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 16 Modern languages
[pages 113 - 119. In the printed version this is Part III Chapter IX]

A rough estimate of the relative position of foreign languages to each other in the curriculum of the main school can be formed by a comparison of the School Certificate examination candidates for 1939; they were: French 93.1 per cent of the total entrants, German 13.2 per cent, Spanish 1.6 per cent, Latin 35.3 per cent, Greek 2.5 per cent; 355 candidates took Italian, 7 candidates Russian. These figures leave out of account pupils who did not take the examination and pupils in the sixth form.

Similar figures have been quoted in various quarters in past years to draw attention to the predominance of French and the relatively weak position of other languages in the curriculum of schools, and in the evidence presented to us a strong plea, which we support, has been made for a readjustment which would increase the number of pupils learning other languages, especially German and Spanish.

The position occupied by French needs no lengthy explanation; the historical relation of France and England, the connection of French and English cultures and their common origins - these in themselves account for the special place which the French language has maintained in English education. In addition, teachers trained in the French language have themselves trained their pupils to teach. French and a routine of French teaching has been set up. The question is whether as a nation and as individuals the British people can afford, on grounds cultural, international and economic, to neglect the languages of nations whose achievements are great in varied fields and with whom it must come into contact in the spheres of international relations and commercial dealings; knowledge and understanding of these nations is of no less importance for ultimate ends than knowledge of our nearest neighbour. To take but two specific examples, the literature and art of Germany and Spain, it may be urged, are worthy subjects of study; both have intrinsic claims comparable with those of French, quite apart from their great political and commercial importance; the languages provide the discipline and the emotional appeal which is demanded from the study of a language as a school subject; their practical value in industry and commerce is great, and in the national interest the need of men and women so trained must be satisfied.

And so the plea is made that there should be, not a new burden on the curriculum, but a gradual redistribution. As regards Spanish, the following proposals have been made to us:

(i) As new secondary schools are founded, Spanish should be adopted as the first (or only) modern language in a great number of them. Education authorities should be asked always to consider this.

(ii) In new post-primary (one-language) schools - and the raising of the school leaving age must increase their numbers - and in any elementary schools in which modern language teaching may henceforward be started, Spanish should, except for special reasons, be the language studied, since the chief aim here is to advance the pupil as far as possible in a short space of time, and in its early stages children can make more rapid progress in Spanish than in French or German. For schools of this type a specially constructed and simplified course should be used.

(iii) In secondary schools, where two languages are aimed at, Spanish should be in a considerable number of cases the first language studied. In every large urban area there should be at least one school in which Spanish is the first language.

(iv) Pupils of high linguistic capacity should be encouraged by teachers to study Spanish, whether as a first language, or as a second. Schools with a large proportion of such pupils should be encouraged by the Inspectors of the Board of Education and by local authorities to adopt Spanish.

(v) Such schools as are able at any time to switch over to Spanish as a first language, or to introduce it as a second language, should be given every encouragement to do so.

(vi) A liaison bureau should be created as soon as possible between the schools on the one hand and the Chamber of Commerce and larger business houses on the other. At the present time there is little correlation of supply and demand.

We think that the schools can make a real contribution to a wider knowledge of languages other than French and German for the purposes contemplated. But we are not convinced that they can achieve all that is demanded of them, or that, if they attempted to supply it, criticism of their product would not then be made on other grounds; we are in doubt as to the wisdom of some of the means suggested to realise the end in view, and we hold that a case has yet to be made for regarding any other modern languages and literatures to be in as close a relation to English literature and history as the language and literature of France and Germany.

A school can put a pupil into the way of learning a foreign language quickly and well; it can give him the general education and the groundwork which will fit him for the work he is to do, but it cannot provide the finished article. The foreign department of a bank or a business firm could not rely on the schoolboy's knowledge for the answering of letters or the transaction of business, nor could it place responsible negotiation in the hands of any salesman or representative travelling abroad who could claim so limited a knowledge of the language of the country in which he was to do business. For confident use of the language, even for interpretation of documents and letters received, a familiarity which will be sensitive to tone and to shades of meaning and nuances is indispensable. No school instruction can give such familiarity, for it can be acquired, in our opinion, only by residence in the country. If industry and commerce require skill of this kind, as we believe they do, they cannot look to the schools to provide it. The only reasonable course is that they should find the men whom they want and should enable them to learn the language in the country itself.

Again, it has been impressed upon us that the agent or representative of firms abroad needs other qualifications than ease in the language; besides personal qualities such as initiative and enterprise, he needs sympathy with ideas and an outlook different from those with which he is familiar at home; he must be alive to modes of thought and expression which are not like his own. We agree with this and hold that the best means to develop such sensitiveness is a wide knowledge of foreign languages. We should therefore consider a pupil to be best equipped if he had experience also of at least one language other than that of the country in which he proposed to take up occupation.

Thirdly, in the past the demand for pupils leaving Secondary Schools with a knowledge of Spanish or German has not been great; it may be greater in future. If Spanish, for example, became the first or only language in a large number of schools, it seems doubtful whether even the best of the pupils would be absorbed into posts in which the language would be used. In our view, public opinion would regard such a change as undertaken primarily for practical purposes, and failure to direct pupils so trained into suitable posts might well react unfavourably on the status of Spanish. It might be argued that a career should be reasonably assured before the secondary grammar schools were justified in making changes of the kind suggested, though this is not of course an educational argument. We have cited Spanish as an example; but the same considerations hold good of Portuguese or Russian or Italian.

Finally, we cannot view the matter solely as one of practical utility in terms of employment or career. The majority of grammar school pupils will not take up work in which a knowledge of modern languages will be the first or even a major requisite. If pupils who will go on to read modern languages at a university are disregarded, the great majority of the remainder can use a modern language learnt at school either as a tool in their further study of other subjects, or for the odd occasions on which it is of value to them or for pleasure or not at all. The needs of this majority have so far best been met, in our opinion, by French and German. France and Germany have profoundly affected English literature; in natural science, philosophy, art, political ideas and every branch of learning and every aspect of practical affairs their influence has been incalculable; at every turn French and German thought and language confront the educated reader and the intelligent citizen. If it is one of the functions of education to teach each age to know itself, then among languages now spoken French and German can at the present time rightly claim in our opinion chief role as teachers, though in the immediate future the balance may be substantially altered. We enter this caution because, though no one can as yet estimate with accuracy the range and the depth of the impact which Russia will make on the post-war era, it is probable that it will be real and deep, and a live education must concern itself with what is significant for the future. There is intense interest among the young in all things Russian, the literature, the art, the music, the ballet, as well as the political system. Yet it is not at present a matter of practical politics that Russian should become one of the languages studied in the early years of the secondary grammar school: it is possible that the language is in any case too difficult for this stage. But there is a good case, in London and the larger urban centres, for starting the experiment of two-year intensive courses in Russian in the sixth form: for the rest it is fortunate that much of what is best in the literature and thought of Russia is available in good English translations, and can be used by the teacher in many other types of lessons than those of modern languages. In saying that not much can at present be done in teaching Russian at school, because of the present dearth of teachers, if for no other reason, we are speaking of the present only. But even now we think it incumbent on all schools which keep their pupils to the age of 18 to make them acquainted with the ideals and the achievements which have changed the face of human society over a great area of Russia and Asia, and cannot be without significance to the coming generation; to be rightly and properly understood they must be studied in the unprejudiced atmosphere which should be characteristic of a good school.

To sum up, we think that, although a claim can be made both for the cultural and for the utilitarian value of any modern language, the traditional emphasis on French and German is still justified on educational grounds, though we would gladly see some redressing of the balance in favour of German. None the less we believe that the claims of foreign languages other than French and German should be fully and generously met, especially those of Russian and Spanish.

We would therefore make the following recommendations:

(i) French and German might be alternative more often than is the practice in schools; in particular German should be taken by science pupils.

(ii) Spanish should become a chief language in some schools and particularly in areas where commerce has special ties with Spanish speaking countries; such schools would become known as producing pupils with knowledge of Spanish, and firms in other neighbourhoods would satisfy their needs from those schools.

(iii) Courses of foreign languages beginning in the sixth form should become much more common than at present. Great progress can be made in a modern language by pupils who, beginning it at 16+, build upon a foundation of another language and the experience acquired in learning it in the earlier years; in particular German and Spanish and Italian lend themselves readily to this treatment, and we would suggest that under favourable conditions Russian should also be included. We believe that by this method several ends would be attained; first, commerce would obtain a more valuable recruit than the pupil who had devoted himself solely to one language; secondly, pupils intending to read modern languages at the university would have a groundwork sufficient for them to build on; others would acquire at least a reading knowledge of languages which would be useful to them as tools in their further studies or in occupations. We attach great importance to a development of modern language work of this kind in sixth forms.

(iv) Commercial and industrial firms should realise that, though the schools can give pupils a good start in foreign languages, they cannot bring them to the state of proficiency required for business purposes, and that it is for the firms themselves to make possible the only means of acquiring such proficiency, namely, residence in the foreign country itself.

(v) Schemes for foreign travel proposed in the interest of education or for the improvement of international relations should not be subsidised unless some specific purpose and detailed arrangements for its fulfilment have been thought out, and unless the greatest care in selection is exercised. Proposals have reached us suggesting that extensive aid should be made available to enable pupils who are still at school, or who have just left, to travel abroad. That English students should travel abroad more than in the past seems to us very desirable; but we suggest that little good and a poor return for money so expended is likely to result unless carefully selected students are sent with a specific purpose and the achievement of that purpose is insisted on.

Once a language has been begun it ought not to be given up within two years. We believe there are very few pupils (and they are likely to become fewer in grammar schools), who are unable to learn a foreign language with profit; it would be unfair to them to withdraw them from its study before they have given two years to it. Pupils vary as regards the ease with which they adjust themselves to the new surroundings and subjects of the grammar school; the teaching in the first year may fail to enlist sympathy and call out effort; the pupil himself, after a disappointing start, may come to discover what is required of him. Even a course pursued for only two years may make a contribution of value if planned as a general language training as well as the study of a specific language, and two years constitutes a first stage in which the simplest principles of language structure can be mastered and familiarity gained with a small working vocabulary.

It is sometimes suggested that, since all pupils in a school are not likely to make the same use of a modern language when they leave, there should be a different treatment of it to suit different purposes. To this we would reply that the earlier part of a well-planned course is so general as to be essential to all later study, to whatever purpose it may be directed, and therefore difference of treatment could scarcely be made with advantage till late in the main school course. In the later stage there might perhaps in a large school be a division between those pupils who should have a literary approach and those who need a practical approach; it is sometimes felt that by one group of pupils texts which lead to university work should be read, by another group informative books on the life and manners of the country concerned. Yet even so some of the material would undoubtedly be common; for there is no reason why a pupil destined for business should not gain some acquaintance with German poetry, while the future university student will certainly need to know something of the life and the geography of the country whose language he is studying. Courses of modern language reading directed to a special purpose, for example, natural science, should not be undertaken before the sixth form.

Finally, we would urge that, however courses of foreign languages are framed in the future, they should be worthwhile, exacting and dignified. It has been represented to us that, with greater freedom for the schools to plan curricula and courses for themselves, there may be a danger of syllabuses of work being adopted which offer superficial attractions but lack solid basis, which though encouraging and improving oral work may encourage glibness on trivial themes and the reading of texts lacking in scholarliness and dignity. We are aware of the dangers, though we think they may be exaggerated. We think we are right, however, in believing that in general scholarly standards would at least be maintained, and opportunity be given for the raising of standards in many quarters.