Hadow (1933)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Analysis, Preface, Introduction
Chapter 1 History of the development of infant education
Chapter 2 Physical development of children up to 7
Chapter 3 Mental development of children up to 7
Chapter 4 Age limits and organisation of the infant stage
Chapter 5 Medical supervision, education and training of under 5s
Chapter 6 Training and teaching of children in infant and nursery schools
Chapter 7 Staffing of infant and nursery schools, training of teachers
Chapter 8 Premises and equipment of infant and nursery schools
Chapter 9 Summary of principal conclusions and recommendations
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Anatomical and physiological characteristics of 2-7 year olds (Harris)
Appendix III Emotional development of children up to seven plus (Burt and Isaacs)
Appendix IV Notes on typical nursery schools and classes
Appendix V Manchester's student nurse scheme for 'helpers'
Appendix VI Practice in Europe and US
Index

London: HM Stationery Office

Chapter 7 The staffing of infant schools and nursery schools, and the training of teachers for service in them
[pages 149 - 158]

THE STAFFING OF INFANT SCHOOLS AND OF NURSERY CLASSES

107. In Chapter 1 we have traced briefly the development of the education of very young children in this country, showing how the present infant school methods have grown up; partly from the ideas of Owen, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Dewey and Montessori, and partly from the emphasis on the 3Rs which was prevalent, though not universal, in the 19th century type of infant schools. In our own day, educational endeavour is increasingly directed towards the development of the child through his natural interests, and we have advocated free activity and individual work as our ideal in the infant school.

We recognise, however, that it is exceptionally difficult for even a gifted teacher to realise this ideal so long as she is expected to deal single-handed with a class of fifty little children. And yet this is what a teacher in a large urban infant school may be called upon to attempt. One great obstacle to advance in elementary education in England and Wales has in the past been the large size of classes, and although the last twenty years have seen a steady reduction in the size of classes in elementary schools, this reduction has been more rapid in departments for older children than in those for infants.

We can find no justification for the view that it is easier, as a matter of class management, to deal with large classes of young children than with large classes of older children. In our report on The Primary School (1) we recommended that classes should not contain more than 40 children on the roll. We recommend the same figure for classes in the infant school, with the proviso that the teacher of the nursery class should be assisted by one or more 'helpers' (see Section 110).

The persons in charge of these classes of young children should, where practicable, he certificated teachers. As we stated in our report on The Primary School, 'it is desirable that ultimately all assistant teachers should be certificated'.

The organisation for the teaching of infants varies greatly. In populous areas, the number of young children permits the formation of infant schools or departments under separate head teachers; in less populous areas, there are infant 'divisions' which contain more than one class but of which the principal teacher does not rank as a head teacher. In areas containing still smaller schools, usually with fewer than a hundred pupils on the roll, there is only an infant 'class': precise statistics are not available, but it is clear that in England and Wales there are some thousands of such schools. (2)

We realise that under existing conditions the practice of appointing certificated teachers to all assistant posts in infant 'divisions' and in separate infant schools or departments cannot be universally adopted. While we hesitate to lay down any particular ratio for the purpose of guiding authorities as to the minimum number of certificated teachers which should be employed on each staff, lest such a minimum might come to be regarded as a maximum, we would impress upon authorities the desirability of ensuring that in all schools in which the assistant staff numbers two or more, the head teacher should not be, as is sometimes at present the case, the only certificated teacher.

The staffing of small schools containing at most an infant 'class' presents some distinctive features. In the very small school under a single teacher the children are taught in small groups or even individually. In two-teacher schools the headmistress generally teaches the older children. One of the advantages of the reorganisation of small schools as primary schools is that the headmistress herself may be reasonably expected to have special interest in the education of the youngest children and some opportunities for supervising their training. Nevertheless, when the teacher in charge of the infant 'class' is not certificated, great care should be taken to select a woman who possesses definite educational qualifications; she should also be temperamentally suitable, and have a real sympathy for young children. We specially commend also the practice adopted by many local education authorities of supplementing the guidance which such a teacher will receive from the head of the school by arranging for (a) visits of observation; (b) occasional exchanges with teachers in larger schools; (c) weekend classes and intensive courses; (d) advice from a visiting expert teacher. In small schools in which the number of pupils on the roll approaches a hundred, and in which the head teacher may be a man, there will ordinarily be two assistants, one of whom in our opinion should be a certificated woman possessing special qualifications for the teaching and training of the younger children.

We consider that in areas containing a number of very small schools in which the infant class will not always be in charge of a certificated teacher, the services of an advisory visiting teacher are not less necessary than for some other branches of specialised teaching, such as physical training and the education of mentally deficient and backward children. We trust, however, that if this is done, special care will be taken to prevent the stereotyping of educational method.

Nursery classes. Owing to the importance of the early stages of education in their effect upon the later development of the child's mind, character and physique, the teacher of the nursery class will have special responsibilities in attending to both the physical and the mental development of her pupils. If she is to make adequate use of the nursery amenities that we have recommended, she will require one or more 'helpers'. Indeed there was general agreement among our witnesses that in any school or department for children below the age of five in which 'nurture' forms part of the task of the teacher, the assistance of the 'helper' is indispensable. (See Section 110 below).

The headmistress of an infant school, especially if it contains nursery classes, in addition to her general responsibilities for the teaching and training of the children, has to cooperate actively with the medical officer and the school nurse, to be the referee in matters of health, and to be prepared at all times to deal with special problems of behaviour; she must become the parents' adviser and friend. While taking an active part in the teaching of the children, and in their training, she must obviously have the freedom required to carry out the duties arising from her responsibilities for her school or department, which is a place both for nurture and for education organised on free lines.

STAFFING OF THE NURSERY SCHOOL

108. The staffing of nursery schools will not differ in principle from the staffing recommended for nursery classes but the following considerations should be borne in mind:

(a) When children as young as two are admitted, it is desirable that the teacher in charge should have had special instruction in nursery care during her training course.

(b) A higher ratio of 'helpers' (see Section 110 below) should be allowed, (i) where the day is longer, including meal times; and (ii) where children are admitted at the age of two. (3)

109. We have throughout visualised the period of education from the age of two or three to that of seven as a continuous whole and we look forward to a training course which will equip teachers to meet the progressive needs of children between those ages. A sharp division between the training of teachers for service in nursery classes or schools and in infant schools seems to us inadvisable. A little more emphasis might be laid on the nursery side for those dealing with children under five, and on the scholastic side for those in charge of children between five and seven, but such emphasis or selection of studies should not exclude the great field of common knowledge and common understanding which all those who have the training of children under seven will require.

It is important that teachers in infant schools should have had some knowledge of the various stages in a little child's development. The difficulties of the child of six or seven should be seen in relation to those of the child from the earliest age. Teachers will be better able to handle with understanding the problems that arise if they study them in their sequence. This is one reason why we have elsewhere advocated the establishment, wherever possible, of a model nursery school in which the methods of dealing with very young children may be studied by teachers from neighbouring infant schools. (4)

The first essential for a teacher of young children is that she should have the right temperament. A teacher of young children should not only have a real love and respect for children, but should be a person of imagination, understanding, sympathy and balance. She has to be ready to leave the child to his own devices when it is desirable to do so, but to be prepared to give help and reassurance when required. The atmosphere of happiness and security is established by her, and on her devolves the task of directing the children's activities. She has to encourage children to recognise the rights of others, and to be herself a friendly member of their group; to help them to develop their power of concentration, responsibility and initiative; to give them some standard of right and wrong. She builds up in them regular physical habits and control; she helps to form their taste and sets them on the path of intelligent observation; she trains them in the way of experiment and discovery, and gives them much of their vocabulary. The possession of a pleasant voice is of the first importance: her manner of speech, her articulation, and her choice of words, will serve as a model for the children who are learning from her how to talk and read. Natural gifts are not enough: such work as hers will demand wide and thorough theoretical knowledge and also the ability to apply this knowledge in actual experience with particular children. Child study - the study of children's mental and physical development - should form the basis of her training. Her studies in psychology should be connected directly with descriptions and observations of the actual behaviour of children. The young teacher in training should study the stages of development in children up to the age of seven with due regard to every aspect of growth. She should learn to note progress, to observe any signs of defect, and to keep records. She should gain some insight into the emotional problems of little children and learn how to handle their crises. It would be well that she should also pursue the study of a particular subject for its own sake, thus keeping alive her intellectual interests. In particular she should develop any gift she may have for music or art; while handwork and nature study will form part of her normal course of study. (5)

The general scheme for training intending infant teachers varies in different training colleges. In a few the infant teacher is trained to teach children between the ages of two or three and seven or eight; in others to teach children between the ages of five and eleven, with some emphasis on the special requirements of children between the ages of five and seven or eight. (6) In the latter case the teacher is equipped to teach in either infant or primary schools. This wider range of training has been of value in the past in facilitating interchange of teachers between infant and primary schools, and has thus contributed to the unity of the teaching profession. It also avoids the danger of regarding the growth of the child as a succession of definite stages instead of a continuous whole.

It does not follow, however, that the more specialised training will necessarily tie the teacher to service in a particular type of school. A knowledge of children, their growth and their mental processes, should be the basis of all training. The training college can only prepare the teacher for the practice of a craft which has still to be learnt in the school of experience: year by year the teacher will place more reliance on her actual experience. If she has a knowledge of fundamental principles, it is for her to practise an honest self-criticism, and to evolve her own methods. It is what she makes of herself that will ultimately determine her fitness or otherwise for teaching in a particular type of school; and the good teacher will not find that the specialised training of her early days will unduly limit her sphere of work.

Some of our witnesses thought that the real difficulty in the training of infant teachers is that the two year course is too short to allow of a comprehensive preparation. One solution of the difficulty might be an extension of the course to three years. (7) This may be impracticable under present economic conditions. In the meantime special importance attaches to the use which is made of the young teacher's 'probationary year'. The probationary period of one year's teaching service in a public elementary school specified in Schedule I, Section 4 of the Code (8) is, or should be, a further year of practical training. The necessity of appointing teachers to vacancies as they occur doubtless renders it difficult in practice to ensure that young teachers are appointed only to those schools which are most suitable for them. Nevertheless, we hope that authorities will keep in mind the desirability that young teachers who have specialised in infant school work should, during their probationary period, be placed in infant schools or in primary schools under sympathetic head teachers who will encourage them to develop and carry further the training which they have already received. (9) We fully appreciate the difficulties that confront 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 would suggest that even in county areas some attempt might be made to arrange that young certificated teachers who have specialised in infant work, should pass their first years in the profession in circumstances calculated to ensure that the best use is made of their college training. It is abundantly clear that the present rather haphazard methods of allocating young teachers on their first appointment leads to much discouragement and loss of enthusiasm when, as not infrequently happens, they are called upon to work under difficult or depressing conditions.

Once again we would call attention to the excellent results which have been obtained from the intensive courses and weekend classes organised by the Board of Education and the local education authorities.

We consider that all the recommendations we have made regarding the personal qualities and training qualifications of teachers in infant departments apply also to those in separate nursery schools. The superintendent will have younger children in her care and she will have them for a longer time including the midday meal. We consider it advisable that the superintendent of a nursery school should have been trained at a three year college, or should have taken a 'third year' in order to specialise in the charge of very young children, or should have had considerable experience in their care and teaching.

'HELPERS' FOR NURSERY SCHOOLS AND NURSERY CLASSES

110. Reference has already been made to the opinion of many of our witnesses that 'helpers' are a necessity in schools which contain large numbers of children under the age of five. 'Helpers' will be girls who have attended school up to the age of at least fifteen years; their employment as 'helpers' should cease at the age of eighteen or nineteen. In assessing the qualifications for such work, the appointing body should have particular regard to the girl's aptitude for dealing with young children, to any evidence of vocational impulse, and also to the bearing which work in nursery schools and classes may have upon her future occupation.

The proposal to appoint 'helpers' involves the introduction into the work of the schools of an element which is in the strictly technical sense a non-teaching element. A 'helper' who shows special aptitude for dealing with young children might be allowed the opportunity of continuing her general education with a view to qualifying as a teacher; but only in rare cases could 'helpers' be expected to enter a training college and become certificated teachers. If the position of a 'helper' were regarded generally as an avenue to the teaching profession, the ranks of the supplementary, or at least of the uncertificated teacher, would be swollen not only beyond the desirability, but far beyond the possibility of employment.

The plain fact is that employment as a 'helper' must not be regarded as offering a guarantee of ultimate employment as a teacher. The question remains as to what the future may hold for such girls. They will have been educated in infant care, and may later become children's nurses, welfare workers, or hospital nurse probationers. The daily association with teachers skilled in infant care, specially devoted to problems of physical and mental growth in the young, will give them a valuable fund of general knowledge and experience. The remunerative positions to which this knowledge and experience will lead in later life may, however, soon reach saturation point. (10)

So long as the number of the nursery schools or classes for children below five or six years of age remains small, the problem remains relatively simple. If, however, the number of such schools or classes were greatly increased, or if the number of 'helpers' allocated to each qualified teacher were made unduly high, the problem of the future occupation of 'helpers' might present serious difficulties. The local education authority may provide them, and indeed must provide them, with continued education related to the work they are doing; but it cannot be responsible for their employment after the age of eighteen or at latest of nineteen years. On the other hand, the local education authority must not, as an effect of its own administration, swell the number of 'blind alley' occupations. The clear duty of the authority is to meet the needs of its schools; but it has a second duty which is no less clear, not to introduce into those schools in any capacity girls who will need remunerative employment at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and who may miss the chance of such employment through being side-tracked in early life. In this particular respect, consideration of the needs of the schools must be qualified by consideration for those who work in the schools. When the measure of 'helpers' reaches that quota which the authority, in surveying the economic conditions of its area, considers to be reasonable, some other means must be taken of meeting the needs of the schools. These other means may not be equally effective, because the spirit of youth and the lively apprehension of youth are qualities of the highest value in this class of worker.

So far, we have considered the position of the 'helper' merely in relation to future remunerative employment in public or private service. This is not the only consideration. It is possible that 'helpers' may also be obtained from among those girls who are remaining at home and who will later have the care of a home, and are not intending to take up an outside occupation.

There may be another possible source of supply. Girls who are still at school (some of whom may already have passed the school certificate examination) and who are taking a course in housecraft and domestic science, or are contemplating future employment as hospital nurse probationers, children's nurses, or nursery governesses, might usefully be attached in relays to a neighbouring nursery school, or nursery class in an infant school, and there receive part of their practical training. The practising periods would have to be so arranged that the work of the nursery classes was not embarrassed by too frequent changes of 'helpers'; it is obviously essential that children should not be exposed to the strain of being superintended by a personnel appearing at irregular intervals and constantly changing. Care would also be necessary to ensure that the pupils' practice as 'helpers' was properly integrated with their general studies. The supply would be limited by the obvious condition that the nursery schools or classes at which the girls attend for practical work would have to be reasonably accessible to their own schools.

Finally, in large areas there will always be a number of intending teachers who have left school after having gained their first school or higher school certificate, and who are awaiting entry to training colleges. During this short interval such girls might be employed temporarily in nursery schools or classes as 'helpers'.

Under such conditions and with such qualifications as we have mentioned, we recommend the employment of 'helpers'.

Footnotes

(1) Report of the Consultative Committee on The Primary School (1931), Chapter 8, Section 87.

(2) On 31 March 1932 there were 11,138 departments of various types with an average attendance of less than 100: of this number 2,044 were classified in official statistics as 'infant departments' and 6,891 were classified as 'mixed departments'. It is reasonable to suppose that a considerable proportion of the 'mixed' departments contained a class or group of pupils below the age of seven.

(3) Part-time assistance will be required for the preparation of meals, etc. 'Caretaking' in nursery schools is of special importance (see Chapter 8, Section 120).

(4) See Chapter 5, Section 81.

(5) In this connection we welcome the widening of the secondary school curriculum and the developments in the teaching of music and art in secondary schools during recent years. We realise that these developments have not been introduced for the benefit of the future teacher of young children; they are the logical outcome of the principle that a girl's education should follow her natural bent, in whatever direction that bent may lie. But the infant schools stand to gain much from this growing recognition that there are diversities of gifts, artistic and practical as well as academic; for artistic and practical gifts are a particularly valuable equipment for the teacher of little children. Music and art are now included among the options which may be offered in school and higher certificate examinations. We welcome every encouragement offered by schools and examining bodies to girls whose gifts lie in this direction to continue the study of these subjects during the whole period of school life.

(6) see, for instance. University of London Training College Delegacy Regulations for the Examination for the Teachers Certificate, 1934 (Section 5(b)(ii), paragraph 3): 'Special Course C. A course suitable for students who are preparing to teach young children. This course may be adapted to give special preparation for work (i) in nursery schools and infant schools, or (ii) in schools for infants and junior children.'

(7) The Rachel McMillan Training College at Deptford has in fact a three year course, two years of which are recognised by the Board of Education for purposes of grant.

(8) Schedule I, Section 4, of the Code for 1926 runs as follows: 'Recognition in any of the capacities aforesaid shall lapse from such date as the Board may fix if, at the end of a probationary period of one year's teaching service in a public elementary school, the teacher fails to satisfy the Board of his practical proficiency. The probationary period may be extended by the Board in exceptional cases, or may be waived by them if they are otherwise satisfied of the teacher's practical proficiency.'

(9) In this context, it should be mentioned that in some areas an officer has been appointed to supervise young teachers and to see that they are working under suitable conditions.

(10) In Manchester, there are 18 'student nurses' engaged in certain of the 60 nursery classes. A brief description of the 'Manchester Scheme for Student Nurses' will be found in Appendix V.