Hadow (1931)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Analysis, Preface, Introduction
Chapter 1 The history of the development of the conception of primary education
Chapter 2 The physical development of children between the ages of 7 and 11
Chapter 3 The mental development of children between the ages of 7 and 11
Chapter 4 The age limits for the upper stage of primary education
Chapter 5 The internal organisation of primary schools
Chapter 6 Retarded children in the primary school
Chapter 7 The curriculum of the primary school
Chapter 8 The staffing of primary schools and the training of teachers
Chapter 9 The premises and equipment of primary schools
Chapter 10 Examinations in primary schools
Chapter 11 Summary of principal conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 12 Suggestions on the curriculum of primary schools
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Physical development of 7-11 year olds (Harris)
Appendix III Mental development of 7-11 year olds (Burt)
Index

London: HM Stationery Office

Chapter 8 The staffing of primary schools and the training of teachers
[pages 107 - 115]

87. If the reorganisation of the schools on the lines indicated in the Report on the Education of the Adolescent is to mark a real advance in education, it will be because teachers have understood how to use their new opportunities. The re-establishment of the primary school in its integrity for children up to the age of eleven should lend a fresh interest to teaching at this stage. It is desirable that primary school teachers should not be immobilised and that service in primary schools should be regarded as a useful preparation for the teaching of older pupils, especially for those teachers who desire later to specialise in the subjects and methods required for modern schools.

We consider that the general lines of the staffing of primary schools should be determined by the consideration that none of the classes should contain more than 40 children. (1)

We think that it is essential that the head teachers in all primary schools, however small, should be certificated, and that it is desirable that ultimately all assistant teachers should be certificated.

We have already drawn attention in this Report to the importance of shading off gradually the transition from infant school methods to methods appropriate to the later stage of primary education, (2) and in view of this, we recommend that in schools and departments for children between the ages of seven and eleven the earlier work should be conducted by teachers who have had some experience in schools for infants and possess some knowledge of modern infant school methods. Children at this stage are usually taught by women; for the later stages the teachers in boys' schools and in mixed schools should include an adequate number of men. We consider that the headships of mixed schools should be open both to men and women, and that there should, where possible, be a senior assistant of the opposite sex to the head teacher. In large schools of this type the post of senior assistant should be treated as one of special responsibility.

88. Most of our witnesses were of opinion that teachers with general qualifications rather than specialists would be best suited for work in primary schools. The Association of Education Committees and the Association of Municipal Corporations held that it was not advisable to adopt the specialist system in such schools, and we support this view. In our opinion it is clear that it is the teacher with the general rather than the specialist outlook who is of value at the primary stage. From the point of view of character training and discipline children need a class teacher who is responsible for the greater part of their work. To be taught in turn by various teachers, each interested in his own subject, might leave the children without the general guidance that they need at this stage. (3)

The two-year training courses were originally planned for students who had not had the benefit of a full grammar school education. Of late the course has been somewhat lightened, and a choice of subjects has been allowed, but this has tended to produce teachers with specialist interests. The need for the revision of the two-year training courses in the light of the improved preparation of entrants to training colleges, most of whom now have a full secondary education up to the age of eighteen, was pointed out in the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Training of Teachers (1925). In accordance with the recommendations of that Report, the training colleges have now been associated with the universities for the purposes of the final certificate examination. Since this examination is now to some extent internal, it is to be hoped that some method will be found for securing a just balance between the academic and professional sides of the courses for the training of teachers.

A further question arises as to whether there should be training courses closely associated with the successive stages of education, or whether a general course is to be preferred. Our witnesses were divided on this point. We believe that young students when entering upon their profession should have a general view of its problems.

What is needed in the new conditions is a general professional training for teachers of children, with an advanced academic qualification for teachers in the new modern schools. This general training need not preclude special study and experience of one particular stage of education. We suggest therefore that appropriate steps should be taken to adjust the courses of training to suit the new organisation of schools.

89. The 'probationary year' of service (4) should be an additional year of practical training. The necessity for appointing teachers to vacancies as they occur makes it difficult for an authority to ensure this. Such an arrangement could be carried out with complete success only if the teacher were regarded as supplementary to the ordinary staffing of the school. We realise that within existing limitations a local education authority cannot do more than endeavour to ensure that young teachers during their probationary year should be placed so far as possible in primary schools under sympathetic head teachers who will encourage them to develop and follow up the training which they have already received. (5) We fully recognise the difficulties confronting local education authorities, and more particularly county authorities, in this matter, owing partly to the small size of many of the rural primary schools, and partly to the conditions governing the appointment of teachers in non-provided schools. Nevertheless we think that even in county areas some attempt might be made to arrange that young certificated teachers should pass their first years in the profession in circumstances which would ensure that the best use was made of their previous training. This would not interfere in any way with the appointment of young teachers possessing special qualifications direct to posts in modern schools; though the experience of serving for a few years in a primary school might well be of great use to a teacher with special qualifications who intended eventually to take up work in a later stage of education. It is abundantly evident that the present somewhat haphazard methods of allocating young teachers on their first appointment may lead to loss of efficiency and enthusiasm when, as not infrequently happens, they are called upon to work under difficult or depressing conditions. Young teachers should not be assigned to classes of special difficulty where experience and skill are required. In rural schools and in small schools generally, there are opportunities for gaining valuable knowledge of individual and group methods.

We think that in both urban and county areas great care should be -exercised in allocating young teachers to schools for their probationary year in order to supplement their college training. An effort should be made to utilise small rural schools for probationary experience, provided that such work is done under adequate supervision.

90. The increasing number of small reorganised primary schools in rural areas (6) presents a new problem from the point of view of the training of teachers, and it is evident that the preparation of teachers for work in such schools demands more attention from the authorities of training colleges than has hitherto been bestowed on it. Many teachers fresh from training colleges often find themselves in considerable difficulties when confronted with problems and general conditions of work which are different from those with which they have become familiar in urban practising schools during their college course. The small primary schools require a special technique in organisation and teaching based largely on the application of group and individual methods. (7)

We are of opinion that all training courses should afford adequate practice in methods of individual and group work, which are indispensable in rural schools, and are of great importance everywhere. We suggest that the authorities of training colleges should take full advantage of modern transport facilities, and include some small rural primary schools among their centres for teaching practice.

91. In general we think that where a third year in a training college is not possible, short courses of the type of existing vacation courses and week-end courses should meet the needs of trained teachers in primary schools who desire to improve their proficiency in teaching.

Useful guidance is often given to teachers by the organisers and inspectors of local authorities. Such assistance from advisory officers is peculiarly valuable to rural teachers and should in our view be extended. The Board's Inspectors afford useful help in this way, but their duty to their districts as a whole often prevents them from devoting much time to individual schools and individual teachers. Valuable guidance and advice may be given by peripatetic teachers and organisers employed by county authorities to give demonstrations or series of lessons in selected primary schools. We have mentioned in another passage (8) of this report the effective help which may be given in this way by peripatetic organisers who have specialised in modern methods of teaching retarded children. Study circles, organised chiefly by the teachers themselves, and branch meetings of teachers' associations, do much useful work in enabling teachers, especially those in rural primary schools, to pool their experience.

92. We understand that most training colleges include in their ordinary courses some general instruction in the methods of teaching dull or backward children or those who develop late but, as we have shown in the Chapter on Retarded Children, there are many degrees of retardation, and methods suitable for dealing with merely backward children are of little use for pupils who are innately dull. The idea widely held that retarded pupils may be trained by methods suited to normal children of a younger age is erroneous, since the retarded child is not an infant either in years or in physique. Certain features of modern infant school work may however be adapted for use with retarded children, according to the degree and type of retardation. But it is desirable that new and alternative forms of technique should be devised to deal successfully with such children. (9)

We think that the general problem of teaching such children at the primary stage of education should form an integral part of all courses of training. As regards special courses on modern methods of dealing with young retarded children, we gather that little specific attention has been devoted to this aspect of primary education, except by the Central Association for Mental Welfare. This body, with some assistance from the Board, organises every year courses designed for teachers of retarded children. A few such courses have also been provided by certain local education authorities.

The Board's general view is that teachers who intend to take up work with retarded children should first obtain adequate experience in the teaching of normal children, and with this view we wholly agree. There is however a real need in primary schools for teachers with an adequate knowledge of modern methods and technique for instructing the retarded pupils.

It should be recognised that in dealing with children between the ages of seven and eleven, due care for retarded children is in every way as important as for those who are normal. Since much of the knowledge of child psychology has been derived from the study of retarded children, it is probable that reference to the special problems they create will be made in most courses of training. An intensive knowledge of their needs, however, can be acquired only by supplementary courses imposed upon the foundation course of training. Teachers who deal with a considerable proportion of retarded children, therefore, should have special preparation, and any further training which they undertake to fit themselves for this work should be regarded as an addition to their professional qualifications.

93. Our witnesses pointed out that it was sometimes difficult for county education authorities to induce trained teachers to accept the headships of small rural schools and that this consideration was probably one of the reasons why some county authorities occasionally placed such schools in charge of uncertificated teachers. (10) The evidence submitted by the County Councils Association on this point is of special interest.

'In the very small schools - and there will be thousands with less than fifty children in them - the task of finding suitable certificated head teachers will be very great so long as it is impossible to deal with the teaching staff on service principles and to promote as a matter of course those who have done well in the small school to the larger. At present a number of the very small schools are staffed with female uncertificated head teachers. In some cases it may be that motives of economy had their part in these arrangements, but there are others in which it has been found impracticable to obtain satisfactory certificated teachers. For instance, salary scales undoubtedly affect the supply, and again women often find difficulty in securing suitable living accommodation. In consequence of the latter some authorities have appointed married teachers resident in the area, many of whom have been retired for some time. While we do not advocate the indiscriminate throwing open of the headship of schools of a given size to uncertificated teachers, we are obliged to recall that many of the small schools are being kept going by the employment of uncertificated head teachers. We would urge, however, that if their employment is to continue, such uncertificated head teachers should be specially selected and approved with reference to their personal qualifications and experience.'

The views of the County Councils Association on this matter were corroborated by a large number of individual witnesses who had special knowledge of the conditions prevailing in small rural schools. Many of these witnesses emphasised the fact that teachers without high professional qualifications had in many instances successfully fulfilled the difficult task of organising the instruction in small rural primary schools owing to their special knowledge and experience of children and of local conditions. (11) As we have stated previously, we think, however, that it is essential that the head teachers in all schools, however small, should be certificated, and that the employment of uncertificated teachers should be regarded merely as a provisional measure.

94. We consider it most important that authorities employing uncertificated teachers should encourage them, where possible, to qualify themselves for recognition as certificated teachers. We hold that, in order to facilitate the entry of uncertificated teachers after not too long an interval into training colleges, and especially into colleges developing a rural side, the authorities of such colleges should accept candidates who are suitably qualified.

Some authorities have established a fund from which a limited number of loans repayable without interest may be made to uncertificated teachers to assist them to undertake a course in a training college for the purpose of obtaining the certificate. This practice is highly commendable, and we think that authorities which at present do not grant such loans should consider the possibility of establishing a fund for this purpose. The amount of the loan together with any grants payable under the Regulations for the Training of Teachers should be such as would cover the expenses without undue strain on the teacher.

We recommend that, so long as uncertificated teachers continue to be recognised, local education authorities which employ them should take appropriate steps to ensure that they are proficient. The short courses intended for teachers in primary schools which have been organised by a number of authorities, and the plan of encouraging visits to primary schools noted for good teaching and organisation, are among the arrangements which may be adopted for this purpose.

95. Statistics show that on 31 March 1929 there were 7,462 supplementary teachers (12) teaching classes containing pupils under eleven. Of these 5,565 were in schools in rural parts of areas. In general it may be said that supplementary teachers are not engaged in full teaching service; inasmuch as they are recognised in a particular school only, their recognition can be withdrawn at any time, and their service is not pensionable. In the small rural schools, however, they render assistance in looking after the young children, and the head teacher is thereby left free to devote more time to the older pupils.

We were informed that authorities frequently experience very considerable difficulty in obtaining teachers for small schools in remoter rural areas. One of the reasons for this appears to be the lack of suitable lodgings. It is accordingly sometimes found convenient to employ a supplementary teacher whose permanent home is near the school. We consider that the employment of supplementary teachers should be regarded as a provisional measure only, and that wherever it is found possible, and at the first opportunity, their place should be taken by trained teachers.

Footnotes

(1) See also Chapter 5 Section 64 and Chapter 6 Section 72.

(2) Cf. Chapter 4 Sections 55-57 and Chapter 5 Sections 63-64.

(3) It may, however, be desirable that subjects such as music and drawing should be taken by teachers who have special qualifications.

(4) A teacher recognised under Schedule I of the Code who enters a public elementary school, has to serve for a period of probation (Schedule 1, 4),

(5) In some areas an officer has been appointed to supervise young teachers and to see that they work under favourable conditions.

(6) The latest statistics show that out of 30,522 departments in Public Elementary Schools in England and Wales, 12,085 are in rural parts of county areas; 8,974 of these 12,085 departments do not exceed 100 in average attendance, and the average for all departments in the rural parts of county areas is 81. Of these 8,974 departments, 761 have not over 20 children in average attendance; 995 have between 20 and 30; 1,604 between 30 and 40; and 5,614 have between 40 and 100.

(7) Cf. Chapter 5, Section 67.

(8) Chapter 6, Section 71.

(9) See Chapter 12.

(10) On 31 March 1929 there were 742 uncertificated head teachers; 372 were in charge of Departments classified as 'Junior Mixed', 308 in 'Mixed' Departments for pupils of all ages, 62 in Infant Departments. Education in 1929 (Cmd. 3545) p. 118.

(11) Cf. Chapter 5, Section 67.

(12) Schedule II of the Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools provides that a supplementary teacher may only teach a class of children of whom the majority are under the age of eight, or (where the average attendance of the school, or of a group of neighbouring schools treated by the Board as one for the purpose, does not exceed 100) the lowest class of older children.