:

(i) children with reading difficulties receive the kind of individual help they need;

(ii) there is a flexible pattern of group and individual work, and carefully judged opportunities for learning as a class;

(iii) resources, and particularly the range of books, are adequate to meet the needs of pupils from a wide spectrum of ability and interests;

(iv) the system has the full support of the teachers involved, who should be closely involved in the planning and able to adapt to the new demands the grouping will create.

(15.10-15.12)

(15.13)

177 The evidence of our survey suggest that:

(i) a third of the teachers involved in the teaching of English have no discernible qualification for the role;

(ii) over a third of the teachers involved in the teaching of English spend less than half their time on it.

(15.14)

178 When the timetable is being constructed and the staffing policy devised English should be given a high priority. The indications are that at present it is often sacrificed to the interests of other subjects.

(15.15-15.16)

179 The role of the head of English department has grown in complexity and extends from the management of resources to a concern for the inservice training needs of the department. Recognition of this should be reflected in the support he receives from the head of the school.

(15.17)

[page 535]

180 In some areas, there is a shortage of applicants with the right kind of experience and qualifications for posts of head of English department. There is a particular difficulty in making appointments in very large schools.

(15.18-15.19)

181 Where heads of English department are subject to considerable pressure they should be helped by:

(i) improved staffing ratio within the department to allow more time for consultation and planning;

(ii) generous allocation of above-scale posts to allow the head of department to delegate effectively.

(15.19)

(i) the preparation of teaching materials, which might be centrally provided through a school resource centre;

(ii) the handling of departmental material, for which 'internal' clerical assistance should be provided on the basis of 20 hours a week for every five forms of entry in an 11-18 school, and pro rata. Where the help mentioned in (i) is not available the department's own ancillary help should be increased.

(15.20; 22.3)

(15.21)

184 Rooms in which English teaching takes place should have generous space, and where possible they should be grouped to allow teachers to co-operate in various activities and with varying numbers of pupils.

(15.23)

185 The grouping of English rooms should be considered in relation to other subject groupings in order that certain facilities, e.g, projection theatre, sound recording studio, can be shared.

(15.24)

186 Facilities for showing films and videotape should be available at short notice to all teachers of English. Where possible, certain of the grouped English rooms should have equipment built in.

(15.24)

187 English should have a departmental centre to house teaching material and ancillary help, and every English teaching room should have ample storage space.

(15.25)

188 Minimum requirements of the kind suggested cannot be provided at once, but where building improvement or new projects are being planned

[page 536]

they should receive serious consideration. On such occasions there should be full consultation between architects and the authority's English advisory staff and teachers.

(15.26)

189 Every English department should have an 'instrument of policy' making clear its purposes and the means it proposes to fulfil them. This should be a continually evolving document, produced and maintained by the head of department in consultation with his colleagues.

(15.30)

190 The role of the head in the teaching of English is of the greatest importance, and he is uniquely placed to encourage a policy of language across the curriculum.

(15.17; 15.31; 12.11-12.12)

CHAPTER 16: LEA ADVISORY SERVICES

191 Every authority should have an advisory team with the specific responsibility of supporting schools in all aspects of language in education. This would encompass English from language and reading in the early years to advanced reading and English studies at the highest level of the secondary school.

(16.1; 16.6)

192 Each team should have a specialist English adviser, and should draw for its membership from the general primary and secondary advisers, advisory teachers on secondment from schools, and specialists in reading, learning difficulties, drama and 'immigrant' language teaching.

(16.1-16.6)

193 The advisory teachers should be appointed for their special interest in English and should be drawn from among those with responsibility for language in the primary schools

(13.23) and from English teachers in secondary schools. They should be seconded for a period of 2-3 years and should spend a substantial part of their time in schools, working with teachers in the classroom.

(16.6)

194 The responsibilities of the advisory team should include:

(i) planning and providing in-service training, and promoting and assisting in development work by teachers;

(16.8)

(ii) giving special encouragement to initiatives in nursery and infant schools to help parents play their part in the development of their children's language;

(16.9; 5.36-5.38)

(iii) co-operation with the Schools Psychological Service in the operation of screening procedures; support to teachers in the diagnosis of reading difficulties and the devising of appropriate measures to deal with them;

(16.9; 17.9; 17.11; 18.14)

[page 537]

(iv) giving support to schools in improving the teaching of reading at all levels and in evaluating new materials;

(16.9)

(v) co-operation with the School Library Service in helping schools to increase voluntary home reading among their pupils;

(16.9; 21.10; 21.11)

(vi) encouraging the development of a language across the curriculum policy in secondary schools;

(Chapter 12; 16.9; 15.30; 15.31)

(vii) providing professional advice on the accommodation needs of English and of language activities in primary schools when new buildings and extensions are being planned;

(13.18; 15.26; 16.9)

(viii) giving support to language and reading work in Teachers' Centres and Language Centres.

(24.15)

CHAPTER 17: SCREENING, DIAGNOSIS AND RECORDING

Screening

195 Early detection of educational failure is of the greatest importance and there should be a far more systematic procedure for the prevention and treatment of learning difficulties.

(17.1-17.4)

196 The infant school should be supplied in confidence with relevant details of the child's medical and developmental history. There should be a well-developed liaison between the school and such sources of information as the school doctor, the health visitor, the social worker, the educational welfare officer and the speech therapist.

(17.10; 7.9-7.10)

197 The first stage of the screening process in school should be systematic observation and recording by the teacher. If the authority introduces a check-list this should be developed by consultation between teachers, advisers and educational psychologists.

(17.8-17.11)

198 The outcome of the observation procedure should be a detailed profile of each child's strengths and weaknesses, and this should be used to plan an appropriate learning programme. This record should accompany the child when he transfers to a different school.

(17.11-17.12)

199 In our view there is no advantage in mass testing and centrally stored data unless the outcome is individualised help directed precisely at the children who need it. As a general principle we prefer that systematised observation should be followed by selective diagnostic testing of those pupils about whom detailed and specific information is required.

(17.13)

[page 538]

200 Such a policy presupposes well developed support services and in-service training of high quality, and until these are available the testing of the whole age group is likely to be seen as the most practical course. Authorities with high teacher mobility and large numbers of children likely to experience learning difficulties may find it an essential feature of their screening procedure.

(17.13)

201 If testing is carried out in this way it should take place not earlier than the middle of the first term of the junior school and not later than the beginning of the second term. The tests should not be restricted to word recognition and should ideally have been developed and evaluated within the last ten years.

(17.7; 17.13)

202 Test results can be used to determine which schools should receive additional resources, but the first priority of any screening policy should be to identify the needs of individual children.

(17.14)

Diagnosis and Recording

203 The screening procedure should be seen as only the first stage in a continuous process of diagnosis, used by the teacher to design appropriate learning experiences.

(17.15)

204 The indications are that only a narrow range of tests is commonly used in schools. Before any test is applied it should be assessed for its appropriateness for the purpose in hand and the practical value of the information it will yield.

(17.16; 17.22)

205 Expert observation cannot be valued too highly; it is a major teaching skill and one upon which all effective diagnosis is founded. One of its important aspects is listening to children read individually, to identify and record the nature of their errors. The development and use of informal reading inventories is one useful way of doing this.

(17.17-17.20)

206 Recording should be in a form which is helpful to other teachers and can be used constructively to advance the child's reading competence. In a classroom organised on 'informal' lines, with a good deal of individual work in progress, effective recording is of the greatest importance.

(17.21)

207 As pupils grow older there should be increasing opportunities for self-appraisal, and some pupils might be encouraged to record their achievements and difficulties, using the record as an aid to the growth of higher level skills.

(17.21)

208 There is a need for the further development of diagnostic tests which combine the maximum of practical information with ease of administration.

(17.22)

[page 539]

209 A team approach should be developed between teachers, educational psychologist, and doctor. The teacher should be equipped to determine when a difficulty revealed by diagnostic test requires further investigation.

(17.23)

210 Educational psychologists have an important part to play in in-service training, notably in helping teachers to a more detailed knowledge of diagnostic techniques. There is scope for considerable expansion of inservice training activities in which they are jointly involved, and this should entail practical work and follow-up within the schools.

(17.24)

CHAPTER 18: CHILDREN WITH READING DIFFICULTIES

211 It is important to distinguish between different kinds of 'failure' and the needs they generate; namely where (a) success is possible to the child but is eluding him, (b) success at that moment in time is altogether beyond his powers.

(18.3)

212 Delay beyond the age of seven in beginning to read puts a child at educational risk. There is evidence to show that many children who have made little progress in reading on entering the junior school are even further behind at eleven and that this deficiency continues to the end of their statutory school life.

(18.4)

213 A small number of children have severe reading difficulties that cannot be accounted for by limited mental ability or by other readily identifiable factors. All such children should receive a skilled analysis of the nature of their difficulties, followed by intensive and sustained help in a remedial centre or reading clinic.

(18.5; 18.18)

214 Intellectual capacity affects a child's ability to acquire linguistic skills, but as intelligence itself is a developmental concept any child can be expected to make considerable gains with good teaching, sustained support, and positive expectations on the part of the school.

(18.6)

215 There is a close association between retardation in reading and emotional and behavioural disorders, which seems in most cases to be reciprocal. Both reading failure and symptoms of such disturbance should be regarded as cues for action if consequences of a lasting and compounding nature are to be avoided.

(18.7)

216 Low reading achievement and socio-economic circumstances are closely related, and the indications are that the attainment gap between children from favoured and disadvantaged homes widens as they grow older. Early intervention is therefore necessary to compensate as far as possible for the cumulative effect of social handicap.

(18.8)

[page 540]

217 There are marked differences between schools in the success they achieve in the teaching of reading, even where they serve similar populations.

(18.9)

218 A number of research studies have shown the effects of 'remedial' treatment to be disappointing, in that gains have been short-term and progress has not been sustained. However, since the practices and resources described had limitations, it would be unreasonable to conclude from these studies that all efforts are likely to be ineffective. There is evidence in some schools that well-designed measures can be successful.

(18.10-18.11)

219 If the success of remedial measures is to be broad and lasting, a recognition of certain factors is essential:

(i) the particular nature of each child's difficulties must be seen in relation to his whole linguistic development;
(ii) the teacher's relationship with the pupils should be such as to give them constant encouragement through the stimulus of success;
(iii) remedial work is not for the inexperienced or indifferent teacher, but for the teacher who combines a high level of teaching skill with an understanding of the children's emotional and developmental needs;
(iv) remedial help in learning to read should wherever possible be closely related to the rest of a pupil's learning;
(v) there should be every effort to involve parents and help them to understand the nature of their children's difficulties.

(18.12)

220 There should be flexibility in the arrangements made in primary schools for teaching children with reading difficulty. These should be designed to ensure that the contribution of peripatetic and part-time teachers is integrated with that of the class teacher.

(18.13-18.14)

221 Every teacher should have a planned reading programme to cater for the various levels of ability of the pupils. If it is the policy to withdraw pupils for special help they should continue to receive support at the appropriate level on their return.

(18.14)

222 In secondary schools the additional assistance given to children retarded in reading should normally be related to the rest of the curriculum and new initiatives should be developed for providing it.

(18.16)

223 In many secondary schools, work with 'slow learners' attracts less than its fair share of resources. General responsibility for these pupils should lie with a senior member of staff able to co-ordinate all the school's resources on their behalf.

(18:17)

224 Every authority should appoint an adviser with special responsibility for children experiencing learning difficulties. This adviser should be involved in the English advisory team activity advocated in Chapter 16.

(18.18)

[page 541]

225 There should be a reading clinic or remedial centre in every authority, giving access to a comprehensive diagnostic service and expert medical, psychological, and teaching help. In addition to its provision for children with severe reading difficulties the centre should offer an advisory service to schools in co-operation with the authority adviser.

(18.18)

226 In areas of social and economic depression the problem of poor attainment is more than one of teaching reading; it requires a combined effort by social services, teachers and administrators throughout the whole period of a child's school life.

(18.19)

227 There will always be children who for various reasons fall behind, but a very great deal can be done to prevent reading disability by raising the quality of teaching generally and by giving skilled individual help before a sense of failure sets in.

(18.19)

CHAPTER 19: ADULT ILLITERACY

228 It is impossible to say with certainty how many adult illiterates and semi-literates there are in the country, but it is clear that only a very small number of them receive instruction. Provision over the country as a whole is inadequate and should be greatly increased.

(19.5; 19.8)

229 Before they leave school pupils with reading difficulties should receive guidance on where to go for continued tuition. It is the responsibility of the school to take the first step to establish continuity of opportunity.

(19.6)

230 There should be an increase in publicity to draw attention to the help available to adults with reading difficulties. References should be made in popular radio and television programmes with large audiences, and specific information at local level should be given through local radio and newspapers.

(19.7; 22.24)

231 LEAs should maintain a continuous service of information on all adult literacy provision to employers and social service agencies.

(19.7)

232 Social service departments, probation officers, youth leaders, and the Careers and Employment services should give advice to young adult illiterates on where to receive help.

(19.7)

233 LEAs should co-ordinate the various sources of advice to adult illiterates and should provide a counselling service to introduce them to the kind of tuition best suited to their needs.

(19.7)

234 Employers, trade unions, and industrial training agencies should investigate the possibility of using the work situation as a place where

[page 542]

literacy improvement could be achieved. There should be an increase in facilities for part-time tuition during working hours.

(19.8)

235 Local authorities should ensure that provision is expanded in anticipation of the demands created by the increased publicity and the co-ordination of their information services.

(19.12)

236 Authorities should make generous financial grants to voluntary literacy schemes and should help them to maintain and extend their activities.

(19.11)

237 There should be close co-operation between LEAs and voluntary schemes, to develop a range of individual and group provision at different levels to meet individual needs.

(19.12)

238 All adults seeking help with reading should be assured of individual tuition at the beginning of their course and for as long as proves necessary. They should be able to depend upon the continuing personal support of a tutor-counsellor when they have reached the stage of working with a group.

(19.11-19.12)

239 The LEA should provide in-service training for all who are acting as tutors in adult literacy work.

(19.13)

240 There should be a wider range of reading material appropriate to the interests and needs of adult students. Audio-visual aids should be more readily available for tutors who wish to make use of them.

(19.15)

241 Adults of overseas origin add considerably to the numbers requiring help with literacy. They need tutors who have a special understanding of their language difficulties, and these tutors should maintain close contact with those responsible for other types of language instruction at adult education level. There should be more home tutoring facilities for immigrant families.

(19.14)

242 The effectiveness of various forms of provision and of methods and materials should be evaluated, and the results widely disseminated.

(19.15)

243 There should be regional conferences for tutors. The Advisory Councils for Further Education could play a significant part in the development of such opportunities.

(19.15)

244 Provision should be made nationally to develop and evaluate materials and resources, supply information and advice, and organise conferences. We recommend that the Secretary of State should consider ways in which these functions might be carried out most effectively.

(19.15)

[page 543]

CHAPTER 20

CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES OF OVERSEAS ORIGIN

245 Authorities with children from families of overseas origin should carry out regular surveys of their linguistic needs in order to maintain flexibility in the arrangements made to cater for them.

(20.2)

246 In some areas the arrangements do little more than meet the initial language and adjustment needs of new arrivals, whereas these are only the beginning of what for most of the children is a long process.

(20.2)

247 Among families of overseas origin there are considerable differences not only in language and culture but in the stability of their home circumstances and their adaptation to their new country. These differences should be recognised and the stereotype of the 'immigrant child' should be dismissed.

(20.3)

248 Though there has been little sustained research describing the comparative performance of children of minority groups in Britain, there is enough evidence to show a disturbingly low pattern of attainment. In particular, children of West Indian origin are performing well below average.

(20.4)

249 No child should be expected to cast off the language and culture of the home as he crosses the school threshold, and the curriculum should reflect those aspects of his life.

(20.5)

250 All teachers need to be aware of the way books and pictures shape children's attitudes to one another and to society, and of the ethnocentric bias of many books in use in schools. When selecting books for schools teachers and librarians should include books that reflect the experience of children from families of overseas origin and material about their homelands and cultures. There is a general shortage of such books, and publishers could make a valuable contribution by fulfilling this need.

(20.5)

251 Teachers in schools with children of West Indian origin should have an understanding of Creole dialect and a positive and sympathetic attitude towards it. Work relating both to dialect and to improving the ability to use Standard English should be encouraged on a much larger scale.

(20.6)

252 There is an urgent need for research into the specific problems experienced by West Indian children in learning to read, and the results of this study should be disseminated on a wide scale.

(20.7)

253 Schools with pupils of West Indian origin should look for opportunities to draw upon the support that parents and community can give and should acquire a knowledge of the Caribbean and its culture.

(20.8)

[page 544]

254 There is a shortage of teachers able to teach English as a second language and of people to train them.

(20.9)

255 Generally speaking, the teaching of English as a second language begins too late after the child's arrival and ends too soon.

(20.10)

256 Specialist teachers of language should work in close liaison with other teachers in the school and should keep in touch with the child's education as a whole.

(20.10)

257 The teaching of English as a second language should not be discontinued when the pupils have gained a superficial knowledge of it but should be sustained until they have achieved fluency in speaking, reading, and writing.

(20.11)

258 In the secondary school, pupils who are past the initial stage of learning English need help in coping with the linguistic demands made on them by the various specialist areas of the curriculum. To this end there should be close co-operation between subject teachers and language specialist.

(20.12)

259 There should be more initiatives to establish a new role for the language teacher in a multi-racial secondary school, one of consultant and adviser across the curriculum rather than of teacher confined to a single room. Though staffing difficulties and cost are a problem to authorities with large numbers of second-stage language learners, teachers able to carry out this function should be appointed extra to complement where possible.

(20.12)

260 Authorities with areas of immigrant settlement should appoint advisers with special responsibility for the language development of the children, able to provide and sustain in-service education and support the teachers in the schools. These advisers should work closely with the other members of the English advisory team recommended in Chapter 16.

(20.13)

261 The provision of nursery classes in inner city areas has great importance for the early language development of immigrant children. The normal activities of the nursery and infant classroom should be adjusted to suit their individual needs and should be supplemented by specific help with language.

(20.14)

262 Teacher training programmes and in-service education should take account of the need of nursery and infant teachers for an understanding of the specific language difficulties of children from families of overseas origin.

(20.15)

263 There should be a more sustained and systematic linking of home and school, with particular emphasis in the case of young children.

(20.15-20.16)

[page 545]

264 The role of members of the minority communities themselves is vital and it is particularly important that children from families of overseas origin should see people of their own communities in the role of teacher and helper.

(20.16)

265 Every school with pupils whose original language is not English should adopt a positive attitude to their bilingualism and wherever possible help maintain and deepen their knowledge of their mother-tongue.

(20.17)

266 There should be further research into the teaching of their own language to children of immigrant communities and into the various aspects of bilingualism in schools.

(20.17)

CHAPTER 21: BOOKS

267 Every primary school should have a book policy that reflects a set of objectives understood and accepted by the staff.

(21.3)

268 Authorities should devise ways of enabling schools to select books on the basis of first-hand knowledge of the range available. They should consider setting up permanent exhibitions, regularly up-dated, and educational bookrooms which would be sources of guidance to parents as well as to teachers.

(21.4)

269 Responsibility for books in the primary school should be a collective one, but a member of staff with a more specialised knowledge should have an advisory function and the role of giving effect to the book policy which emerges from staff consultation.

(21.5; 13.23)

270 Every primary school classroom should have its own collection of books, constantly refreshed and changing to accommodate new needs. This should be backed by a central collection which contains print and non-print material of various kinds. There should be a recognised system of organisation which makes clear what resources the school possesses and how they are dispersed.

(21.6)

271 The School Library Service is a valuable source of assistance and advice. Its services should not be used passively but as a means of furthering the book policy which the school itself has decided. Books on long-term loan from the Service should become an organic part of the school's resources and not be treated as separate stock.

(21.7-21.8)

272 There should be more initiatives to develop joint courses, study groups, book review panels, and similar activities for teachers and Children's Librarians.

(21.9)

[page 546]

273 School Library Services should be enabled to supply on demand a wider range of resources than books, co-operating where appropriate with such bodies as the museum service and local archives.

(21.9)

274 Activities on the scale we envisage will require an expansion of School Library Services. There should be an appraisal of the kind of support schools can be given, and this will call for close consultation between the education authority's advisers, the schools themselves and the library staff. No authority should be without a Children's Librarian.

(21.10)

275 Pupils should continue to enjoy free access to a wide range of books on transfer from one school to another. Whether they are in primary, middle or secondary school, pupils between 8 and 13 have a common need in terms of book provision and range and this need should receive comparable fulfilment.

(21.11)

276 In a substantial minority of secondary schools the library is used for general teaching purposes for more than half the week, and in others it is open only at certain times of the day. Every secondary school should have library accommodation and ancillary help appropriate to its needs.

(21.12)

277 More extensive use should be made of training facilities for library work in schools, and as a long term aim all school librarians should be doubly qualified in teaching and librarianship.

(21.13-21.14)

278 The school librarian should have a seat at all head of department meetings, and departments should involve him in their own internal planning.

(21.13)

279 Resource centres in schools are an important development, with potentially a considerable contribution to make to the teaching of English. When new buildings are being planned or existing buildings expanded the need for a resource centre should be anticipated.

(21.15-21.16)

280 Retrieval systems should be organised in such a way as to help pupils of all levels of ability to obtain appropriate materials.

(21.15)

281 In some English departments there is an inadequate supply of fiction of the right range and quality. In the department's corporate planning and purchasing policy fiction for the younger pupils should occupy a high priority.

(21.17)

282 Many secondary schools have a disturbingly small number of library books per pupil.

(21.18)

283 There is considerable variation in the expenditure on books between local authorities, and when all qualifications have been made it is clear that

[page 547]

some make inadequate provision. The disparity between individual schools in terms of resources is disturbing.

(21.19-21.22)

284 Schools are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a good supply of books in the face of rising costs and other factors. Since expenditure on books is part of a larger block of non-teaching costs it is in competition with other demands, and books are in a particularly vulnerable position in times of financial stringency.

(21.20; 21.26)

285 The 'per capita' system of calculating allowances to schools works to the serious disadvantage of small schools, whose needs are not in a linear relationship with the number of pupils.

(21.23-21.24)

286. There should be a detailed examination of the whole question of allowances to schools and how they are distributed. A standing working party, made up of representatives of the DES and of LEAs, should be informed for this purpose.

(21.25)

287 The suggested working party should as its first task recommend minimal figures for book provision, which should then be kept under annual review to take account of inflation. In the meantime all authorities should make provision according to the figures recommended by the Association of Education Committees, which should be regarded as a minimum.

(21.25-21.27)

CHAPTER 22: TECHNOLOGICAL AIDS AND BROADCASTING

288 Technological aids have a considerable contribution to make to language development and the teaching of reading, but they do not represent a solution in themselves. Their value depends upon the extent to which they can be successfully integrated with the rest of the teacher's work.

(22.1-22.2)

289 Teachers in training should learn how audio-visual aids and broadcasting can be used to good advantage in their work in reading and language.

(22.4)

290 The demand for technological aids should be created by the teacher's curriculum planning; they should not be imposed upon it. There is therefore no simple formula for provision that would apply to all schools.

(22.6-22.12)

291 Where a school has a curricular need for a particular audio-visual aid every effort should be made to provide it. In some instances items of equipment might be shared with other schools, but certain items should be possessed by the individual school, and indeed by each class within it where the need is present. Small schools should not be at a disadvantage.

(22.6-22.12)

292 Authorities should provide technical advice, prompt maintenance of equipment, and help with the preparation of materials.

(22.3; 15.20)

[page 548]

293 Reprographic facilities are becoming increasingly important in the teaching of English at all levels. All schools should be able to count on fast high-quality reproduction of the materials they need, and authorities should make provision to ensure this.

(22.11)

294 Television is now part of our culture and therefore a legitimate study for schools. The school has an important part to play in promoting a discriminating approach to it, but it is equally important that children should learn to appreciate the positive values and the variety of experiences the medium can provide.

(22.14)

295 Educational television and radio - both national and local - is a valuable source of stimulus for talking, reading, and writing. It requires careful preparation on the part of the teacher if it is to be effectively integrated with the rest of the children's activity.

(22.13; 22.15)

296 Opportunities for the direct involvement of teachers and pupils in educational radio and television programmes should be taken up more extensively.

(22.16)

297 If radio and television are to be exploited to the best effect every school should have facilities for recording programmes and storing tapes. The needs of nursery and infant schools in particular should be given urgent consideration.

(22.17)

298 There is a need for an extension of copyright agreements to allow schools to record any programmes and use them in ways and at times that suit their purposes.

(22.18)

299 There should be more research and evaluation of programmes, to determine such effects as interest, increase in knowledge or skill, and relative effectiveness with different children and different teachers.

(22.19)

300 There is an urgent need for expansion in educational broadcasting directed at children in the pre-school years and in the early stages of schooling, and at older children with learning difficulties. This can be achieved only by assistance from public funds, possibly with some selective help from charitable foundations.

(22.20-22.22)

301 Programmes should be developed to help the language interaction of parent and child. Schools and social agencies should co-operate to promote interest and participation in homes which would derive particular benefit from such programmes. These and similar programmes should also be shown on video-tape at ante-natal clinics.

(22.21; 5.14)

[page 549]

302 The possibility should be investigated of introducing references to various aspects of literacy into popular television programmes.

(22.23)

CHAPTER 23: PRE-SERVICE TRAINING

303 There is a remarkably wide variation in the importance attached to reading and language development in different teacher training institutions.

(23.2-23.5)

304 Generally speaking, there has been a tendency in the last decade for colleges to develop the 'academic' training at the expense of the professional element. In some colleges this has resulted in little more than nominal attention to language work and the teaching of reading.

(23.4-23.5)

305 Recently, a number of colleges have given much thought to improving the position of language and reading in the professional training, and in some colleges they are now strongly featured.

(23.6-23.7)

306 There should be more highly developed co-operation between colleges and schools, and students should have early access to practical experience. They should have the opportunity to work with individual children and small groups so that theory and practice might be more successfully integrated.

(23.8-23.9)

307 There should be more appointments of the teacher-tutor kind, where lecturers work in both college and school and develop the relationship between theory and practice.

(23.9)

308 All teachers in training, irrespective of the age range they intend to teach, should complete satisfactorily a substantial course in language and reading.

(23.10-23.12; 23.25-23.26)

309 Some modification to content and scope may be necessary for students taking a one-year post-graduate certificate of education, but their course should include a language and reading component with specified minimum requirements.

(23.13-23.18)

310 This modification should not apply to the one-year course following a Diploma in Higher Education. The language and reading component in this course should be of the substance and extent recommended in 308.

(23.19-23.20)

311 Colleges providing for these students should devise ways of meeting this requirement, either organisationally or by their selection procedures.

(23.20)

312 The staffing of colleges should take account of the need for lecturers qualified by experience and specialist training in language and reading.

(23.21)

[page 550]

313 Language courses in teacher training should have properly equipped accommodation and ancillary help.

(23.22)

314 There are indications that the language competence of some students in training is unsatisfactory. As entry requirements become more stringent this competence should be taken more exactingly into account.

(23.23)

315 In learning about the nature and operation of language, students should be made more explicitly aware of their own practices. Improvement in students' language performance should take place in this context rather than in 'remedial' courses.

(23.23)

316 The understanding of language acquired during pre-service training should be regarded as only the first stage in a continuing process, of which the next phase is the induction year.

(23.24)

CHAPTER 24: IN-SERVICE EDUCATION

317 In his induction year the teacher needs support from his head and colleagues in adjusting to the reading and language policy of the school.

(24.1-24.2)

318 In the light of his practical classroom experience, the newly qualified teacher should receive help in extending his knowledge of the teaching of reading and language. This should take place in the time available for continued study in his induction year.

(24.1-24.2)

319 In their induction year primary school teachers and secondary school teachers of all subjects should meet to discuss continuity and children's language development aspects of the curriculum.

(24.3)

320 More should be done to bring in teachers as full partners in the process of in-service education rather than as the object of a training programme. A necessary implication of this is an increase in activities which involve the teachers in direct participation.

(24.4)

321 The individual school should be seen as an important focal point in in-service education, and there should be an expansion of school-based approaches.

(24.5)

322 School staffs should be encouraged to determine their own in-service education needs, and to share in the evaluation of ideas and information brought back from courses.

(24.5)

323 There should be an increase in the opportunities for heads to attend in-service courses to support them in their vital role in the improvement of reading and language work in their schools. Small schools in particular

[page 551]

should receive help to enable both heads and teachers to take part in inservice education activity.

(24.5)

324 In the secondary school the head of English department has a particular responsibility for helping in the continuing professional education of his colleagues within the department. In this he should receive help and encouragement from the LEA English advisory team.

(24.6)

325 LEAs and other providing agencies should make available more courses on reading and on the various other aspects of English teaching. In particular there is a need for courses on the role of language in the classroom, the use of diagnosis in the teaching of reading, and the teaching of the whole range of reading skills.

(24.7-24.8)

326 In-service courses should take a variety of forms, including half-day release, full-week workshops, and school-based studies. The emphasis should be on a flexible interaction between practice and theory.

(24.9)

327 The regional courses jointly arranged by the Area Training Organisations and the Department of Education and Science have been a valuable development. Under whatever auspices such courses continue in the future there should be an expansion in the number concerned with reading and the various aspects of English teaching.

(24.10)

328 Authorities should do everything possible to second more teachers to one-term or one-year full-time courses on reading, language, and general English, and the number of such courses should be increased.

(24.11)

329 There should be more full-time diploma courses and higher degrees available in language and reading. An expansion at this level is essential for the preparation of people able to give leadership in in-service education at local and regional level.

(24.12)

330 There are not enough teachers equipped to act as language consultants within schools, as advisers and advisory teachers for a local authority, or as specialist lecturers for students in training. If this deficiency is to be made up there must be a systematic and progressive programme of in-service education which opens up possibilities of career development. A suggested pattern would be as follows:

(a) language consultants in schools: local part-time courses continuing over two terms and preferably on the pattern of the ATO-DES courses;
(b) local authority advisory teachers: one-term full-time courses, or their part-time equivalent;
(c) local authority advisers, and lecturers in teacher training: advanced courses at diploma and higher degree level.

(24.14)

[page 552]

331 Teachers in every authority should have access to a language/reading centre.

(24.16)

332 When professional centres are developed their relationship to the language/reading centres must be carefully considered to make them mutually supporting.

(24.17)

333 There should be a national centre for language in education, which includes the teaching of English in all its aspects, from language and reading in the early years to advanced studies with sixth forms. Its siting and funding should be decided by consultation between the Secretary of State and interested parties.

(24.18)

A number of developments have taken place in recent years in the area covered by our field of inquiry, and some of these are reviewed in the relevant chapters. Many of them have been the result of teacher activity at teachers' centres, in associations, and in in-service training work, and some have derived their impetus from the findings of research.

Generally speaking, there exists something of an uneasy relationship between research and teaching. The findings of research studies are not always pertinent to the problems of teachers or of much practical value in the classroom. On the other hand, some have had considerable relevance and a great deal to offer to schools and yet have not been taken up. It is sometimes said of teachers that they ignore research findings, and of researchers that they fail to respond to the day to day problems of the classroom. There is clearly a pressing need for better communication and a closer understanding, and we would go so far as to say that it is more important to achieve this than to initiate yet more investigation in fields that have already been heavily researched. We do not suggest that there is no room for further research in English in general and in reading and language development in particular; far from it. However, we have allowed our conviction on this vital question of co-operation to temper our general recommendations about research. There is much that remains to be learned; but there is much that has been learned that remains to be used.

Educational research in this country takes three main forms: survey, fundamental analytical research, and action-research. Examples of the first are the NFER's national assessment of reading standards and the National Child Development Study's long-term study of a group of 15,000+ children born in March 1958. Such surveys are characterised by the selection of a large sample of children upon whom a mass of data is collected and analysed and correlated. The researchers may then extrapolate from their findings certain implications for future action. Fundamental analytical researches

[page 553]

are generally more limited in scale but deeper in intensity. They vary too widely in type to be easily summed up, but they form the great bulk of research studies in education and are the ones with which teachers are most familiar. Many analytical research studies have produced information of very great value and we have had reason to be grateful to some of these in the course of our inquiry. There is no doubt that the best research of this kind has done and continues to do a great service to reading, language development, and other aspects of English. It is nevertheless true that a substantial number of studies contribute little and lead teachers to say that they confirm the obvious and yield nothing that makes anyone the wiser. The third form is action-research, which is not simply a programme of action with a built-in form of evaluation but consists of a complicated interplay between action and research at all points. The researcher is involved from the outset with the individual or group responsible for action, and dialogue between them is intrinsic to the process. A notable example of action-research in this country is the Educational Priority (1) programme, set up in 1968 and funded jointly by the Department of Education and Science and the Social Science Research Council.

The Plowden Committee examined the relationship between research and educational practice and concluded that:

'Because education is an applied discipline, the relation between research and practice is and should be reciprocal. From studies of what individual teachers are doing, useful pointers can be obtained to fruitful directions for experiment and research: research in education or in such ancillary sciences as child development, social psychology, or learning theory will throw up ideas with which the innovating teacher can experiment. In this very important sense, research and practice are parts of a whole, and neither can nourish without the other.'

In paragraph 24.18 we recommended the setting up of a national reference point for language in education. This would be a centre concerned with the teaching of English in all its forms and at all levels, from pre-school language and early reading to advanced reading and sixth form studies. One of the functions we envisage for this centre is to make more widely known the findings of research and to promote co-operation between researchers and teachers. It would have the tasks of assembling information on research in this country and abroad, analysing research needs, supplying information at

[page 554]

all levels of demand, and disseminating the results of research and development work. Our own work has led us to the conclusion that none of these services is adequately developed at present. In the early days of the inquiry the Secretary and one of the members produced for the Committee a review of current research and existing research literature relating to projects within our terms of reference. This proved a considerable task, for information on this scale is not co-ordinated nationally. It brought home to us the need for it to be readily available, and we believe that this kind of co-ordination will become increasingly necessary if the most effective use is to be made of steadily accumulating information.

At various points in the Report we have indicated the need for further research into some particular topic. We debated whether we-should draw these together and augment them to provide a list of proposed, research projects. There seemed to us to be a good case for this, for we are aware that there are certain possible areas for research upon which our discussions did not touch but which clearly merit attention. We nevertheless decided against it, not least because of the likelihood that such a list might have a circumscribing effect. Rather than point the way for further detailed research we prefer to lay emphasis on the need for research and teaching to become more closely interrelated. We see as the first priority the need to give teachers greater insight into educational research, a process which should begin during initial training and find expression in in-service education. Wherever possible this should involve them in the research work itself, from collecting survey data to formulating and testing hypotheses and evaluating results. Secondly, we should like to see a change of emphasis in research within the field with which we are concerned. Many research studies have been, and continue to be, rather remote from the practical experience of teachers in the classroom. While fully acknowledging the value of much analytical research we should like to see more prominence given to research activity likely to have a direct impact in schools and a practical value for teachers.

1. Educational Priority: Vol. 7, EPA Problems and Policies HMSO: 1972.

While the Report clearly acknowledges that the teaching procedures we recommend will not be effective without the co-operation of those who are taught, I believe the implications of this precondition need to be further explored. I know a number of English teachers who are succeeding in fostering the initiatives of their students in such a way as to gain the fruitful co-operation of many who have hitherto been hostile to school and everything it stands for. They employ methods which seem to differ from the procedures we have recommended and yet, in my view, what they are doing is in the spirit of the best teaching of the humanities.

[page 555]

Their methods appear to differ from the procedures recommended principally in that they promote the development of language uses which are effective within the narrower context in which they operate and yet are not at this stage directed towards meeting the standards applied in a wider context (whether social or operational). They seem to me to be in the spirit of the best teaching of the humanities in that they are directed towards a student's better understanding of himself and his potential in a multi-cultural and changing society.

Such teachers should in my opinion be encouraged, since the pioneer work they are doing is likely to bear fruit either in modifying the educational system to accommodate the needs of these students or in preparing the way for such provision outside the system as we know it.

I realise that the problem I refer to affects all subjects of the secondary school curriculum and might well be judged to lie outside the Committee's terms of reference. Nevertheless, had there been time I should have welcomed a full discussion of the issue, both in view of its urgency and because work in English lessons may be crucial to any attempt to find a solution. The Report indicates at many points the links between a child's uses of language and the satisfaction of some of his deeply felt, usually unconscious, needs. In paragraph 1.9 the point is made in general terms ('English is rooted in the processing of experience through language'); in paragraphs 5.22 and 5.23 it is made with particular references to the 'consolidation' or 'assimilation' of experience in talk and writing; and it is made quite explicitly in paragraph 11.8 where we outline the satisfactions to be derived from writing. What needs to be further explored are the implications of all this for teachers who face the multicultural groups to be found in many of our secondary school classrooms.

I would emphasise that satisfaction of these personal needs is brought about by uses of language built directly upon the speech of the home, and does not depend upon compliance with more widely acceptable standards. In claiming this I take it as axiomatic that any spoken form of English, be it cockney or Creole or anything else, is capable of moving from an expressive into a poetic function - that it can produce spoken or written utterances that have the status of 'literature'. Expressive language (essentially the speech of the home) is the appropriate form, it seems to me, for the development of activities within a culture group. In poetic language a culture group embodies and refines its essential values, expresses its uniqueness, and in so doing makes that embodiment available for interchange within a network of culture groups. Transactional language, spoken or written, is the embodiment (at one level) of what is common across culture groups within a society - the language of government, of commerce and the professions, of information exchange in all forms from the most practical to the most theoretical. It is here, then, in the use of transactional language, that demands for widely acceptable standards of some kind ('Standard English', for example) are most obviously justified.

Clearly an individual pupil's needs, whatever his culture group, embrace all these uses, and a teacher's concern for him must reach to them. What is at issue is the teacher's priorities, his timing, his tact in the variety of situations that confront him.

[page 556]

While I agree with the main recommendations of the Report, I find myself bound to dissent from some of the conclusions reached by my colleagues on the Committee. The first concerns the opinion expressed in the chapter on Attitudes to English, where it is claimed there is no firm evidence upon which to make comparisons between standards of English today and those of before the war, and adds that there appears to be little substance in the generalisation that schools are promoting 'creativity' at the expense of the 'basic skills'. These statements, in my view, express a complacency about the teaching of English which is not in accord with some of the evidence which the Committee has received. One indication of declining standards in recent years was contained in evidence received from the Professor of English referred to in paragraph 1.3. He told us that distrust of formal teaching and formal structures of language has had considerable influence on the low standards of English among students today. He talked of 'the dilution of English teaching, and the reaction against spelling and grammar'. He stated further that students coming into higher education could often be described as semi-literate and he supplied samples of deplorable work to illustrate his contention. He also stated that standards for O and A Level are too low and need to be revised.

From another source the Committee has heard of schools where in the desire to foster creativity, it is held that children will develop the power to use language simply by being encouraged to speak and write, and that any critical intervention will stem the flow. Sometimes work of very poor quality is displayed in such schools, because it is believed that the child's spontaneous effort is sacrosanct and to ask him to improve it is to stifle his creativity.

My own observation in a number of schools leads me to the belief that in the zeal for 'creativity' by teachers today, there is not the rigorous critical marking of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors which there used to be, while the traditional systematic 'doing of corrections' is fast disappearing. This has led, in my view, to the wretched solecisms exhibited in students' written work, and I believe that the Committee should have made even more of the unfortunate side-effects which the policy of free, uninhibited creativity has engendered. It must be admitted that if teacher-students are as deficient in basic writing skills as our evidence suggests, it can be fairly assumed that the standards of those who do not aspire to be teachers must be correspondingly, dangerously low. The Committee should have been alive to this probability and have stated its concern unequivocally. It could also have been stated with greater force that the more competent children are in the trained accomplishments of spelling, punctuation and the grammatical arrangement of words, the more likely are they to write vividly, gracefully and tellingly, or in short - creatively.

My second point of dissent with the conclusions of the Committee concerns standards of reading. Here I feel more attention has been given to explanation of the limitations of the tests used in national surveys than the subject warrants. The tests may be inadequate but they are the only ones we have. I disagree with the statement that it is questionable whether it is a profitable

[page 557]

exercise to compare present-day standards of reading with those of before the war. It is only by such comparisons that we can assess the value of the methods used in the schools, and parents are anxious about such matters. Some will wonder perhaps why the Consultative Committee of 1931 stated that for most children the process of learning to read should be nearly finished by the time the pupil reaches the age of seven, and yet by 1966 the report of the National Child Development Survey showed that 44 per cent of 11,000 seven year olds needed the help in reading usually given in the infant school, and 10 per cent had barely begun to read. Others will have read the findings of Dr Joyce Morris in her reading survey of 1959 that among 3,000 children tested in the first year of the junior school, 45 per cent needed infant school teaching while 19 per cent were virtually non-readers. While these studies are discussed in the Report and the Committee agrees there is some evidence that children of seven are not as advanced as formerly in those aspects of reading ability which are measured by tests, I believe this is an understatement. My own experience, borne out by evidence from Mr GE Bookbinder, alluded to in para. 2.26, is that the average standard reached by today's child of seven was attained by the age of six and a half in 1938, and I believe the Committee should have made an urgent appeal for a return to the methods employed in schools before the war, which seem to have given children at that time a six months' advantage over their counterparts today. It may be true that by the time present-day children have reached the age of eleven, they have caught up the pre-war pupils, but this has only been accomplished by very great effort on the part of the junior schools, many of which make much use of part-time teachers in remedial reading work, a practice quite unknown before the war, when classes were very much larger and supernumerary staff were not available. Moreover, those children who are lagging behind at age seven, even if they do catch up eventually, have in the meantime lost all the accumulated knowledge which has been available to their more fluent peers, and this loss is irretrievable. While the Report advocates a critical reappraisal of the concept of reading readiness, I believe it should have gone further and condemned it as a notion conceived purely as a plausible explanation for pupils' reading retardation.

I am glad the Committee stressed the great advantages to be gained from early reading, but I would like to have seen an even more forthright appeal for a national concerted effort from teachers and their advisers to ensure an acceleration of the reading process in the early stages.

Thirdly, I am in disagreement with the majority of the members of the Committee on their reservations about arrangements by which pupils are streamed or setted for English according to ability, and their belief that mixed ability grouping offers most hope for English teaching. The Committee did not commission a research study of the effects which these two different methods of organisation have on the standard of achievement in schools, and therefore to commend one and by implication reject the other, does not seem to me to be in the spirit of true inquiry. What evidence there is with regard to the effects of streaming is mainly in favour of it, and even the Plowden Report on the Primary School concedes there is some evidence which suggests that in the limited field of measurable attainment, achievement is higher in streamed schools. While we have no information which compares the results of streaming with those of mixed ability grouping in secondary

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schools, it must be obvious that as children grow older, differences in their inherent ability to cope with the demands of more difficult material, can only accentuate the disparity between the individuals who make up a class. Streaming by ability makes the work of the teacher easier and he and his pupils can therefore advance at a much faster pace. Moreover, it is clearly wasteful of time and manpower for teachers to be spreading their skill and attention thinly across wide spans of ability in separate unstreamed classrooms, when by judiciously arranging for pupils of similar capacity to be together, more homogeneous groupings can be achieved. Mixed ability grouping makes the teacher's work more difficult because he has the task of reconciling the eagerness of the gifted child with the unavoidable reluctance and occasional hostility of the dull one. As the Report acknowledges (para. 15.11), one of our witnesses pointed out the problems of mixed ability classes. He reminded us that in a first year secondary school form containing the full range of ability/the English teacher may encounter an extraordinarily wide spread of reading age (7-14) and an accompanying wide divergence in maturity of reading interest and taste. Although he did not say this, he was clearly suggesting that it is extremely difficult to fire a group of high ability children with enthusiasm for Shakespeare or Shaw in the same room as another group is struggling with 'Janet and John' or 'Little Bo-peep'.

It is sometimes advanced by those who favour this method of grouping that in the mixed ability class, the children of high ability will be anxious and able to help their less-gifted peers. If this argument contains any truth at infant school level, it most certainly does not apply in the secondary school, where with older children, embarrassment is likely to hamper the would-be helper, and resentment at being patronised may antagonise those who are in need of help. The Report rightly poses (para. 15.11) some penetrating questions that a school ought to be able to answer before introducing mixed ability grouping for English teaching. However, I believe it should have gone further and rejected such grouping as a practice. It seems to me quite illogical to admit that English teaching is rendered difficult in secondary schools by such factors as rapid turnover of staff, excessive use of part-time teachers and the poor qualifications of some personnel, and at the same time to recommend mixed ability grouping where the complexities inherent in the method are considerable.

The move towards mixed ability grouping in British schools is a recent one, and in my view, smacks more of social engineering than of educational thinking. Like the movement to abolish grades, class positions and pupil competition, it is really a manoeuvre to ensure that no one is seen to excel. Although the preference for this method was not shared by all members of the Committee, and is not recorded as such, I do not feel it should have been stated at all in the circumstances.

Fourthly, I would question the notion postulated in Chapter 4 that a child can learn by talking and writing as certainly as he can by listening and reading, for it appears to me that in its context it is being used as an attempt to promote the merits of 'discovery methods'. It is doubtful if children's talk in school does much to improve their knowledge, for free discussion as a learning procedure at any age is notoriously unproductive. As for children learning by writing, this seems a very doubtful proposition. The writer can only write

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from his present knowledge and experience and in the case of children these are very limited. It is true that if a child does some 'research' before writing he is learning by the process, but such an action is strictly 'reading' not 'writing'. Moreover, the Report itself acknowledges that much of children's so-called research in topic or project work is of little practical value. Quite often this work consists in the child seeking encyclopaedias or reference books, and copying out chunks of information without any selective consultation of sources.

It seems to me then that to equate 'talking and writing' with 'listening and reading' as instruments of learning, is to place a value upon the former that has no relation to the experience of practising teachers. I believe that reading is by far the most efficient means of learning, because in addition to its obvious worth in the acquisition of information, it has the additional use of formulating in the reader's mind the principles of the arrangement of words in an orderly sequence to convey their intended meaning. This is why it is so important to ensure that children learn the mechanics of reading at the earliest possible age and are then encouraged to read widely and discriminately, because fluent readers are likely to become fluent writers.

I believe the Committee is in error in putting undue emphasis upon talking as a means of learning language. It has its place, but in my view, one of the causes of the decline in English standards today is the recent drift in schools away from the written to the spoken word. As one author has said: 'The cynic may well see the modern trend to use the spoken language in teaching English, rather than reading and writing, as an implied failure of our educational system to teach reading adequately'. I fully agree with this conclusion.