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 9 The premises and equipment of primary schools
[pages 116 - 122]

96. The provision of new school buildings, and the adaption of premises already existing are problems which constantly confront local education authorities and managers in considering schemes of reorganisation based on the break at the age of eleven. Moreover, the question of school buildings and the size of the classes that may suitably be accommodated in them is inseparably bound up with the problem of the curriculum and methods of study for children at the primary stage, since group and individual work and modern methods of teaching can be applied only with difficulty in old-fashioned and unsuitable buildings.

It is often difficult and costly to adapt existing premises for use as modern schools, which require spacious rooms for practical work and laboratories, and in many instances it is found to be more economical and satisfactory to construct new buildings. On the other hand, it is generally easier to adapt existing buildings for use as primary schools than as modern schools. In this connection we desire to say that we strongly deprecate any tendency to sacrifice the needs of children below the age of eleven to those of children above that age. Many of our witnesses stated that authorities were sometimes disposed to assign the older and less suitable buildings to the younger children in their plans for reorganisation. (1) Our proposals for reorganisation as set out in the Report on the Education of the Adolescent were designed to benefit children below the age of eleven as well as children above that age, and we think that it is most important that the premises and equipment of primary schools should receive, in proportion to their needs, as much consideration from authorities as schools of the secondary type. We recognise however, that in the case of primary schools the efforts of authorities will be largely directed to the improvement of existing buildings.

Many experiments have been and are being carried out in the planning of new buildings for primary schools. We understand that the Board welcome these various experiments and that the absence of any rigid building regulations has been found, on the whole, advantageous. It is of interest to note that the majority of plans for new schools recently passed by the Board provide for single-storey buildings. The Board take the view, with which we agree, that in cases where it is proposed to erect a building of two or more stories, or to adapt an existing building of this type, arrangements should be made to provide accommodation for the infant department on the ground floor. The Board consider that there is in general no objection to the department for children between the ages of seven and eleven being housed on an upper floor, provided that the staircases are easy to climb and conveniently placed for safe and rapid exit in case of fire. In planning new schools it is preferable to provide separate departments for infants and for pupils between the ages of seven and eleven. In cases where it is necessary to have a combined school or department for children between the ages of five and eleven, a separate playroom larger than an ordinary classroom should be provided for the younger children. This room might count as a classroom for purposes of accommodation since it would be continuously in use.

Sites for new primary schools should be chosen with great care. Such sites should be open and sunny, removed as far as possible from the noise and dust of roads, and sufficiently large to provide hard playgrounds. (2) Sunlight and fresh air are fundamental needs for young children. School buildings should be placed so as to obtain as much sunlight as possible, and should be cross ventilated. A separate room for medical inspection should be provided in primary schools, and it is also desirable that there should be an assembly hall. Most of our witnesses thought that it was not necessary to make elaborate provision for practical activities in primary schools. As a rule, one or two large rooms with water and gas laid on should suffice for larger schools. In large schools it may often be possible to use the hall for children who take their midday meal in the school, provided that a small kitchen is available. In small schools, particularly in rural areas where a large proportion of the pupils come from a distance and have to take their midday meal at school, it is in our view most important that adequate facilities for this purpose should be provided. It would appear from our evidence that one of the most urgent needs in schools, particularly those in rural areas, is adequate facilities for drying wet clothes and boots. Our witnesses repeatedly called attention to the risks incurred by children who cannot dry wet clothes or wet boots, and in this connection, the Medical Officers of Schools Association, corroborated by the National Union of Agricultural Workers, pointed out that children under the age of eleven are peculiarly liable to develop rheumatism. It would seem that the most satisfactory way to treat wet clothes is to have a room specially fitted with drying apparatus connected with the central heating system. It is clear that it would be difficult to provide such rooms in smaller schools. Nevertheless, we think that even in such schools adequate facilities for drying wet clothes should be provided. The application of the heat at which clothes may be dried would quickly lead to the deterioration of leather; thus it will be necessary to adopt some different method for drying boots. Special apparatus which provides a moving current of air can be obtained or easily devised for this purpose.

It is clearly essential that there should be an adequate supply of drinking water in all schools. In schools in rural areas where the water is frequently not laid on, a supply of drinking water should be carried to the school each day. Many of our witnesses called attention to the great importance of a supply of hot water and clean towels. (3) In planning new schools provision should be made for storing towels.

A number of our witnesses commented upon the poor sanitary arrangements in some of the existing schools. We hope that authorities and managers will make a special effort at an early opportunity to remedy defective sanitary arrangements. Some of our witnesses urged that all new primary schools should be planned on the open air principle. We understand that the best modern designs for primary schools incorporate a number of the features of the open air school, and we think that the plans adopted for new primary schools might well be designed on open air lines.

97. Classrooms should be so furnished that they may be readily adapted for various forms of activity. Many of our witnesses called attention to the fact that desks of antiquated design are still in use in primary schools, especially those in rural areas. The seats in such desks are often either too high or too low, and the space between the seat and the surface for writing is often wrong. There is sometimes no support for the child's back and the surface of the desk itself slopes unduly and is thus inconvenient for practical work. Ample cupboards which can readily be used for storing (but not for hoarding) should be provided, and there should be a number of shelves easy of access on which books can be kept. In our Report on Books in Public Elementary Schools (1928) (4) we recommended that every pupil should be allowed, at least in school, to retain possession of all books which he is constantly using, and that they should remain in his keeping until the end of the term or year in which he requires them, and we further pointed out that some form of locker was essential. We think it desirable that such lockers should be provided for the older pupils in primary schools.

98. A permanent collection of supplementary books for general reading and for illustrating various aspects of the school work is quite as important in the primary school as in the various types of secondary school. Many young children below eleven will have no other books except such as may be found at home, as they are usually excluded from the Public Libraries (5) The libraries of primary schools should be equipped on as adequate a scale as possible, and the range of subjects should be as comprehensive in small schools as in large. We have indicated in the section on different aspects of the curriculum [Chapter 12] some of the types of book which might with advantage be included in school or class libraries. They should contain a number of story books on topics that specially appeal to young children. Stories about exploration, aircraft, nature study, birds, flowers, and animals, as well as various children's annuals, make a strong appeal to pupils at this stage.

We repeat the suggestion which we made in our Report on Books in Public Elementary Schools 1928 (6) that the head teacher should decide whether it is more satisfactory to keep the whole collection of books together, or to apportion some of them to different classes or groups. We assume that adequate accommodation will be provided for school and class libraries, and that the suggestions regarding their upkeep which we made in section 54 of the report in question, will be borne in mind by the responsible authorities. The fact that the library for the older children of the primary school will consist of simple books intended for reading rather than for reference will affect both the question of binding such publications and of equipment for their accommodation and preservation.

Our witnesses were, on the whole, of opinion that in the larger primary schools class libraries were preferable to school libraries. There is force in the argument that the class teacher will know the needs of the pupils better than anyone else, and that it is possible to use this knowledge to greater advantage when an adequate collection of books is available in the classroom, rather than in a general school library.

99. Pictorial illustration is so necessary in the case of young children to ensure any clear mental conception of many of the terms with which they will meet in the course of the lessons or reading, that equipment for the purpose should be regarded as essential in the primary school. This equipment should include not only a supply of pictures for use in demonstration to a whole class, but a liberal supply of smaller pictures for group or individual use. (7)

For class use the ordinary magic lantern is invaluable, and we recommend that one or two rooms in the school should be fitted in such a way that slides can be exhibited with the minimum of fuss and waste of time, and that a lantern should, wherever possible, be provided. To equip a school with a small number of stereoscopes is an inexpensive but invaluable aid for the use of pictures by individual children or by small groups.

This section would be incomplete if we said nothing about the possibilities of making use of the film and of broadcasting in the primary school. Both are great educational forces; both play a large part in the life of today, even in that of children, both are capable of exerting so strong and cultural an effect on the population as a whole that their claims to a place in the educational machinery of the school cannot be resisted. What that place may be is still uncertain, and far more experiment than has been attempted as yet is necessary before any confident conclusion can be reached. One thing, however, is clear. Both are essentially methods of class instruction, and in so far as the methods of the primary school tend to deal with the child as an individual, or with small groups of children engaged on a common task, the sphere of utility of both film and broadcasting will be reduced. Their function is likely to be most fruitful in connection with the class lessons, and especially with those activities of the school which aim at arousing new interests. Broadcasting also has an obvious place in the training of appreciation, and the film in giving vivid impressions of unfamiliar things and processes. Neither the film nor broadcasting can claim to supplant the teacher, or to determine the contents of the curriculum; they must enter the school as interpreters, not as dictators, of what is to be taught there.

The piano has long been regarded as an essential part of the school equipment, and to this must be added the gramophone. In the primary school its chief use is to habituate children to hearing beautiful music finely rendered and thus lead them to understand and love music. We regard this as a highly important educational service. (8)

100. In many primary schools it is the practice for teachers to take the pupils for short rambles in connection with the study of nature, and also to organise visits from time to time to places of historic or geographical interest in the neighbourhood, museums, art galleries, and the like. Most of our teacher witnesses thought that short visits and rambles of this character, if properly supervised, were of great use in the education of young children, and we have no hesitation in recommending strongly the practice of taking children under the age of eleven to visit such places when they are readily accessible from the school and involve only a few hours' absence.

101. The Board of Education have recently issued a pamphlet on School Playing Fields. (9) It is pointed out in this pamphlet that, although the advantages derived from a playing field in addition to the usual hard playground are probably greater during the later years of school life, younger children also benefit from the open space and healthy surroundings afforded by a grass playing field. We think that although games (10) are as important at the primary stage of education as at the secondary stage, nevertheless the organised games as practised in schools for children over the age of eleven may sometimes be out of place in the primary school, especially for the younger pupils. (11) Appropriate arrangements may, however, be made for free play, and we hope that the needs of pupils under the age of eleven in this matter, particularly in urban areas, will not be overlooked. It is particularly desirable that the playing fields for primary schools should, wherever possible, be near the school buildings.

Footnotes

(1) 144 new council schools were opened during the year ended March 31st, 1930. This number included 52 'senior' departments, 59 'junior' departments and 31 infant departments.

(2) And if possible some space for games, cf. this chapter, Section 101.

(3) These might perhaps be made of paper, and thrown away after use.

(4) Chapter 7, Section 84.

(5) It should be mentioned that several local education authorities have drawn up reading schemes for young children, e.g. A scheme for encouraging Home Reading of Suitable Literature by Children in Attendance at Elementary Schools published by the Yorkshire (West Riding) Education Committee.

(6) Chapter 5, Section 63.

(7) We have in mind such pictures and views as are included in the series of postcards published by the national museums, art galleries and other similar institutions. Descriptive price lists of such photogravures and picture postcards with letterpress may as a rule be obtained by writing to the Director, Curator or Secretary of the institution in question. The full postal addresses of some of the more important of these institutions are as follows:
The British Museum: The Director, British Museum, London, WC1
The British Museum (Natural History): The Director, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, SW7.
The Victoria and Albert Museum: The Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, SW7.
The National Museum of Wales: The Director, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
The Imperial Institute: The Director, Imperial Institute, South Kensington, London, SW7.
The Science Museum: The Director, Science Museum, South Kensington, London, SW7.
The Royal Botanic Gardens: The Curator, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey.
The National Gallery: The Director, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2.
The National Portrait Gallery: The Secretary, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, Charing Cross, London, WC2.

Further information about other institutions which publish pictures of this character is given in the footnote on pages 22 and 23 of the Consultative Committee's Report on Books in Public Elementary Schools (1928).

(8) See also Chapter 12, Music.

(9) School Playing Fields Board of Education educational pamphlet No. 80 (1930).

(10) See also Chapter 12 Physical Training and Games.

(11) Organised games in the primary school may include many round games or smaller group games, such as netball, stoolball and postball, which afford essential training for the bigger national games, and which can be played on any fairly level open space.