Page 12 "Tho Home and the School'* by Julian. Atkinson
It vould be very difficult indeed to overstress the debt that socialists interested in education owe to Dr.Douglas for producing this book, which shows with great clarity and with an abundance of documentation the class biases remaining, in our educational system.
The major thesis of the book is presented in the forew-rd by D V Glass who writes of the working class child: "Beginning with handicaps, in the sense of having a poorer physical and cultural environment, the child will suffer an intensification of disadvantages, relative to middle class children, during their primary school years. If they live in poor housing conditions, they may well attend schools with a low record of success at the 1llt examination. Those who are least vell cared for may find themselves allocated to the lower streams at school and their school performance will tend to conform accordingly. In general they are less likely to receive enCouragement from their parents. Between the azes of 8 and 1l years, the working, class and middle— class children will thus tend to grow further anart in operational ability".
Douglas first sets the problem by giving us the fact that if working class children had the same chance of getting into .rammar schools as upper middle class children of the same mecsured ability based on tests at 8 years, then 565 more grammer school places would be required.
shat then causes the decline in onportunity end measured abil-—ity between 8 and 1ll years in vorking class children? Streaming, Dougbs tells us,is partly to blame. He gave tests to children at 8 years and then again at 11 and graded “hem on a 'T scale’ where T= 50 waste average. The T score cun be converted to IQ as Il = <5 + 1.5 (T score)
Measured Change in score 8 —~ 11 years ability at 8. Stream A Stream B’ 41~ 45 + 5.6 -~ 0. 46 — 48 + 3 a6 ~ 5123 49 - au + 4,44 ~ 1.60 52 - + 0.71 ~ 1.46 55 ~ 91 Foe. ~ 1.94 58 — 50 + 0.8 ~ 6.44
Yhat emerges from this table is that the sclection at the point of streaming is self-fulfilling; those sho are labelled A improve and those who are labelled B deteriorate. This vitally important sclection is by no means .ithout a cless bias. There * Author: Dr. J.p.. Douglas. (MacGibbon & Kee 36/-)
are 11,> more middle class children in uopsr streams than would be expected from their measured abt ii by and 26% fewer in the lower streams. Dourlas finds thet le class children tend to imorove more than working class ahildren in vach of the streams. In the upper streams the middle clsss enilc on aver, ic «ill improve by 1.53 points hile the workin iss ehild «ill only imorove by 0.48 points. In the lover s ms the pies is more marked with the middle class child improvin. by 0.78 points an? the workiny class child actually deter Lore ting by 1.05 points.
Douzles concludes, "Children who come from well-kept homes and who are themselves clean, vcll-clothed end shod, stand a greater ghence of being nut in the uower streams then their measured ability would seem to justify. Once the they are lively to stsy and to improve in »verformance in succe:ding years. This is in striking contrast with the deterioration noticed in those children of similar initial ebility who wers placed in the lower streams
the position is. rav-ted by the near-pvermanency of the streaming. «while teachers ens:ered that they belLleved that 19, of children transferred bet cen the streums, the actual nercentare wos 2.3% 4
The uncomfortable messa;rc ths t tmis Dook gives us isthat the education .] systom rataer then cquolising closs differcnces and onportunitices, oxtaer
BDUCsTEON — 'wHaT THeY SAY"
In his excellent book "The Comnrehensive School" (Per:vin 3/5) “obin Pedley, director or mec ber University Institute of »2ueation, said "One cannot resist the conclusion that, xlthoujh the myth of fair and accurate selection has been exnosed since the middle fiftics, at least « score of inactive Labour author rities did not want to change. Living on the m:mory of pest deeds and ambitions, their character is essentially conservitive. The wind of rsdical thou, ht and reformin:, zeal chills their old bones", To this blunt view one can add the stutement of the d.outy ehsirman of Liverpool Educetion Committee, John Humilton, "Once the volitical decision has been tuken to reorpanise educction into commrehensive schools, the question is how to do it. This is of course the hardest pert of the exercise because while so many psonle will vay lip service to,phe ide 33,1 of comprehensive education, ‘hen they ure asked tc put into action trey find all sorts of reasons for sayin. «why it Gannot be done in their particuler area"
In case your loscel Lebour odusetion Committee feel such are susnect or at the cry, leust over -vealous here is the Torics own darling the 'Bov.. Groun'. Commeendin, comorchensive «duc in their latest pamohlet ‘otrstegy for Schools’ they say: "It -ill be impossible to provids the bale eed curriculum envisaged within the existin, tripertite system" So now you know.