Hadow (1926)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Analysis, Preface, Introduction
Chapter 1 Development of post-primary education in England and Wales 1800-1918
Chapter 2 The facts of the present situation
Chapter 3 The lines of advance
Chapter 4 Curricula for Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 5 The place of 'bias' in the curriculum of Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 6 The staffing and equipment of Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Chapter 7 The admission of children to Modern Schools and Senior Schools
Chapter 8 The lengthening of school life
Chapter 9 The question of a leaving examination
Chapter 10 Administrative problems
Chapter 11 Conclusions and recommendations; Notes of reservation
Chapter 12 Suggestions on the curriculum in Modern Schools and Senior Classes
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Notes on nomenclature
Appendix III Statistics relating to Chapter 2(ii)
Appendix IV Post-primary education abroad
Appendix V List of publications
Index

London: HM Stationery Office

Chapter 6 The staffing and equipment of Modern Schools and Senior Classes
[pages 122 - 131]

(i) Staffing

127. We have devoted special attention to the important subject of the staffing of selective and non-selective Modern Schools, and discuss below the sources from which, in our opinion, the teachers may be drawn and the qualifications which we think they will need for their work.

Most of our witnesses regarded as specially important: (i) the personality of the teacher, (ii) knowledge of a subject or group of subjects, as shown by proved capacity in other schools and continued study after leaving the training college, (iii) an intimate knowledge of elementary school children, acquired through experience in teaching them. Many witnesses thought that, if the conditions in regard to personality and previous experience in teaching were satisfied, a graduate was to be preferred; but several were of opinion that graduates fresh from the training departments of universities were not particularly suitable for post-primary schools inasmuch as some previous experience in teaching elementary school children was an almost indispensable condition of success. In this connection, we were informed that young teachers, both from the universities and from the training colleges, who had had no experience in elementary schools were, as a rule, rather disposed to take an academic line to the detriment of the practical side of the work in Central Schools.

128. There is no question that for some years the teachers in Modern Schools and separately organised Senior Classes not only should be, but must be drawn from the men and women who have had experience in teaching the upper standards of the present elementary schools. But in so far as our chief recommendation becomes effective, the upper standards of elementary schools will disappear and therefore cease to be a source of teachers, being replaced by the institutions whose staffing is in question. Thus, although it may always be desirable to encourage a free flow from primary to post-primary schools, the majority of the staff of the new institutions, considered as a whole, will in time be recruited directly, as are the majority of teachers in other distinctive types of institutions, for instance, secondary schools. In short the new post-primary schools, if they are to fulfil their purpose, will generate their own traditions, create their own special types of curricula and gradually form their own teachers. The close cooperation that may be expected to grow up between them and the training colleges and training departments of the universities should do much to ensure that young teachers appointed directly to the schools have learnt the right attitude towards their work and understand something of the nature of the task to which they are called.

129. There appears in general to be a strong feeling in favour of whole-time teaching in Central Schools, and it would seem that comparatively few of these schools make use of visiting teachers. Part-time teachers are, however, sometimes employed for quasi-vocational subjects, such as millinery, dressmaking, shorthand, and more rarely art and handwork. On the other hand, visiting teachers are employed extensively in rural and scattered areas, where for various reasons it is difficult to establish a selective or non-selective Central School, and where provision for courses of advanced instruction is made by means of part-time central classes, upper tops, senior departments, and the like. In Central Schools it is now the ordinary practice to include among the whole-time staff properly qualified teachers of handwork for boys and of domestic subjects for girls. As regards senior classes, more especial] y those in rural areas, most of our witnesses thought that visiting teachers of special subjects would often have to be employed.

130. There was general agreement that it was difficult to obtain properly qualified teachers of foreign languages trained in the latest methods. We have indicated in the suggestions on the teaching of the several subjects of the curriculum in Modern Schools appended to this Report (1) the steps which we think might be taken to increase the supply of properly qualified teachers of languages for Modern Schools. Again it was pointed out that it was not at present easy to secure for schools in rural areas teachers who were competent to give an agricultural bent to the curriculum, more especially in elementary science. It was also stated that there was not an adequate supply of teachers qualified to give instruction in art in its bearing on various industries in Central Schools with an industrial bias. Further there was general agreement among our witnesses that definite steps should be taken to improve the existing arrangements for training teachers of handicraft and domestic subjects. It was pointed out incidentally that it would be a great advantage if teachers of cookery and laundry-work were also qualified to teach needlework and kindred subjects. In this way, they would obtain variety of occupation and also relief from the standing posture which is necessary in teaching cookery or laundry-work, but imposes a severe strain on the teacher who gives instruction continuously in those subjects.

131. We were informed that the arrangements in regard to the appointment of the staff of Central Schools varied very considerably. In some areas the members of the staff are selected wholly by the Local Education Authority and the choice is limited to teachers already in their service. On the other hand, a considerable number of Authorities throw open appointments in their Central Schools to teachers from other areas. In most cases the head teacher has some voice in the appointment of the assistant staff and in selecting them considerable importance is often attached to special qualifications. We consider that it is most desirable that the head teacher should be consulted when vacancies are to be filled on the assistant staff. Indeed it is difficult to see how a staff can be properly organised, and how the work in the different branches of the curriculum can be adequately correlated to form a coherent scheme of study, unless the advice of the head teacher be sought when vacancies are to be filled.

132. Our present educational system is often criticised on the ground that boys and girls on leaving school at 14+ are found, after a few years, to have forgotten and in a sense lost much of what they had learnt at school. It may indeed be that this criticism is exaggerated, but nevertheless, we consider that the new Modern Schools for pupils over the age of 11+ may well be regarded as affording an opportunity for consolidating the pupils' attainments as well as for teaching the application of what they have learned to the affairs of everyday life. (2) Developing this thought, we are of opinion that in selecting head teachers for Modern Schools, Local Education Authorities should aim at choosing men and women who are interested in the social and industrial conditions of their pupils and of their pupils' parents, whose outlook on life is not predominantly academic or professional, and who are not predisposed to base their curriculum on some conventional examination system. Many excellent teachers, though competent in their own subjects, may lack wider interests and have too limited a background of general knowledge to be able to link up their own special knowledge in an interesting way with the affairs of everyday life. Only head teachers possessing experience and knowledge of the kind indicated above can bring the curriculum, methods and general being of these schools into living touch with modern problems, and can appreciate not merely the requirements but the dignity of occupations which are not exclusively professional or academic. The head teachers of such schools should be men and women who, while possessing an intimate knowledge of their children's needs, have also developed an extensive range of interests, and shown themselves to possess initiative and capacity to strike out fresh lines of development and to introduce a new spirit into their schools. They would naturally seek, while avoiding strictly utilitarian schemes of work, to develop courses of instruction by cautious and judicious experiment over a number of years, with the object of devising curricula calculated to bring their pupils into closer touch with local economic conditions and with the requirements of modern civilisation. Having become familiar to some extent with the details of certain industries or commercial concerns, they could introduce this knowledge judiciously into their teaching, selecting such matter as would excite the interest of the pupils and illustrate different points in the subjects of the ordinary curriculum. Such schemes of work, if properly thought out and coordinated, would possess a high educational value. Indeed, from one aspect the three types of post-primary school designed for pupils leaving at the age of 14+ or 15+ might be regarded as providing an introduction to modern social and economic life. From this point of view, the Modern School, and possibly also some of the Senior Classes, might be developed so as to constitute a real bond between the school, and industry, commerce or agriculture. Much might be effected to this end, not only by the highly desirable means of developing games, societies and other corporate activities within the school, but also by judicious association and cooperation with suitable local organisations and clubs (3) where such exist.

133. We consider that members of the assistant staff should be selected broadly on the same principles as those stated above. The specialist teacher, in addition to having a knowledge of his own subject or group of subjects should know something about the social and industrial conditions of the district, and should be able to correlate the instruction in his own subjects with cognate branches of the curriculum. We think that in all schools, but especially in schools such as the new Modern Schools, where there is a much wider field for fruitful experiment, it is essential that teachers should have a broad-minded, liberal and practical outlook. The teachers in modern schools should be constantly establishing connections between school studies and life. It is not sufficient for them to possess knowledge practical and theoretical. They should have the power and the art of applying what they know judiciously to a given case. For example, the geographer should be able to use his geographical knowledge in the field, and in history a constant consideration should be 'How does this or that fact, movement, and so forth, which we have been studying, bear upon or help to explain any features of modern civilisation.'

134. We are of opinion that the sources from which teachers may be drawn are more various than is sometimes realised. We have four main categories in our mind: (a) the trained certificated teacher from a training college; (b) the graduate who has taken a four years' course in a training Department of a University or the graduate who, after taking the ordinary three years' course for a degree, has spent a fourth year in the Training Department of a University; (c) the graduate who, without being trained in the formal sense, possesses special experience which might serve in lieu of training (e.g. in a 'Secondary' or Preparatory School, or in some branch of social or industrial work); (d) the specialist teacher trained in the subject which he teaches.

135. Categories (a) and (b) need little explanation, since they consist of those from whom the profession of teacher in primary schools is at present generally recruited. Both the primary schools, and the future Modern Schools and Senior Classes, may be regarded as a very important training ground for teachers. A future teacher in a Modern School or Senior Class might well have obtained a stimulus as a pupil in the Modern School or Senior Class itself, before transference to a Grammar (i.e. Secondary) School at the age of 14+ or 15+. We understand that an arrangement at present obtains in London by which pupils in Central Schools who desire to become teachers, and who have passed the First School Examination at the age of 16+, are then transferred to a Secondary School. We hope that a large percentage of teachers in Modern Schools and Senior Classes will be graduates, and that the four year students in University Training Departments who now tend to seek employment in Grammar (i.e. Secondary) Schools will find a new field for fruitful work in Modern Schools and Senior Classes. It is indeed probable that a large numbers of students who have completed courses of training in University Training Departments will take up work in post-primary schools; for as Modern Schools are developed and a larger number of pupils remain after the age of 14+, the work will become more attractive in itself. Furthermore, salaries in post-primary schools of different types, which from the legal standpoint are all Public Elementary Schools, are better than they were, and the general conditions in regard to buildings, playgrounds, and the like are improving, and it is hoped will continue to improve. While, however, we should value the presence in Modern Schools of teachers with degrees, we do not think that the possession of a degree should in any way be a condition of employment. On the contrary, we believe that there are a large number of non-graduate teachers in existing Elementary Schools who would be admirably qualified to undertake work in post-primary schools.

136. As regards category (c), while we consider that it is important that the great majority of teachers in post-primary schools should have taken a course of training, we should be reluctant to rule out the possibility of appointing a certain proportion of graduate teachers who do not possess this qualification. We believe that there are a considerable number of persons who, without possessing professional training, hold academic degrees, have had some experience of teaching, and at the same time possess social experience of a kind that should be specially valuable in enabling them to relate the educational work of the school to the needs and interests of practical life. We would suggest, however, that before full recognition should be accorded to teachers of this type they should serve a period of probation in the post-primary school under adequate supervision and give evidence of having devoted some study to the theory of teaching.

137. In regard to category (d) we are of opinion that the staff of Modern Schools should always contain a certain number of specialist teachers, who would be responsible for the instruction in handicrafts, domestic subjects, art as applied to industrial processes, and other practical subjects. We were informed that some of the most successful instructors in woodwork, leatherwork, decorative art, and the like, in existing Central Schools with an industrial bias, had spent some time after leaving the Training College in Art Schools, or Technical Colleges, or in industrial works, and had in this way acquired first hand knowledge of various technical processes and of trade methods generally. We would urge that Local Authorities should aim at getting specialist teachers of this type for their Modern Schools. We have already stated elsewhere that in our opinion every Modern School should have on its permanent staff full-time specialist teachers of the various practical subjects.

As regards category (d) we also think that it might be desirable to have, wherever possible, on the staff of Modern Schools a certain number of men and women from other callings, e.g. engineers and craftsmen of various kinds, provided of course that they were possessed of special knowledge and experience which might be particularly valuable in giving a practical bent to certain parts of the work of the school.

138. It is evident that a large body of teachers with special qualifications for teaching the various branches of the curriculum on practical lines, according to the varying needs of different localities, will be required for the new Modern Schools and Senior Classes. We think therefore that Training Colleges should make special efforts, as several of them are already doing, to provide adequately for the needs of students intending to take up work in these post-primary schools. A third year course, either continuous or deferred, provides a good opportunity for specialisation in one subject, and this may prove one of the best methods of preparing teachers for work in a Modern School. Many witnesses conversant with the needs of rural areas pointed out that it was particularly important to secure the services of suitable men and women teachers with a sympathic [sympathetic] knowledge of the country and its pursuits, who would be capable of giving a rural trend to the work in Modern Schools and Senior Classes in agricultural districts. In this connection, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, in a memorandum sent to the Committee, stated that a sympathetic treatment of rural subjects could not be given except by teachers possessing the necessary qualities. They suggested that special courses (4) for Rural Teachers might be organised by some of the university bodies possessing Departments of Agriculture which could collaborate with and assist the local academic Departments of Education.

Several witnesses pointed out that, though short vacation courses were useful for this purpose, a more continuous and more intensive course was required to train a body of men and women who would be capable of undertaking fruitful work in Modern Schools in rural areas, especially those with a definite agricultural bias in the last years of the course. We note with interest the provision for supplementary courses for teachers made in Articles 10 and 25 of the Board's Regulations for the Training of Teachers 1926, and we hope that full advantage will be taken of the opportunities thus offered. We observe that these new Regulations throw upon the Training Colleges the responsibility for submitting proposals for courses. It is much to be hoped that some Colleges will definitely offer courses for teachers of older children in rural schools. In this connection we desire to state that in our view it is especially important that teachers of modern languages should be afforded facilities for taking courses abroad immediately following their ordinary course at a Training College. In general, we hope that the various Training Colleges in organising their supplementary courses will take account of the special needs of teachers of the various branches of the curriculum in Modern Schools and Senior Classes.

139. We desire also to call attention to the significance and value of the vacation courses which have been organised for all teachers by the Board of Education, Local Education Authorities, university bodies, and various associations. As Modern Schools of various types develop, and as their needs become more clearly defined, we hope that the Board will encourage Local Authorities, university bodies, and other organisations, to arrange some vacation courses specially designed for teachers in these Schools and in Senior classes. In this connection, we note that in the important Circular on Rural Education (Circular No. 1365) issued by the Board in May 1925, it is pointed out that special training will be needed for a large number of rural teachers, and that it is very desirable that Local Education Authorities should organise special courses and classes for them. The Board go on to make a suggestion, which was also put before us by several of our witnesses, that in organising such courses an effort should be made to use the expert staffs and the equipment of the Agricultural Colleges and Farm Institutes. With this suggestion we cordially agree, and we think great gain would result if the Agricultural Colleges and Farm Institutes could be brought into closer connection with School teachers. (5) In this matter, much might be effected by close cooperation between the Board of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture.

We observe with interest that in several areas facilities are being afforded to teachers in rural schools to take the certificates and diplomas awarded by bodies such as the Royal Horticultural Society, the National Poultry Association and the British Beekeepers' Association. We think that short vacation courses would be especially useful for teachers of handicraft in Modern Schools and Senior Classes.

140. There was general agreement among our witnesses that the work of the Central School was in certain respects more exacting than that of the ordinary Public Elementary School, and that some inducement was needed if the best teachers were to be secured. Several witnesses were of opinion that a better salary scale, such as existed generally for Higher Elementary Schools up to 1918, would help to this end. After careful consideration of the facts as known to us, we have come to the conclusion as follows: The qualifications of teachers in Modern Schools and in Senior classes should follow the lines from time to time laid down by the Board for existing Secondary Schools, though, as has been pointed out, more teachers in practical subjects will be required in these post-primary schools, as they will frequently have an industrial, commercial or agricultural bias, and will accordingly need some teachers with special qualifications. We think that the teachers should have ample time for preparation and private reading and should be afforded full opportunities for attending vacation and other short courses. The standard of staffing in proportion to the number of pupils in the school as well as the qualification of the teachers should approximate to those required for the corresponding forms in Secondary Schools. This recommendation is based on the view which we have already stated that all education above the age of 11+ should be regarded as 'secondary'.

(ii) The equipment of modern schools

141. We understand that at present most Central schools have a woodwork room for boys, a domestic subjects room for girls, a laboratory, a room for practical work, and an art room. As regards the provision for metalwork, some Central Schools have a separate room for this purpose, but in many instances one end of the woodwork room is fitted up with a forge for metalwork. The equipment of laboratories varies very much. We think that the necessary equipment for courses in elementary physics and in addition the apparatus required for teaching the elements of chemistry, botany and elementary biology should always be provided. The 'practical' room, fitted with flat top desks and supplied with a sink and other simple fittings, might be used, as it is in many cases at present, for the simpler parts of the work in elementary science and also for certain forms of practical work.

142. We consider that in principle the standards of equipment in Modern Schools should approximate to those in Secondary Schools. In our view, as in that of many of our witnesses, the education of children over the age of 11 in Modern Schools or in Senior Classes is one species of the genus 'Secondary Education'. It is not an inferior species, and it ought not to be hampered by conditions of accommodation and equipment inferior to those of the schools now described as Secondary. We attach great importance, therefore, to ensuring that, so far as possible, and with due allowances for differences in the character of the curriculum and the age range of the pupils, the construction and equipment of Modern Schools should approximate to the standard from time to time required by the Board in schools working under the Regulations for Secondary Schools. At the same time, we fully recognise that finance is a limiting factor, and as it is not feasible at once to establish conditions such as we have described, we must be content to recommend the establishment of the best conditions obtainable in the circumstances.

Footnotes

(1) See Chapter 11(b) A modern foreign language.

(2) cf. Sections 111, 114, 115.

(3) e.g. Young Farmers' Clubs, the girls' departments of Women's Institutes, glee clubs, local athletic clubs, debating societies.

(4) See the Board's pamphlet on Rural Education 1926 (Educational Pamphlets, No. 46).

(5) In this connection we desire to call attention to the excellent scheme of training in house and farm management ('enseignement menager agricole') which has been organised by the Belgian Ministry of Agriculture for women and girls from the age of 14 years, intending to engage in rural work. A description of this scheme of agricultural education for girls and women is given in a report by Miss Wark, Chief Woman Inspector of the Board of Education, and Miss Pratt, one of the Women Inspectors of the Board of Agriculture, printed in the Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture Volume XXXII No. 11, February, and No. 12, March, 1926.