Newsom (1963)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction, Principal recommendations

Part 1 Findings
Chapter 1 Education for all
Chapter 2 The pupils, the schools, the problems
Chapter 3 Education in the slums
Chapter 4 Objectives
Chapter 5 Finding approaches
Chapter 6 The school day, homework, extra-curricular activities
Chapter 7 Spiritual and moral development
Chapter 8 The school community
Chapter 9 Going out into the world
Chapter 10 Examinations and assessments
Chapter 11 Building for the future
Chapter 12 The teachers needed

Part 2 The teaching situation
Chapter 13 What should secondary imply?
Chapter 14 An education that makes sense
Chapter 15 Attainments and achievement
Chapter 16 The subjects and the curriculum
Chapter 17 The practical subjects
Chapter 18 Science and mathematics
Chapter 19 The humanities
Chapter 20 School organisation and staff deployment

Part 3 What the survey shows
Chapter 21 The 1961 survey
Chapter 22 The boys and girls
Chapter 23 The work they do
Chapter 24 The men and women who teach them
Chapter 25 The schools they go to

Acknowledgements

Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Sex education
Appendix III Deployment of teachers
Appendix IV Letter to Minister on teacher training
Appendix V Statistical detail

Index

A report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England)

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1963
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Chapter 6 The school day, homework, extra-curricular activities
[pages 41 - 51]

'Our students (young girls attending day-release classes in a very large firm) fall into two broad categories, (a) the smaller number who are busy people, with lives full of interest and activity: (b) the much larger group who are just rather bored with life in general. The second group are well aware of this boredom, and obviously uneasy and unhappy about it, but fiercely resent having attention drawn to it. They find every excuse for not having hobbies or worthwhile pastimes, and assure you that they are far too busy for anything other than the routine pattern of life. When confronted with the suggestions that they might in the future be faced with a thirty hour working week, and, perhaps, six weeks holiday, they looked slightly stunned, then almost scared, and finally nonplussed.' Personnel officer.

120. A number of considerations lead us to advocate a rather longer school day for boys and girls in their last two years at school. At the age of fourteen and fifteen, the majority of boys and girls spend no more time in school than they did when they were seven. A disturbing number appear to leave school under-equipped in skills, knowledge and personal resources. A characteristic complaint of this group is that they are 'bored' - with school, with life outside school, and later with their jobs. The peak in the figures for juvenile delinquency persistently occurs in the last year before boys and girls leave school. All our evidence suggests that many pupils are capable of more sustained effort, and show themselves able to respond to opportunities of a larger range of activities. The schools on the other hand find themselves short of time in which to undertake all the things they know to be profitable. Finally, young people still have to face a much longer working day when they enter employment, and some bridging of this gap seems desirable.

121. How should any extra time be used? First, to incorporate into the total educational programme many of those activities which are now called 'extra-curricular'. The latter word occurs in our terms of reference, and we use it here for want of a better; but our whole thesis in this chapter is that the experiences offered by these activities should form an integral part of any liberal educational programme, and that a curriculum conceived only in terms of formal lessons is unduly restricted. We think heads of schools should have the time and resources at their disposal to be able to plan the programme as a whole, with activities inside and outside the classroom as complementary parts.

122. Secondly, some of the time might be used for what is really a special form of out of classroom activity, 'homework'. The term may be a misnomer for what we have in mind, but again we use it for want of a better. Perhaps some more appropriate name may be found if the concept of what is involved begins to change.

123. The abler pupils in secondary schools are regularly required to do a substantial amount of homework, which considerably lengthens their effective working day. But large numbers of pupils, and the majority of 'our' pupils, commonly do none. We are strongly of the opinion that all boys and girls would profit from undertaking some work for themselves outside what is done in lessons; we also think this work could, and for many of our pupils, especially, should, take more varied forms than what is conventionally recognised now as homework. The task to be undertaken might, for instance, be making a model, or finishing some project in the art or craft room begun in school time. It might be a chance to try some new skill or craft or, for those pupils who wished to learn typing, an opportunity for intensive practice which it may be difficult to provide inside the normal school timetable. It might consist in the group viewing and discussion of a film or television programme. It might be the preparation of material before giving a talk in class, or gathering information for some group project in school: obtaining the information might involve writing letters or direct observation and note making, or visiting a museum, an art gallery, the public library or the town hall. It could be working on the school magazine, or balancing the Young Farmers' Club accounts, or mapping the route of a coming school expedition. The possibilities are almost infinitely varied, and the tasks could be purposeful and demanding but adaptable to circumstances or to the pupil's capacities. They could be made the occasion for reading, calculating, recording and discussion, without being confined to the standard written exercises which traditionally make up a great deal of homework. Some of the work of the kind we have suggested could clearly best be done, and in some cases only be done, with the facilities and equipment available on school premises.

124. We realise that there is value in the pupils doing some work at home, wherever it is practicable: this is one important way in which parents can be kept in touch with what is being done in school, and it brings them into direct partnership with the schools in the business of education. Indeed, some parents, heads assure us, are demanding more homework for their children. But many other heads, especially of schools in difficult urban areas, leave us in no doubt at all that under the conditions in which some families are obliged to live, it is asking the impossible of parents and of children to expect homework to be done satisfactorily. Even where housing conditions are good, large families and small living rooms, or the open-plan design of many modern houses and flats, may make it extremely difficult for boys and girls to have reasonable privacy and quiet in which to concentrate on their work. And some of our pupils do not find concentration easy, even under helpful conditions. Some schools and local authorities have begun to try to meet this difficulty - which exists acutely already for some of the able pupils in grammar schools and elsewhere - by providing quiet rooms for homework, sometimes on school premises, sometimes in public libraries, and teachers have often been generous in volunteering to supervise 'homework' sessions. If all pupils were to do homework, there would certainly be a need to extend such arrangements. We would see them as part of a larger scheme of educational provision.

125. Most schools would agree with us in attaching importance to experiences offered outside the formal lesson programme. Already a tremendous range and variety of activities can be found. They include clubs and societies dealing with all kinds of interests: photography, stamp collecting, chess, model-making, boat building, gardening, angling, athletics and sport and games of all kinds; music, including orchestras and choirs, drama and film making - the latter taking very ambitious forms in some schools. There are enthusiastic groups studying local history or a foreign language preparatory to a trip abroad. There are plays and concerts, dances and conferences with neighbouring schools, and a host of enterprises which take place mostly in holiday times or away from the school premises - visits, expeditions, camps, holiday journeys and residential courses, including, among most recent developments, educational cruises. The list reflects largely the variety of interests and enthusiasms of the teachers who voluntarily direct such activities; it is also an indication of the support and encouragement given by the local education authority and by the pupils' parents.

126. School activities are not merely devices for keeping adolescents off the street, although in some streets it may be very desirable that they should. There are many positive reasons why 'extra-curricular' provision is important. For the individual boy and girl, it can mean the discovery of new interests. Some they may carry with them into adult life; others will vanish as quickly as many adolescent enthusiasms naturally do, but there may have been profit as well as pleasure in the experience. It is often a chance for the odd man out to come into his own, among the staff as well as the pupils, revealing an unsuspected talent; and for some of our pupils, especially, there may be a gain in confidence from being a member of a much smaller social and working group than is normally possible in class.

127. For the school as a whole, there is a strengthening effect, in bringing together pupils of different ages and abilities who may never work together in lessons; and in teachers getting to know their pupils in a different, more intimate companionship. The gulf which almost inevitably exists in class between teacher and taught, when the pupil is conscious of his lack of knowledge and skill in, say, mathematics, may be bridged when two enthusiasts indulge their hobby in the brass band. We quote from an account of a school visit made by some members of the Council.

'The most remarkable feature of the school was its vigorous musical life. The headmaster throws himself wholeheartedly into this ... because he has a great belief in music as a communal activity which brings together not only members of his staff and boys, but also the staff and girls of the sister school on the same site. Together they run a mixed school band and a mixed choir .... I watched the head give a trombone lesson to a little group of four boys from the lowest second year form. He obtained from them a remarkable degree of concentration and hard work inspired by enthusiasm. Some of the academically least able boys find a place in both the choir and the band. The present second comet, who is well down in the bottom fourth year form, is on the way towards being a professional bandsman'.

129. We share with many teachers a strong belief that 'extra-curricular' activities are not merely extras, in the sense of being pleasant but marginal to the main business of learning, although in terms of healthy pleasure and fun alone they would be important. Perhaps in the general sphere of social education, nothing could be more valuable to boys and girls growing up, than to learn how really to listen to each other, to argue robustly but with reason and good humour, and to tolerate differences of outlook without personal ill-feeling. Opportunities for experiences of this sort occur particularly easily through informal discussion in school clubs and societies. Some activities can provide direct extensions and illumination of what goes on in the classroom; and for our pupils, particularly, by generating a new impulse to learning, they may actually result in an improvement in basic attainments. The pupils who plan and write their own script, and shoot, process and edit their own film in a school club, are bringing into play applied skills in English and science and mathematics, as well as exercising their perceptions and judgement. Just as the pupils who go for the first time to a theatre or to a museum or into the countryside, in the company of someone who can help them to formulate their impressions, may become more articulate, as well as more knowledgeable.

130. Some of our evidence contained salutary reminders that visits cannot be guaranteed to produce the desired effects. 'They were fond of taking us on absolutely boring visits to the British Museum', is what one girl remembered of the teachers' well-intentioned efforts. The headmaster of a new secondary school serving a poor district tells the following story of an incident which occurred a few days after the pupils had made their first visit to a London theatre.

'There was a loud bang on my study door and in walked unannounced a lady, clutching a paper bag. "I have brought these" she said, and shot on to my desk a number of opera glasses - "I found my Charlie with one of these and when I asked where he got them he said he bought them at the theatre by putting sixpence in a slot in front of his seat. I didn't believe him and asked who else had got them so I've been round the houses and collected them because we don't want our nice school to have a bad name, do we?".'

131. The general case for a vigorous 'extra-curricular' programme is strong. But whereas one head can write 'After school at night the premises are full of boys indulging in all sorts of purely voluntary activities ...', another describes her 'grief and disappointment' at the meagreness of what it is possible for her school to offer. Evidence from our sample shows great disparity between school and school. The reasons for lack of provision vary. Where the pupils travel long distances from scattered areas, transport can present formidable problems. The nature of the school accommodation is another obviously limiting factor, and a large, new school with hall, gymnasium and good facilities for art, crafts, music and sports can be expected to offer much more than an old school in poor and cramped quarters. But the differences are not simply those of town schools and country schools, new schools and old schools, or of large schools and small schools.

132. Some of the most often quoted difficulties centre on staffing:

'We have few clubs and societies here, because my staff have no roots, or travel long distances; or have home responsibilities - husbands, children, aged parents.'

'Apart from games and athletics, there are no continuing school clubs or societies ... half the staff are married women with homes to care for, some with small children to collect from nurseries or schools.'

'The school has few societies, notably in sport and music. The contribution in other directions is less than I should like - this is due to the fact that many of the men do extra teaching of some form or another in the evening, and that many of the married women have commitments at home.'

'There appears to be a greater pressure of other interests which prevents teachers giving wholehearted attention to preparation, marking and out of school activities. These are earlier marriages with consequent domestic responsibilities: remunerative occupations out of school ...'

'A good deal of wasted effort is caught up in the attempt to interest the less able via societies and clubs; they seem no sooner launched than a change of staff renders the spade work useless.'

'Interest in school clubs is spasmodic. Up to this year we had a very flourishing angling club. Now, the master-in-charge contemplates marriage and the club is defunct. Similarly the PE club.'

134. To this inequality of the school situation must be added the inequalities of the outer environment in which boys and girls spend their time away from school. That the older industrial areas, with poor housing and few outdoor spaces, are at a disadvantage may be expected. What is not always realised is that some of the large new estates, although the housing amenities are good, may have few recreational facilities for young people or adults. In such neighbourhoods, as for rather different reasons in 'slum' areas, the school may have an important socially educative role in the community.

135. From all this we conclude that extra-curricular activities ought to be recognised as an integral part of the total educational programme, and secured where necessary by administrative provision. Several things follow: first, the school programme needs to be envisaged as a whole, with 'curricular' and 'extra-curricular' activities planned as complementary parts. Secondly, the regular school day should be conceived as extending beyond the nine-till-four limits. Thirdly, adequate account of this must be taken in the design and equipment of buildings. Fourthly, and most crucial, the implications must be recognised in assessing the total staffing needs of schools.

136. We have come somewhat reluctantly to the conclusion that if the school day is extended, some element of compulsion will have to be introduced into what are now voluntary activities. Otherwise, it will be impossible to plan the programme as a coherent whole, or to estimate the total needs in terms of staffing and facilities, and hence to justify additional expenditure. If school premises are regularly to be available over longer periods, with adequate supervisory staff in attendance, it becomes essential to know whether twenty customers or a hundred and twenty are normally to be expected. Moreover, many school buildings are used by evening institute and other adult and youth groups, and the total demand on the premises must be taken into account by the responsible authorities in their planning. It would undoubtedly be a pity if school clubs had to lose their essentially voluntary nature, but this would be partly offset by the fact that many schools would be able to offer a much wider range of regular activities than they now find possible; and a large element of personal choice could be preserved for pupils within the general requirement to take part in this side of the school's life. There is, too, to be considered the fact that some of those pupils who live in the most adverse environments, and who most need to be guided into healthy recreational pursuits, will not take part if these are on an entirely optional basis. In their case, the pressures of the area and of their homes may be all against the extension of educational activities, and just as, without the formal raising of the school leaving age, these are the boys and girls who will continue to leave at fifteen, irrespective of their abilities, so they are the ones who will have least to do with additional school activities, unless some definite requirement is made of them. At the same time, if the school day is to be lengthened at all, the schools must face an even more urgent responsibility to see that what goes on both in lessons and after them is genuinely rewarding: there is no point in merely extending the period of boredom.

137. A start might be made by requiring all pupils in their final two years of school to stay on for one or two 'extra' sessions a week, for any activity of their choice, and the choice could be very wide. They could be encouraged to stay on at other times to do their homework, to work for themselves, or to take part in additional clubs or societies or in occasional general sessions which brought several groups together socially. If the habit grew, and a pattern were established of a generally longer school day, then there would be opportunity for greater flexibility in the planning of the 'day' and the school timetable as a whole. Many sporting and athletic activities, for example, might be transferred to the early afternoon, especially in winter time, and some lessons take place in the later session. This would indeed be a blurring of the edges between the two parts of the educational programme, and would in some ways bring the county school nearer in the shape of its working day to that of the independent boarding schools. There would be ample scope for variety and experiment.

138. We have not felt it wise to specify the precise way in which the working day should be extended, because there is an obvious need to experiment with different patterns according to the local situation and the circumstances of the individual schools. Depending on the distance the majority of pupils live from their school, they might stay straight on at the end of the afternoon, with perhaps a short break for tea which they could very well organise largely by themselves; or they might go home for early tea, changing out of school uniform if they wished, as a mark of greater informality, and return later, to clubs and societies which in this case might extend into the early evening. Where the latter pattern was preferred, it would often be possible for boys and girls who had only just left school to continue with the sports or music or drama or handicraft they had enjoyed, at least for a year or so until they had had time to form new friendships and find new outlets for their interests in more adult groups. Putting older pupils, and young ex-pupils, into touch with local adult organisations clearly ought to be one of the school's objectives and where school premises are also used for evening institute, youth club or similar activities, some overlapping would not necessarily be a bad thing. The experience of the Cambridgeshire Village Colleges has shown that suitable provision for schools, youth groups and adults on the same premises is practicable.

139. Within the agreed general policy of the local education authority, a large measure of responsibility and discretion should be left to the head for evolving a programme best suited to the pupils and the local circumstances. In some cases, a group of neighbouring schools might work out a joint programme, pooling their resources. This could have especial value for adjacent, single-sex schools, bringing boys and girls together for some activities.

140. Written evidence we have received, as well as discussions with witnesses, leads us to believe that in some areas local education authorities and schools would be willing to experiment with the idea of a three-session day; that is, there might be two sessions, morning and early afternoon, corresponding to the existing formal school day; and a third session in which, on any one day, a substantial number of pupils would be on the premises engaged either in some piece of individual work or hobby, or taking part in various informal group activities. In addition, there would be many possible extensions of this to activities under the aegis of the school taking place elsewhere than on the school premises. We think it highly desirable that official encouragement - including financial support - should be given to some experiment. From a few pilot schemes, preferably in areas of different types, the possibilities and costs could be tested, and some policies formulated for more general application.

141. A decisive factor in any scheme would be staffing. Under the present system, many schools have been extraordinarily lucky in the generous voluntary service of the teachers in out of school hours. But, as our examples have shown, by no means all schools are as fortunately placed, and extra-curricular activities sometimes founder altogether for lack of people to lead them. We acknowledge the real difficulties which the schools face, but we do not regard the difficulties as insuperable. In our opinion, and we believe in the opinion of the large majority of teachers, these activities represent a proper part of the teachers' professional responsibilities in the education of their pupils, and we do not accept, for instance, that married women cannot be expected to contribute. Indeed, some schools assure us that married women members of their staff give invaluable service in this field. Married women with small children represent, we recognise, a special category of teachers for whom exceptions ought reasonably to be made.

142. At the same time, we realise that to extend extra-curricular provision for all pupils on a large scale, particularly if the school day developed on a three-session pattern, would in some schools be to risk placing an intolerable burden on those teachers who are already doing most, unless staffing resources were supplemented in some ways

143. It is clear that the total number of staff needed for one kind of educational activity or another would be greater. That, in a time of continuing and acute teacher shortages, must give us pause. But there might be room in the educational scene to draw far more on the special knowledge or skills of persons outside the school. Just as we should see some advantages, in bringing into the formal school programme people with particular talents and experience - nurses, social workers, people from commerce and from industry - to contribute from time to time to courses for older pupils, so we think that in the extra-curricular programme there might be even more room for enlisting individuals with special interests. If a group of boys and girls wants to take up photography or badminton or learn a musical instrument, persons other than qualified teachers may be well capable of instructing and inspiring the group. We might be able to supplement our valuable short supply teachers with other activity leaders, and at the same time effect a helpful interchange between the schools and the general community.

144. We note also with interest that in different parts of the country experiments are taking place in joint appointments of teacher/youth leaders or teacher/wardens, who are attached to the school staffs and who spend part of their time teaching in school, part of their time working with young people in the evenings. These are developments which might foreshadow a more flexible teacher's day and a different range of responsibility for some members of the staff. Quite apart from any possible reorganisation of the school day, we think it highly desirable that over the next few years thoroughgoing experiments in this type of joint appointment should be tried.

145. We recognise that the proposals contained in this chapter carry many implications for the total staffing resources of the schools, for conditions of service and for salary structure. Increased financial expenditure would certainly be required. The complex problems involved call for expert investigation in consultation with the professional bodies: we consider that such an investigation should be urgently undertaken.

146. There are many implications also for buildings and equipment. The designs of schools would have to allow for more continuous and intensive use of the premises in many instances. Social and recreational areas would assume a new importance, and have to be provided on a more generous scale than has been usual in the past. School provision would need to be planned in even closer conjunction than it now is with provision for other youth and adult needs. Closer administrative and financial cooperation would be required between the various authorities concerned with all the aspects of education and the social services.

147. Any local scheme would need to take careful account of existing youth service provision in the area. We do not regard any of the suggestions we have made as essentially setting up rivalries between school activities and those of other organisations for young people. In our own survey, rather more than half of all the boys and girls belonged to no club or society of any kind, whether school-based or organised by an outside body. Without advocating mere gregariousness as itself a virtue, it is safe to say that the total provision for organised activities for young people of this age group could with advantage be increased. Secondly, although a measure of overlapping between what a good school can provide and what a good youth club can provide is no disadvantage, in the main, the contributions of the two will be complementary rather than identical. Many young people, at different stages of growth, feel the need for support by belonging to groups of different kinds at different times. In addition to all the range of out of school activities which a good school can offer, there is probably always a need for contacts of a different kind for some pupils - particularly those who have not felt themselves successful in school.

148. Where schools and separate youth organisations share premises, there is everything to be said for the maximum informal consultation between the two, and for mutual assistance and consideration. Just as, if central recreational facilities under the youth service were being planned, it would be desirable to take account of the interest and needs of schools in the immediate area. Some of the staffing experiments we have advocated would tend to make for generally easier cooperation between the two services concerned with young people.

149. We ought not to close this chapter without reference to an extra-curricular development which a great deal of our evidence confirms is specially significant for our pupils. That is, the experience of living away from home for a short period, in a fairly small and intimate group, and in a novel environment. This is variously achieved through school journeys and expeditions, camps, or residential courses of different types, lasting, generally, anything from a weekend to a month. In an earlier chapter we noted with admiration the enterprise of many schools in this respect. It is not our purpose to describe here in detail all that takes place; but to draw attention to the particular values that such experiences may have for the pupils for whom we are especially concerned. We not not doubt their value for all pupils.

150. The residential courses (and we use this term here to refer to all residentially based activities) take many forms. Some of them lay great stress on strenuous, outdoor, physical activity: some schools successfully combine courses of this kind with work in school for the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme; and one school known to us in Scotland integrates an 'adventure course' with its normal curriculum. Other courses are based on field studies of local plant and animal life, geography, geology, or history. Others again may aim at introducing young people to new recreational interests - in art or music or drama, as well as in sports. And the shorter courses often take the form of conferences, dealing with a range of subjects and interests most likely to be of value to young people just before they leave school, including preparation for the transition to work. Variety is to be welcomed. Not all pupils' needs or interests are the same, and there would be nothing at all to be gained from uniformity.

151. Most, however, of these undertakings have important features in common. By introducing boys and girls to fresh surroundings, and helping them to acquire new knowledge or try their hand at new skills, they provide a general educational stimulus. Many pupils, including some who were far from successful in normal school work, seem to come back with a new zest for everything they do: one headmaster described girls returning from a three-weeks' residential course as 'having a sort of glow about them'. And we have been interested to see, in a group of case studies made available to us by one local education authority, that both the parents and the first employers of boys who took part in an exacting course in their last year at school subsequently remarked at their confidence and responsible attitudes.

152. There is little doubt that many pupils benefit from these experiences m their personal and social development. This is partly the direct result of living continuously in a small community: the less able and the more diffident pupils under these circumstances are encouraged and even obliged to play a more significant part than may normally be possible in the much larger community of the whole school. And in residential, even more than in other out of school activities, pupils and teachers enjoy a closer companionship. For the pupils who come from difficult home backgrounds and live in socially deprived neighbourhoods, these can be opportunities of special help. Girls, in particular, are often desperately anxious for guidance in matters of speech and behaviour, in dealing with everyday social situations and personal relations. For some, the mere fact of abstracting them from their normal surroundings is of great significance.

153. We have tried to gather information, with the help of many local education authorities, as to the scale on which residential provision of any land exists, and is used, throughout the country. Although we have received many helpfully detailed replies, it has proved impossible to arrive at any picture of the national situation. Local policies vary greatly, as between providing residential centres owned and maintained by the authority or leaving the schools to make their own arrangements through outside organisations. Costs to the providing authorities and to the parents also vary. The courses may be staffed by teachers from the schools, by permanent wardens at the centres, or by a mixture of both; some authorities, but not others, provide additional supply teachers for the schools, to replace members of the permanent staff who are away with a group of pupils on a course.

154. We could arrive at no approximate estimate of the total numbers of secondary pupils in any one year who participate in residential courses of any kind, or of the percentage of their age group they might represent in any given area. Least of all could we discover what proportion of 'our' pupils, as opposed to the academically more able boys and girls, actually took advantage of the opportunities available. But the impressions of a good many heads of schools suggested that, although the less able pupils were encouraged to participate, they generally did so in much smaller numbers. We noted, however, with equal regret, that some heads, while being keen to send their least able boys and girls, were reluctant to allow other pupils to miss even two or three weeks of normal school, because they were potential examination candidates - even though in some cases, the examination in question was more than a year away.

155. It was not possible to estimate how far provision matches demand - partly because demand itself is stimulated by the opportunities available. It was notable that some of the authorities who already appear to have the largest and most wide ranging schemes are also those who are planning to extend their provision to meet an ever-rising demand. One such authority has announced that 'convinced of the value of short-stay residential courses, the Committee have asked for arrangements to be made so that, in the course of his secondary school life, every child in the county has the opportunity of at least one short-stay residential course.' Another envisages ultimately establishing a number of 'boarding annexes' in different parts of the country, each assigned to a group of day schools; they would be used then not so much as centres for special courses, as regular extensions to school life.

156. We welcome these developments. We also consider it most desirable that as soon as possible a joint survey be undertaken by the Ministry and the local education authorities to establish accurately the scale on which provision is already available; how far it is meeting existing demand; and what costs would be involved in extending the provision to a much larger number of pupils, whilst preserving the variety of opportunities which is clearly so valuable in itself. We are in no doubt at all that many more boys and girls, not least among our pupils, could and would, respond to additional educational experiences of this kind.

Recommendations

(a) The hours spent in educational activities should be extended for pupils aged fourteen to sixteen. (para. 120)

(b) Some form of 'homework' - liberally interpreted - should be required of all pupils. (paras. 122 and 123)

(c) 'Extra-curricular' activities should be recognised as an integral part of the educational programme and secured where necessary by administrative provision. (para. 135)

(d) Some experiments by local education authorities and schools in different types of extension of the school day, including a 'third' session in the late afternoon and early evening, should be encouraged by the Ministry. (para. 140)

(e) The total demands on the staffing strength of the schools, and the possible implications for conditions of service, should be reassessed in light of these developments. (paras. 142, 143, 145)

(f) There should be more experiments in joint appointments of the teacher/youth leader type. (para. 144)

(g) The design and equipment of buildings should allow for extended use, including that by other educational and social services. The closest cooperation is needed between all the authorities and agencies involved. (paras. 146, 149)

(h) A joint survey should be undertaken by the Ministry and the local education authorities to establish accurately the scale on which provision for residential courses of all types is available; how far it is meeting demand; and what costs would be involved in extending the provision to a much larger number of pupils. (para. 156).