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Spens (1938) Notes on the text
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The Spens Report (1938)
Secondary education with special reference to grammar schools and technical high schools London: HM Stationery Office
Preliminary pages Rolland d'Erceville, 1768 [title page]
PREFATORY NOTE
This report deals with a reference which was given to the Committee in 1933. Its recommendations are far-reaching, and their acceptance would involve substantial changes, not only in the public system of education in this country, but also in the administrative arrangements which govern it. To defer publication until the Board have reached a decision on the many issues raised would involve a delay in its presentation to the public which would be unacceptable to the educational world, and which the Board themselves would regard as undesirable. It will be understood therefore that in publishing the report forthwith, the Board must not be regarded as committed to acceptance of its conclusions and recommendations. But whatever decisions may ultimately be reached on these matters, it is abundantly clear that the report deals in a most comprehensive manner with a difficult and complex subject, and in commending it to the careful consideration of all those who, as teachers, administrators or members of the general public, are interested in the educational system, the Board desire to acknowledge their great indebtedness to the Chairman and members of the Committee for their labours. MG HOLMES.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Names of the members of the Consultative Committee
Appendices
Index NOTE The estimated gross cost of the preparation of the appended Report (including the expenses of the witnesses and members of the Committee) is £2,896 6s 2d, of which £619 0s 0d represents the estimated cost of printing and publishing this Report.
NAMES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
Mr Will Spens CBE (Chairman)
The late Miss ER Conway and the late Canon Sir Edwyn Hoskyns were also members of the Consultative Committee.
TERMS OF REFERENCE To consider and report upon the organisation and interrelation of schools, other than those administered under the Elementary Code, which provide education for pupils beyond the age of 11+; regard being had in particular to the framework and content of the education of pupils who do not remain at school beyond the age of about 16.
ANALYSIS OF THE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE'S REPORT
Chapter 1 Sketch of the development of the traditional curriculum in secondary schools of different types in England and Wales 1. The 'lessons of history' and their limitations. The importance of the sociological background. The traditional curriculum reflects in its history the struggle between rival philosophies of life and divergent theories of education and human development
(i) the movement for the provision of higher education for girls and women;22. The development of the curriculum for girls' schools 23. The influence of external examinations on the curriculum for girls 24. The causes which appear to have led to the assimilation of the girls' curriculum to that for boys in the period 1850-1880 25. The development of girls' education after 1868 26. The reaction on secondary education of the establishment in 1870 of a national system of elementary schools, and of its tendency to throw up experiments in post-primary education 27. The development of technical education in England and Wales down to 1880 28. The reports of the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction (1881-1884) 29. The Local Government Act 1888: the National Association for the Promotion of Technical and Secondary Education, founded in 1887 30. The relation of technical education to secondary education: the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889 31. The views of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education (1894-1895) on the traditional curriculum 32. The Commissioners' suggestions in regard to curriculum 33. The Commissioners' general recommendations 34. The Board of Education Act 1899 35. Higher grade schools: the Cockerton judgement (1901): higher elementary schools (1900) 36. The Education Act 1902 37. The Regulations for Secondary Schools 1904-1905 38. The influence of the Board's Regulations for Secondary Schools for 1904-1905 and subsequent years on the curriculum and general character of secondary schools 39. The Regulations for Secondary Schools for 1906-1907: free places: the bursary system: individual subjects 40. The reaction against purely general courses as reflected in the reports of the Board of Education for 1912-1913 and 1913-1914: the Board's Memorandum (Circular 826) on Curricula of Secondary Schools, 1913 41. The influence of modern psychology on traditional ideas about the curriculum 42. External Examinations after 1902: the standardisation of the First School Examination and the Second School Examination in 1917-1919: Influence of the First School Examination on the curriculum 43. Three causes tending to produce uniformity in the curriculum for pupils below the age of 16 44. Official reports on the principal subjects of the curriculum, 1918-1921 45. The development of trade schools and junior technical schools Chapter 2 The present position in respect of provision for secondary and junior technical education in England and Wales 1. The existing provision for the education of children over the age of 11
Chapter 3 A brief outline of the more salient deatures in the physical and mental development of children between the ages of 11+ and 16+ Part I The physical development of children between the ages of 11+ and 16+ 1. The importance and significance of the available scientific evidence regarding the physical growth and general mental development of children between the ages of 11+ and 16+
Part II The mental development of children between the ages of 11+ and 16+ 10. The general character of adolescence: the recapitulation theory: the sex theory which at present holds the field
Emotional development 20. General emotional characteristics
Chapter 4 The curriculum of the grammar school 1. Introductory: The modern (senior) school cannot be wholly excluded from our survey Part I The need for reconsideration of the curriculum 2. The existing framework: the Board's Regulations for Secondary Schools
Part II The principles of the curriculum
Part III The content of the curriculum 20. Change necessary in the emphasis to be laid on particular subjects
Part IV The country grammar school 45. The curriculum of the country grammar school
Chapter 5 Scripture Scripture Chapter 6 Certain other subjects in which the Committee have recommended substantial changes, namely English, classics, mathematics, general science English Language and Literature
Chapter 7 The School Certificate Examination 1. History and original aim of the examination; the group system
Chapter 8 Technical high schools and other technical schools Part I Technical high schools 1. Introductory
Part II Other technical schools 15. Junior commercial schools and home training schools of different types for girls
Chapter 9 Administrative problems Introductory
Chapter 10 Welsh problems 1. The importance of special Welsh problems: the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889
Chapter 11 Summary of principal conclusions, suggestions and recommendations The Committee's principal conclusions, suggestions and recommendations
PREFACE
We began our consideration of the present Reference in October 1933 after we had completed our Report on Infant and Nursery Schools. The Full Committee sat on 74 days between October 1933, and September 1938, and examined 150 witnesses. In addition subcommittees appointed to consider various aspects of the reference from the Board sat on 36 days and examined 22 witnesses. The names of these witnesses are given in Appendix IA. In March 1935, the Consultative Committee appointed a curriculum subcommittee to explore thoroughly the content, significance, and interrelation of the various subjects and activities of the traditional curriculum for grammar schools. This subcommittee, which consisted of 12 members of the full Committee, with the Master of Corpus as Chairman and Dr RF Young as Secretary, was vested with power, subject to the approval of the President of the Board of Education, to co-opt members from outside. (1) In this way, it was fortunate enough to secure the services of Mr John Bell, High Master of St Paul's School and now Head Master of Cheltenham College, Miss IM Drummond, Head Mistress of the North London Collegiate School, Professor Sir Percy Nunn and Mr J Clement Platt, Head Master of Chadderton Grammar School, who placed at its disposal their wide knowledge and sound judgement in the preparation of Chapters 4 and 6 of the Report dealing with the curriculum for grammar schools. To Sir Percy Nunn we are specially indebted for a valuable memorandum on the principles of the curriculum, which was of great use in the preparation of Chapter 4. This curriculum subcommittee sat on 25 days between March 1935 and June 1938. In February 1936, the Committee appointed a drafting subcommittee consisting of seven of its members, with the Master of Corpus as Chairman and Dr RF Young as Secretary. This drafting subcommittee met on 28 occasions between March 1936 and October 1938. We take this opportunity of thanking our witnesses for the valuable evidence which they put before us, and also those other organisations and persons (whose names will be found in Appendix IB) who were good enough to furnish us with memoranda, statistics and other data bearing on our Inquiry. We desire to thank Professor HA Harris, Professor Winifred Cullis, and Professor Cyril Burt, who furnished us with memoranda on the physical and the mental development of boys and girls between the ages of eleven and sixteen, which form the basis of Chapter 3 of our Report. We are further indebted to Professor Burt for his memorandum on the history of the faculty psychology, written at the request of the Secretary, which is printed as Appendix IV. We desire to thank Professor IL Kandel for his memorandum on the secondary school curriculum, printed as Appendix III; Professor HR Hamley for his memorandum on the cognitive aspects of transfer of training, printed as Appendix V; and Professor F Clarke for his memorandum on some influences affecting secondary curricula in the dominions, printed as Appendix VI. We desire also to express our thanks to the Secretary of the Committee, Dr RF Young, and to Mr RJ Telling and Mr WH Newell who in succession acted as Assistant Secretary. We owe much to their unremitting efforts, to their efficiency and to their patience. To Dr Young we owe a further and a very special debt. In almost every chapter our Report has gained much from his wide knowledge of educational history and systems. This is necessarily the case to a special degree in the historical chapter, and we wish to place on record that this important chapter is almost entirely his work. We cannot end without recording our sense of the losses which the Committee has sustained during the preparation of this Report. Sir Henry Hadow, who had been Chairman of the Committee since its reconstitution after the war in 1920, resigned in January 1934, owing to failing health. He had taken a leading part in the preparation of six Reports prepared by the Committee between 1920 and 1933. It is difficult to find words to express adequately the deep debt of the Committee to this distinguished scholar who presided with such distinction over their deliberations for fourteen years. In December 1934, Miss ER Conway died and in June 1937, Sir Edwyn Hoskyns. Miss Conway had been a member of this Committee since 1920, and had taken a prominent part in the preparation of several of our Reports, particularly those on The Primary School (1931) and on Infant and Nursery Schools (1933). Sir Edwyn Hoskyns was very specially interested in the problems concerned with the teaching of Scripture, and the ideas and constructive suggestions incorporated in Chapter 5 of the present report are largely due to him. Footnote (1) Under Clause 5 (iii) of the Order in Council of 22 July 1920, reconstituting the Consultative Committee.
INTRODUCTION
The general purpose of this Introduction is to indicate briefly the nature of our principal recommendations, the interrelations of these recommendations, and some of the most important considerations which we have had in mind. We believe that a preliminary sketch of this character will be of assistance to those who read our Report. For convenience of reference the Introduction is divided into six sections. In section I we explain the relationship of the present Report to our Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926), and the nomenclature we employ in describing secondary schools. We also deal with recent proposals to establish multilateral schools, which raise questions antecedent to any consideration of grammar school education. In Section II we deal with the problems of the grammar school curriculum. In Section III we deal with vocational and quasi-vocational schools, and our recommendation that there should be a new type of secondary school, to be called technical high schools. In Section IV we discuss the interrelation of secondary schools and especially of grammar schools and modern schools; the allocation of children between these schools; and the extent of the provision which ought to be made for grammar school education. In Section V we continue this discussion in its special bearing on the later transfer of pupils, and on the necessity for parity of status among secondary schools; and we indicate a number of important administrative recommendations which are involved in our proposals. In Section VI we make some observations about 'education for citizenship' which were of too general a character to fit easily into the Report itself. I The relation of this Report to the Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926); nomenclature; multilateral schools This Report is the third of a series in which we develop the theme of our Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926). In that Report we visualised the education of the boy or girl as a continuous process, but conceived it as developing through two successive periods to which we gave the names of 'primary' and 'secondary'; and we laid down the broad lines for a new advance in the general scope of our national system of education. In our Reports on The Primary School (1931) and on Infant and Nursery Schools (1933), we dealt with the special problems and opportunities of self-contained schools for children in the primary period of education which ends at the age of 11+. We now return to the education of boys and girls in the secondary period which begins at that age. In our Report on The Education of the Adolescent, we recommended that education after the age of 11 should be known by the general name of secondary education, and that the two types of school which are mainly concerned with this secondary stage should be designated 'grammar schools' and 'modern schools'. 'Grammar schools' we described as schools of the more academic type which are at present conducted under the Board of Education Regulations for Secondary Schools. In this category we include also those schools which are recognised by the Board of Education as efficient secondary schools (Board of Education, List 60, Part I). We gave the name of 'modern schools' to what are called 'senior schools'. This term is at present used by the Board of Education to designate both 'non-selective central schools' and also ' selective central schools'. Both these types of school are at present conducted under the Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools. In the present Report we adhere whenever possible (1) to the terminology employed in our Report on The Education of the Adolescent, and for the reasons stated in that Report we urge its general adoption. (2) In addition to grammar schools and modern schools, there are other schools of a vocational or quasi-vocational type in which adolescent pupils are educated, and which our former Report (Chapter 3 Section 90) recognised as giving post-primary education. That Report, however, left the position of these schools in the system of secondary education to be settled in the light of a wider experience than was then available. Nor did that Report deal explicitly with the particular problems which arise in grammar schools, including that of the curriculum suitable for the many pupils in these schools who leave about the age of 16. It is to these two questions, the organisation and interrelation of schools, other than those administered under the Elementary Code, which provide education for pupils beyond the age of 11+, and the framework and content of the education given in these schools up to the age of 16, that our reference has directed our attention. It will be noted that it specifically excludes modern schools from our consideration. We have, however, found it impossible to discuss the problems with which we are immediately concerned without some reference to post-primary schools which are at present administered under the Elementary Code. Reform in any type of school inevitably raises problems in relation to every other type of school which affords an alternative education to that in question. The better adapted any school becomes to deal with particular types of pupils, the more important it becomes that in fact the school should be dealing with such pupils and not with children admitted for reasons other than the kind of education which it provides. We shall deal later in this Introduction and more fully in the Report itself (Chapter 9) with the conclusions which appear to us to follow from these considerations. We refer to them here in order to guard against an initial misunderstanding. We are of opinion that the schools which are directly covered by our reference should retain a special character and must retain a special importance. It does not follow that they should enjoy specially favourable conditions : on the contrary, we consider that the existence of different conditions, except in so far as they are justified by differences of curriculum, is open to grave objection. Before reaching the conclusion that these schools must remain a separate type of school, we considered carefully the possibility of multilateral schools. (3) The special characteristics of this type of school are the provision of a good general education for two or three years for all pupils over 11+ in a given area, and the organisation of four or five 'streams', so that the pupils at the age of 13 or 14 years may follow courses that are suited to their individual needs and capacity. There would be a common core in these several courses, but they would differ in the time and emphasis given to certain groups of subjects. There would, for example, be a literary and linguistic course; a mathematical and scientific course; and other courses in which the pupils would devote more time to subjects leading on to technological studies, to commercial studies or to practical or artistic pursuits. In this way the ordinary grammar school courses would, it is maintained, be fully provided for, and separate grammar schools would not be necessary. The policy of substituting such multilateral schools for grammar schools, for modern (senior) schools, and, to some extent, for junior technical schools, has recently been advocated and has received considerable support. It is a policy which is very attractive: it would secure in the first place the close association, to their mutual advantage, of pupils of more varied ability, and with more varied interests and objectives, than are normally found in a school of any one type. Further, pupils could be transferred from an academic to a less academic curriculum without change of school. But in spite of these advantages we have reluctantly decided that we could not advocate as a general policy the substitution of such multilateral schools for separate schools of the existing types. The reasons which weighed with us in favour of the existing system are as follows: (i) In order to secure a satisfactory number of pupils in each 'stream' in a multilateral school, the size of the school would have to be very considerable, say 800 or possibly larger, and we believe that the majority of pupils gain more from being in smaller schools.Any general policy of establishing multilateral schools would now be very expensive, and it would be justified, more especially in view of the 'Hadow reorganisation' only if it were clear that a substantial balance of advantage would result. For the reasons given above we do not think this would be the case, and we cannot therefore recommend the general creation of multilateral schools, even as the goal of a long range policy. We are, however, of opinion that some measure of experiment with multilateral schools may be desirable, especially in new areas; and also that there is one set of circumstances in which multilateral schools ought almost certainly to be provided. These circumstances arise in districts where the Grammar School is too small either to give an adequate school life or to combine reasonable economy with the provision of an adequate staff. Some experiments have already been made, and others have been contemplated. It is important that administrative and other difficulties which stand in their way should be removed without delay. What modifications would be necessary in existing regulations is discussed in Chapter 9. II Problems of the grammar school curriculum The development of the grammar school curriculum is traced in chapter 1 of our Report. A careful study of the present position has led us to the belief that the existing arrangements for the whole-time education of boys and girls above the age of 11+ in England and Wales have ceased to correspond with the actual structure of modern society and with the economic facts of the situation. The grammar school curriculum is still largely planned in the interest of pupils who intend to proceed to a university, although 85 per cent of the pupils do not remain at school beyond the age of 16. The grammar school must obviously safeguard the interests of those pupils who are going on to a sixth form and perhaps to a university, but it must also safeguard the interests of those who leave about the age of 16. In their case, courses of study whose essential value is that they are a foundation for further study at a later age are clearly unsuitable, and efforts are already being made to improve the position in this respect. An obvious example of such an attempt is afforded by the provision of courses (and papers in the School Certificate) in general science as alternatives to courses in particular sciences. These courses in general science aim at relating science to everyday life and explaining its general principles and laws in a more popular manner than is possible in the early stages of a systematic study of any particular science. It appears probable that in those parts of the syllabus which deal with the older subjects in the curriculum (ie physics and chemistry) 'general science' has even now not moved far enough away from the syllabuses of the particular sciences; and they should include popular accounts of relatively advanced work. In the interests of the large numbers of pupils who will leave school at, or shortly after, the age of 16, we regard it as one among a number of essential conditions that the courses of instruction up to that age should be in some sense complete in themselves, ie should not consist to any considerable extent in courses which have their main value only if formal education in the subjects in question is carried further. Nor do we consider that this need or should prejudice the interests of those pupils who continue an academic education at school or elsewhere and go ultimately to a university. It is important that in the last year, possibly in the last two years, before the School Certificate is taken, such pupils should have had instruction in the subject or subjects in which they will later specialise, of such a character as to lay the necessary foundations for their sixth form work; and in our Report we indicate how in our judgement this can be secured. In subjects other than those in which these pupils later specialise, their needs are, however, very similar to the needs of those who leave at 16. They also, save to a very limited extent, will not be pursuing the formal study of these other subjects. What is needed is, here also, such a treatment of subjects as will give some knowledge of their content, and arouse interest. Further, the governing principle adopted in our Reports on The Primary School and on Infant and Nursery Schools is in our opinion equally applicable here, whether pupils leave school at 16 or remain after that age. The prime duty of the secondary school is to provide for the needs of children who are entering and passing through the stage of adolescence; and it is useless, if not harmful, to try to inculcate ideas, however valuable they may be at a later stage of growth, which have at the time no bearing on a child's natural activities of mind and body, and do nothing to guide his experience. A further consideration appears to us to be of great importance. The traditional grammar school curriculum is still coloured by obsolete doctrines of the faculties and of formal training; and the endeavour to teach a wide range of subjects to the same high level to all pupils has led to the overcrowding of the timetable. We are convinced that this burden must be lightened, and that from the age of 13+, or as soon as special interests or aptitudes become evident, a pupil should concentrate on a smaller range of subjects, so long as these include English, a language, and Science or Mathematics. With these reservations, we see no reason to recommend any revolutionary change in the subjects and activities for which a grammar school must offer facilities. Where we believe change is necessary to meet the conditions of modern life is in the emphasis to be laid on particular subjects and above all in the content of these subjects. We recognise that a curriculum, even for pupils up to the age of 16, gains greatly from being centred round some main core or branch of study. This used to be provided by the study of the classics. We share the opinion that in modern conditions it should be secured in and through what are often described as the English subjects. By these we mean careful training in comprehension of what is read and in the expression of ideas both orally and in writing; history; geography (which is however closely related also to the scientific subjects); English literature; and Scripture. One of the gravest criticisms alike of public [ie private] school and of grammar school education turns on failure to do all which might be done to educate the powers of comprehension and composition. Both appear to us to require markedly greater attention, and in regard to the latter it appears to us that there is much to be learnt from the methods of teaching employed in France. We welcome, and would wish to see extended, the tendency to pay greater attention than in the past to recent history. We recognise the importance of knowledge of the classic periods of British history, and of some knowledge also of the histories of Greece and Rome. Without such knowledge it is impossible to understand our own institutions, or to appreciate our own literature. But the importance of recent history is enhanced for pupils under 16, since at that age the theoretical discussion of economic questions is difficult and inadvisable, and since the direct discussion of current political questions is often open to considerable objection. Recent political and economic history affords in consequence the best introduction to an interest in politics. Such history supplies necessary information, and, of even greater importance, can be so taught as to induce a balanced attitude which recognises different points of view and sees the good on each side. In regard to the study of English literature we are recommending that set books should not be prepared for examination. We believe that the form of study which these involve does real harm to the growth of an interest in literature which ought rather specially to characterise a grammar school education. In regard to Scripture we make in Chapter 5 certain recommendations which we regard as of great importance. Apart from the English subjects, we desire to see the study in all grammar schools of at least one foreign language; but we recommend that the efforts of those pupils with relatively little linguistic ability should be concentrated on acquiring a capacity to read rather than to write the language in question. Of science we have already spoken. We recommend that substantially less time than at present should be given to mathematics, but we recommend that it should be taught to all, and so far as possible in such a way as to lead to the recognition that mathematics constitutes one of the main achievements of the human mind. We attach great importance to the further development of the tendency to give more time and attention to physical education, to the artistic subjects and to handicrafts. Two further recommendations remain to be mentioned at this stage. We are anxious that in country grammar schools a rural background and colour should be given to the teaching, especially in general science. In the main body of country schools, we have primarily in view not vocational training for agriculture, but rather the restoration of what used to be more widespread characteristics of English life than they are today, appreciation and understanding of the countryside. On the other hand, we hope that local authorities will seriously undertake the provision, in a certain number of country grammar schools, of courses with a definite 'agricultural bias' which would afford from about the age of 15 a preliminary vocational training. In urban schools also, when it is possible to give satisfactorily a preliminary training of direct vocational value, we consider that a limited number of periods might with advantage be devoted to such training in the last year at school even in the case of those leaving at the age of 16. We have in mind three considerations: first, of course, the practical advantage to the pupil; secondly, the argument afforded for retaining the pupil at school during the year in question; and lastly, the gain from work which the pupil himself recognises as possessing value for the next stage of his life, since such work serves to hold and to stimulate his interest, and is likely to react favourably on all his work. Before leaving the important question of the curriculum of grammar schools, certain further remarks should be made. We recognise that our recommendations follow lines which have already been widely suggested and along which experiments have already been made with marked success. We should indeed have made them with far greater hesitation had this not been so. On the other hand we believe it to be of vital importance to the future of education in this country, that reform along the lines we have indicated should be concerted, general, and far more radical than hitherto. We have in mind particularly the contrast between courses primarily designed to lay the foundation for further study and those which are suitable when further academic study is in fact improbable, the relief of the curriculum for the individual pupil, and the teaching of English composition. Secondly, we recognise that to carry out these proposals is impracticable without further and drastic reform of the School Certificate Examination. We believe that the changes which we recommend in Chapter 7 present no insuperable difficulties; in the main, they are changes which are already widely advocated. On the other hand, we are of opinion that the existence of an examination taken at about the same age as at present is desirable, as stimulating and testing the work alike of the schools and of individual pupils. III Vocational and quasi-vocational schools; technical high schools We turn now to those schools, other than grammar schools, which are directly covered by the terms of our reference, ie 'junior technical schools'. We think it necessary, however, to draw an important distinction. There are schools (eg schools of printing, dressmaking, laundrywork, waiting) which prepare for single and definite vocations and to which, as we think, it is desirable to restrict the term vocational schools. There are other schools (eg many junior technical schools, junior commercial schools and junior art departments) each of which can prepare for a considerable variety of vocations. Both classes of schools are doing valuable and important work, and provide, in almost every case, not only for technical instruction but for the continuation of general education. With regard to technical instruction we do not think that we can usefully or properly make any recommendations. With regard to the general education which is provided we desire to recommend here again that ample time should be given to English, along the lines already indicated, and to recent history. In certain cases it appears important also that pupils should have opportunities for learning a modern language. The suggestion has been made by the three professional associations principally concerned (The Association of Technical Institutions, and the Associations of Principals and of Assistants in such Institutions) that at least in certain of these schools recruitment should take place at 11+, ie at the same age as recruitment for grammar schools. After very full consideration we have reached definite conclusions on this issue. We consider that vocational schools, in the narrow sense, ought not to recruit before the age of 13 and with the raising of the 'school leaving age' we consider 14 to be preferable. We do not consider that pupils ought to make at at an earlier age a decision which goes far to commit them to a specific vocation. Secondly, although these schools provide for a continuance of general education, this is necessarily not the primary interest of those responsible for such a school and still less of the pupils. We consider that a general education ought to be the primary concern until, at the most, two years before the normal age for leaving school. In the case of junior art departments the first of these considerations does not apply in the same degree, in view of the general educational value of an art training. On the other hand as much art training as is necessary or desirable before the age of 13, if not before 14, can be given both in grammar schools and in modern (senior) schools. Further, in all but the most exceptional cases the range and proportion of a pupil's special aptitudes are not so clear before say 13½ as to justify transfer to a junior art department. After careful consideration of the evidence, we have reached the conclusion, however, that those junior technical schools which are based on the engineering and building industries, demand different treatment. They appear to us to be capable of developing, and indeed in a large degree already to have developed, a form of secondary education which ought to be regarded as an alternative to that of a grammar school. We have accordingly decided to recommend the conversion of a number of these schools into technical high schools in every respect equal in status to grammar schools. These schools should provide a five-year course, from the age of 11+, on the basis of the general selective examination at that age; admission being determined (among those pupils who reach the necessary standard in the examination) in accordance with the wishes of the parents, with the accommodation available, with the suitability of the boy as determined on the report of the Head of the primary school, and on the result of an interview with the head of the technical high school. We recognise that in the majority of cases such boys are likely to enter the engineering or building industries; but our recommendation is based not only on the variety of openings these industries afford but also, and very largely, on the view that the education in question will best develop the abilities of pupils with certain interests and with the necessary aptitudes, and will be, in consequence, the best education for them, even if they do not eventually enter these industries. The engineering and other subjects, which will be studied in the last three years of the course, involve an intellectual discipline, which, though severe, is within the capacity of pupils between the ages of 13 and 16, and includes and depends on the apprehension and application of a variety of related principles. So far as the evidence at present goes we are not convinced that the courses of study in junior commercial schools and home training schools have developed a similar discipline. Further, it is difficult to see how they could do so. Economics provides a body of principles which relate the problems of commerce; but economics, carried sufficiently far to fulfil this purpose, is in our judgement beyond the grasp of pupils under the age of 16. The special courses in home training schools are also, and inevitably, lacking in any coherent range of underlying theory. The chemistry of cookery, for example, is far too complicated for the purpose. In consequence we do not recommend that junior commercial schools and home training schools should be converted into technical high schools. We consider that a child who desires to receive either type of training but who has the necessary ability to profit from a grammar school education, should go first to a grammar school and should only proceed to a technical institution at the age of 16 or in exceptional cases at about 14. We wish to add that, though we consider that the teaching, in grammar schools, of commercial subjects and domestic science might usefully be extended, especially by means of sixth form courses, we are clear that in a considerable number of cases transfer may be desirable at 16 to a suitable technical institution. We believe, however, that, while close relations should be established between grammar schools and technical high schools, so that opportunity for transfer may be afforded to those pupils whose later development makes it clear that they will be better suited by an alternative form of secondary education, such considerations do not apply to the transfer of pupils from grammar schools to vocational schools before sitting for the School Certificate. We think that the latter type of transfer should be exceptional. Two further points should be mentioned in order to make clear our proposals in regard to technical high schools. We feel that it will be desirable to introduce some form of school leaving certificate for pupils in technical high schools, not only as evidence of their status, but also as providing a record of attainment. At the same time we have been impressed by the conviction of all witnesses representing junior technical schools that their freedom from external examinations has been a vital factor in their success. In consequence we would not seek to impose any system of external examinations on technical high schools, and recommend that a form of school leaving certificate be established which shall be awarded on the result of internal examinations conducted by each technical high school under conditions of assessment approved by the Board of Education, who would endorse the certificates. Secondly, we realise that there would probably be some boys in these technical high schools who would desire to defer their entry into industry till an age later than that of 16. Such boys could either remain in these schools or proceed, as at present, either to a higher technical course, which may in many instances be provided within the technical college in or near which the technical high school may be housed, or to a university or university college. We have decided to recommend that the upper age limit in the technical high schools should in general be 16+. We reached this conclusion only after considerable deliberation. The immensely important part played by sixth forms in grammar schools pointed in another direction. On the other hand we became convinced that in technical high schools boys will be matured, as they have been in junior technical schools, not so much (although even here this is a substantial factor) through self-government in the school, as through being taught by men who are normally teaching adults and whose methods of teaching and control have, in consequence, a special character, and more generally through forming part of an institution which is largely concerned with adults. We reached the view that, while different, the process was no less effective, and in consequence we do not consider that a higher age limit than 16 is necessary or, in general, desirable. We are, however, disposed to think that a few of these schools may in course of time develop the equivalent to a 'sixth form', which would contain the boys referred to at the beginning of this paragraph. Whilst we do not recommend that every junior technical school should as a matter of course be converted into a technical high school, we do consider that a generous provision of such technical high schools should be made, by the conversion of existing schools and the establishment of new schools. The special educational value and character of these schools depend, however, on their employment of the teaching staff, and their use of the engineering plant and equipment, of a technical college; and, since such colleges cannot be provided in all types of area, we fully recognise that in a number of areas provision ought to be made in grammar schools, by means of 'engineering sides' for the pupils who in other conditions might go to technical high schools. We consider the making of such provision in these circumstances to be a matter of great importance, but we consider also that success will depend both on adequate equipment and on employing teachers who have had a training in engineering which has included actual practical experience. IV Interrelation of secondary schools of different types, particularly grammar schools and modern schools; the allocation of children between these schools; the extent of the provision for grammar school education There remains the whole range of questions concerning the relation of education in schools of the grammar school type, and in the proposed technical high schools, with that in other schools. A conventional phrase describes the function of grammar schools as training children to work 'with their heads rather than with their hands'. That phrase indicates a real distinction, but it does not do so with any accuracy. It is open to the obvious criticism that it is essential to many vocations, and is desirable in all, that work with the hands should involve the use, and the conscious use, of intelligence. The phrase may be restated more aptly by contrasting work with the hands with work with tongue and pen. The grammar schools afford in general (although not for every child) the best training for professions which involve work with tongue and pen; and, so far as they can be differentiated from other schools by reference to the vocational training they afford, they are differentiated by this as well as by the related fact that they prepare for the universities. Nor is it improper, as is sometimes supposed, to differentiate the grammar schools by the vocational training which they give. From the first they were designed to give the preliminary training necessary for those who were to enter the learned professions. It was by a later development that the training which was given for this purpose, and more especially the training in the classics, came to be regarded as having an independent and inherent value as a 'general liberal education'. But conditions have changed, and the vocational training given in grammar schools is now best secured by a greater concern than in the past with other subjects and especially with the English subjects. This change of emphasis is also necessary in changed conditions in order that they may better afford a 'liberal education', this phrase being taken to mean such an education as will enable men and women to understand the world in which they live and to contribute to the understanding of its problems. The history of Greece and Rome and the conceptions which they gave to the world retain immense importance for the proper understanding of the modern world; but, save as these conceptions have been interpreted in the thought of later times or are embodied in existing institutions, they are less widely relevant than, for example, recent history, English literature, and some appreciation of the significance of modern science. Further, capacity to use and to understand accurately both English and, so far as possible, modern languages has become both the key to the most relevant literature and the most vital factor in the exchange of ideas. The situation has changed radically in another respect. Democracy is now challenged, and the duty of citizenship in a democracy renders it essential that all should be taught to understand and to think to the best of their ability. It is likely to remain true that in general those pupils who are most capable of being taught to think in abstract terms will best be taught to do so by a curriculum of a more academic and scientific character than is provided in modern schools. It is accordingly important that these children should receive a grammar school or a technical high school education. But it is equally important to give a modern school education to those children, including a fair proportion of children of marked ability, who will best profit from that type of education. We are thus brought to the fundamental problems of the proper allocation of children as between schools of different types. We have deliberately made no attempt to discuss in this Report the selective examination at the age of 11+ for grammar (secondary) schools. That topic was dealt with at considerable length in Chapter 7 of our Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926) and in Chapter 10 of our Report on The Primary School (1931). Moreover, a Committee of Inspectors is at present considering various aspects of the examination, and it appeared to us that no useful purpose would be served, and that the preparation of the present Report would inevitably be delayed, if we tried to cover the same ground. We desire, however, to make two observations on the bearing of our present Report on this examination. We believe that the examination is capable of selecting in a high proportion of cases those pupils who quite certainly have so much intelligence and intelligence of such a character that without doubt they ought to receive a secondary education of the grammar school type, and also those pupils who quite certainly would not benefit from such an education; and we believe that the examination will be so improved in the light of experience and as a result of the report of the Committee of Inspectors, as to increase the accuracy with which these two classes are delimited. We are recommending that choice for grammar school places as between pupils who fall into neither of these classes should be by selection rather than by their relative place in an order determined by the examination. We make this recommendation, as we explain, primarily for the reason that with these pupils the question as to which will benefit most from and contribute most to a grammar school will very often depend on qualities which no written examination can test; but we make our recommendation the more readily since, even in regard to examinable capacities, an examination, however devised, is far less trustworthy as a means of placing in order of merit a middle group than in determining whether particular candidates are definitely above or are definitely below such a group. Secondly, we desire to emphasise that no method of choice, whether by examination or by selection, can work satisfactorily if there is not an adequate supply of grammar school places; and we are clear that the supply is not adequate until there are enough places to secure a grammar school education for those pupils who, all things considered, will benefit more from such a course than from other forms of secondary education. Our recommendations regarding the amount of provision of grammar school education are based on this assumption. After an examination of the progress made in the building of new grammar schools and the enlargement of old ones daring the past 30 years, we sought to arrive at a working standard by which local authorities might measure their provision, always with regard to what they judged to be the particular needs of their areas. The standard we have adopted is an annual admission of 15 per cent of the secondary school age group, ie the age group 10 to 11 years in the public elementary schools of the area. The number of children annually admitted from other than public elementary schools for whom additional provision is required, is equivalent on the average to a further 3 per cent of the same age group. The necessity for some such standard was borne in upon us by the fact that the existing percentage varies in England from 4.2 to 26.4. (4) So striking a disparity as was revealed by a ratio of 1:6 in the scale of provision did not appear to us to correspond with any conceivable differences in the abilities and interests of the children, in the character and traditions of the areas, in industrial conditions, or even in the uses which had been made of grammar schools. In mentioning this standard, however, we have realised that it might require considerable modification in some areas in order to conform to the governing principle to which we have already referred. V Transfer of pupils at the age of 13+; parity of status among secondary schools; administrative recommendations All our witnesses insisted that a selective examination at the early age of 11+ should not be a decisive factor in determining a child's career. Not only is there need for some means of correcting initial errors in the classification of the children, but some means also of providing for those pupils whose later development makes it clear that an alternative form of secondary education would be better for them. We received convincing evidence as to the various circumstances which may arise to render a change of school desirable at a later age than 11+. We consider it essential that there should be a regular review of the distribution of pupils as between different schools, preferably at about the age of 13. We do not recommend for this purpose a further examination; we do recommend the requirement of returns from the heads of schools as to which pupils might, in their opinion, be better placed in other types of school; and we desire to see definite administrative machinery created for this purpose. An educational principle which we advocate on general grounds has an important bearing on the later transfer of pupils between those types of school which have an age range starting at 11+, namely, that the courses of study in all schools between the ages of 11 and 13 should not differ to any marked extent. While we recognise that not all the pupils in a modern school should study a foreign language, we consider that whenever possible a foreign language should be included in the curriculum of pupils who show academic ability, both because these pupils are most likely to gain educationally from this provision, and because it is in regard to them that the question of transfer is most likely to arise. It is important that the question of transfer should be determined simply by educational considerations. It is even more important that the original preference of parents as between a grammar school and a modern school should be determined by such considerations. We recognise that in existing social conditions vocations are determined not only by aptitude but by family circumstances and tradition; and in consequence some pupils may be destined to work 'with tongue and pen' even when such natural aptitudes as they have point elsewhere. In certain cases, and while existing social conditions remain, this may supply an argument in favour of that curriculum and those methods which in general best prepare for work of the type in question, even in cases where a modern school education would be otherwise desirable. Again, for pupils who combine intellectual ability with a practical and especially a strong mechanical bent, a technical high school will often provide a better alternative to a grammar school education than will a modern school. But we are convinced that a number of pupils who enter grammar schools would have their intellectual interests and powers of thought better developed by the education provided by modern schools. Moreover, by no means all who succeed in commerce or industry are of the type which benefits at all obviously from an academic and scientific education; and it is very probable that many such men would have gained more from the curriculum of a modern school, especially if, as might well have been the case, they were more attracted by such a curriculum and more industrious in pursuing it. On the one hand grammar schools are not really likely to supply so well the form of education which modern schools exist to supply and develop. On the other hand, the interests and energies of grammar schools ought not to be engaged, and their vacancies ought not to be occupied, in attempting to educate pupils who are not suited to the education which they exist to provide. At present parents are influenced in their preference between grammar and modern schools not only by educational, including vocational, considerations, but by the greater prestige of grammar schools. These schools have an ancient and great tradition. They retain a considerable proportion of their pupils to 17 or 18 years of age. Even more important is the fact that, since most other aptitudes are more often associated with academic ability than with its absence, the average general intelligence of the pupils in grammar schools is likely to be higher than that of the pupils in modern schools. Intelligence of this sort is not, however, the only or the most important thing in life nor is it regarded as such by most persons; and, other things being equal, it should not be an insuperable task to persuade parents to prefer for their children another form of education if in fact they were likely to gain more from this. Unfortunately, in present circumstances other things are not equal. Grammar schools and modern schools are administered under different Codes and often by different authorities. They have different salary scales, and the required conditions of building and equipment and size of classes show differences which are not merely such as are involved in differences of curriculum. These differences, taken as a whole, are such as to give the impression that the grammar school is necessarily better than the modern school. For these reasons, we consider it of great importance that everything possible should be done to secure parity of status for grammar schools, technical high schools, and modern schools. This means in effect that the multilateral idea, although it may not be expressed by means of multilateral schools (5), must be inherent in any truly national system of secondary education. Consequently, in Chapter 9, we have reaffirmed, and revised in the light of later experience, certain administrative principles which were implicit in our earlier Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926). We recommend that the three types of school mentioned above should be conducted under a new Code of Regulations for Secondary Schools, and we have examined certain administrative consequences of this proposal. (6) We recommend the adoption of similar standards for the size of classes, and for the planning and assessment of school buildings, save in so far as differences of curriculum justify different requirements. We recognise also the desirability of a uniform minimum leaving age for all secondary schools. Another measure which we consider of vital concern to the attainment of parity of schools is the framing of Establishments of Teaching Posts, in order that a teacher's remuneration shall not be so dependent as it is at present upon the particular type of school in which he is working: we hope to see posts on the 'higher' scale of salary, the present 'secondary' scale, available in all schools, although not in the same proportion. We attach great importance to all these recommendations. We believe that no satisfactory solution can be secured for the educational problems of the country until they are carried out. How quickly this could be done is not for us to say. We feel bound, however, to make clear that in our judgement such reforms as we have indicated, and any legislation necessary to secure these, are essential to the future well-being of education, and we recommend that action should be taken with the least possible delay. It will be noticed that so far we have said nothing about one great difference between grammar schools and modern schools, namely, the fact that fees are charged in the former but not in the latter. We hold that the conditions which apply to modern schools should be extended to grammar schools and technical high schools as soon as the national finances permit. But, provided there is an adequate supply of special places and a generous scale for remission of fees, we do not consider that this difference is as important in its effect on parity of status as might have been expected. Meanwhile we consider that, for an independent reason, the special place system requires reform. Where the cost of education in a school is being reduced for all parents by substantial grants from public funds, it is obviously desirable that the children whose parents are thus assisted should be the children who will most benefit from the schooling in question. We therefore recommend that the system known as '100 per cent special places' should be generally adopted in regard to such schools. We are conscious, however, that if this were done otherwise than gradually, or without certain further provisions, notably as to the method of selection, or even if this policy was adopted immediately or without further consideration in regard to certain classes of schools, the result might well be to level down rather than, as we wish, to level up the reputation of schools. In consequence, in Chapter 9 we recommend the adoption of the '100 per cent special place' system; but we do so subject to the adoption of certain other recommendations designed to afford safeguards against this danger. (7) VI Education for citizenship In speaking of the importance of recent history we have already referred to 'education for citizenship'. When we said at the beginning of this Introduction that we proposed to deal briefly with the problem which it presents we had in mind more than this. The importance of the problem has been emphasised in recent years from many quarters. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate that importance, and it is not too much to say that all teaching should contribute to this end. On the extent to which the youth of this country can be fitted to fulfil later their duties, and to take advantage of their opportunities, as citizens of a democratic state may well turn the whole future of democracy, and that not only in this island. It is impossible to deal here with all the problems involved in supplying suitable training, the more so since we are here primarily concerned with those who leave school at 16, and since few things are more certain than that study of the issues involved in national and international politics must in the main come at a later age and be continued throughout life. On the other hand we believe that valuable foundations for this can be laid before the age of 16. We do not underestimate the value of imparting to pupils, even those under 16, information about national and international affairs and, not least, about local government. We recognise the excellent use which has been made by certain teachers of courses of 'civics'. But, as we indicated when emphasising the importance of teaching recent history, we believe that in general this information can best be imparted to pupils under the age of 16 in the course of such teaching, and as arising from it. Further, what is most important is inculcating a habit of mind. This may be done by emphasising the serious character of the social and other problems which have to be faced, and at the same time by insisting that, while there is need for enthusiasm in causes which are felt to be vital, there is need also for study and judgement, so that not only the reality of political differences but the measure of common ground may be fully recognised. All this, in our judgement, is best secured in and through the teaching of history provided always that this is so given as to bring out the general necessity of these qualities and not merely their desirability or value in certain circumstances in the past. Further, history is not the only subject which can be made the vehicle of teaching which is valuable for this purpose. It does not follow that, because people have learnt to apply logical processes in mathematics, they will think logically about politics, nor that, because they have learnt to verify facts, and to try to check theories by facts, in the physical sciences, they will realise automatically the desirability of this procedure in other fields. On the other hand such 'transfers' can be made at the least far more probable if in teaching, say, mathematics a real effort is made to bring out the significance of logical argument and to emphasise the desirability of such argument whenever possible, and if in teaching science the scientific method is expounded as a method which ought to be employed in other fields. By such means we can do something to counteract the excessive influence of emotional interests and inhibitions in the consideration of matters with which men are deeply concerned. It is obvious that education for citizenship along these lines depends at every point on conscious effort by teachers to use their opportunities. Success will, however, inevitably depend even more on the unconscious influence of example than on the most skilful use of opportunities. It is not possible to exaggerate the debt in this connexion which may be owed to a teacher by boys and girls who in their last years at school have come under the influence of someone who is able to combine with clear political opinions both wide sympathies and the habit of dispassionate criticism of political creeds. Footnotes (1) Chapter 2 is an exception. The reason is explained in a note prefixed to that chapter. (2) cf. The Education of the Adolescent (1926), Chapter 3 Sections 98-100. (3) We use the term 'multilateral' to describe a school which, by means of separate 'streams', would provide for all types of secondary education, with the exception of that provided by junior technical schools in so far as these depend on their association with a technical college and the equipment there available. (4) In Wales from 17.7 to 55 per cent. (5) See Section I of this Introduction, and Chapter 9 Sections 1-3. (6) These have not included one matter which is of vital importance in both central and local administration, viz. the inspectorate for different types of secondary school. It is essential, in our opinion, that inspection should be sufficiently specialised to ensure the free development of the different types. (7) We realise that the extension of the special place system raises the question of an extension of the system of maintenance allowances. 
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