Psychologist Looks at Educational Reconstruction
- Author:
Agathy H. Boley, Ph.D.
Senior Psychologist, School Psychological Service, Leicester In a recent address to a representative group of Psychologists, Dr Lucy Fildes spoke in encouraging jerrns of the Brave New World which is opening in ue us* She stressed the part we need to play ? the work of Educational Reconstruction?that e have not only to deal with sick children, but also eed to prevent children from becoming sick. This Positive and preventive aspect, this constructive ature of the work of a psychologist is of major ?^Portance, and often receives insufficient attention. Surely the present situation?when we are on the Ve of the passing of an historic Bill concerning education?is an occasion when psychologists must become articulate. We have had much experience of children who have become maladjusted in personality from the effects of a disturbing home environment or an unfriendly school environment working upon inner emotional factors. Local authorities have entrusted us with the task of organizing classes for backward pupils, of assisting teachers in the management of the difficult child, of urging greater understanding of the problems of growing up. We write books, we give lectures, we hold friendly discussions. Indeed, we have a real opportunity of knowing when the educational system does not fit the needs of the child, and we welcome those parts of the new Education Bill which seek to remedy this.
Many psychologists and educationists recognize the unique importance of the emotional relationship of the child to the parent in the early years of childhood. It is only out of these early experiences of affection and security that good emotional growth can proceed harmoniously and without this the most efficient teaching in the world will only fall on unfertile, or rather neurotic, ground. Therefore, we deplore the necessity of establishing residential Nursery Schools, which represent an artificial situation to the young child and prevent strong emotional ties from developing, but we recognize this to be a wartime necessity and seek to make the conditions as satisfactory as possible. Similarly we insist that very young children should not be urged to attend Nursery Schools until their emotional maturity is sufficiently advanced, and in the majority of cases 3 years is a better age than 2 years. Knowing the nature of the intellectual development of children, we realize the importance of approaching education, i.e. in the narrow sense of formal work, from the child’s angle. The child’s most natural medium and language is play, and the great value to later education of providing outlets through play in the Infant Schools has been most ably demonstrated by Miss D. E. M. Gardiner.
It is interesting to note that the age of compulsory education in Poland is 7 years and that a mental age of 6 years is considered the best age for the commencement of the 3 R’s in the U.S.A. All observers note the rapidity with which the older child learns to read if he has not been introduced to formal work too early. Methods in the Nursery Schools have had a great influence on Infant methods, and the 3-7 Nursery-Infant School may well be the most suitable approach to school life for the child. The essential individuality of children’s development, the unevenness of intellectual growth, the variation in mental ages, the fluctuation in socialemotional growth, are well-established psychological facts. So the demand for smaller classes (a maximum of 30), for individual methods of teaching, for adjustment classes and special classes, and even for smaller school units (300 perhaps being a suitable maximum for one department) is stressed by workers in the fields of Child Guidance, Infant Welfare, Juvenile Delinquency and the like. The value of Experimental Schools is recognized by the Board of Education. In such, one aims to provide an educational milieu which will satisfy the special needs of the less stable child, the over anxious, over aggressive, or unadjusted child. The school to which the Children’s Centre at Chesterfield is attached, the Haddenham Road School in Leicester and Open Air Schools suitable for the nervous and delicate child are outstanding examples. At the Haddenham Road School in Leicester, children are examined by the psychologist before admission, and the home is visited by the psychiatric social worker. Close contact is maintained with the school and home by the Psychological Service staff and informal conferences are held regularlyTeaching methods are carefully adapted to the needs of the child and individual work is the rule. Outlet in play, arts and crafts, drama, cooking and house* craft, boxing, swimming and other athletics are provided. A wide measure of freedom within afl ordered framework of wise discipline helps the chi’d to gain control and get easement from inner tension and conflict. Children who are described as restless> backward, unruly, troublesome, nervy or unco* operative readily adapt to such a school, and after3 period spent there?usually about a year?are ab’e to readapt to the ordinary school and behave 3s ordinary citizens. Only children of normal intel” ligence are accepted. Their educational progress Is rapid. However good our normal schools may be> I think there is always likely to be a place for Infan adjustment classes and experimental schools in our educational system. They serve both a remedial an’1 a prophylactic function.
The gradual replacement of the competitiv^ scholarship examination at 11-plus by a careful scrutiny of scholars’ record cards and the results oj standardized tests of Intelligence, of English an” Arithmetic will be widely welcomed. This may o? much to alter the character of the Junior Schools* reducing the pressure and emphasis on forma1 work and giving more opportunity for tne development of “centres of interest” and for a wider curriculum.
A more careful selection of pupils for appropriate Secondary education will be an important step forward. We have yet to learn to value the skilled craftsman as highly as the capable business man the distinguished University professor. Technic education will receive an impetus and there will be more opportunities for both girls and boys in this field. Provision is to be made for the girl or boy who shows special abilities at 13 or later, and there is much need for research to determine the bes method of discerning special abilities at an early aSe’ We have yet to decide whether a specialized education or a wide general education is the best for the young adolescent. Division into modern, technical an<j grammar schools may be beneficial to the child afld convenient for administration, but it is wise 10 remember that wide cultural education with oppor’ tunities for creative work is required by all youn? people, and at adolescence the provision f? emotional outlets is most essential. There are many people who oppose the over-academic bias o Secondary schools and think that segregation an over-specialization of pupils at 11 is unwise. YounS People’s Colleges carry this idea further. Furthf education, if conceived on the widest possible basi^ will assist the individual to gain more maturity l{l intellectual outlook, in social and emotion3 development. He will begin to recognize his p’?c in the community, his obligation to the community and to learn greater poise, tolerance and adaP1’ ability. Character training during the years 15’1 ? ?-4uaiiy important as further book learning, skilled athletics, or technical instruction. Here also will be an opportunity to continue sex education, o teach hygiene and parentcraft. Sex education should be in three stages: the first between 3 and years when the first questions about birth are answered by the parent, the second at about 11 years when straightforward information in a framework ?* simple biology, concerning the facts of human ^production, can be given in the upper Junior classes, and thirdly during adolescence at the end ?l the Secondary School period or during part time education after leaving school when the principles ot hygiene and the dangers of illicit sex relationships can be taught. This point of view, is now, I think, accepted by most psychologists and many teachers, ut has yet to be worked out in practice.
A School Psychological Service, in close relationship to the schools, and working under the aegis 01 the Education Department and in close cooperation with the School Medical Service, should I^ set up in all areas; the function of this will e to render diagnostic, advisory and therapeutic service to those children who by reason of dullness, retardation or emotional disturbance are causing concern to their parents and teachers. The expert service of the psychiatrist, perhaps attached to the uture Health Centre, of the psychologist, and ot ne Psychiatric social worker will be needed to nvestigate and remedy psychological illness at its ?nset. What price our new schools, our new teachers ?r our new system if the child is the victim of an nxiety neurosis and unable to profit from such mProvements ? . .
i .hat of the new teachers ? Are they to be astily trained, immature people who take up aching as a stopgap to marriage or as an insurance gainst old age ? Higher salaries, employment ot parried teachers, smaller classes, improved con! ions and modern training methods will, one hopes, attract more people into the profession who will r’n8 their zeal, experience and inspiration into the chools. Careful selection is of first importance, ut the wider experience of the individual gained in war work may be more beneficial for the enrichmen of the teaching profession than the recruitment of teachers direct from high school and college. Intelligence and book learning is not enough. Balance of personality, width of view and above all understanding of children’s needs are the best qualifications for the future teacher.
The psychologist has an important role to play in the field of teacher training. Students need to learn not only the meaning of the Intelligence Quotient, but also the remedies for juvenile delinquency, not only how the child thinks, but how he feels. The normal development of the child has first to be learnt and then the exceptions that prove the rule?the neurotic child, the unstable child, the defective child. Moreover, the study of child development begins at birth and in the home, and students must turn their attention to the pre-school years whether they wish to teach in primary or secondary departments. A close liaison between Child Guidance Clinics and Training Colleges, where it exists, proves of great value to both, and the psychology of learning now embraces the mechanisms of the unconscious as well as the memorizing of nonsense syllables !
We are indeed looking forward to a Brave New Educational World. There is good hope of its realization if all individuals co-operate to this end. The goodwill of the administrators is of first importance. Directors of Education hold key positions. It is fortunate that in Leicester we are not handicapped by material conditions, by a ca-canny policy or by narrowness of vision. Mr. Magnay flung a challenge to a recent meeting of psychiatric social workers urging them to recognize the wide implication of their work and the vital service they can render an Education Department. The provisions of the new Education Bill must be fulfilled in spirit as well as in the letter of the law, and psychologists and educationists must work together to this end. Directors, attendance officers, youth organizers, juvenile employment officers, probation officers, teachers and psychological workers are the figures which make the pattern of the new education rich, integrated, many coloured and satisfying to the child of the future.
Leicp?? artl?le was requested as a result of an address by Mr. H. S. Magnay, M.A., Director of Education, er> given to the recent annual meeting of Psychiatric Social Workers in London.]
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