Plowden (1967)

Notes on the text

Volume 1

Preliminary pages Foreword, Membership, Contents
Lists Tables, Diagrams and Photographs

Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction

Part 2 The growth of the child
Chapter 2 The children: their growth and development

Part 3 The home, school and neighbourhood
Chapter 3 The children and their environment
Chapter 4 Participation by parents
Chapter 5 Educational Priority Areas
Chapter 6 Children of immigrants
Chapter 7 The health and social services and the school child

Part 4 The structure of primary education
Chapter 8 Primary education in the 1960s: its organisation and effectiveness
Chapter 9 Providing for children before compulsory education
Chapter 10 The ages and stages of primary education
Chapter 11 Selection for secondary education
Chapter 12 Continuity and consistency between the stages of education
Chapter 13 The size of primary schools
Chapter 14 Education in rural areas

Part 5 The children in the schools: curriculum and internal organisation
Chapter 15 The aims of primary education
Chapter 16 Children learning in school
Chapter 17 Aspects of the curriculum
Chapter 18 Aids to learning and to teaching
Chapter 19 The child in the school community
Chapter 20 How primary schools are organised
Chapter 21 Handicapped children in ordinary schools
Chapter 22 The education of gifted children

Part 6 The adults in the schools
Introduction the role of the teacher
Chapter 23 The staffing of schools
Chapter 24 The Deployment of Staff
Chapter 25 The training of primary school teachers
Chapter 26 The training of nursery assistants and teachers' aides

Part 7 Independent schools
Chapter 27 Independent primary schools

Part 8 Primary school buildings and equipment; status; and research
Chapter 28 Primary school buildings and equipment
Chapter 29 The status and government of primary education
Chapter 30 Research, innovation and the dissemination of information

Part 9 Conclusions and recommendations
Chapter 31 The costs and priorities of our recommendations
Chapter 32 Recommendations and conclusions

Notes of reservation
Annex A A questionnaire to witnesses
Annex B List of witnesses
Annex C Visits made
Glossary
Index

Volume 2

Research and Surveys

Articles

about Plowden

The Plowden Report (1967)
Children and their Primary Schools

A Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England)

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1967
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Volume 1 Chapter 13
The size of primary schools
[pages 167 - 173]

449. The size of primary schools is determined in large measure by the distribution of population and by other circumstances in the community or area which they serve. Most small schools are in the country or in urban areas where the population is falling. Rural schools and their sizes are treated in the following chapter. Many small schools both in town and country are voluntary schools and their size must depend on the number of children for whom a denominational school can be shown to be needed. Substantial changes in the size of existing schools are not likely in the near future since most schools must continue to use their present buildings. Yet many new primary schools will have to be built and it may be possible to reorganise existing schools. It is, therefore, of value to discuss the most satisfactory size of school. Though our evidence was necessarily based on schools as they now are, we have made suggestions for the sizes of schools in the various age ranges which we recommend.

The existing situation
450. Table 8 shows the different size of primary schools in England in January 1965. It will be seen from it that:

(a) most infant schools have between 100 and 300 children on the roll;

(b) just under half of the junior with infant schools have fewer than 100 children on roll;

(c) nearly one third of all primary schools, including all age schools of which only a few remain, have 100 or fewer children on roll. They contain, however, only about 12 per cent of the primary school population;

(d) junior schools, which are concentrated in urban areas, tend to be larger than junior mixed and infant schools.

Suitable sizes of schools for primary children
451. Most witnesses who expressed an opinion favoured schools small enough for children to move freely about the buildings without anxiety, and to get to know the adults and many of the children. It is difficult to be sure whether the youngest children are aware of the total size of the school community, particularly if their part of the building is separated from that used by the older children. Witnesses held that primary schools should be of a size in which the head and other teachers can know children as individuals. A study of the incidence of delinquency in primary schools in a large urban area (1) suggests that there is rather less delinquency in smaller schools when allowance is made for the neighbourhood. Heads of the special group of 'schools in the slums' studied in the Newsom report thought this to be so.

452. Witnesses believe - and we concur with their view - that schools should be small enough for heads to know parents personally and to involve them in the work and life of the school. Whether parents visit a school frequently will depend partly on its distance from their homes. Distance also matters to children, who should not be expected cross busy roads, particularly if it is difficult to provide traffic wardens at all dangerous crossings.

453. Witnesses also agree that schools should, when possible, be large enough to justify a staff with varied gifts and to permit a flexible organisation which does not force classes with a wide age range on teachers who are not convinced of their value. At the same time, schools should be small enough for a head to be able to give effective leadership to their staff and, in particular, to inexperienced teachers, and for the staff to work together as a team without too formal an organisation.

454. The evidence of research about the attainments of children in schools of varying size is inconclusive. Studies of reading in Kent (2) showed that reading attainments were higher in larger schools. The Manchester Primary School Study (see Appendix 9) found a similar correlation between size of school and attainment. The authors of both these studies are aware that the larger schools are found in those areas where parents tend to belong to higher socio-economic groups than are characteristic of communities where the schools are small. The National Survey shows that, when other factors are held constant, no clear relationship emerges between size of school and attainment in reading.

455. The advice of almost all our witnesses is that, with the present age range and class size, two form entry junior or infant schools and one form entry junior mixed and infant schools are the most satisfactory. This amounts to about 240 children in an infant school, about 320 in a school for juniors only and 280 for a combined junior mixed and infant school. Advice from the Department to local authorities in recent years has been on this basis and has usually been followed in the building of urban schools. We have analysed by size a list of schools of especial distinction compiled by HM Inspectors. The proportion of schools on this list, which are of the sizes commended by our evidence, exceeds markedly the national proportion of schools of these sizes. The excess of good schools occurred in each type of primary school - junior mixed and infant, junior, and infant schools. It is also interesting that the proportion of schools in the National Survey which were rated average and above average was rather higher in schools of 200-350 pupils than in larger or smaller schools (Appendix 5, paragraph 8 and Table 5).

456. Almost alone among our witnesses the LCC [London County Council] (now the ILEA [Inner London Education Authority]), while in favour of variety in size and organisation of school, recommended experiments in schools of up to 500 children aged five to 11, and saw no overriding argument against infant schools of 360 and junior schools of 480, if other circumstances, such as the area of the sites, made this possible. They believed that there were advantages in the varying gifts of a large staff and in the wider range of equipment available in a big school. Larger schools can absorb a higher proportion of men teachers and can reduce the demand for women in positions of responsibility. This is an important point since there are few applications from women for headships or posts of responsibility. The LCC also thought that the promotion prospects created by large schools might attract more men into primary schools. In common with most of our witnesses, they preferred for urban areas a school which admits at least one form each year and makes possible classes which contain one year group only. Finally, they suggested that, in schools which are bigger than one form entry, the annual entry was less likely to vary so much that there would have to be children from more than one age group in a class.

Economic arguments
457. In making a decision on the most satisfactory size of schools, local education authorities have to take into account the cost of building and maintenance, of transport and of staffing, both in manpower and in money. These economic factors are relevant to this and the following chapter.

458. The cost limits for building new schools allow more for each pupil in small than in large schools. It is assumed that classes with wide age ranges need to be smaller than classes with a narrow age range, and this assumption is made explicit in the Building Regulations, which provide for two teaching spaces (or classrooms) to be built for 26-50 children, three for 51-80 children, four for 81-130 children and five for 131-160 children. It is therefore more economical to build larger schools. As Table 13 shows, the rate of savings diminishes in schools which have more than 280 pupils. Smaller savings are not negligible, however, at a time when many schools need to be replaced or improved, and when education must compete with other equally important services for its share of money and labour for building.

Table 13 Cost limits for different size of primary schools: June 1966

459. We examined the relationship between the major running costs of a sample of 81 primary schools and their size and age. Building maintenance costs were shown to be related to the age of the school but not to its size. Cleaning and caretaking costs per pupil showed some tendency to rise with increases in the size of school, and fuel and lighting some tendency to fall, but none of these costs was related to the age of the building. The failure to find a significant relationship between running costs and size may be due to the nature of the sample. Different methods of heating and different kinds of fuel were used in different schools. Maintenance costs are affected by the type of building construction, the extent to which schools are used outside normal hours and the care taken of the buildings. A further study by the Department of Education and Science of schools in county areas of England and Wales shows a somewhat erratic connection between running costs (other than in staffing) and size. Areas where the average size of school is 70 pupils or fewer had very high costs which decreased as sizes reached 120-130 pupils but then increased again. But these areas were not matched for size or other aspects of buildings or of their use. It may be that as the stock of new building increases, such costs as heating and caretaking will become more uniform among schools of equal size. Further analysis is called for with a carefully matched sample of schools.

Staffing costs in manpower and money
460. Small schools have better ratios of staff to pupils than large schools. The figures in Table 14 show that the pupil-teacher ratio rises sharply in schools up to 200 but that, though there is some further increase in larger schools, it is proportionately much smaller. We agree with our witnesses that, except in those classes of young children which are vertically grouped by deliberate policy, classes combining two or more year groups should be smaller than classes which provide for only one year group. Because of the shortage of teachers, the need for more generous staffing in smaller schools is a strong argument for organising, whenever possible, schools of at least one form entry in urban areas. The economy in staffing in very large schools is less genuine and will disappear if, as we recommend, schools are staffed on the basis of a pupil-teacher ratio as well as on size of class. Competent head teachers should be able to carry heavy responsibilities in the guidance of staff and pupils. But if more than one teacher is absent, as must often happen in a very large school, classes have to be combined. Heads cannot see as much of the work of the staff in a large school as in a school of medium size, unless the heads themselves give up teaching. If they delegate some of their responsibility for advice to deputy heads and others, these teachers ought to be relieved of some periods with their own classes. In either case, teachers who are not in charge of classes become necessary.

Transport costs
461. We have not obtained figures for the cost of transporting children to schools outside the area or village in which they live. The costs themselves may be less important than the time and energy consumed in long journeys.

Foreign practice
462. Many of the schools visited by members in the USA, the USSR, Denmark and Sweden were larger than those normally found in this country. In Sweden there is centralised planning by the Royal Swedish Board of Education which relates the size and situation of individual schools to population and housing trends (3) and often allows the first school (seven to ten years) to be part of quite large combined schools containing older children as well. In the USA some elementary schools (generally catering for children between 6 and 12 years of age) have more than 1,000 pupils on roll, and a high proportion of the child population is in these big schools. These schools, mainly to be seen in large cities, may mislead the visitor into thinking that most American elementary schools are large. In fact many American elementary schools are as small as our own. Schools in other countries are often larger than ours because there are few separate infant and junior schools and primary schools cover therefore a wider age range than here. Parents and children benefit from a longer association with the same school. The disadvantages of large size may be less because there may be less emphasis on the school as a community, and more on the importance of classroom instruction. In a large school the head teacher is an administrator rather than a principal teacher and in the USA is often referred to as such. Foreign practice as to the size of primary schools has therefore little relevance for us because of varying concepts of the school and the different ways in which schools are organised.

Conclusions
463. In Chapter 10 we recommend that there should be schools for children from five to eight and from 8 to 12 years and in Chapter 14 we suggest an option of between eight and nine in rural areas. When new schools are provided or existing schools reorganised to fit this changed structure, we believe that a two form entry will usually be most satisfactory for a first school (that is about 240 children) and a two to three form entry (300-450 children) for a middle school.

464. The figures which we have quoted relate to schools with classes for 40 children, except that it is assumed that children aged 11-12 will be in classes of 30. When class sizes are reduced it may be sensible to work to the same total numbers but to provide more classes since the pupil-teacher ratio will be better. Three form entry first schools (with classes of 30 pupils making a roll of about 270 children) could transfer children to three form entry middle schools. Alternatively two first schools, each of two form entry, could be linked with one four form entry middle school (with about 480 children). Other arrangements of a similar kind could be made. A middle school of this size should be able to employ teachers particularly competent in the main aspects of the curriculum. The larger the middle school, the easier it will be to provide simple facilities for practical work in science, and in art and craft and sufficient space for physical education.

465. It is more difficult to recommend the most suitable size for a combined first and middle school. If our recommendations on the age of transfer are accepted, combined schools will have less to recommend them than they have now. Either the school community will be too large for the younger children or, if it is small enough for them, the staff will be few and may not give enough stimulus to the older children.

466. In general there seems to be little serious conflict between the size of schools desirable on educational, economic and other grounds, except perhaps for the three and four class schools which are often inevitable in the country. Larger schools than are educationally desirable might be a little more economical to run but the evidence is far from clear. The question of size of school is of sufficient interest to merit further study from both educational and economic points of view. The economic data should be closely analysed on well matched samples of schools.

Recommendations
467 (i) The most satisfactory size for new or reorganised first schools will normally be two form entry (240 children) and for middle schools two to three form entry (300 to 450 children). When class sizes are reduced, the same number of children can be retained on roll but schools should be organised on the basis of three form entry first and middle schools, or two form entry first schools and four form entry middle schools.

(ii) With the exception of small schools in rural areas and voluntary schools, combined first and middle schools are undesirable.

(iii) Further study should be made of the educational characteristics of schools of different sizes, and the economic data should be analysed on well matched samples of schools.

References
1. Information supplied by Liverpool Local Education Authority and analysed by Mr GF Peaker.
2. Morris JM (1959) Reading in the Primary School Newnes.
3. Discussion with officials of Royal Swedish Board of Education and Can Population and Housing Censuses be used in the Localisation of Schools? B Jacobsoni, Statistisk Tidskrift 1964:5 p.317 to 326.

Table 14 Distribution of pupil-teacher ratios by size of school: January 1965 (England)