Norwood (1943)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction

Part I Secondary education
Chapter 1 Nature of secondary education
Chapter 2 Secondary education as it is
Chapter 3 Secondary education as it might be

Part II Examinations
Chapter 4 Existing examinations
Chapter 5 The reorganisation of examinations (i)
Chapter 6 The reorganisation of examinations (ii)
Chapter 7 The Inspectorate

Part III Curriculum
Chapter 8 The curriculum in general
Chapter 9 Physical education
Chapter 10 Religious education
Chapter 11 English
Chapter 12 History
Chapter 13 Geography
Chapter 14 Mathematics
Chapter 15 Natural science
Chapter 16 Modern languages
Chapter 17 Classics
Chapter 18 Art, music, handicrafts
Chapter 19 Domestic subjects
Chapter 20 Education for commerce
Chapter 21 Wales and the teaching of Welsh

Conclusions and recommendations
Appendix A Note on the Central Welsh Board
Appendix B List of witnesses
Index

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

London: HM Stationery Office 1943

Chapter 1 The nature of secondary education
[pages 1 - 6]

What is secondary education?

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

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

We have some sympathy with the hesitation to give a precise definition to the term 'secondary', and indeed to 'primary'. It is easier, and perhaps in the long run more satisfactory, to describe than to define. We have viewed the problem thus: at the primary stage the main preoccupation lies with basic habits, skills and aptitudes of mind, using as data the veriest elements of knowledge which all children should be put into the way of acquiring; such instruction is adapted to the degrees of general ability of the children; attention given to special interests or aptitudes can be only tentative, since these have not yet declared themselves emphatically or constantly enough to justify such attention. In the secondary stage, on the other hand, the attempt is made to provide for such special interests and aptitudes the kind of education most suited to them; they may have begun to indicate themselves at least roughly in the last phases of primary education, or they may not declare themselves in such degree as to deserve attention till a different kind of education is encountered. It is the business of secondary education, first, to provide opportunity for a special cast of mind to manifest itself, if not already manifested in the primary stage, and, secondly, to develop special interests and aptitudes to the full by means of a curriculum and a life best calculated to this ends. Thus within secondary education there must be both diagnosis or prognosis and special treatment adapted to the particular case. At what age special abilities most generally declare themselves is clearly a matter of great importance for the structure both of primary and of secondary education; it is considered in its appropriate place.

Variety of capacity

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

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

Such pupils, educated by the curriculum commonly associated with the grammar school, have entered the learned professions or have taken up higher administrative or business posts. Whether the curriculum was designed to produce men of this kind we need not enquire; but the assumption is now made, and with confidence, that for such callings a certain make-up of aptitudes and capacities is necessary, and such make-up may for educational purposes constitute a particular type of mind.

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

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

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

Within this group fall pupils whose mental make-up does not show at an early stage pronounced leanings in a way comparable with the other groups which we indicated. It is by no means improbable that, as the kind of education suitable for them becomes more clearly marked out and the leaving age is raised, the course of education may become more and more supple and flexible with the result that particular interests and aptitudes may be enabled to declare themselves and be given opportunities for growth. That a development of this kind yet lies to great extent in the future does not preclude us from recognising the existence of a group whose needs require to be met in as definite a manner as those of other groups.

Types of curriculum

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

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

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

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

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

Purposes common to various types of curriculum

Hitherto we have treated secondary education as that phase of education in which differences between pupils receive the consideration due to them. But when the boy with special interest in languages or art has been provided with an education which takes this interest into account, he still remains a boy. In other words, in spite of differences all pupils have common needs and a common destiny; physical and spiritual and moral ideals are of vital concern to all alike, and secondary education, whatever form it may take, must regard as its chief aim the satisfaction of all the needs of the child, both as a human being and as a member of a community. At the earliest stages there must be much that is common to the various types of secondary education, even as regards curriculum. For it would be a mistake to regard transfer from the primary to the secondary stage as a 'break': rather it is a process, and the transfer must be eased by a curriculum which carries over to some extent from the primary stage, and later takes on a more pronounced colour according to the type of secondary education chosen. Hence it would be reasonable that in the various types of school offering secondary education there should always be resemblances resulting from common purposes, but that in the early stages the resemblances should be stronger.

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

Secondary education as it exists in fact

Under the existing organisation of secondary education in this country the three kinds of curriculum which we have indicated have in fact been provided in the Secondary Schools, in the various types of junior technical schools and in the senior schools; within each type of school and within individual schools various kinds of courses have been offered. In so far as these schools assume, as they do, previously acquired skills and habits exercised upon the elements of knowledge and on that assumption go on to differentiate special aptitudes and interests and to cater for them, the schools are in fact secondary in character, using the term secondary to denote the second stage in education. Secondary education, as it exists in fact, already shows the diversity which we regard as essential to its health. The junior technical schools, though inadequate in number and equipment, provide varied opportunities; the senior schools, though only in an early stage of development, are showing enterprise in meeting the special needs of particular localities. With junior technical schools and with senior schools we are not specifically concerned, except in so far as consideration of them is necessary to the building of a single structure of secondary education, and we shall make no attempt to describe them in detail. The Secondary Schools show great variety as regards traditions, the aim and destination of their pupils, the interests and abilities of pupils, organisation and curriculum. Inheriting the tradition of the grammar school they have at the same time held to it and deviated from it: indeed they now display a variety which some critics would say has reached the point of confusion in aim and function. That there should be variety we regard as essential; willingness to recognise needs and to make the adaptation necessary to meet them is a sign of vitality in education. The question which concerns us, however, is whether, even amid the variety offered by Secondary Schools, the curriculum is really suited to all the pupils in them. Are the Secondary Schools, which have traditions and obligations of their own, attempting to satisfy needs which should be satisfied by other forms of education?