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HMI Primary Survey (1978) Notes on the text
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Primary education in England
A survey by HM Inspectors of Schools (1978) London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
Chapter 6 The curriculum: scope and standards of work
i. SUITABILITY OF RANGE 6.1 In making general statements about the quality of the work of primary schools it is as important to consider the range of the curriculum studied as to make judgements about standards in particular parts of it. The evidence of the survey confirms what is largely common knowledge, namely that the range of work and the standards achieved are interrelated, sometimes in ways that are not immediately obvious; for example, a narrow concentration on teaching a skill is not always the best way of achieving high standards in it. 6.2 The range of the curriculum at any time depends on the demands placed or felt to be placed upon schools. While all would presumably agree that it is essential that children are taught to read, write and calculate, few would regard this as sufficient. It is currently accepted that in the primary school children are taught to behave in socially and morally acceptable ways, to extend their spoken and written language and appreciation of literature, to comprehend mathematical and scientific ideas, to participate in a range of aesthetic and physical activities and, through their religious, moral, historical and geographical studies, to begin to see their own situation in a broader social context. It is therefore necessary to consider the range of learning which embodies these aims before making judgements about actual or desirable standards in any single part. 6.3 In an attempt to arrive at valid general descriptions of the range of the curriculum in the classes inspected, HMI used schedules (see Annex B) which they drew up before the main survey began. These listed the whole range of activities likely to be found in primary schools so that a record could be made within a single framework of what was done in any of the Individual classes; the schedules were identical for all classes, no matter whether they were of 7, 9 or 11 year olds, and no matter what the special circumstances of a school. HMI expected teachers to be drawing from this wide range of items to suit the requirements of particular children or classes, to take local conditions into account or to make use of their own strengths. 6.4 Although, as had been assumed, individual classes did not undertake all of the items in the schedules it is nevertheless of interest to identify which items were taught to most children and were, therefore, by implication, those which a substantial percentage of teachers considered to be important. As a further step, it is then possible to establish what proportion of the classes covered the full range of items so identified. These are set out in the following paragraph. They do not represent a full range of curriculum which is considered desirable or even necessarily a minimum curriculum. They are merely items each of which was found to occur individually in at least 80 per cent of the survey classes. (1) 6.5 These are the items so identified: Language: listening and talking (a) children were taught to
(b) children talked informally to one another during the course of the working day (c) discussion took place between children and teachers when new vocabulary was introduced. Language: reading and writing (a) in 7 and 9 year old classes children practised reading from a main reading scheme and from supplementary readers (b) in 9 and 11 year old classes children read fiction and non-fiction which was not related to other work they were doing in the classroom (c) in 11 year old classes children made use of information books related to work in other areas of the curriculum (d) at each age children were encouraged to select books of their own choice (e) children were given handwriting practice (f) children undertook descriptive and narrative writing (g) in 9 and 11 year old classes children did written work on prescribed topics related to other parts of the curriculum. Mathematics Work was done to enable children to learn: (a) to use language appropriate to the properties of number, size, shape and position (b) to recognise relationships in geometrical shapes, numbers, ordered arrangements and everyday things (c) to appreciate place value and recognise simpler number patterns (d) to carry out suitable calculations involving +, -, x and ÷ with whole numbers (e) to understand money and the value of simple purchases (f) to use numbers in counting, describing and estimating (g) in 7 year old classes children undertook practical activities involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division In 11 year old classes children were taught to:
(i) work with the four rules of number including two places of decimals (j) calculate using decimals (k) use fractions, including the idea of equivalence, and apply them to everyday things (l) use various forms of visual presentation including three-dimensional and diagrammatic forms. Aesthetic and physical education The programme of work included: (a) singing (b) listening to music (c) two or three dimensional work showing evidence of observation of pattern or colour or texture or form (d) in 7 year old classes, practice of skills in gymnastics or games or swimming (e) in 9 and 11 year old classes, gymnastic skills (f) in 9 and 11 year old classes, practice of skills in playing games (g) in 11 year old classes, swimming lessons. Social abilities and moral learning Work was arranged to promote the following: (a) reliability and responsible attitudes (b) consideration for other people; eg good manners, concern, friendship (c) respect for surroundings and the care of materials and objects in the classroom and school (d) participation as a member of a group or team, learning to follow rules and obey instructions (e) involvement in the development of religious ideas and moral values during the school assembly (f) in 9 and 11 year old classes, awareness of historical change and causal factors in relation to the way people lived or behaved in the past (2) (g) in 9 and 11 year old classes, work relating to at least one of the following aspects of geography: population, agriculture, industry, transport, or resources within or outside the locality. (2) 6.6 The list invites certain obvious comments. Mention of teaching of the formal skills of spelling and syntax based on children's own writing does not appear because it occurred in too few classes. No single item relating to science could be included as, even when the items were grouped, as for geography, the percentage of classes undertaking any one of the items listed in the group did not reach 80 per cent. (3) The items (f) and (g) relating to history and geography do not allow a specific range of content to be identified within these subjects (4) and so no assumption can be made about whether or not any particular items are included in the programmes of all classes. 6.7 The coverage of items varied from class to class and showed no overall consistency. There was however 100 per cent coverage of some elements. Reading practice with a main reading scheme took place in every 7 year old class. Suitable calculations involving the four rules with whole numbers were practised in all classes at all ages. 6.8 A proportion of classes covered all the items under a given heading but it is not possible to generalise from one heading to the next. For example, in the case of mathematics, two thirds of all the classes in the survey undertook work relating to all the items identified under that heading whereas in language work half of the classes were engaged in all the activities described, see Table 28. A more detailed description and assessment of the curriculum are given in Chapter 5. 6.9 When the range of work in more than one subject is considered, fewer than two fifths of the classes at any age undertook work relating to all the identified items in both English language and mathematics. Moreover, when all the items for all subjects are considered together then less than a third of the 7 year old classes, about a fifth of the 9 year old classes and a quarter of the 11 year old classes included all the activities, see Table 29. This would seem to suggest that in individual schools either some difficulty is found in covering appropriately the range of work widely regarded by teachers as worthy of inclusion in the curriculum, or that individual schools or teachers are making markedly individual decisions about what is to be taught based on their own perceptions and choices or a combination of these. Clearly ways of providing a more consistent coverage for important aspects of the curriculum need to be examined. ii. STANDARDS AND THE CURRICULUM Matching the standards of work to children's abilities 6.10 Teachers, parents and others are inevitably and rightly concerned with the standards achieved by children in school. It must, however, be recognised at the outset that there is no one standard which is appropriate to all children of a given age. Individual children vary in their capacities and abilities and some children perform moderately in one area of the curriculum and yet show good ability in another. 6.11 Class teachers were asked to identify, within their own classes, groups of more able, average and less able children. These categories related only to the range of abilities within the individual class and HM Inspectors did not try to establish any comparability between classes. 6.12 The relationship between the standard of work children in the groups were doing and that which they were considered by HMl to be capable of doing in each subject is referred to, for reasons of simplicity, as 'match'. (5) An assessment was made of the degree of match for each ability group within the class, in relation to each subject, on the basis of the standard of work the children were doing or had completed. A reasonably satisfactory match was recorded when the tasks presented to children were related to their existing skills and knowledge, when there was evidence of progression in the work and when there was evidence of the acquisition of further skill, information or understanding. When work was presented at the right level of difficulty children were normally confident and not afraid to make occasional errors which they regarded as a stimulus for further effort; in these circumstances children displayed a sense of purpose in their work and appeared to enjoy the challenge of the increasing, though realistic, demands made upon them. (6) The levels of match across the curriculum 6.13 In almost all the cases where work was not reasonably matched to children's capabilities, it was insufficiently demanding. It was very rare for children in any age or ability group to be required to undertake work which was too difficult for them. In the case of the more able groups at all three ages the work was considerably less well matched than for the average and less able groups. A clear pattern is discernible in the extent to which the work seen was reasonably matched to children's capabilities for different age and ability groups, see Tables 30-32. 6.14 The teaching of reading was most frequently judged to be reasonably matched with children's abilities for all ages and ability groups, although reading skills were less often extended appropriately for the more able groups, as compared with others, at all ages. 6.15 Following reading, the work in mathematics was most consistently recorded as reasonably matched to the children's ability for the average and less able groups. In the more able groups at all ages a reasonable match was achieved in only half of the classes for mathematics. The children in the more able groups were more frequently extended in their work in physical education than in their work in mathematics. 6.16 The work in reading, writing, spoken language, mathematics and physical education was more frequently judged to be reasonably matched to children's capabilities than work in other areas of the curriculum. Overall, about three quarters of the average groups and rather more of the less able groups at all ages achieved a reasonable match in these subjects. But in respect of the more able groups the work in language, mathematics and physical education was reasonably matched in only about half of the classes. 6.17 The work in observational and experimental science was, at all ages and for each ability group, most commonly found to be less well matched to the children's capabilities than work in any other aspect of the curriculum. Children were not sufficiently challenged in over two thirds of all groups. This lack of challenge occurred more frequently in the more able than in the less able groups. 6.18 Overall, the work in music and art and crafts was reasonably matched to children's abilities in these subjects in about half of all the classes, The work children did in music was consistently, for all abilities and ages, more frequently a reasonable match than the work in art and crafts. This probably reflects the special measures which were taken to assist the teaching of music: the allocation of positions of responsibility, the employment of peripatetic teachers of music and the use of teachers with musical skills to teach other classes. (7) These measures may also account for the better match of the work in music, relative to other subjects, for the more able pupils. 6.19 In geography and history the work was reasonably matched to children's capabilities in less than half of the classes. Elements of these subjects were frequently taught as topics or projects which sometimes resulted in repetitive work rather than an extension of children's skills and knowledge. The work in history and geography, except for the more able groups where there was considerable underestimation of children's capacity at all ages, was more frequently reasonably matched to children's abilities in the 11 year old classes than for the younger children. Observations on the levels found 6.20 The relative frequency with which the work in language and mathematics was reasonably matched to children's abilities reflects the high priority which these subjects were accorded in most schools. It may also be that levels of difficulty are better understood in these areas, partly perhaps because of the attention which they have received over the years; such attention was evidenced by the carefully graded reading and mathematics schemes in common use and the standardised tests which were administered in many schools. (8) 6.21 In other subjects, with the exception of physical education, there was a widespread tendency to underestimate the capacities of all groups of children, particularly the more able, in relation to the work they were required to do. If children are to reach satisfactory standards in a full range of work within the curriculum there is a need to raise the general level of assumptions about what children are capable of doing and to establish sequences of learning in all subjects which will enable children to make progress and have confidence in their own abilities and capacities. There is also need for a realistic assessment of the range of work that can be covered within the context of the arrangements normally found in primary schools. This question is discussed in Chapter 8. iii. ATTAINMENTS IN READING AND MATHEMATICS 6.22 During the course of the survey, objective tests in reading and mathematics, administered by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), were given to a sample of the children in the classes which were inspected. The details are given in Appendix I. 6.23 The children who were tested were randomly selected from the 9 and 11 year old classes. The 11 year old children were given reading test NS6 (National Survey Form Six) and mathematics test E2, which was a selection by specialist HMI of items produced by the NFER in connection with the Tests of Attainment in Mathematics in Schools Project; the items were chosen to produce a mean score of about 25 and for the range of attainment found among 11 year olds in the trial samples (9) of 1973 and in the pilot study. To assess the reading standards of the 9 year old children, reading test BD was used. A mathematics test was not administered to the 9 year old children. 6.24 Of the three tests, only for reading test NS6 were there previous surveys with which to compare the results of the present survey; these took place in 1955, 1960 and 1970. Reading standards for 9 year olds and standards in mathematics for 11 year olds have not previously been tested on a national scale, therefore no comparisons are possible. 6.25 In the present survey 4,955 11 year old children, drawn from 343 (10) of the sample schools took the reading test NS6. The test is a sentence completion type in which the child has to choose the appropriate missing word from a selection which is offered. The items become progressively more difficult. An average score of 31.13 out of a possible 60 was obtained for the sample of 11 year old pupils. This is consistent with a rising trend in reading standards between 1955 and 1976-77. (11) 6.26 The reading test BD is of the same type as NS6. It was administered to 5,165 9 year old children in 372 (12) of the sample schools. An average score of 20.13 out of a possible 44 was obtained but since this test had not previously been given to a national sample of 9 year olds there are no previous results with which comparisons can be made. (13) The 1976-77 results have been used to compare sub-groups of the sample. 6.27 A comparison of the boys' average NS6 scores with the girls' average NS6 scores shows no statistically significant difference at 11 years old. At 9 years of age, girls obtained a slightly higher average score on the BD reading test than the boys, though the top 10 per cent of the boys scored marginally higher than the top 10 per cent of the girls. 6.28 The 4,991 11 year olds who sat the mathematics test, E2, were drawn from 346 of the sample schools, ie all sample schools with 11 year olds. The test contains fifty items. Of these, ten were concerned with the properties of whole numbers, ten with handling everyday situations and ten with geometry; twelve dealt with graphical representation and the remaining eight were a miscellaneous group. The detailed statistical analysis of the results is shown in Appendix I. A mean total raw score was obtained of 27.97 out of 50 as compared with the anticipated score of about 25 (see paragraph 6.23); 10 per cent of the children scored more than 41 and 9.6 per cent scored 14 or less. There was no statistically significant difference in the total scores achieved by boys as compared with girls, though the boys did significantly better on the items concerned with graphical presentation. 6.29 Educational judgement, as well as statistical analysis, is required in interpreting the results of the test. It is hoped that the test items shown in Appendix I will help teachers and others to form a view of how well the children performed. Subjective examination by HM Inspectors of responses to the full test leads to the view that the results are disappointing in some respects when account is taken of the amount of time that is given to mathematics in primary schools. 6.30 There is a variety of reasons why children may fail to give a correct answer. Some children probably read questions incorrectly and a small number, judged by the NS6 results, could not read them at all. Even so, the test results may well indicate that between 10 and 15 per cent of children have difficulty in counting and adding accurately when using groups of tens and units. Some 60 to 70 per cent of children managed sums involving somewhat more complicated numbers, though some of these children may have been perplexed where they were required to produce two or more correct answers (see examples D and H); the percentage of correct responses fails noticeably where an unusual symbol is included (50 per cent of the schools appear not to introduce the [small square symbol] of question G), or where there was need for a clear understanding of place value (particularly question H). 6.31 The responses to the two graphical items included in Appendix I may show that teaching too seldom goes beyond repetitive work on block graphs and is infrequently developed beyond this to the point where children become familiar with other forms of graphical presentation, eg linear graphs. On the other hand, the geometrical items shown were dealt with successfully by three quarters or more of the children; others involving transformational symmetry or requiring an appreciation of changes of compass bearing were, not surprisingly, found more difficult. 6.32 Taking the test as a whole, it is clear that more children would have scored better if they had appreciated the general rules that can be seen operating in the large number of separate examples they work during mathematics lessons in schools, so that, for example, the answers to questions G and I could have been obtained by inspection.
Annex to Chapter 6 Table 28 The percentage of classes undertaking all widely taught items in each subject and in social abilities Table 29 The percentage of classes undertaking all widely taught items for combinations of two or more subjects Table 30 Classes achieving reasonably satisfactory match for the average groups Table 31 Classes achieving reasonably satisfactory match for less able groups Table 32 Classes achieving reasonably satisfactory match for more able groups Footnotes (1) See Appendix G. (2) The incidence for this item in 9 and 11 year old classes was slightly below 80 per cent. (3) See Chapter 5 iv (4) See Chapter 5 vi (5) See Annex B (6) See Chapter 5 and Annex B (7) See Chapters 3 iii and 4 i (8) See Chapter 4 i and ii (9) NFER trials of items for Tests of Attainment in Mathematics in Schools Project (10) Tests from the remaining three schools could not be used, see Appendix E, paragraph 46 (11) See paragraphs 89-94, Appendix I (12 Tests from the remaining three schools could not be used, see Appendix E, paragraph 46 (13) See paragraphs 95 and 96, Appendix I 
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