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 2 Secondary education as it is
[pages 6 - 15]

In this chapter we propose to address ourselves to the question raised at the end of the last chapter: 'Do the Secondary Schools provide the kind of education best suited to the needs of the pupils now attending them?' To that end we consider first the ideal which distinguishes the schools in the grammar school tradition from other types of secondary education, namely those given in junior technical schools and senior schools; we then sketch the way in which the grammar school has tried to express in terms of curriculum its own ideal; This sketch takes into account recent changes in curriculum and examinations and proposals for further change. We shall then review the criticisms, favourable and unfavourable, made upon Secondary Schools, and finally we shall set out the conclusions to which our survey leads us.

The distinguishing feature of the grammar school

We resist the temptation to recount the history of the grammar school and its curriculum. Its origins and development have been set forth in many places, but we would refer in particular to the first chapter of the Report of the Consultative Committee on Secondary Education [Spens 1938], which contains a brilliant account of the subject. We are concerned here with what in fact is the distinguishing feature of grammar school education, remembering that existing Secondary Schools inherit and hand on the grammar school tradition.

The distinguishing feature of the grammar school for our present purpose lies in the intellectual ideal which it upholds as best suited to a particular group of pupils. We repeat what we have already said: the mind suited by a grammar school curriculum is interested in learning for its own sake; it can take in an argument or a piece of connected reasoning, is interested in causes, whether on the level of human volition or in the material world: it cares to know how things came to be as well as how they are; it is sensitive to language as expression of thought, to a proof as a precise demonstration, to a series of experiments justifying a principle; it is interested in the relationship of related things, in development, in structure, in a coherent body of knowledge. To such a mind the application of knowledge may be of great importance, but it does not rest content with a limited application to set problems; it is prepared to fill in the interstices between principles readily applied with principles less easily applied in order to make a logically complete and systematic structure. It is willing to suspend judgement, recognising that sound criticism must be informed; it is willing to be detached in attitude in order that criticism may be impartial and free from sentiment. In short, it has that prerequisite of all successful pursuit and use of knowledge, the power and the will to ask relevant questions.

For a mind showing promise of this kind the grammar school has traditionally provided a curriculum which it regards as appropriate. In considering what is appropriate the grammar school has immediate regard for the full development of the mind of the pupil with which it is concerned and for the contribution which such a mind when developed can make to society: it is not immediately and directly concerned with training for a particular occupation clearly envisaged. Yet, though it is concerned to do justice to the kind of pupil committed to it, it realises that the whole personality cannot be expressed in terms of mind, and while carrying out its special responsibilities it discharges also those duties to its pupils which it shares with other forms of education. It has believed that it fulfils its special responsibilities best in the interest of individual and society by introducing the pupil to the main departments of human thought and activity and by familiarising him with the subject matter and the methods and the limitations of those departments. It has held that the experience of the past is necessary to the understanding of the present and relevant to the planning of the future, that the experience of the past is to be found in its literature and the record of its achievement, and that the extension of experience at which education aims can be profitably and effectively brought about for its pupils partly through the study of books. In short, the grammar school upholds an ideal of disciplined thought promoted by an introduction to the main fields of systematic knowledge, which is valued first for its own sake and later invoked to meet the needs of life. Whatever else it may do for the pupil, and it must perforce do much besides, it must hold fast to this ideal, for in justice to its pupils and the future it cannot be content with less.

We have indicated the distinguishing feature of the grammar school in terms of an intellectual ideal. But we are far from asserting that this is the only ideal which the grammar school sets before itself or its pupils. Nor do we imply that this type of school alone values the intellectual. We mean that in the grammar school the pupil is offered, because he is capable of reaching towards it, a conception of knowledge which is different from that which can be and should be envisaged in other types of school; in other respects the ideals of all types of school are generally similar, though the measures taken to achieve them may vary.

The ideal of grammar school education has not been remote and beyond reach; the history of learning and letters and science, of administration and government and industry, as well as the aspiration and achievement of ordinary folk testify to its influence; it is an ideal which the country cannot afford to lose.

Its expression in terms of curriculum in the past

The origins of the Secondary School curriculum lie far back in the past and are not necessarily tainted for that reason. For our present purpose we need not go back further than the beginning of the present century. At that time the typical Secondary School offered a curriculum which may shortly be described as follows: mathematics and languages, particularly Latin, received the greatest stress; French occupied a recognised place; history and geography were taught with varying degrees of emphasis. There was instruction in English, though often of a formal kind. Natural science was beginning to make its way into the timetable, but was uncertain as to its aims and methods and cramped for lack of time and facilities. Divinity formed a part of the work of all forms. Games were played, and drill and gymnastic exercises, often under an ex-army instructor, constituted physical education. Art was taught in the lowest forms. music generally flourished, if it flourished at all, in musical clubs and glee societies; handicraft, if taught at all, was confined to the lowest forms. The school was organised as a rule in two 'sides', classical and modern, the classical side taking chiefly Latin, mathematics, French and perhaps Greek, the modern side giving time to French and German, mathematics and natural science. Apart from the division into 'sides', there was little choice of subjects and little variation of treatment to suit different needs.

Judged by modern standards this curriculum offered an education which was overweighted on the intellectual side; it often neglected unduly certain fields of knowledge as, for example. natural science, and certain important aspects of human experience, as, for example, the so-called 'aesthetic' subjects. Its treatment of subjects may have been mistaken, but it maintained an ideal of intellectual effort and a disinterested attitude towards knowledge.

The curricula of the Secondary Schools today

It is not easy to say what curriculum is typical of the Secondary School of today. A curriculum may include strong emphasis on foreign languages or on natural science and mathematics; on the other hand only one foreign language may be taught and there is some feeling in some quarters that even that should not be obligatory on all. English has secured a place in the curriculum of all pupils; history and geography appear in the timetable of most pupils, but one of them may be given up as the last year of the main school course is approached. Art, music, and handicraft most usually find provision in the early forms; in the fourth and fifth forms they are finding an increasing place, though not equally in all schools yet. The curriculum may be such as to prepare pupils for entrance scholarships to universities, with the choice of career yet to be made; on the other hand instruction in shorthand, typewriting and bookkeeping may be given with the object of immediate entry into commerce. For some pupils the horizon of occupation is remote; for others it is close at hand and the course of instruction is adapted accordingly.

Yet variation of curriculum finds necessary limits; for entry into the universities and into many professions depends upon the possession of a School Certificate carrying the necessary endorsements, and business houses also largely demand this same certificate. Hence the curriculum is closely linked with the examination. On the other hand, as newer subjects have increasingly asserted a claim to a place in the curriculum and have been found more appropriate than the older subjects for certain types of pupils, constant pressure has been exerted to accord them a place in the examination and to relax the regulations and conditions which have governed the choice of subjects which qualify for a certificate. The result is that within the framework of this examination there is considerable latitude and the alternative courses possible for pupils in the same school may differ very widely, though a minimum number of subjects is required from all candidates. These changes in curriculum and examination have been made to meet the greatly increased variety of needs and the enlarged range of ability, both in kind and degree, which are manifested in the Secondary Schools. Thus increased numbers in the Secondary Schools have resulted in a growing variety of types of pupils in them; their needs have been progressively met by an expanding range of subjects which is now too wide for many schools to provide; at the same time these developments have modified the conditions of the examination which crowns the secondary course below the sixth form.

The diverse functions of the Secondary School

This brief sketch is sufficient to show that the Secondary School of today aims at fulfilling many more functions than the grammar school of forty years ago. Not only does it retain the ideal of grammar school education in the interest of some pupils, but it also takes into account the needs of many pupils for whom that ideal is not the most appropriate and who in actual fact do not undertake a programme which would afford the means of achieving it. In fact, the obvious inappropriateness of the grammar school curriculum for many pupils now in Secondary Schools has forced those concerned with education to rediscover an old truth - that the curriculum must fit the child, and not the child the curriculum. This is the motive behind much of the change, both as regards administration and examination as well as regards curriculum, which has recently taken place; this is a truth which in our view must be kept in the forefront of educational reform, and which is one of the basic principles underlying the recommendations of this report.

Our immediate concern, however, is with the heroic attempts which the Secondary Schools are making to realise this fundamental conception of education and with the degree of success which they may be achieving. At this point, therefore, we should take account of the views, unfavourable and favourable, which are held as to the success of the Secondary Schools in discharging their manifold tasks.

Criticisms of the Secondary School, favourable and unfavourable

From the nature of the case the comments contained in the evidence submitted to us tend to be unfavourable rather than favourable, for the critics are more concerned to point to defects than to assign credit or praise. But it is also clear that in their view there is much to commend in the achievement of the Secondary Schools and their purpose seems to be rather to make a good thing better than to condemn root and branch. Our attitude is similar; if we pick out adverse criticism in our evidence, it is to discover how far it is true and, if it contains truth, to suggest a remedy. Most of the critics point to the particular weakness which they detect from their own point of view; if for convenience of presentation we combine their criticisms, we realise that we are painting a much more sombre picture than any of them individually would desire. The picture would be as follows. The curriculum is traditional; in so far as it has a basis, it rests upon a conception of a liberal education which is outmoded and a psychology which is unsound; a liberal education is now held to include vocational education, and new ideas in psychology have destroyed whatever justification the old curriculum may have had; the traditional programme has not kept pace with advances in educational thought, or in psychological enquiry. Throughout the Secondary School course it is assumed that it will receive the crown of a university career; for this end subjects are included in the curriculum and related as they are, and to this end is directed the handling of them individually. Yet only a small percentage of pupils reach the objective assumed throughout their course; the remainder, to whom the purpose underlying their education is irrelevant, must necessarily leave school ill-prepared for the life and work which lies before them; they leave clutching as their most precious credential for their work a certificate which under certain conditions would qualify them for entrance to a university. Apart from the objective of the curriculum, the subjects themselves are too many; new subjects clamour for admission and are admitted, though fitted in with difficulty; the result is congestion of the timetable and confusion of aim, too much being attempted and too little being performed. There is lack of flexibility, individual needs are neglected; too many subjects are carried up to the same level and they are carried up not as essential parts of a unity, but as a meaningless congeries [a collection of things merely heaped together], gathered together by tradition or chance or pressure or caprice. The subjects themselves are handled too rigidly; they make little contact with each other or with life or reality or future occupation or interests; examination requirements cast their shadow over all; the acquisition of information is given undue importance; a premium is put on memorisation; power of judgement remains untrained; second-hand opinions pass for knowledge. We could continue at equal length to record the criticisms which have been made to us of the pupil who has passed through this curriculum, but we feel that too frequently the critics lay to the account of the schools the faults which are inherent in the immaturity of boyhood and girlhood. We will merely record that the criticisms of handwriting, spelling, and the use of English, oral and written, are too general to be ignored.

The criticism is strong, but there is much to be said on the other side. Head masters and head mistresses would easily and justly provide an impressive body of evidence to the contrary and could give chapter and verse from their own school, its curriculum, its teaching and the record of the achievement of former pupils. On the intellectual plane the Secondary School has maintained in some fields and raised in others a standard of scholarship which cannot be reached without good native ability in pupils and sound teaching on the part of teachers. It has sought to develop powers of body and mind, and to train in self-discipline and cooperation, in industry and hard work; it has held up ideals of independence and resourcefulness. In doing all this it has achieved, we believe, more success than some critics allow. If further evidence were needed to prove the qualities of the Secondary Schools, the history of the last three years would provide it. If we said that their boys and girls have shown themselves ready to undertake whatever tasks came their way, to stand up to hardship and discomfort, and worse, with courage and cheerfulness, and in the things that matter have shown themselves capable and steadfast, we should be saying what is true, but claiming no more than can be claimed for all the youth of the country. But the pupils of the Secondary Schools have also shown themselves enterprising, adaptable, and capable of meeting in quantity and quality the very special demands made in new developments of applied science and of linguistic study. It is not too much to say that, if a demand of similar range had been made in the last [First World] war, it could not have been met; in this war it has been met. That is one very real measure of the achievement of the Secondary Schools, and it goes to show that some of the comments of the critics have been found on the severest test that can be applied to be untrue.

We devote the next paragraphs to a consideration of some of the criticisms which may contain truth; but we would first observe that some of the criticism comes from members of the teaching profession itself. This is clearly a good sign; for, if within a profession there are those who are aware that all is not well, one of the conditions necessary for the remedy of defects is already forthcoming, and there is no reason to think that awareness of defects is not accompanied by the will and ability to remove them.

The criticisms considered

In many respects the curriculum of the Secondary School is traditional; in spite of this, however, it has not remained static but has admitted within itself much change in outlook and method; that further change is desirable we do not deny. It may in the past have been associated with a psychology which is now in some quarters considered to be unsound, but it is not a necessary consequence that the curriculum itself is basically unsound; it may have been the right thing, though for the wrong reason, and the experience of schoolmasters that through it they are doing a good work for their pupils is not lightly to be set on one side.

It is true that the Secondary Schools look towards the university and the professions; they would fail in their duty to an important proportion of their pupils if they did not. As it is, there is not the slightest doubt that the Secondary Schools have abundantly served the interests of those of their pupils who looked to the professions and to the universities.

Further, it is by no means proved that, for a certain type of pupil not going up to the university, education up to a certain stage in the same classroom with future university scholars is in itself a bad thing or is not in their interest or the interest of the country. We ourselves should regard it as eminently desirable that the cleavage between university candidates and the ablest of the remainder should not be drawn clearly: each can gain much from each, and the presence in the nation of a section of the public which has been educated with pupils of great academic ability is in itself to be desired. But we should agree that too many who have sat in that classroom have found a curriculum which was not the best adapted to their needs. Indeed we strongly suspect that part of the criticism directed against the curriculum is really directed not against the curriculum itself but against its suitability for many of the pupils now in the extended Secondary Schools of the country. With this point of view we agree. The grammar schools naturally offered a curriculum in accordance with their tradition; as secondary education attracted more and more children, the needs to be met grew more numerous and diverse. The schools have done what they could; much anxious thought has been given to the so-called less academic pupil and for him many adjustments of machinery and relaxation of requirements have been made. Nonetheless a condition of tension and strain still remains, and the question is whether further adjustment within the existing framework is possible, whether it could go far enough and whether it would be successful.

Again, we suspect that some of the criticism which complains that the curriculum is not related to 'real' interests or is 'not closely enough in touch with reality' is occasioned by regard to the proportion of pupils for whom the grammar school curriculum is not suitable; but it is often so used as to appear to condemn the curriculum in respect of all pupils. The meaning of the phrases deserves more examination than can be given to it here. To deny reality in the realm of ideas is to fly in the face of history as well as modern experience, and never more so than at present when 'ideologies' certainly cannot be said to be without significance. But leaving on one side the philosophical difficulties of the phrases, we would say only that what is 'real' varies with types of pupil and with individual pupils. It would certainly not be in accordance with facts to assume that, because a curriculum which deals largely with things that can be seen and touched, with immediate environment, with practical skills and the world as it now is makes its appeal to the real interests of some pupils, it necessarily appeals to all. Many pupils do in fact have their interests met by the kind of curriculum which the grammar school provides and find in history, literature and language or mathematics and natural science a lively satisfaction of their needs. It may be entirely true that some subjects need to relate their content more closely than they do to the active experience of pupils, but this is criticism not of the suitability of the subject but of the method of its treatment.

The criticisms upon the handling of subjects seem to us to have some truth in them; but again the causes which have contributed to this result are intelligible and removable. Under present conditions a large number of subjects is of necessity carried to the same level and increasing demands are being made for new subjects and for the encouragement of a number of interests, social, intellectual, artistic, and of varied activities not contemplated some years ago. The demands upon the time of teachers and taught grow continuously greater. As the school widens its sphere of interest, the time available for each of the many subjects regarded as necessary grows less: it is nicely adjusted to examination needs and little opportunity is available for digression or for that leisurely study which may be so profitable or for thoroughness for the sake of thoroughness. We suspect, too, that sometimes the value of drill and mastery has given way to appeal to spurious interest.

There is however one criticism to which we would direct special attention. From all quarters, universities, professional bodies, firms and business houses, training colleges and many other interests and many individuals we have received strong evidence of the poor quality of the 'English' of Secondary School pupils: this weakness has been stressed even by those who might have been expected to be concerned chiefly with other aspects of secondary education. The evidence is such as to leave no doubt in our minds that we are here confronted with a serious failure of the Secondary Schools. The complaint briefly is that too many pupils show marked inability to present ideas clearly to themselves, to arrange them and to express them clearly on paper or in speech; they read without sure grasp of what they read, and they are too often at a loss in communicating what they wish to communicate in clear and simple sentences and in expressive and audible tone. If this complaint is true - and we are left no option but to believe it true - it deserves the most earnest attention of the schools. The causes of failure must be sought out and the objectives and the methods of English teaching must be overhauled. In the chapter which we give to English we have attempted to indicate in general terms some of the causes as they appear to us and to suggest the nature of the remedy; but, whether we are right or not in our diagnosis and prescription, we would urge that the success of the Secondary Schools in one of its most vital aims is here impugned, and that the causes and the remedy must occupy the most serious study on the part of all teachers engaged in secondary education.

Some of the criticism of the Secondary Schools concerns the influence of the two examinations, the School Certificate and the Higher Certificate examinations, upon the curriculum and the handling of its constituent subjects and the outlook of teacher and pupil. This is a question which we examine later at greater length than is appropriate here, and discussion of it is not essential to the drawing of certain general conclusions from the survey of secondary education which we have attempted.

Conclusions

In this rapid survey we have tried to be just - just to history and the facts of the situation, just to the schools, pupils and teachers, and to the critics. The truth seems to us to stand out quite clearly: the Secondary Schools, which alone have provided full time education up to and beyond the age of 16 years, have often been asked to do too much.

At the beginning of the century secondary education meant grammar school education: forty years later secondary education officially so recognised and named means the education provided in Secondary Schools which inherit the grammar school tradition. In these years, however, secondary education has gradually altered its meaning so as to denote a stage in the educational process rather than a type of educational programme. This alteration has been brought about, partly, by change in educational theory and ideals, partly, by the increased demand for a stage of education which would go beyond the elementary or primary stage. Into the causes of that demand we need not enquire.

The Secondary Schools, being the sole repositories of recognised secondary education, have had to provide for the needs of the pupils who entered them. They have in our opinion faithfully maintained their inheritance, but at the same time they have had to enlarge their horizon immeasurably to cater for very diverse abilities and interests; nonetheless they have been confined by limitations arising partly from their own nature and partly imposed from without. Because they have been asked to do too much and to serve too many ends, there has inevitably been compromise. Yet the very need to do justice to their various kinds of pupils has forced into the foreground the importance of the principle of child-centred education. Hence the search for new curricula; hence the pressure to relax examination regulations, for under existing conditions the schools cannot suggest that some of their pupils should not seek the Certificate sought by the rest. Meantime a curriculum on the whole suited to some is condemned because it is unsuited to others. That the schools have done their utmost to do justice to all their pupils is undeniable, but there comes a time when adjustment achieves nothing more and when compromise defeats all ends.

The time has come, we believe, when the real meaning of secondary education, the significance of child-centred education, the value of the grammar school tradition, the difficulties of the present Secondary Schools should all be recognised and admitted. This means that within a framework of secondary education the needs of the three broad groups of pupils which we discussed earlier should be met within three broad types of secondary education, each type containing the possibility of variation and each school offering alternative courses which would yet keep the school true to type. Accordingly we would advocate that there should be three types of education, which we think of as the secondary grammar, the secondary technical, the secondary modem, that each type should have such parity as amenities and conditions can bestow; parity of esteem in our view cannot be conferred by administrative decree nor by equality of cost per pupil; it can only be won by the school itself.

From one type of education to another there should be ease of transfer, particularly, though not exclusively, in the early stages, for the transition from primary to secondary education is not a break but a process in which special interests and aptitudes have further opportunity of declaring themselves and of meeting with appropriate treatment.

Only on some such reorganisation of secondary education can the needs of the nation and the individual be appropriately met. The existing Secondary Schools would continue to perform their proper task without distraction; the secondary technical schools would receive an access of pupils well able to profit by the courses which they provide; the modern schools still in process of formulating their aims and methods would gain the scope necessary to them to fulfil the promise which they already show, and we do not regard it as impossible that eventually pupils of over 16+ may be found in them. What we are concerned with here and now is that the three main types of secondary education would be free to work out their own spheres of usefulness; all would gain and not least the individual child.