The Primary School and Wood Reports
- Author:
EWART SMART, M.C., M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
Introduction
Up to comparatively recent times, one can safely affirm that the educa- tional system of our country has greatly favoured the ” clever ” child. He has made the reputation of his primary school by displaying his ability in leaving it at ii plus to participate in another and better conditioned school system, constituted specially for his kind, on a scale designed to develop his capacities and spur him on to greater efforts. Public opinion has consistently suffered and still suffers from an obsession of the ” clever ” child complex, a statement amply borne out by its attitude towards the bill proposing to round off the Hadow Report by raising the school leaving age to 15. No one of any account desires to limit the opportunities for the development of the capacity of the clever child, if anvthing, it is recognised that there is need for an extension of the present facilities; no country can afford to sacrifice its most valuable capital asset, but, on the other hand, no country has a right to neglect its main stay, its average child, neither is it justified in allowing the problem of its sub- normal child to go by default.
The Wood Report
The publication of the Wood Report revealed a most alarming state of affairs whose significance and implications have not yet been fully grasped by the country as a whole. We are told that for 33,000 ascertained educable mentallv defective children in England and Wales the total Special School accommodation available consists of 1,800 places in Residential Schools and some 15,000.places in Day Schools; accommodation sufficient for half the children ascertained. But this is only half the story; the total number of children between the ages of 7 and 16 who are mentally defective within the meaning of Section 55 of the Education Act of 1921 is estimated to be approx- imately 105,000, i.e., more than 3 times the number actually ascertained and certified. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the estimated numbers of low-grade children, and adult defectives, except to state that the total number of persons of all ages who are mentally defective is at least 300,000, i.e., an incidence of 8 per 1,000 of the total population. When it is understood that most of these feeble-minded children (i.e., of ratios 50 to 80) are in attendance at Public Elementary Schools and that for various reasons any material increase in the provision of special school accommodation is very unlikely, the contention, advanced by the Wood Report, that the present system has broken down, and needs a radical change, can easily be sustained.
Whilst emphasising the importance of the problem of the ascertained feeble-minded, there is another aspect which demands thorough investigation, namely, that of the dull and backward children, of whom there are estimated to be 300,000 between the ages of 7 and 15. Grouped with the feeble-minded, i.e., taking all children with a mental ratio above 50 and below 85, it is found that special educational facilities need to be provided for at least 10% of the normal school population.
The Wood Report recommends inter alia (a) That this 10% retarded group shall be regarded as a single educa- tional and administrative unit and shall be provided with an appropriate type of education. (b) That the children in this group, with certain exceptions, shall be provided within the Public Elementary system and that the school organiza- tion shall be modified accordingly. (c) That the break at 11 shall operate, and separate classes, departments or schools shall be established, depending upon the degree of retardation and the number of defective children in the area.
The Primary School Report
In surveying the problem of the retarded child the Primary School Report directs attention to an interesting psychological result, i.e., that as regards in- nate mental capacity, the differences between individual children increase almost in direct proportion to their age?a child backward by one year at the age of 5 will probably be backward by 2 years at 10 and 3 years at 15. The Primary School Report then proceeds to differentiate between mentally defective children and children whose mental development is re- tarded in a greater or lesser degree, pointing out the suggestions contained in the Wood Report that children with mental ratios below 50 should in future be considered Mentally Defective, whilst those with mental ratios from 50 to 80 should be regarded as ” retarded children.”
Another interesting and yet striking factor revealed, is that rather less than half of the dull and backward children have been retarded through accidental causes such as illness or compulsory absence from school, the remainder being innately dull.
After enumerating the main causes of mental retardation (causes which should receive the special attention and investigataion of L.E.A.’s) the Primary School Report refers to the importance of establishing close liaison between head teachers and the school medical service with a view to early detection and where possible, removal of the causes of retardation. The Report agrees with the recommendations of the Wood Report in connection: ?
(a) With the provision of Special Schools, where possible, for more retarded children. S3 MENTAL WELFARE (b) With the abolition of the Medical Certificate and the substitution therefor of administrative safeguards for the enforcement of school attendance. (c) With the close relationship of the Special School to the general educational system, while preserving the freedom to provide for the educational requirements of particular types of children.
With regard to ” less retarded ” children the Report recommends that ” less retarded ” children should be recognised as requiring special attention between the ages of 7 and 11, that the classes specially organised for this pur- pose should be small, and further states (p. 142) ” that these children will be retained within the Primary School itself!
In the Wood Report, however (p. 139), separate special schools arc sug- gested for these children in areas of population of 200,000 and upwards. With regard to the training of teachers for classes of retarded children, the Primary School Report again follows closely upon the lines of the Wood Report by advocating the attendance of teachers at supplementary courses imposed upon the foundations of training, the Wood Report suggesting the solution via supplementary courses and quoting the experience of the C.A.M.W. in favour.
Briefly, therefore, within the ambit of its term of reference, the Primary School Report endorses to a large extent the main policy outlined in the Wood Report as applied to the children in the Mental Ratio groups of from 50 to 80.
Grading
The Report might with advantage have discussed in greater detail the merits and demerits of organisations based upon a system of larger junior schools. Reference is made on page 78 to the satisfactory results achieved in a mixed department containing some 450 children between the ages of 7 and 11 and to the potentialities of a triple track system of organisation. The success or otherwise of providing adequate educational facilities for certain types of retarded children, especially the dull and backward type, indubitably depends upon the degree to which grading can be undertaken, and to this end the larger the school the better.
Hence, in reorganising the school system, the L.E.A.’s should, where possible, transfer children to large junior schools and further, endeavour to organise separate schools for girls and boys. There will then be no necessity for variations in curriculum, e.g., needlework, handwork, physical exercises and games, etc.
For example, in the writer’s own area, a large junior girls’ school has about 200 children in the 10 to 11 age group, divided into 5 classes, A, B, C, D and E, with a curricula in each class shading from that practically biased, for the retarded sub-normal E class, to that of a more academic type in the super-normal A class, the ascertained, certified type having been previously transferred to a special school in the centre of the town. This experiment is being watched with great interest and so far has been regarded with a large measure of satisfaction by parents, teachers and the L.E.A.
Conclusion
The Primary School Report has undoubtedly performed a national service by re-stating, in clear and concise terms, the immensity of the problem of the retarded child. The result, it is hoped, will be to focus greater attention upon the recommendations contained in the Wood Report and to spur into action those who are primarily responsible for the education of these unfor- tunate children.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.