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Plowden (1967) Notes on the text Volume 1 (page numbers in brackets) Preliminary pages (i-xxii)
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 The growth of the child
Part 3 The home, school and neighbourhood
Part 4 The structure of primary education
Part 5 The children in the schools: curriculum and internal organisation
Part 6 The adults in the schools
Part 7 Independent schools
Part 8 Primary school buildings and equipment; status; and research
Part 9 Conclusions and recommendations
Notes (486-495)
Research and Surveys about Plowden |
The Plowden Report (1967)
A Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1967
[page 423] 1151. The willingness of teachers to experiment, to innovate and to change has been one of the mainsprings of progress in the primary schools. This source of improvements will continue so long as we have forward and inventive teachers. At the same time, in spite of the slender resources devoted to it, educational research has contributed much to progress since the turn of the century. One only has to recall the impact on the schools of the work of Burt, Schonell and their followers in the improvement of the teaching of reading and arithmetic and the treatment of backwardness, the influence of the studies of Susan Isaacs and DEM Gardner on learning through activity and experience, the insights from studies of child development into the genesis of emotional disturbances to realise that there has long existed a considerable body of research-based knowledge and theory. It is doubtful however whether, with the exception of tests of ability and attainment, teachers were, or are, fully aware that their art has already a considerable technological base. 1152. Because education is an applied discipline, the relation between research and practice is and should be reciprocal. From studies of what individual teachers are doing, useful pointers can be obtained to fruitful directions for experiment and research: research in education or in such ancillary sciences as child development, social psychology, or learning theory will throw up ideas with which the innovating teacher can experiment. In this very important sense, research and practice are parts of a whole, and neither can flourish without the other. 1153. In recent years there has been a substantial growth in the resources devoted to educational research and development. The Department of Education and Science have been making grants for educational research on an increasing scale since 1962; by the end of 1965 £1.25m had been committed to about 120 research projects. Independent trusts have provided generous support; in particular, the Nuffield Foundation has spent or committed over £2m on development work much of it conducted in close association with the Schools Council. This itself sponsors development and research projects, and plans are on foot to spend under its auspices over £1m a year, coming partly from the Department of Education and Science and partly from local education authorities. More recently still, the Social Science Research Council has been set up following the recommendations of the Heyworth Committee on Social Studies and is currently making grants for educational research projects. The universities support some research out of their general funds. Local education authorities and teachers' associations are also involved in other ways, for example by subscribing money to the National Foundation for Educational Research [NFER]. 1154. This Foundation, which is the only body in England and Wales established specifically to conduct educational research, grew out of the Foundation for Educational Research which was set up in 1943 under the aegis of the University of London Institute of Education with the generous aid of various [page 424] teachers' associations as well as the Carnegie and Leverhuime Trusts. In 1955, ten years after the National Foundation was established, its total budget was only £20,000; by 1964-65 it had risen to over £150,000. Apart from undertaking research the Foundation devotes considerable effort to disseminating the results of research. 1155. In addition to other independent bodies, the universities and the institutes of education conduct research projects, ranging from large scale, long term and sometimes interdisciplinary studies to individual ones leading to higher degrees or diplomas. Research undertaken in many university departments, such as departments of medicine or psychology, often has a bearing on education. Medical and educational research on disturbed children has, for example, increased knowledge of the normal child. Local education authorities, teachers' associations or local groups of teachers sometimes carry out their own investigations. 1156. Despite the growth in the amount of research and in the interest taken in educational research by teachers and local education authorities, there are a number of problems to be solved as well as gaps in the subjects so far covered by research. We want to say something about four of these - the relationship between teachers and research, co-ordination, dissemination and training. 1157. Scepticism among teachers will only be removed when the value of research to classroom practice is demonstrated. In some parts of the country there is a proliferation of research workers in schools on projects of small apparent usefulness to classroom teachers. The range of useful research has yet to be clarified. Research is bound to involve subjective judgements which must depend on a thorough knowledge and understanding of the schools. Without this understanding the researcher cannot ask the right questions or check his findings. 1359 [sic - should be 1158]. Closer co-ordination of research would reduce wasted effort, avoid unnecessary overlap and enable researchers to build more effectively on each other's work. But co-ordination can have different meanings and it is important to be clear which is intended. It could mean working out a master plan and expecting everybody to fit in with it. This would plainly not be right. Or it could mean the establishment of a clearing house of information from which anybody interested could discover what research had been, or was being, done. The NFER already does much through its register of research in progress. Coordination on a voluntary rather than a compulsory basis is much to be preferred. We are glad to hear that the NFER has been giving some thought to the sort of machinery needed. The kind of result looked for is a closer relationship between highly specialised or fundamental research and studies undertaken within the school environment. 1159. Adequate communication of results is essential in the interests not only of other research workers but also of its interpreters, such as university and college teachers and the potential users of research, teachers and administrators. Present means of dissemination include: Educational Research and the other publications of the NFER; the main journals in education, psychology and sociology; the curriculum bulletins and working papers of the Schools Council; the Department's publications and those of [page 425] institutes of education. In-service courses help to bring new work to the attention of teachers. All these means are valuable, but they are far from adequate. When we began our enquiry we had to commission a survey of research and development relevant to our field because no other was available. The time lag in getting research reports published in the professional journals can mean serious delay in reaching other research workers. Teachers often find reports incomprehensible, inconsistent and irrelevant. At the local level, schools in adjacent areas may be engaged in interesting innovation, the results of which are never made more generally known or evaluated. A more comprehensive service for disseminating the results of research at all levels seems to be required. 1160. Dissemination is important as a means of giving teachers confidence in the aims and methods of research workers. Many teachers have participated in the research programmes of the NFER, and the work of the Schools Council and the Nuffield Foundation has demonstrated the willingness of teachers to take part in development work. It is important that, if closer collaboration between research workers and practitioners is to be fruitful, teachers should be given some positive help and reassurance on the purpose of the research work, and that where teachers and researchers are engaged on the same project, the functions of both are clearly defined and understood. 1161. If teachers are to collaborate fruitfully in research projects, for example by taking part in fieldwork and in controlled experiments, they need some training. In their initial courses of teacher training they should be made familiar with some of the techniques, as well as the results, of research and development. Much the best way for students or young teachers to get the 'feel' of research is to participate, even to a small extent, in a research project. For a student this will hardly be possible unless there is on the staff of the college or department of education a member who is himself or herself a trained research worker and carrying out a continuous programme of research. 1162. There is a most serious and general shortage of trained and competent research workers. Some people who have taken university courses in psychology, sociology or statistics lack the teaching experience that is desirable for most educational research. We are glad to know that the Social Science Research Council is granting some studentships for graduates in such subjects to provide a year's training in research in a university department of education. There is need for parallel training in research for experienced teachers. We hope that firm proposals will be put forward in the near future and that the necessary funds will be forthcoming. 1163. In any additional work that is undertaken on these or any topics, one important principle should be borne in mind. Educational research which leaves the teacher out of account ignores a prime source of knowledge and experience. Not only should more teachers be actively involved in large research and development projects, but the continuing value of small scale enquiries and investigations by teachers and administrators at the local level should be recognised. Apart from their contribution to knowledge these investigations can foster liveliness of mind and an enquiring attitude to everyday problems and practices. For such studies some simple services of advice, consultation and data analysis should be provided, since without them much enthusiasm runs to waste in the sands of frustration. [page 426] 1164. In spite of our reservations about the existing state of research, we have no doubt that well designed studies are needed. Those that have been commissioned for us have proved to be extremely valuable. There are, as we see it, several general needs. First, for carefully planned longitudinal cohort studies associated with special studies in depth. Cause and effect could then to some extent be unravelled and there might even be hope of answering Cyril Burt's classic question 'What happened to Lizzie?' Accounts of the progress of such studies should be available to other researchers. Such studies as those of Dr JWB Douglas' National Survey of Child Health and Development and of the National Child Development Study (see Appendix 10) have been of considerable value in providing data not available elsewhere. Such successive studies over a period of pupils' and schools' achievements as the Department's Reading Surveys (1948, 1956, 1961 and 1964) have already proved their worth. We are glad to know that the NFER are making continuing studies in reading and mathematics. We hope that the HMI survey of the quality of primary schools (see Chapter 8) will be repeated at least at ten year intervals. But there are many useful forms of research other than surveys. We see particular value in creating experimental situations in schools and comparing results before and after change is made. Our proposals for educational priority areas should, if carried out, offer excellent opportunities for this kind of study. Further Studies 1165. In the course of our enquiries we have found a number of gaps in existing knowledge which it might be possible to fill by means of research. The following list is not exhaustive but brings together the points which, in our view, are most likely to repay further study: (a) Whether early developers retain their superiority or lose their initial advantage. (Chapter 2) [page 427] long term consequences of teaching by formal and informal methods, children's reactions to permissive and authoritarian attitudes within the school and rewards and punishments, and the ways differences in temperament affect learning. (Chapters 9 and 16)1166. Finally, we have suggested that a full scale enquiry, possibly by the Central Advisory Council for Education, into teacher training is needed. Such an enquiry should be backed by comprehensive research and surveys planned well in advance. 
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