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Hadow (1928) (page numbers in brackets) Notes on the text
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The Hadow Report (1928)
Books in public elementary schools London: HM Stationery Office Preliminary pages [title page]  Report of the Consultative Committee on Books in Public Elementary PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from HM STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, WC2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; 1 St Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; 15, Donegall Square West, Belfast; or through any bookseller [page iii]
Appendices:
The estimated gross cost of the preparation of the appended Report (including the expenses of the witnesses and members of the Committee) is £1245 1s 4d, of which £199 0s 0d represents the gross cost of printing and publishing this Report. [page iv] SIR WH HADOW CBE (Chairman)
MR RF YOUNG (Secretary) Sir TM Taylor CBE was also a member of the Committee up to May 1928. To inquire as to the selection and provision of books for public elementary schools and to make recommendations for the improvement of their quality and supply. [page v]
[page vi]
[page vii]
[page viii]
[page ix]
[page x]
[page xi]
[page xii] The following question was referred to us by the Board of Education in August, 1926: 'To inquire as to the selection and provision of books for public elementary schools and to make recommendations for the improvement of their quality and supply.'We began our consideration of this problem at the end of November, 1926, immediately after we had completed our Report on the Education of the Adolescent. The Full Committee has sat on 27 days between November 1926 and July 1928, and has examined 93 witnesses. (See Appendix I (a)). In February 1928, the Committee appointed a Drafting Sub-Committee, consisting of seven of its members, with Sir Graham Balfour as Chairman. The Sub-Committee met on 12 occasions between February and June, 1928. We desire to offer our cordial thanks to the witnesses who assisted us with invaluable evidence; to those organisations and persons (named in Appendix I (b)) who furnished us with memoranda, statistics, and other data bearing on our inquiry; to the Local Education Authorities which sent us the detailed replies to our questionnaire, a number of which are summarised in Appendices II and III, and to the Publishers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland, which supplied us with the statistics summarised in Appendix VI. In particular, we would thank Mr C Birchenough, Chief Inspector under the Kent Education Committee, to whom we are much indebted for valuable help given in the preparation of Chapters I and II of the Report. To Mr RF Young we repeat the thanks we have expressed before in our three previous reports. No Committee can have been better served by its Secretary. Mr Young has placed ungrudgingly at our disposal his wide knowledge, his sound judgement and his special gift for investigation: he has borne a full share of our work and has greatly contributed to its completion. In this he has been well seconded by Mr RJ Telling, Clerk to the Committee, who has been unfailing in the performance of his many and diverse official duties. [page xiii] The subject referred to us was 'to inquire as to the selection and provision of books for public elementary schools and to make recommendations for the improvement of their quality and supply'. The problems which it raises are numerous, momentous, and sometimes difficult. Is the number of books supplied sufficient in quantity, or should the expenditure upon them be substantially increased? Is the quality of the books used by the children of different ages as high as can reasonably be expected, or does it stand in serious need of improvement, and, if it is unsatisfactory, is the explanation that good books are not available, or that the books in use are not wisely selected, or that inferior books are selected on grounds of economy? Are the methods commonly employed in choosing books likely to produce the best results, or do they require to be supplemented? Can arrangements be devised which may help children to feel more generally, towards some, at least, of the books which they use, something of the interest which is inspired by a personal possession - something even, perhaps, of the affection which goes out towards a familiar and trusted companion? What should be the relations between the elementary schools and urban and county libraries? Is it possible to establish machinery which may ensure that questions of the supply and quality of the books available for use in Elementary Schools are submitted to a more continuous and searching review than is the case at present, and if so, what form should such machinery assume? Such are some of the questions to which our attention has been directed. Conditions in this matter, as in other departments of education, vary widely from district to district, and we are conscious of the danger of generalisation, But we have endeavoured, while paying due regard to the differing circumstances of different areas, to view the problem as a whole, and to suggest conclusions which may not be too inadequate to the importance of the subject. We need not use many words in order to emphasise how great that importance is. Books, it is true, are not the only instrument of education, or the sole avenue to the world of culture: the work of a good school, as we pointed out in our [page xiv] Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1) should contain large elements, not only of literary and scientific study, but also of practical craftsmanship. But a capacity to use and appreciate books is at least one element, and an indispensable element, in the liberal education whose foundations the Elementary School exists to lay, and the success of such a school must be judged partly by the measure in which that capacity is cultivated and strengthened. No good purpose is served by pitching too high the demands which may be made upon children in the opening years of their education. They are novices entering a world which, however fascinating it may and should one day become, is strange in its conventions and exacting in its demands. They must master its intricacies by degrees, and it is not our intention to suggest that, even with the wisest guidance and most skilful teaching, they can learn to handle books with the confidence and ease which, if acquired at all, are acquired only by long experience and patient application. But three things it is not unreasonable to expect before their education in school has ended - that children should obtain such a familiarity with their mother tongue as will enable them to interpret correctly ideas within their mental range, and simply and clearly to express their own; that they should in some degree, if only a small degree, form the habit of using books as sources of information, so that, later in life, they may be the masters of the printed word, not its slaves or its dupes; and that they should acquire some feeling for what is noble in literature, and find in it a food for their imaginations and a tonic for their characters. These things may reasonably be expected, for in some elementary schools they are already achieved. They are no mean possession. In the house of education there are many mansions, and we do not forget that a school has other, and not less important, functions than those which are suggested by our present reference. We neither suppose that the majority of children can become what are sometimes described with doubtful charity as 'omnivorous readers', nor do we desire that they should. But the secret of personal happiness and national well-being is to be sought partly, at least, through (1) Report on the Education of the Adolescent sections 93, 116, 126, and Recommendations Nos. 5 (ii) and 11. [page xv] contact with the spiritual heritage of mankind, and of that heritage books are an important, though not the only, vehicle. A child who, before his school days are over, has become accustomed to an atmosphere of natural and dignified speech, who has learned to believe that books may be helpful assistants to whom he can turn for guidance and enlightenment, and who has read some books, not as a necessary drudgery, but with zest and gusto, has been prepared, in a not unimportant sphere of human interests, to receive of the best which the present generation can offer to its successors. He holds one of the keys of civilisation, and has begun, in his small way, to be a citizen of the world. Such a programme is not, we hope, extravagant or visionary. But it is obvious that, if it is to be realised, the books available for the use of children must be adequate in number and satisfactory in quality. There is ample evidence to show that both in number and in quality they often leave much to be desired. Some improvement in both respects has, indeed, been taking place in recent years, and we gladly recognise that there is an increasing number of schools in which the provision of books approaches the standard which can reasonably be expected. But the conclusion forced upon us by our evidence is that such schools are still the exception, and that, in the country as a whole, the situation is often serious and sometimes deplorable. While the expenditure upon books in some administrative areas is comparatively liberal, there are others, and, unfortunately, a large number, in which it is so insufficient as seriously to hamper the children's education. While some of the books in use in elementary schools are excellent, it is still often the fact that, even when good and suitable books are available, inferior and less suitable books are offered to the children. The books at the disposal of the elementary schools have been too few, and some of those supplied to them have not been of a kind either to cultivate the children's taste for reading or to teach them how books should be rightly used. The explanation of such conditions is largely historical. They are a belated survival from an educational past which has almost disappeared. As we show in our opening chapter, there was a long period during which, so far as the Elementary [page xvi] Schools were concerned, the words 'books' and 'reading' were almost terms of art. Their meaning in the world of Elementary Education was often very different from that which they bore both in common speech and in the schools of the well to do. The child who attended a private preparatory school, and later a secondary school, received comparatively few formal reading lessons in school. He was supposed to acquire the art of reading at home, and later, when his school life began, he was not so much taught to read as set to grapple with a subject. The child who attended an Elementary School stood from the start in a different relation to books and their contents. Not only was he taught to read in school - which, since his school life began at five or six, was not unreasonable - but for several years his reading books were used to teach him little else. Thus reading in his case often had a peculiar connotation. It meant, to speak broadly of a large number of Elementary Schools, not the individual use of books for instruction or enjoyment, but reading aloud in class. The lamentations of Matthew Arnold that, despite their assiduous instruction in reading, children in Public Elementary Schools too often obtained no real insight into the wealth or even the meaning of their own tongue are familiar to all; and, though Arnold's interpretation of the term 'literature' may occasionally have been beyond the range of the children whose mis-education he deplored, there was considerable substance in his criticisms. It is true, indeed, that intelligent reading aloud has great educational value, and that practice in the art of oral reading did open to many intelligent children a door into reading as the world understands it and taught them something of the use of books for information and delight. But it is probable that too often a book meant to many children a school reader, of which all parts without discrimination were rehearsed by different members of the class in turn, with observations interpolated by the teacher to explain 'hard words'. In many schools indeed, books were regarded as existing primarily, not to be read, but to be read aloud. The process of reading aloud was naturally slow, and it was necessary that children should be prepared for the annual reading test conducted by the inspector. So the books provided were few in number, and an intelligent class with a skilful teacher might read through the same book several times in the course of one year. If [page xvii] some of the children in the end could recite whole pages, they had too often neither enriched their own powers of expression, nor caught the spirit of the books which they read, nor even mastered the information which the authors sought to convey. This stage of educational history has long since ended, but it has left its mark upon existing practice and habits of thought. For it created a tradition which coloured opinion as to the number and character of the books required in elementary schools, and which even today, perhaps, is not wholly without influence. Though to teach children to read aloud with just emphasis and expression is no longer the sole or principal aim of the reading lesson, there are still schools in which the number of books is no larger, or but little larger, than it was when the ability of children to read the two or three books which they had studied was tested by the annual examination held by an inspector. The quality of books available for use in schools has greatly improved, and, for some, at least, of the subjects of the curriculum, books can now be obtained which are not only accurate in substance and clear in expression, but full of charm and inspiration. But there is still here and there, perhaps, a disposition to suppose that what the schools require is not books, but lesson-books - as though the books most suitable for the education of children in school were necessarily the books which no child could read with pleasure outside it. It is true, of course, that children today have an access to libraries, which formerly did not exist, and we make in Chapter IV certain suggestions for establishing closer co-operation between the libraries and the elementary schools. It would be a misfortune, however, we think, if reading, as it is understood by those who read for pleasure, or instruction, or inspiration, were regarded as different in kind from the reading that takes place in school. It will always be necessary, indeed, to employ a certain number of books which have been specially written to help children of different ages to study particular subjects: text-books, primers, and even summaries have uses which are legitimate as well as uses which are not. But such books, however elementary, should be good of their kind - should be clear in arrangement, should be simply and vigorously written, and should be designed to awaken interest, as well as to convey information. We need [page xviii] to bridge the gap between the schools and life, not to widen it. Books of the right kind, wisely chosen and supplied in sufficient abundance, are one of the piers on which the bridge may be built. So our first and fundamental recommendation is simple. It is that more books and better books shall be made available for children in the elementary schools. We plead both for a more generous provision and for the provision of books that are worth reading - that appeal to the children's curiosity and imagination and love of narrative; that, when information is their object, convey it in a lucid and interesting form; and that, if written for children, are not written down to them. A more abundant supply of books will involve some additional outlay; (1) but it is an outlay, it seems to us, from which those responsible for Public Education ought not to shrink. Education Authorities should look afresh, we think, into the whole question of the supply of books for elementary schools in their areas, with the object of considering whether the time has not come for a substantial increase of expenditure upon them. And, since expenditure on books is most likely to be adequate if the figure at which it stands can be seen at a glance, we suggest that, instead of being merged, as is often now the case, in the cost of other kinds of equipment, it should in future be shown as a separate item in the Authorities' accounts. The improvement of the supply of books is not only, however, a matter of expenditure. It is also a matter of wise selection. The selection of books for the elementary schools rests, and properly rests, in the hands of the teachers. But, as everyone who has had the duty of selecting books knows, the task is rarely an easy one. Its successful performance depends upon the existence of opportunities for comparing different works, which superficially may bear a close resemblance to each other, though in quality and value they may differ (1) The data supplied to us by 23 Authorities, which are summarised in Appendix IV, shows that the average annual expenditure on books alone per pupil in the areas of these Authorities during the three financial years 1924-25 to 1926-27 was about 1s 8d [about 8p]. Though it is not possible to ascertain the precise amount spent on books alone in Public Elementary Schools in England and Wales, it seems almost certain that the amount would represent less than one per cent of the total expenditure per child incurred in maintaining Public Elementary Schools. (See Appendix IV and Chapter 3, Section 49.) [page xix] profoundly; and the steady and welcome growth in the number of books available for schools, if it widens the range of choice, increases also the difficulty of choosing. It is important that, without in any way interfering with the freedom of the teachers, all possible assistance should be given them. We suggest therefore, that, wherever possible, Local Education Authorities should establish, as some already have established, permanent book-rooms, containing a collection of books which teachers can examine at their leisure, and that local Book List Committees should be set up which would, through the local education authority, bring to the notice of teachers books which seem specially suitable for use in the Elementary Schools. It is also important not only that the right books should be chosen, but that books of the right type should be produced, and attention should be called to those departments of school work in respect of which further books are most urgently needed. To this end it is desirable that representatives of the different Book List Committees should periodically meet together to compare the information collected by each Committee and to discuss matters of common interest. We have accordingly recommended that the Board of Education should from time to time convene a Central Advisory Conference, which should include representatives of the local Book List Committees in the different divisional areas, (1) to deal with general questions relating to the supply, quality and content of books for Public Elementary Schools. At such Conferences the local Book List Committees could submit their observations on the available supply of books, on the principal deficiencies existing at the moment, and on those departments of school work in respect of which further books were most urgently needed. In suggesting that a Central Advisory Conference of this type might from time to time be convened, we need hardly say that we have no intention of interfering in any way with the freedom of teachers and Local Education Authorities. Such a Conference would probably be able to pool the available knowledge, and, if need be, might circulate information on various aspects of the (3) For purposes of inspection by the Board of Education, England and Wales are divided into the following divisional areas: Northern; North-Eastern; North-Western; West-Central; East-Central; Eastern; Metropolitan; South-Eastern; South-Western; Wales and Monmouthshire. (See Chapter 5, Section 70, and Chapter VIII, Recommendation No. 43). [page xx] book supply. And knowledge and information do not diminish freedom: they increase it. When books are adequate in number and satisfactory in quality, it still remains to use them aright. To show children how to use different books rightly - how to extract their information and appreciate their beauty, how to study, digest and select is the business of their teachers. But the work of a teacher is lightened, and the pleasure and profit of the pupils are enhanced, if, as early as possible, the latter form a habit of intelligent and friendly interest in some, at least, of the books which they use. There should be some books which a child does not regard merely as a necessary part of the furniture of his school, but towards which he stands in a more intimate and personal relation. A book takes on a new glamour when a child feels that it is his own, and the ideal arrangement would be, no doubt, that some of the books should be owned by the children themselves. If that, at present, is too much to hope, thought must be given to finding an alternative road to the same result. Though it may not be possible for a child to own his school books, he can, at least, be allowed to retain for his individual use some of those which at the moment he is studying, so that he may regard them, for the time being, as peculiarly and distinctively his own possession. He can be encouraged - we are thinking of the older children - to write his name in them, to have them in his keeping during the day, and to take some of them home to read by himself when school is over. We agree with those of our witnesses who urged that such details, trivial though perhaps they may seem, are not unimportant, and that it is worth much trouble to help children to think of some books, at least, not as the material of lessons, but as companions and friends. We agree also with the emphasis which some witnesses laid upon the importance of improving school libraries, and of establishing the closest possible co-operation between the public libraries and the schools. If one need is that children should come to look upon books as individuals, with a personality of their own, another and perhaps but little less important need is that the older children should be accustomed to see a number of books together and acquire some practice in discovering for themselves the particular book which will best serve their purpose. School libraries, and, for the higher [page xxi] classes, class libraries, are indispensable instruments of education, and too much care cannot be given to ensuring that the books contained in them are chosen and arranged with taste and judgement. Nor is it less important to encourage the older children to make use of the Public Libraries. It is to his local library that the student of mature years ought, in the first place, to turn for books which he does not himself possess, and the habit of using it is one which the school should help to form. It is a ground for satisfaction that many Public Libraries reserve special reading rooms for children and have established juvenile lending departments. Our detailed recommendations will be found in the body of this Report, and it is not our purpose to anticipate them here. It is for those responsible for educational administration to determine in what degree they deserve to be applied and are capable of application. The task of putting the provision of books for elementary schools upon a footing which can be regarded as satisfactory must, in any case, demand the expenditure, not merely of money, but of time and thought. But the time, we are convinced, will be well spent, and the thought will yield a rich return. During the present generation two facts have emerged which are of profound significance, and to which educational methods have hardly, as yet, adjusted themselves. They are the almost universal ability to read, and the prodigious and continuous increase in the matter that can be read. Men's minds are not formed today so commonly as in the past by the spoken word and oral tradition, or by regular converse with the few great books, such as the Bible and Pilgrim's Progress, which supplied food to the imagination and colour to the idiom of generations of Englishmen. They are played upon by an unceasing torrent of printed words, and sometimes it seems that they are in danger of being swamped by it. If the rising generation is to keep its head clear and its taste unspoiled - if it is to recognise a fact when it sees it and distinguish fact from fiction, or to acquire a just and sensitive feeling for what is admirable in thought and expression, it must form the habit of intelligent reading while it is still at school. The substance of our plea can be stated in a sentence. It is that the schools should be supplied with more books, and better books, for the children to read. 
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