Selection not only of pictures but also of stories is a vital factor, and if this selection be made satisfactorily, the child should have acquired by the age of nine some conceptions of the more strongly contrasted regions of the world. There is still a tendency to expect the child to sit motionless for long periods listening to protracted discourses, or to keep him bending over his desk, working out long sums or reading lengthy paragraphs. We think that the general problem of teaching such children at the primary stage of education should form an integral part of all courses of training. CURRICULUM AND METHODS OF TEACHING FOR RETARDED CHILDREN IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL (2) The general tonus of the skeletal muscles influence the static poise or carriage of the child and so influence the shape of the abdomen. [page 289] (1) The books may be mainly story books, but they should be widely chosen. We consider that seven should be the normal age of transfer, but that this should not be regarded as so definite an age break as in the case of the upper age limit of eleven. [page 152] And then, in accordance with this theory, they have suggested that the curricula should be reorganised, and have prescribed the successive ages at which particular subjects should be introduced and the mode in which those subjects should be presented. [page 144] Mr S Jackman, Head Teacher Wellington Council School, Hereford. But some tools are more difficult or more dangerous to use than others, some materials are more intractable than others, and all materials are not readily obtainable in all districts. Her skeleton is nearer maturity, her brain is nearer maturity. [page 151] The perfect growth of the human machine requires a sound and well trained muscular system. In the evolution of educational theory and practice in England and Wales since the beginning of the last century the conception of the primary school for children between the ages of five and eleven, with a separate organisation, where possible, for those between the ages of seven and eleven, marks a new departure and brings with it new problems. 40. Zuehl, BF Measurement of Auditory Acuity. Education Act 1921 85 There has been no satisfactory analysis - organ by organ and tissue by tissue - of the changes in composition of the animal. Of these publications 50 per cent were in German, 20 per cent in French and only 18 per cent in the English language. Mr Austria’s widow Shirley said: “Norman was a very lovable, caring and responsible person. Clothes, drying of 117, 201 history and geography, and in helping children to learn arithmetic, geometry, and the elementary principles of physics; while, on the other hand, the story of the various crafts, being a significant part of the story of mankind, will provide valuable material for the pupil's reading when suitable books are available. Donaldson (39) and Scammon have insisted on the different types of growth in various organs and tissues at different periods of the life cycle. The brain of the cat and dog ceases to grow at one year, when the animals reach sexual maturity. 8). A Junior Department attached to a Higher Grade School often became an important feeder of the main school. Mr JF Usherwood, Head Master of Brockley County School, SE4. The faculty of reasoning is supposed not to emerge clearly until the beginning of the pubertal period. (Chapter X, Section 103). Miss J Nightingale, Head Teacher of Bangor RC School, N. Wales. Good habits of speech and writing will be formed within the sphere of the child's natural interests and in the course of his general studies. Mr RH Crowley, MD, Senior Medical Officer. Such training may include, among other activities, the practice of cleanliness of the hands and face, hair and teeth; appropriate breathing exercises; periods of rest and quiet; keeping clean and tidy the classroom and its equipment, e.g. The child's power of sustaining voluntary attention increases rapidly between the ages of seven and eleven. (Fig. Vision. 50-53. It is broadly true to say that between the ages of 7 and 17 touch discrimination degenerates by about one half. Mr AF Watts, HM Inspector of Schools. 111. In consequence, few schools were established in England and Wales on Stow's system, except with extensive modifications. Amer. We know but little of the extent to which illness involves the growth organs which display the neural, lymphoid or genital type of growth. Further, it is now generally agreed that for retarded children more time should be allotted to lessons of a less formal character. Mr RL Ager, Head Master of Alderman Newton's Boys' School, Leicester. Women's Cooperative Guild. As long as the school leaving age stands at 14 or 15 years of age, the state has to regard the period from 7+ to 11+ as the last opportunity for retrieving the errors of the past and consolidating young children for the strain of puberty. Beside this nature study associated with the garden, there are some other general aspects of nature which appeal to all, such as the curious ways of animal life, garden fires, still and running water, stones and earth. Mr W O'Dea, Head Teacher of St Anne's RC Boys' School, Manchester. The means of action and reaction here are the correlated and nicely adjusted activity of senses and limbs - particularly the hands and fingers. FIG. In general, it may be said that the problem of devising a suitable curriculum for the retarded children has not advanced much beyond the experimental stage. The principle of cause and effect has, until late, been singularly neglected in elementary instruction. The activities of the baby are limited in extent, and declared to be nutritive rather than muscular. The one thing which has emerged from my own observations (30) at University College Hospital has been the inordinate extent to which the growth of the skeleton is sensitive to relatively slight and transient illnesses and periods of malnutrition. Mr Ivor H Gwynne, JP. Thus it is not until after the close of the junior period that a boy can point out the inconsequence of short statements like the following: 'I have three brothers. (ii) Deductive Reasoning. Animals can be weighed with ease, but measured with difficulty. Films (see also Cinema) 121 Influence of Poverty and its Concomitants. One outstanding defect of the innately dull child is his lack of attention; the best way to awaken attention is to arouse interest. Many witnesses had observed that girls showed a keen desire for neatness and beauty in their work. It should be mentioned that the human growth curve has been recently described by several physiologists as showing only two outstanding periods of accelerated growth, that immediately before and after birth and that of adolescence. Mr GE Linfoot, Musical Adviser to the Sheffield Education Committee. If scientific methods of case study are employed, the majority of those who are likely to be dull or backward can be detected soon after the age of seven. Her skeleton is nearer maturity, her brain is nearer maturity. Needlework 98, 198 What is important is that the language he uses on all occasions should be grammatically correct and free from solecisms. It is accordingly most important that children during the successive stages of convalescence should not be unduly pressed with school work. It has a long history and tradition in the primary school. We accordingly consider that, in the interests of primary and secondary education alike, the transfer from the primary school to the secondary school should take place some time between the ages of eleven and twelve. The effort to supply the classroom with a succession of either cut or growing plants and flowers is always worthwhile. establishment as educational unit of 60, 73 Corry Mann, HC (1) Rickets. [page 225] The use of the eye in reading and in active observation, the use of the tongue in clear and expressive speech, the use of the fingers in simple arts and crafts of every kind - this should be among the threefold aim of the school curriculum for boys and girls at this stage. Galton was the first to suggest the possibility of measuring human ability quantitatively. If the perversions of growth such as rickets, coeliac rickets, renal rickets and adolescent rickets be plotted on the growth curve in terms of age distribution, the trimodal curve corresponds very closely to the three 'springing-up' periods. II. Drawing London, 1914. [page 182] Probationary period of service for Certificated Teachers (1) Cf. Recommendation No. Thus he will become acquainted with grammatical principles that are statements of linguistic habit, the knowledge of which will assist him later in learning a foreign language. Miss TE Carr, Head Teacher of St Dominic's RC School, Woodchester, Glos. Mr PB Coles. Although formal history is appropriate only to a later stage, they should have gathered, about people and things in successive historic periods, a harvest of romantic information which will create an intelligent interest in history of a serious character. Building regulations 12, 117 42. (1) See also Section 87, p. 107. (2) It should not be chosen merely because it touches a sentimental chord in the heart of a grown-up person. Donaldson, HH The Growth of the Brain. They indicate that in the coordinated activities of sense and limb lie the first dim beginnings of intelligence, and that language can play its part only when these have established the necessary foundations in experience. The child then grows shy about his own creative efforts. Our witnesses repeatedly called attention to the risks incurred If the infant stage is the period of solitary play, and the senior and adolescent stage the period of gregarious play, the intervening epoch - the junior stage - is the period of individualistic play. Man is a biped and the erect attitude in itself is a severe muscular feat. and Several of our English witnesses and others pressed the advantages of the method upon our attention. 103. We believe that arithmetic in the primary school should mainly be concerned with the fundamental processes or 'rules'. National Association of Head Teachers: SHORT VISITS TO PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD Mr WK Spencer, DSc, HM Inspector of Schools. This method of analysis in the hands of Pearson, Jackson, Pearl, Brownlee, Greenwood, Scammon and Dunn has produced a group of analytical expressions for growth which have the advantage of brevity and avoid the presentation of extensive tables and elaborate graphs. Now, too, both sexes show a great interest in other persons than themselves. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 1928. Probably, on the character side as on the intellectual side, the solution of the entire problem of fundamental factors will be largely reached by the application of statistical analysis. 33. Education Department 13 Diathesis, bodily habitus and physical types242 Miss MM Toolan, Head Teacher of St Patrick's Junior Boys' School, Wigan. will consist of simple books intended for reading rather than for reference will affect both the question of binding such publications and of equipment for their accommodation and preservation. Suitably easy plays or scenes may be selected, and natural play acting will be connected with literature, music, dancing, and handicraft. RETARDED CHILDREN IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL From the age of 12 onwards the child can read with ease a good ordinary type suitable for the adult, say about 1.5 mm. We think, however, that in all primary schools containing children up to the age of eleven, including even small rural schools, there should be a well-defined line of demarcation between the younger and older children. Courses for Teachers classwork and activity 94 Such a curriculum includes several different elements. Reasoning 42-4 There is no room for the fixed conceptions of the old type of sergeant major or drill instructor in our schools. Such assistance from advisory officers is peculiarly valuable to rural teachers and should in our view be extended. One of the earliest experiments carried out by German psychologists consisted in taking a careful inventory of the ideas familiar to young children when they entered the kindergarten or the primary school. Thus the rat ovulates at seventy days, and the dog and cat are sexually mature at one year. history and 170 No boy or girl with ununited parts of the shoulder blade or hip bone should be subjected to such heavy muscular strain as is involved in the carrying of the bricklayer's hod, the delivery of heavy parcels or standing for long hours in domestic service or behind the counter. 7. 19 (page 140) of the Consultative Committee's Report on Psychological Tests of Educable Capacity (1924). By the age of 10 the range has doubled; and probably goes on enlarging until the end of puberty. Miss V. Almond, Head Teacher of St Barnabas' CE School, Sheffield. If at the end of this course in the primary school the child can read a simple history book with some real understanding We discuss this point further in Section 58. To the adult this looks a dull occupation; but to the child it is often fascinating. He forms ambitions and decides to devote himself to certain aims or studies and not to others. Here, the scope of the work will be more limited than in raffia working: willow will be found too intractable for young children, and they will be confined to cane. ER CONWAY If the head teacher of the combined school were a person specially interested in modern infant school methods, she might be apt to look at older children from the standpoint of the infants. (2) In London, for example, the number of retarded children amounts on an average to 10 per cent of the school population; in poor and overcrowded districts, however, like Lambeth, Southwark and Rotherhithe, the number rises to nearly 20 per cent; while in more prosperous districts like Dulwich, Lewisham and Hampstead, it sinks to barely 1 per cent. It assumes that, in the evolution of the race, the successive stages of culture develop, as a result of some intrinsic impulse, everywhere in the same order; and it is argued that the most natural form of education is one which closely follows this order in dealing with the individual child.