James (1972)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The third cycle
Chapter 3 The second cycle
Chapter 4 The first cycle
Chapter 5 Organisation and development of the system
Chapter 6 Summary of the report
A note of extension

Appendix 1 ATOs and other bodies supplying reports
Appendix 2 Sources of written evidence
Appendix 3 Sources of oral evidence
Appendix 4 Visits made by members of the Committee
Appendix 5 Training institutions and the teaching force 1962-70
Appendix 6 Examples of course structure for the DipHE
Appendix 7 A possible distribution of Regional Councils
Appendix 8 Training institutions: size and status
Appendix 9 List of recommendations

Index

Report by a Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, under the Chairmanship of Lord James of Rusholme

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1972
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Chapter 2 The third cycle
[pages 5 - 17]

2.1 Much of the argument of this report depends upon the proposals made for the third cycle. To none of our recommendations do we attach greater importance than to these, for they determine a great deal of the thinking which underlies the report as a whole. Any proposals to improve the methods by which a profession acquires new members must take a long time to become fully effective. Meanwhile, established members of the profession need opportunities to improve their professional status and standards. Many teachers at present are outstandingly effective and successful, have a clear understanding of their professional aims, and enjoy a high degree of satisfaction in their work. Others are less fortunate. It is no accident that teachers in the former category tend to be those who have had the benefit of in-service opportunities to extend their personal education and professional skills. It is all the more important, therefore, that every teacher should have access to such opportunities in the third cycle. The best education and training of teachers is that which is built upon and illuminated by growing maturity and experience. For this reason alone, the third cycle has prime importance.

2.2 The third cycle comprehends the whole range of activities by which teachers can extend their personal education, develop their professional competence and improve their understanding of educational principles and techniques. The term thus covers a wide spectrum, at one end of which are evening meetings and discussions, weekend conferences and other short-term activities, with limited and specific objectives and taking place usually, but not always, in the teachers' own time. At the other end are long courses leading to higher degrees or advanced qualifications, and requiring the release of teachers for full-time attendance at suitable establishments. At this end of the spectrum, too, may be periods of release to take part in curriculum development and evaluation, or in other projects and investigations. For some teachers, there may be periods of secondment to fields outside teaching, so that they may widen their experience and thereby enrich their contribution to the schools. Between lies a wide variety of courses and other activities, of different lengths and patterns, serving many different purposes. These activities may be part-time or full-time, or may include periods of both. They may take place entirely during school hours and require the release of the teachers concerned, or be entirely in the teachers' own time, or they may involve a mixture of both. For this large and complex field, it is clear that 'in-service training', however convenient as shorthand, is a very misleading term.

2.3 A great weight of evidence submitted to this Committee, orally and in writing, suggests that a much expanded and properly coordinated programme of in-service education and training is essential to the future strength and development of the teaching profession. We have been very much impressed by the unanimity with which a large expansion of in-service training has been urged by the associations representing not only the teachers who would directly benefit, but also the many different agencies who would have to provide the courses, and the local education authorities who, in large measure, would have to foot the bill. The arguments in favour of such an expansion are very strong. It is self-evident that pre-service education and training, together with the probationary year, can be no more than a foundation. In that initial period it is impossible to foresee, let alone to provide for, all the demands that may fall on the teaching profession in future, or on individual members of it during their careers.

2.4 There has, of course, already been a considerable expansion of in-service activities. Institutes of education, colleges, universities, polytechnics and other institutions of higher education have offered courses of further academic and professional education and have contributed directly or indirectly to short courses and activities. LEAs employ professional and advisory staff, promote the majority of short courses and provide facilities, including teachers' centres. They also maintain the majority of colleges of education, finance them collectively and pay or assist with the fees of students and teachers attending approved courses at independent institutions. The DES through HM Inspectors organises courses, largely designed to deal with issues which justify national emphasis, and in association with Institutes of education provides substantial part-time courses under arrangements recently introduced. All these parties are empowered to provide courses and facilities. Teachers, individually and through their associations, have often taken the initiative. So, too, has the Schools Council. Welcome though all this activity has been, it is widely believed that provision is still insufficient to cover more than a small part of the total need.

2.5 Weaknesses in the present arrangements are that facilities, inadequate in themselves, are not always well coordinated, so that even within a limited programme there may still be some wasteful duplication of effort; that existing courses are not clearly related to defined stages in an individual career or to the initial training which preceded it; and that responsibilities are often not clearly prescribed or understood. The inadequacy of present arrangements cannot be denied. Teachers, whose profession is so demanding not only of personal qualities but also of knowledge and skill, must have access during their careers to a series of opportunities for in-service education and training. To be effective, a pattern of opportunities would have to bring into a working relationship individuals, schools, LEAs, the DES and the institutions providing higher education and professional training. Later in this chapter there is an attempt to describe such a pattern, but first it may be helpful to identify more clearly some of the needs which it would be designed to meet.

The needs of the third cycle

2.6 In Chapter 3 it is proposed that what has hitherto been known as the probationary year should be included, as a largely school-based element, in the initial course to be followed in the second cycle. By the end of that cycle new entrants to the profession should have acquired a measure of confidence and skill to bring to their first assignments, which their early experience of teaching will confirm and develop. In building on the foundation laid by their initial training, teachers will acquire a clearer understanding of their own needs and problems. Later in their careers, fresh needs will arise and there will be new challenges. It is impossible to catalogue the diversity of needs that may arise. AlI that can be done is to illustrate, by a series of examples, how some of these needs may be identified.

2.7 All teachers ought to have opportunities to extend and deepen their knowledge of teaching methods and of educational theory. When special studies of teaching methods have identified improved techniques it is important that the results should be widely communicated to teachers in the schools. All teachers should have the opportunity to acquire a better understanding of the principles and methods of educational technology, especially if this was not imparted to them in initial training. All teachers need to keep abreast of the results of educational research and experiment, and to be informed about the use of new books, materials and equipment. Teachers in the primary schools - and those in secondary schools who are faced with illiteracy or semi-illiteracy in their pupils - will need to continue to improve their understanding and competence in the language arts, i.e. language development and the teaching of reading and writing. Although this deeper understanding, however much emphasised in initial training, cannot be fully acquired without prolonged experience, suitable in-service training, rooted in the experience teachers have already had, can be a powerful aid.

2.8 All subject specialists will need to refresh and extend their knowledge of their special interests, and general teachers to widen their command of the content of what they teach. The single-subject graduate will find gaps in his background knowledge of some parts of his subject, and he may be called upon to teach one or more subsidiary subjects in which he may understandably be less confident. There are many other ways in which teachers may wish - or need - to acquire new subject specialisms. Changes in curriculum may make new demands which teachers have to be equipped to meet. Particular examples of this are the introduction of modern mathematics, the development of science and French in primary schools and, in Wales, the growth of Welsh both as a subject of study and as a medium of instruction. Sometimes it may be a teacher's own choice to make a change. For example, a teacher of physical education may wish to develop a subsidiary subject or to reinforce a second subject which he is already teaching. There will be countless other examples of teachers who acquire new interests which they would like to develop as additional teaching skills.

2.9 Sometimes the acquisition of new subjects and skills may be dictated not so much by the inclinations of the teachers as by the needs of the schools. From time to time, shortages occur in particular subjects, such as science, mathematics, physical education for girls and religious education. It may well be that shortages of this kind will persist or recur in the future, so that some teachers will be asked to teach subjects for which their education and initial training has not prepared them. There are a number of other changes and adjustments that teachers may need to make. In recent years, for example, the teaching of young children has failed to attract - or, at least, to retain - enough new entrants, but fortunately there are many women and a few men who are drawn to this kind of work after experience with other age groups. There will be other teachers, of course, who move from primary to secondary work. Teachers need further training if they are to make changes of these kinds, especially if in future (as is suggested in Chapter 3) the objectives of the initial course are limited by making the training more specialised and functional.

2.10 There are other skills which it would not be desirable to include in initial training because they are better developed on the basis of some experience of teaching: examples are librarianship, careers advice and counselling. Some teachers turn to the teaching of children who suffer from some form of handicap. Teachers of some kinds of handicapped children are required to possess special qualifications, for which in-service facilities are needed. For others, this is not the case. It is suggested in Chapter 3 that a few colleges should provide in the second cycle training in the education of handicapped children, for those students with an early vocation to this kind of work. But some teachers will discover this vocation after they have started teaching, and will need access to the right kinds of training. There are also the special demands of teaching in multiracial schools. An understanding of the multicultural nature of society should feature in any general education but it would be difficult to give all intending teachers practical experience in multiracial schools, and it would be unrealistic to include in all initial training a study of the teaching problems involved, since many teachers would not encounter them at the outset of their careers. It would be sensible for suitably placed training institutions, and other professional centres of the kind described below, to include specific preparation for this kind of work in the second year of the second cycle, and for third cycle provision of appropriate courses to be given a high priority in areas where it is required. In the third cycle, too, there should be opportunities for immigrant teachers to equip themselves to teach in British schools,

2.11 Without moving from their schools, teachers may have to adapt themselves to important changes. New teaching methods, the introduction of new elements into the curriculum, movements of population or other local factors may change the character of schools and the nature of their work, Developments in local and national policies may have radical effects upon the way of life within particular schools. Examples of this are the preparations for the raising of the school leaving age, the introduction of first and middle schools and the reorganisation of secondary schools. Changes of this kind create problems of adjustment which in-service training facilities can do much to ease, but they are perhaps problems (although on a larger scale) of the same type as those which the individual teacher may encounter when he moves from one school to another. He, too, may have problems of adjustment - to new styles of organisation, different methods of teaching, different kinds of children. The help he needs in his induction into a new post, modest though it may be in terms of resources expended, is also an example of third cycle activity.

2.12 More substantial problems are involved in the induction into the profession of re-entrants, perhaps after an absence of several years. Re-entrants of this kind should have a high claim on in-service training facilities - preferably before, or very soon after, their return to teaching. The largest group of re-entrants consists of married women, whose absence to have children of their own has left them out of practice and out of touch with developments in curriculum and method. A period of part-time teaching can do a great deal to help such teachers and part-time retraining, side by side with part-time experience, can be at least as valuable as, and often more convenient than, full-time secondment to training courses.

2.13 The introduction of compulsory training for graduates means that in future all new teachers in the maintained schools will have received initial training. But there will still be a number of graduate teachers - and, in further education, non-graduates - who have not had professional training and may now wish to repair the omission. In so far as any training they receive will be 'initial' it could be held to be part of the second cycle, but its timing will place it in the third. For a number of years, teachers in this category may represent a large element in the demand for third cycle facilities.

2.14 Much the same is true not only of the many existing FE teachers, graduates and non-graduates, who have had no professional training but also of the many new entrants who lack formal professional qualifications. Any courses given to teachers in either category would be 'initial' training and thus, strictly, a second cycle activity, but it would be training given to teachers after appointment and, in some cases, after considerable teaching experience, The timing of the training, the nature of the courses and the arrangements made for mounting them and for releasing teachers to attend them, make it more convenient to consider such training as part of the third cycle. Pre-service training for FE is discussed in Chapter 3.

2.15 Many teachers in schools and colleges will gain promotion as heads of departments, deputy heads, deputy principals, heads or principals and it is right - for them and for the institutions in which they work - that they should be given adequate and systematic preparation for the larger responsibilities they have to assume. In their new posts they will have to lead staffs whose combined knowledge and experience is far wider than their own, and will have to coordinate and direct the talents of these teachers to the best advantage of the schools. They will need to develop a clear idea of the aims and functions of their schools or departments and to assess the present and potential contribution of those serving under them. For this role - managerial as well as professional - the right kind of training is of great importance. Moreover, the teaching profession is rightly regarded as a recruiting base for other related occupations: for example, educational psychology, educational administration, LEA advisory services, HM Inspectorate and the professional training of teachers. Teachers with ambitions in these directions will look for opportunities to prepare themselves and it should be possible within the third cycle to meet at least some of their needs. The several years' operation of the FE Staff College provides some experience on which further developments could be based.

2.16 Many witnesses have urged the importance of wider opportunities for research, not only for the staff of colleges of education but also for practising teachers. A great deal of educational research must make use of direct observations of school situations and the experience of practising teachers, but the conduct of research - especially of fundamental research - requires special skills and techniques and a degree of detachment not easily reconciled with the day to day demands of a teacher's work. The term is generally used, however, in a much wider sense, to include, for example, the studies in depth which experienced teachers may wish to make into particular aspects of the nature and development of children and the techniques of teaching and learning, or special studies, linked with social and community work, of the personal problems of individual children. The term also includes investigations and development projects, not least the projects sponsored by the Schools Council, in which many teachers have already been involved, The staff of colleges and schools should have the fullest opportunity to initiate or take part in such activities and the staff of colleges of education (as well as of UDEs) should have opportunities to undertake suitable 'pure' research projects. Research workers who come into the schools to pursue their studies should collaborate fully with the teachers concerned and the teachers who are involved in this way should be those who are interested in, and in sympathy with, the objects of the research. Teachers who particularly wish to take part in this kind of activity should have in-service opportunities to familiarise themselves with research techniques. 'Research' in its widest sense includes the evaluation which all schools should regularly make of their own activities, to keep under continuing review both their objectives and the results they are achieving.

2.17 Included in the third cycle must be opportunities to obtain degrees, higher degrees and advanced professional qualifications. During the next few years there will undoubtedly be heavy demands for in-service courses leading to degrees. Most non-graduate teachers will probably tend to choose BEd courses, even though the BEd in its present form may not always be as suitable and helpful as some other advanced professional qualifications. It is argued in Chapter 3 that, with the adoption of our proposals for the second cycle, there should no longer be a need for the present BEd degree as an initial qualification, but we would very much hope for its retention, and perhaps wider application, as an in-service award. There is little validity in the present distinction between Supplementary courses (designed for teachers with only two years' initial training), Advanced courses (leading to advanced professional qualifications) and BEd courses for serving teachers. The demand for Supplementary courses is of course diminishing rapidly. If Advanced courses are rigorous and substantial, and no less demanding than BEd courses, as many are, the status of the award should not be any lower. Courses of equal rigour and relevance should attract the same award, irrespective of the formal qualifications possessed by candidates at the beginning. We would very much hope that all degree-granting bodies would consider the award of the BEd degree for continuous and substantial work of high quality, lasting one year full-time or its part-time equivalent. Such an award might replace many of the existing advanced diplomas. It is hoped that awarding bodies will not think it necessary to restrict such courses to teachers with specified qualifications or length of service, and that employers, too, will make no such stipulations. The courses should be related to the needs and experience of practising teachers, and entry to them should be based solely on the suitability of the candidates and the availability of places. In courses leading to further professional qualifications, it would seem unnecessary to insist upon the inclusion of an academic subject. Successful candidates would receive a BEd degree, which for those who already held degrees would be a second 'first degree'. It is hoped that degree-granting bodies would give sympathetic consideration to existing holders of those advanced qualifications which were being subsumed in the new award. There will be a continuing need for a higher degrees in education, including research degrees.

2.18 In Chapter 3 it is suggested that some teachers of high quality, having been awarded the proposed professional degree of BA(Ed) after successful completion of the second cycle, should have the option of returning to one of a few selected training institutions for a further year, to take a course leading to the award of an MA(Ed). This further year might be immediately after the second, largely school-based, year of the second cycle or might follow one or more years of additional teaching experience. In either form it would clearly be an in-service qualification.

2.19 Even this brief discussion of third cycle needs points to the wide variety of courses required, but the best way of meeting some of the requirements is not necessarily by providing formal courses. For a careers teacher, for example, a full-time or part-time course might be supplemented, or replaced, by an organised period of work in the personnel departments of local industries and commerce. For a teacher of science or engineering, whether in a school or in FE, a period of full-time secondment to industry might be a worthwhile alternative to a formal course and an effective means of bringing himself up to date with new techniques and practices. A language teacher might benefit most at some stage in his career by residence abroad, a teacher of music or art by activities in his own line, not necessarily related directly to teaching, and a subject specialist by a term in a university, college of education or FE institution in which he could work in a different environment If experienced teachers could sometimes spend a term in a UDE or college of education, running courses in which they communicated their experience to young teachers, the benefits to all could be very great.

2.20 Any scheme for the third cycle should be flexible, as well as being as systematic and comprehensive as possible. The application of such a scheme would depend on the development, very largely from existing resources, of a network of new agencies, on the use of facilities for further and adult education and on access to adequate advisory services. It would also have implications for existing institutions and organisations, not least for the schools. The next section discusses these questions.

Institutional requirements and implications

Implications for the schools

2.21 in-service training should begin in the schools. It is here that learning and teaching take place, curricula and techniques are developed and needs and deficiencies revealed. Every school should regard the continued training of its teachers as an essential part of its task, for which all members of staff share responsibility. An active school is constantly reviewing and reassessing its effectiveness, and is ready to consider new methods, new forms of organisation and new ways of dealing with the problems that arise. It will set aside time to explore these questions, as far as it can within its own resources, by arranging for discussion, study, seminars with visiting tutors and visits to other institutions. It will also give time and attention to the introduction of new members of staff, not only those in their first year of teaching but all those who are new to the school. Heads of schools, heads of departments and other senior teachers should be especially concerned to assess the needs both of their schools and of teachers on their staff and to encourage teachers to take the opportunities offered outside the school for in-service education and training, whether these involve part-time day release, attendance at full-time courses or participation in vacation, weekend or evening activities.

2.22 It would be unrealistic to expect hard-pressed schools to take on additional responsibilities without an increase in teaching staff. Nevertheless, this degree of involvement in the purposes and practices of the third cycle is a responsibility which the schools will not wish to evade. It is fortunate, therefore, that there is now a prospect of a steady increase in the supply of teachers. A high priority should be given to improving staffing ratios so that schools are able to play their full part in the third cycle and thus help to raise the status and standards of the teaching profession as a whole. As soon as better staffing and the expansion of full-time courses allow, all teachers should be entitled to release with pay for a minimum of one school term or the equivalent (a period of, say, 12 weeks) in a specified number of years. The immediate aim should be to secure teachers' entitlement to a minimum of one term or the equivalent in every seven years, but this should be regarded as only an interim target. As soon as possible, the level of entitlement should be raised to one term in five years. It would be undesirable, at least initially, to make in-service education and training compulsory. It would also be undesirable to offer direct financial incentives to take training courses, except insofar as these courses led to qualifications recognised by the Burnham Committee as justifying salary additions. It is to be hoped that teachers would soon come to regard continued education and training as a normal and welcome feature of their professional careers. Meanwhile, an entitlement to in-service training on the scale suggested should be included in every teacher's contract of service.

2.23 The secondment of all teachers for one term in seven years, if evenly spread, would nominally represent the release of 5 per cent of the teaching staff at anyone time. The reality, however, would be very different, since the teaching force always includes a substantial number of teachers who will not remain in service long enough to be concerned with opportunities for further training and many teachers approaching the end of their careers may not choose to take training courses. Although all teachers should be strongly encouraged to take up their entitlement, there is no doubt that if the training were voluntary some teachers would choose not to do so. In practice, it is unlikely that the number of teachers released at anyone time would exceed about 3 per cent of the teaching force. Nevertheless, this would amount to a formidable burden and would create problems of organisation, particularly for small primary schools, and for specialist subjects. In some cases the employment of more part-time teachers, or the temporary full~time employment of existing part-time teachers (often acceptable to married women) might ease the problems. In others it might be necessary to increase the number and types of permanent relief staff or to make inter-school arrangements. Whatever the difficulties, they should be faced. The substantial improvement in staffing ratios now in prospect should help a great deal but, whatever improvements were made, a systematic programme for the third cycle, on the lines suggested here, would undoubtedly require the rearrangement of timetables and the redistribution of responsibilities, in ways that would often be difficult and inconvenient.

2.24 There is no general agreement on the most appropriate length for full-time courses in the third cycle. Nor can there be, in view of the widely differing needs to be covered. At present such courses normally last either one term or one year, although there have been experiments involving six-weeks or half-term courses with a number of schools releasing staff on a Box and Cox arrangement. Precise patterns should not be prescribed but it is important to emphasise that a teacher's entitlement to in-service training should be satisfied only by release for substantial courses, each of which should last at least four weeks full-time, or the equivalent in a coherent and continuous part-time course. Courses acceptable for this purpose would be those designated by the new regional bodies proposed in Chapter 5. Any evening, weekend or vacation courses or other short-term activities which might, or might not, involve release from school should be in addition to the basic entitlement. Many teachers already give up their own time to attend courses designed to improve their professional competence. There is no doubt that they would continue to be willing to do so. The development of longer and full-time courses should not be bought at the expense of those valuable short-term activities, which should themselves be expanded considerably. Indeed, it might be necessary to devote to them alone resources equivalent to the total now expended on third cycle courses of all kinds.

2.25 Every school should have on its staff a 'professional tutor' to coordinate second and third cycle work affecting the school and to be the link between the school and other agencies engaged in that work. Whether the professional tutor were the head or deputy head, as might be the case in a small school, or a designated member of the staff in a larger school, it would be important for all teachers designated as professional tutors to be among the first to be admitted to third cycle courses, so that they could be trained for their new tasks. Among the responsibilities of the professional tutor would be that of compiling and maintaining a training programme for the staff of the school, which would take account both of the curricular needs of the school and of the professional needs of the teachers.

Implications for FE colleges

2.26 In the same way, each FE college should have a suitably qualified member of staff designated as its professional tutor, with similar responsibilities for drawing up a training programme for its staff, All FE teachers in full-time service should have the right to third cycle facilities on a scale not less than that suggested above for teachers in primary and secondary schools, and the many part-time specialist teachers who work in FE should have opportunities to take suitable part-time courses of education and training.

2.27 Very many teachers for FE are recruited from other occupations and bring their accumulated experience of industry, commerce and the public service to their work in further education. In most cases, it would be unreasonable to expect them to undertake full-time courses of pre-service training, on students' grants in place of the salary they have been receiving hitherto. Instead, they should have opportunities to take professional training after their entry into service and, as soon as possible, they should be formally required to do so. The practical problems of immediately introducing compulsory training for all new entrants to FE teaching would be formidable, and its scope and application must initially be limited. As a first step, only entrants proposing to teach mainly the 16-19 year old age groups should be obliged to train and the amount of training might have to be quite restricted. They might be required to take, during the first two years of service, training courses amounting to not less than three months full-time or the equivalent, and wherever possible such courses should include an induction period of not less than three or four weeks full time. As more training resources were made available, the requirement for these teachers could be gradually extended to the equivalent of a second cycle course (i.e. a year based on a training institution, followed by a year of practical experience with regular release for further training) during the first five years of service.

2.28 For staff recruited to other teaching in FE there should again be the opportunity, and eventually the requirement, to take training courses during the first two years of service, amounting to not less than three months full-time or the equivalent and, once again, the training should include a short course of full-time induction. The introduction of compulsory training, even in the gradual way suggested here, would bring into even greater prominence the need to offer in-service opportunities to existing teachers in FE establishments of all kinds.

Professional centres

2.29 The provision and management of a programme of third cycle activities on the scale proposed here, together with the training to be given to 'licensed teachers' in the second, largely school-based, year of the second cycle, as described in Chapter 3, would depend upon the existence of a country-wide network of centres, for which the title 'professional centres' is suggested. Existing professional institutions (colleges and departments of education) would normally include the functions of professional centres among their other functions, that is, in addition to their responsibilities for the first year of the second cycle and for first cycle work, but there would also need to be other centres as described below. The existing professional institutions, in assuming the functions of professional centres, would be even more widely involved than at present in a range of in-service work. They would be the main providers of full-time substantial courses, including those leading to recognised professional awards. They would become centres for expertise in learning and teaching and for curriculum development, would act as channels for interpreting the results of educational research and, in some cases, would conduct research themselves. They would make use of the part-time services of experienced teachers and LEA advisers. Their close contact with serving teachers in the schools, and especially with licensed teachers, would be of great benefit in helping them to evaluate and modify their own training procedures.

2.30 For the proper development of tile third cycle, and to ensure that licensed teachers in the second year of their second cycle training were given the help they needed, it would be essential for all schools and FE colleges to have easy access to at least one professional centre. For this reason, there should be, in addition to the centres in existing professional institutions, other more widely dispersed centres. These would be maintained by LEAs, and in many cases developed from existing teachers' centres or placed in schools or FE colleges. The various forms of in-service training for FE teachers would make it particularly important to establish professional centres in polytechnics and other selected FE establishments, as well as in the present college of education (technical), but these centres should also be open to teachers from the schools. The institutions in question would often be able to run educational, as distinct from professional, courses which teachers from the schools would choose to follow as part of their third cycle activity. Even more important, there would be opportunities to offer professional courses which were suitable both for some FE teachers and some teachers from secondary schools: courses of this kind would not only encourage a welcome exchange of experience but would also be relevant to new and developing patterns of education for adolescents.

2.31 The number, distribution and size of professional centres (other than those based on professional institutions) would depend on local circumstances. Although there can be no hard and fast rules it is important that each centre should serve a sufficient number of teaching staff in schools and FE colleges to be economically and professionally viable, without becoming so large that teachers in the institutions with which it was associated could not develop a sense of personal engagement in its work. The extent of a local professional centre's responsibilities must obviously determine its need for accommodation. It should have its own basic premises and equipment and would need to have access to a workshop, tutorial rooms and common rooms as well as to books, materials and equipment. For many purposes, however, it could share supplementary and specialist resources with other professional centres or with other institutions, and make use of facilities, such as laboratories and gymnasia, in schools with which it was associated. Only rarely, at least during the early years, should it be necessary to envisage establishing new purpose-built professional centres.

2.32 All professional centres would have a general training role in relation to the schools with which they were linked. While it would plainly be very important that they should be consistent in achieving high standards, professional centres would vary in their emphases and specialisms. The regional organisations would recognise and approve professional centres for specific purposes, and it would be an important part of their coordinating and rationalising function to do so. All professional centres, wherever based, would need approval for general purposes but the length of their list of 'special approvals' would depend upon their size, their areas of excellence and the resources at their disposal. In a densely populated area in which there were several centres it would be sensible to encourage some centres to specialise in particular subjects, in addition to their general role, while other centres specialised in others. Rationalisation could go further than this: it would be open to the proposed regional agencies and their coordinating national body to designate regional, multi-regional or national centres for particular purposes. For example, a large institution with exceptional resources in science and languages might serve the immediate area for general purposes but be designated as a centre for science and languages for the region or a group of regions, and as a language centre for the whole country. Lists of all approved professional centres, and the purposes for which each was recognised, would be published and kept up to date by the regional bodies.

2.33 To obtain recognition, professional centres would have to achieve standards laid down by the regional bodies, in terms of staffing, facilities and other resources. Unless a centre satisfied the professional criteria defined by its regional body, it would not be able to function as a professional centre. Local professional centres would have close links with professional institutions accessible to them and would look to them for support and access to library and other facilities. They would have management committees, representative of the teachers in the schools and FE establishments in their locality, as well as of any training institutions with which they were associated, their providing LEAs and their regional bodies. Each would have a full-time warden, of at least senior lecturer status, who would be selected by the centre's management committee, approved by the regional body, and paid by the LEA. He would have an independent role and his chief responsibility would be to draw on all available sources to meet the training requirements of the teachers served by his centre. He would be supported by some full-time staff and by a panel of part-time tutors, drawn from experienced teachers in schools and FE colleges as well as from college and university lecturers and LEA advisers. The supporting staff would also be approved by the regional body. The warden should himself have time for study, reflection and 'training' for his task. There should be opportunities, for him and his full-time colleagues, to spend some time teaching in schools nearby. Teachers in the schools, in return, should be enabled to contribute to the work of the professional centre.

2.34 Professional centres, whether based on professional institutions or elsewhere, would become a forum for the exchange of ideas, information and experience, between new and experienced teachers, teacher trainers and LEA advisers. They would cover most of the day to day training requirements of the schools they served, and many of them would house, or arrange, more substantial courses. The third cycle courses and other activities run by these centres would be mainly for home-based students. It should be possible to cater for most of the needs by providing locally-based courses, although for some purposes (for example, courses for teachers living in thinly populated areas and special courses at regional or national centres) residential facilities would be required. They would not, however, be needed on a large scale and the prospective reduction in the number of initial training places required should make it possible to provide them without undue difficulty.

Other resources and facilities

2.35. The system outlined here would work in conjunction with other resources and facilities. Access to resource centres and library services, for example, would be important and the value of these services to practising teachers would be enhanced if there were established links between them and the centres to which teachers went for third cycle activities. The important place of LEA advisers in the new system has already been mentioned. They are in close touch with schools, will be aware of their day to day problems and able to assess needs as they arise and to make or suggest immediate arrangements to meet them. The extent to which LEAs are able to employ advisers is bound to vary, but after the forthcoming reorganisation of local government all LEAs should be able to employ a sufficient number of advisory staff. Advisers should work closely with professional centres of all kinds and should be able to enlist their help and advice, as well as themselves offering part-time help as tutors, examiners or members of committees.

2.36 The services of specialists from university and polytechnic subject departments would be enlisted in the provision of courses of subject refreshment for specialist teachers in schools and FE establishments. The Open University could also be a powerful influence in the third cycle, by developing specialist materials and in-service courses, e.g. in the teaching of reading. The programme of third cycle opportunities would not be confined to courses and activities specifically designed for teachers, but would include courses offered by FE establishments of all kinds, university extramural departments and other adult education bodies, as well as the Open University's degree courses.

Administration and finance

2.37 The administration and financing of third cycle facilities on the scale suggested here would need to be well planned and coordinated. There would have to be effective means of identifying requirements, assessing priorities and devising programmes of the various activities, within the available resources. For this, and for the purposes arising from the other proposals in this report, there would be a continuing need for a structure of regional organisations developed from, and replacing, the existing ATO system. The constitution and powers of these new bodies, and suggested arrangements for administration and the allocation of resources (for the third cycle, as for the other activities of the system) are discussed in Chapter 5.

Conclusion

2.38 To implement the proposals made here for the third cycle would be a major new departure, of profound importance to the future of education in this country. It would involve bringing into partnership diverse agencies - schools, universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, advisory services, teachers' centres, resource centres and further education institutions. The establishment of such a planned partnership would be more productive of quality and probably more cost effective than any other measure proposed in this report or in the evidence submitted to the Inquiry. Of all our recommendations, this deserves the highest priority.