CHILDREN AGED ELEVEN PIUS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29998, 6 December 1962, Page 15

CHILDREN AGED ELEVEN PIUS

To have experienced the changes that have been made in education over 40 years, especially to have taught Forms I and II over many years, strengthens a teacher’s claim to authority, for children in this age group reveal their educational past to the discerning eye. No one can teach children aged 11-plus without being keenly aware of what has gone before, even if he can only guess at what lies ahead. Here, I consider, is a key stage in education. Much of the children’s future success or failure depends on what happens during these years. Characteristics Although teachers in eightyear schools are aware of their 11-plus children as part of’ the whole school population, they do not really become fully aware of the particular characteristics of the age group until the children are seen in conditions separating them both from the younger children in the eight-year schools and from older children in district high schools. When 600-700 children are congregated in an intermediate school, the teacher finds the characteristics of the age group manifested in unmistakeable fashion, though these very characteristics may not have been nearly so much in evidence in a class of 40 or 50. The teacher is soon well aware that this kind of school is different from any other, for the early adolescent, and intermediate schools are for adolescents, is entering upon or has entered a very special period, physically, socially and emotionally. Children make this manifest in the widest possible variety of ways. Stimulating It is significant that very few teachers who serve in these schools fail to find them stimulating, even if the demands made on the teacher are heavy. No one who has taught in an intermediate school will, deny that he has found there a challenge which in the main be has accepted with enthusiasm. The ideal teacher in this type of school is mature. He is interested in understanding 11-plus children as a basis for his teaching. In addition he should have considerable background of knowledge, broad as well as specific in some fields for m classes of high ability, breadth and scope of curriculum are all important. The educational programme of the school must be suited to

the characteristics of the children and opportunity must be provided for children in many different ways, for example: in ability grouping; in matching the curriculum to that ability; in a timetable which allows for partial specialisation by teachers while providing for security in a home room, where the children spend two-thirds of their time; in the provision of a library and an assembly hall there are problems of organisation but the overall aim is to meet the needs of the 11-plus child at this important stage in his development.

Fifteen years spent in administering at intermediate schools have in no way diminished the writer’s enthusiasm for the manifold tasks involved in organising them, nor have the years shaken the belief that this kind of school presents greater opportunity for its pupils than can the eight-year school and for the well-endowed and for the slow learner, they provide much greater opportunity. It is in just this kind of school about which the Commission on Education stated that there would be major changes of organisation. One could not but be impressed by the clear statements giving reasons for the findings of the commission even if one did not agree with the decisions.

The commission stated that the intermediate school fulfilled its aims so satisfactorily that it recommended establishing them throughout the country. It had in essence

two points to make. The first was that throughout the world children were beginning their “secondary” studies at about 11-plus and it recommended that intermediate schools should do the same. It is a fact that already many intermediate schools are doing something in the field of foreign language, of science and mathematics.

The commission was disturbed, however, by the discontinuity of education at the thirteenth year. A marked gap exists between primary and post-primary schools, and the commission took pains to elaborate the reasons for this. It decided to retain intermediate schools and to try and bridge the “gap” in the recommendations it made.

So it suggests that intermediate schools should come into the post-primary orbit and become junior high schools. Almost all of the recommendations are aimed to accomplish this. The report points out that liaison between the intermediate schools and their contributing schools is very good indeed and should be maintained. It aims to make the transition from junior high school to post-primary school equally good so that there is little or no gap in the smooth educational development of children from the 11-plus year. Recommendations

Among the recommendations are the following: a programme of work from Form I to Form IV in all subjects; staffing the junior high school with specialists in appropriate fields from the post-primary schools; interchangeability of staff between the lower post-primary and junior high school; staffing based on post-primary regulations; formation at local level of joint committees to further junior and secondary school co-opera-tion.

The commission does not envisage all pupils at the Form I stage taking postprimary subjects right from the entry into the school. Nor does it envisage all the pupils being at a certain stage in their studies when they proceed to secondary school. Instead it suggests that the line of entry into secondary work, should be an oblique line from the best Form I pupils in their first year to the slowest who may not touch post-primary subjects until their fourth-form year. This calls for careful articulation between the two types of school, if the

children are to get a real advantage from the change of school. Will these recommendations, when put into practice, take intermediate schools straight into the post-primary orbit? The commission commends the intermediate school in that it meets the needs of its pupils in its organisation and in the style of its teaching which is essentially based again on the characteristics of its children. The commisssion .does not want an extension downwards of the prost-primary approach to education, but rather an extension upwards of practices found suitable in intermediate schools. Forms I to VI It does not hesitate to recommend Form I to Form VI post-primary schools for the country areas and whait an advantage this will be to country children. It hesitates, however, to state firmly that Form I to Form VI schools should be established in new suburbs. Instead it states that a "cautious approach" be made to establishing these and further states that perhaps an intermediate and a post-primary school in the same area will be best The junior high school is to remain under the local education board rather than have its own board. Although in many ways the school will be organised as a secondary school, the commission sees it maintaining essentially the characteristics of the present intermediate school. Differences Perhaps it is wishful thinking but I would hope that almost the only difference between junior high schools and intermediate schools as at present would be the content of the syllabuses in each subject, a content more prescribed than before but none the worse for that. I would hope that the post-primary and junior high staffs would get together over contents of syllabus; over what Is accomplished by children before entry into post-primary school; over the qualities and personalities of children going forward; over any matters affecting the welfare of the children in so far as their entry into post-primary is concerned.

Will legislation based on the commission’s recommendations achieve these things? For until they are achieved the “gap" between the two areas will continue to the disadvantage of the child and education generally.