Contribution of East India Company Towards Education

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In the early decades of the nineteenth century when the East India Company first began

to organize a modern system of education for India, the country had already a fairly

wide network of indigenous schools, catering to the needs of numerous local

communities. During the company’s regime education was neglected and the authority
did not accept any responsibility for educating the people.

The Company was primarily an organisation of a great commercial people, who thought

it beyond its province to educate the Indians. In those days, education was not regarded

as a responsibility of state, even in England. Naturally East India Company was not
prepared to accept it in India.

Moreover, the Company was influenced very much by financial rather than by

philanthropic motives. Besides, the native Indians were not so very sympathetic towards

the new change in the educational system and their great need was the establishment

of law and order. At the beginning, the company restricted its attention to the education
of European and Anglo Indian children.

The company wanted to educate some of influential Indians and thereby win the

confidence of the upper classes and consolidate its rule in India. So the Company

established some centres of higher learning for the Hindus and the Muslims. Among

these, the most important were the Calcutta Madrasah and the Banaras Sanskrit
College.

Side by side with the company, the educational activities were also conducted by the

missionaries. Throughout this period, the company maintained an attitude of sympathy

with this missionary enterprise. In some cases they also rendered financial assistance
to the mission schools. Prior to A.D. 1765, the attitude of the Company was favourable

to missionary activities. As soon as the Company became a political power, its attitude

began to change. The acquisition of sovereignty made the Company conscious of the
political importance of maintaining strict religious neutrality.

As a result it had to abandon all its earlier inclinations towards missionary enterprise.

The missionaries did not like this change of attitude and began to criticize the new

policies of the Company. Therefore, after A.D. 1793 the relations between the
missionaries and the officials of the Company became extremely strained.

It will not be out of place to mention here that from A.D. 1793 to 1813, the Company put

every obstacle possible in the way of the missionary activities and did not give any

assistance even to mission schools. The missionaries were not so powerful to fight

against this policy in India. Therefore, they began an intensive agitation in England with

the object of convincing the parliament to legislate on the matter and give the necessary
freedom and assistance to missionaries.

While the missionaries were thus agitating in England for a change in the Company’s

educational policy the officials of the Company in India were also agitating for a bolder

move in expanding oriental education. So a violent controversy ensued between the

friends and supporters of the Missions on the one hand and the Company’s officials on
the other.

However, the matter was raised in British Parliament. This resulted in the enactment of

the charter of A.D. 1813. Therefore, the Charter act of 1813 forms a turning point in the

history of Indian education. With it the agitation regarding the Company’s educational

policy came to a successful conclusion. The education of the Indian people was
included within the duties of the Company and a comparatively large amount was
allotted for educational activities.

The Act empowered the missionaries to go to India and spread education. According to

the Charter act of 1813, the Company had partly undertaken the responsibility of

education in India. A sum of not less than one lakh of rupees had been earmarked per

annum for the purpose of promoting a knowledge of the sciences and for “the revival

and improvement of literature”, among the inhabitants of the British territories in India.

The amount earmarked could not meet the educational needs of the millions. Compared

to the magnitude of the problem adequate funds were not forthcoming and the pace of
progress of education was rather dull.

The Company adopted a new policy of education which was popularly known as the

“Filtration Theory”. The fundamental assumption of this theory was that, higher

education if provided to the top classes, would somehow or other ‘filter down to the

masses’. Because culture and enlightenment always filter from upper classes to the

lower and not vice-versa. It therefore advocated the view that Government should

concentrate its energy and resources on educating the upper classes who in turn would

educate the lower. Hence this concept of class education as clearly distinguished from

mass education stood as stumbling block on the substantial progress of education in

general.

NTRODUCTION

The Wardha scheme of Education, popularly known as ‘Basic education’ occupies a

unique place in the field of elementary education in India. This scheme was the first
attempt to develop an indigenous scheme of education in British India by Mahatma
Gandhi, the father of our nation. As a nationalist leader he fully realised that the British
system of education could not serve the socio-economic need of the country. At Round
Table Conference in London (1931) he pointed out the ineffectiveness of the system of
primary education in India and the alarming low percentage of literacy among Indian
people. He held the policy of the British Government responsible for this painful
situation in the field of mass education. Gandhiji said “I am convinced that the present
system of education is not only wasteful but positively harmful.” It was in this context the
concept of Basic Education emerged in the mind of Gandhiji. In this unit we will discuss
the historical background, the Wardha scheme of education, its fundamental features,
curriculum and merits and demerits of this system of education.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

First, we shall discuss the historical background. The Government of India Act, 1935 came into
force in 1937. According to the Act, Congress Ministries were formed in seven provinces in
India. Prior to this Congress had been strongly pleading for free, compulsory and universal
education. After having the power the Congress had to implement it in action. Gandhiji was the
leading figure of the Indian political scene and he came forward to meet the situation. Gandhiji
was fully conversant with the deplorable condition of education in the land. For improving this
condition he advocated a scheme of primary education based on Indian traditional culture
through the medium of mother tongue. But this required a huge sum of money which meant fresh
taxation. The situation was further complicated as Mahatma Gandhi promised to introduce total
prohibition which again meant the loss of a huge amount of revenue. Congress was committed to
both ‘prohibition and compulsion’. To end this dilemma Gandhiji put forward the proposal that
the plan of mass education need not be held up for want of funds. Free and compulsory primary
education could be given to every child if the process of schooling could be made self supporting
by imparting education through a useful and productive craft. Gandhiji expressed his views on
education through a series of articles in ‘Harijan’ in June 31, 1937, which later on developed into
the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education. The views of Gandhiji created controversies in the
academic circles. Therefore it was desirable to get the scheme examined by experts and
educationists. Finally, Gandhiji placed his Basic Education System to the nation in the Wardha
Conference in 1937.
 WARDHA EDUCATION CONFERENCE

Now, we are familiar with the historical background that led to the birth of a new system of
education, i.e., Basic Education. Let us discuss Wardha Education Conference.
For the purpose of discussing different aspects of the proposed new scheme of education, an All
India Education Conference was held in Wardha on 22nd and 23rd October, 1937. The eminent
educationists, congress leaders and workers alongwith the Education Ministers of the seven
states had attended the conference. Gandhiji himself presided over it. After serious discussions
the following four resolutions were passed.
That in the opinion of this conference, free and compulsory education be provided on a
nation-wide scale.
That the medium of instruction be the mother tongue.

That the process of education through this period should centre round some form of manual
productive work suitable for the local condition.
That the conference expects that the system of education will be gradually able to cover the
remuneration of the teacher.

The conference then appointed a committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. Zakir
Hussain to prepare a detailed education plan and syllabus on the lines of the above
resolutions.

Zakir Hussain Committee

Besides Dr. Zakir Hussain, the Committee consisted of nine members. Among those
who served in the committee, Prof. K. G. Saigidain’s name is prominent. Other
members included were Arya Nayakam, Vinova Bhave, Kaka Kalelkar, J. C.
Kumarappa, Kishori Lal, Prof. K. T. Shah etc.

As mentioned before the committee was appointed to prepare a detailed education plan
and syllabus. It submitted its reports, one in December, 1937 and the other in April,
1938. This report has since become the fundamental document of the basic scheme
and the scheme has come to be known as the Wardha Scheme of Education. It was
approved by Mahatma Gandhi and was placed before the Indian National Congress at
its Haripura session held in March,1938.
 The first report included the basic principles of the Wardha Scheme of education, its
aims, teachers and their training, organisation of schools, administration, inspection and
inclusion of craft centred education regarding handicrafts like spinning, weaving etc.
The second report dealt with Agriculture, Metal work, Wood craft and other basic
handicraft. An elaborate curriculum of all those subjects and ways and means to
establish their correlation with other subjects was also suggested.

In course of time more conferences were held, more committees were formed on this
important subject. As a result more new features were added to this aspect of education
which later on took the final shape. The conference of 1945 at Sebagram characterized
Basic Education as “education for life”. The conference considered it as a radical and
important revolution in social and economic structure of the Indian society, i.e., creating
a new way of life.” Since then Basic education came to be known as ‘Nai Talim’. A
conference of education ministers and educational workers was called by B.G. Kher in
1946, that took some important resolutions which affected the quality of Basic Education
in different provinces. Basic Education has finally emerged after a decade of
experimentation and discussion. The scheme of basic education formulates the
following proposals—

 Free, universal and compulsory education should be provided for all boys and girls
between the ages of 7—14.

 This education should be imparted in the mother-tongue of the child.

 All education should centre round some basic craft chosen with due regard to the
capacity of children and the needs of the locality. The committee suggested spinning
and weaving, card-board and wood work, leather work, kitchen-gardening, agriculture
and fishery as obviously suitable crafts.

 The selected craft should be both taught and practised so that the children are able to
produce articles which can be used and may be sold to meet part of the expenditure on
the school.

 This craft must not be taught mechanically but its social and scientific implications were
to be studied side by side.

 In this craft-centered education all the subjects to be taught were to be integrally related
to the selected craft or the child’s physical and social environment.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Answer briefly—

1. Who was the profounder of Basic Education?

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2. What was the purpose of Wardha Education Conference? What was its resolution?
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3. List the resolutions of the Wardha Education Conference.
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4. Mention the main objective of Zakir Hussain Committee.
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MEANING AND PHILOSOPHY OF BASIC EDUCATION

You must understand the meaning and the philosophy behind Basic Education.

The word ‘Basic’ is derived from the word ‘base’ which means the bottom or the foundation of a
thing upon which the whole thing rests or is made o stand Mahatma Gandhi wanted to make the
foundation of the educational edifice strong. It is with this objective that he put forward this
scheme. This scheme of education is based on the national culture and civilisation of India. It
aims at making a child self-reliant by enabling him to use his acquired knowledge and skills in
practical affairs of life. Basic education has close relationship with the basic needs and interest of
the education as the child is the focal point of education. The central point of this scheme is some
handicraft, whose teaching will enable the student to solve the problems of his livelihood and at
the same time develop qualities of good citizenship. In Gandhiji’s view, sound education must be
rooted in the culture and life of the soil and therefore he strongly pleads for relating education to
the environment.

Gandhiji’s definition of education gives an insight into his philosophy of education. Now, what
is education according to Gandhiji? By true education he means an all-round drawing out of the
best in child and man, body, mind and spirit. For Gandhi mere literacy is not the end of
education not even the beginning. It is only one of the means by which man and woman can be
educated. Therefore, he attaches little value to literacy in his scheme of education.

Gandhiji was a practical educational philosopher and an experimentalist to the core. His
experiments with truth and education were the instrument for the realisation of his ideal in life.
In several of his educational experiments he tried to translate his philosophy-into achieving the
reality of the evolution and establishment of an ideal society. His educational system is the
dynamic side of his entire philosophy.

Gandhiji keenly wanted to create a new social order based on truth and non-violence. This can be
brought about only through a silent social revolution. He believed that revolutionary change in
the educational system can help to bring this silent social revolution. The scheme of Basic
Education does not stand for mere technique, it stands for a new spirit and approach to all
education.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

5. Explain the meaning of the word ‘Basic’.

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6. Give Gandhiji’s definition on education.
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7. What type of society did Gandhiji want to create in India?

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MAIN FEATURES OF THE WARDHA SCHEME

 Let us now, discuss the main features of the Wardha Scheme of Education—

Free and compulsory education :

Gandhiji wanted education to be free and compulsory for all boys and girls between the
ages of seven to fourteen. He evolved a scheme of education which would be in
harmony with the culture and civilisation of the Indian people and which would solve the
problem of mass education in a practical way.

Education Through Craft :

The basic idea of this scheme is to impart education through some craft or productive
work. Craft work helps the child to acquire sensor and motor co-ordination and to
appreciate the value of honest labour. Gandhiji was of the opinion that the method of
training the mind through village handicraft from the beginning as the central focus
would promote the real, disciplined development of the mind. The advantages of making
craft as the centre of education as listed by the Zakir Hussain Committee are as
follows—

 “Psychologically, it is desirable, because it relieves the child from the tyranny of a purely
academic and theoretical instruction against which its active nature is always making a
healthy protest.”

 “Secondly, the introduction of such practical productive work in education, to be

participated in by all children of the nation will tend to break down the existing barriers of
prejudice between manual and intellectual workers harmful alike for both.”

 “Economically, carried out intelligently and efficiently, the scheme will increase the
productive capacity of our workers and will also enable them to utilise their leisure
advantageously.”

 “From educational point of view, greater concreteness and reality can be given to the
knowledge acquired by children through craft as knowledge will be related to life.”

Self supporting aspect of the Scheme:

The self supporting aspect of the scheme may be interpreted in two ways—
(a) Education that will help one to be self supporting in later life,
(b) Education which in itself is self supporting.
The basic idea of Gandhiji was that if the craft chosen is taught efficiently or thoroughly,
it would enable the school to pay the cost of salaries of teachers. At the same time his
aim was to accord dignity of labour and ensure modest and honest and livelihood for the
student after leaving school.

Medium of instruction:
One of the resolutions that was adopted at the All India National Conference at Wardha
was that education must be imparted through the mother tongue. In this connection, the
Zakir Hussain Committee’s observation was that the proper teaching of the mother
tongue is the foundation of all education. Without the capacity to speak effectively and
to read and to write correctly and lucidly, no one can develop precision of thought or
clarity of ideas. Moreover, it is a means of introducing the child to the rich heritage of his
people’s ideas, emotions and aspirations.

Ideal of citizenship:

Another important feature of the basic scheme is the ideal of citizenship which is implicit
in it. It aimed at giving the citizens of the future a keen sense of personal growth, dignity
and efficiency and social services in a cooperative community. The Zakir Hussain
Committee envisaged that the new generation must at least have an opportunity of
understanding their own problems and rights and obligations. A completely new system
is necessary to secure the minimum of education for the intelligent exercise of the rights
and duties of citizens.

Flexible Curriculum and free Environment :

The flexibility of the curriculum and free environment for the child to perform according
to his own capacity are another remarkable features of basic education. Under this
scheme the teachers and students are free to work according to their interest and there
is no compulsion for completing a prescribed portion due to fear of examinations.
Necessary changes may be introduced in the curriculum if a situation demands. Thus,
whatever the child learns according to his interest and capacity is permanently
remembered by him. The teacher is also free to organise necessary environment for the
development of the child.
 CURRICULUM OF BASIC EDUCATION

You know that basic education is designed for children between seven and fourteen years of age
and accordingly curriculum has been suggested. For the boys general science and for girls home
science have been emphasised. The various subjects as suggested are given below—

1. Basic Craft.

(i) Spinning and Weaving,

(ii) Carpentry,
(iii) Agriculture,
(iv) Fruit and Flower Cultivation,
(v) Leather work,
(vi) Culturing Fish,
(vii) Pottery,
(viii) Any handicraft according to the local need,
(iv) Home Science for girls.

2. Mother tongue.

3. Mathematics.

4. Geography, History and Civics to be combined as Social Studies.

5. Painting and Music.

6. P.T., Drill and Sports etc.

7. General Science comprising Physics Chemistry, Botany, Zoology ,Hygiene and Nature Study
etc.

8. Hindi for that area in which it is not the mother tongue.

If you observe minutely the above curriculum you will find the following characteristics—
i) English has not been included as a subject of study.
ii) Although the medium of instruction is mother tongue, all students must learn Hindi language.
iii) There is no place for religious and moral education in the curriculum
iv) The craft chosen must not be taught mechanically, but systematically and scientifically
 keeping in view the social significance.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

8. Education through craft.

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9. Self supporting aspect of Basic education.
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10. Characteristics of Basic education curriculum.
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MERITS OF BASIC EDUCATION

Now we are familiar with every aspect of Basic education. In order to have a better insight and a
total view of the system it is necessary to make an objective analysis of them.
First we shall discuss the merits of the system and these are—

 The scheme is financially sound and acceptable in a poor country like India, where about half of
the total illiterate people of the world reside. It is helpful for rapid expansion of elementary
education with less burden on public exchequer.

 It is also economically productive as it is based on the principle of work. Work occupies the
central place in basic education. The system is production oriented and helps in the programme
of national economic reconstruction.

 The system was able to remove class and caste distinction. It helps to bring social solidarity and
national integration.

 It also removes the barriers between the educated and the non-educated, between manual work
and intellectual work, between the rich and the poor and village and the town.

 Basic education is activity-centred education. The child is not a passive learner but an active
participant in the learning process. It fosters learning by doing. Thus, instruction is not passive,
and the child learns through a productive and useful craft.

 Basic education is child-centric. The child is the centre of activity. It primarily considered the
 constructive and creative instincts of children.

 Basic education is based on sound educational principle of correlation, where all educational
activities are correlated to a basic craft. Correlation also takes place between physical
environment, social environment and craft work.

 The system is based upon the cultural and social heritage of the land. As such, it inculcates social
and moral values in the minds of the students.

 It is truly an education for the whole man. It aims at a harmonious development of the body,
mind and soul.

 Basic education system recognises the dignity of labour.

 It recognises the importance of mother-tongue as the medium of instruction at the elementary

stage.

 It inculcates democratic values like co-operation, responsibility, fellow-feeling in the minds of

the students, which are essential for proper functioning of a democratic social order.

DEMERITS OR CAUSES OF FAILURE OF BASIC EDUCATION

Let us now examine the causes of the failure of Basic education in India— why it has failed to
become a permanent and lasting feature of our educational system.
After the independence Basic scheme of education made good progress for about a decade but
gradually due to several difficulties it failed to make much headway. The causes may be
summarised below—

The self supporting aspect of Basic Education received severe criticism in the academic
circle. Teachers, social leaders and educational administrators had shown an indifferent
attitude towards it. It was argued that the scheme turns a school into a centre of small scale
industry. Moreover, teachers had to depend upon the earnings of the students.This had a
demoralising effect on teacher-pupil relationship.
Too much emphasis on craft had led the neglect of liberal education. Very often the craft is
not properly selected from the point of view of education and social significance and
teaching through craft had become just a slogan.
Another criticism levelled against Basic Education was that a single craft can and should not
be the basis of the entire educational process. It may not help in the development of liberal
education and thus would create an imbalance in the educational system between vocational
 and intellectual education.

The method of correlation as technique of instruction was not stressed and sincerely
followed. Correlation is no doubt a sound principle of education but correlation of the
subjects through craft may appear to be sometimes unusual and time consuming.
Basic Education is often regarded as inferior type of education meant for the poor villagers.
It has nothing to do with the urban people, who usually sent their children to modern type of
schools. The general public had no confidence in basic schools because of the degraded
social value accorded to it. Thus Basic education failed to become an integral part of our
national system of education.
Basic Education can in no way help in the progress of modern scientific and technological
development of the society, which was the need of the day. Rapid changes and modernisation
of our society can only be possible through the application of modern science and technology
in the fields and factories.
Lack of finance and the absence of sound administrative policy was also responsible for the
failure of Basic Education. Practically there was no coordination between the official and
non-official agencies engaged in the organisation and development of Basic education.
Teacher occupies the central position in Basic Education. Lack of adequate supply of
efficient, trained and sincere teachers was one the most important cause for the failure of this
scheme of education. Suitable orientation and training of teachers of basic schools was
highly needed, which was rare. The majority of the teachers had no faith in this system.

The concept of Basic Education as an educational theory and practice in unique and
unquestionable. But its implementation was far from satisfactory. The Education Commission
1964-66 fully recognised the importance of basic education and incorporated in its
recommendations many of the fundamental features of basic education. Work experience,
community living, social service, integration of academic knowledge with experience,
vocationalisation of education, education for moral and spiritual values have been recommended
by the Kothari Commission. As a step for modifying the secondary school curriculum, in
Iswarbhai Patel Committee of 1977 had given a new terminology as Socially Useful Productive
Work (SUPW), which demarcated a distinct curricula area. The committee opines that education
should be work-centred and socially useful and productive work must be given a central place in
the curriculum at all stages of school education and all academic subjects should be related to it.
All these changing concepts originated from Gandhiji’s Basic Education. The unesco
Commission on Education in its report known as “Learning to be” has adopted the term “Basic
Education” for primary education and emphasised that “education must cease being confined
within school house walls, and many forms of social and economic activity must be used for
educational purposes.”

Thus, it is quite justified to say that the fundamental principles of basic education are still valid
and fruitful in the context of our present educational reform. They are relevant to be used as
guiding principles of modern education. In fact, it needs to be reformed on modern lines then it
may serve as one of the most interesting and fruitful techniques of instruction at elementary
stage.
What were the Recommendations of Sri Prakash Committee?

Article shared by Deepti Verma

The Committee on Religious and Moral Instructions (1959) known as Sri Prakasa
Committee studied the issue thoroughly and made detailed recommendations which are
reproduced below:
1. The teaching of moral and spiritual values in educational institutions is desirable and
specific provision for doing so is feasible within certain limitations.

2. The inculcation of good manners, social service and true patriotism should be
continuously stressed at all stages.

3. It is very important that in any educational scheme, the home should not be left out
and through mass media such as leaflets, talks, radio and the cinema and through
voluntary organisations, the faults and drawbacks of our homes both in the matter of
their physical orderliness and their psychological atmosphere, should be pointed out,
and instruction given as to how these can be removed. If this is done in an impersonal
manner it would not hurt anyone, would draw the attention of the persons concerned to
their own shortcomings, thus inducting and encouraging them to eradicate these.

4. It would be very desirable to start work every day in all educational institutions with a
few minutes of silent meditation either in the classroom or in common hall. There could
be some sort of prayer also which need not be addressed to any deity or ask for any
favour, but which may be in the nature of an exhortation for self- discipline and devotion
to some ideal.

Occasionally in these Assembly Meetings inspiring passages from great literature,

religious as well as secular, and pertaining to all important religions and cultures of the
world, could be read with profit. Community singing of inspiring songs and hymns can
be most effective at the school stage.

5. Suitable books should be prepared for stages from primary to university which should
describe briefly in a comparative and sympathetic manner the basic idea of all religions
as well as the essence of the lives and teachings of the great religious leaders, saints,
mystics and philosophers.
These books should be suitable to the various age groups in different classes of schools
and colleges, and should be a common subject of study for all. Collections of poems
and selected passages from Sanskrit, Persian, English and the regional languages
should be made for the use of young people.

Suitable books should be prepared for different stages of education which would help in
the inculcations of patriotism and social service. These should particularly concentrate
on deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice in the cause of the country and in the service of
others.

6. In the course of extra-curricular activities, learned and experienced persons may be

invited to deliver lectures on inter-religious understanding. Educational broadcasts and
group discussions may be organised to stimulate interest in the study of moral and sp

Policy Goals

Education Policy Goals of EPLC

Embedded in all of the activities of The Education Policy and Leadership
Center is attention to EPLC’s key education policy goals. All of the Center’s
work is focused to develop public policies and leaders that will advance the
following six education policy goals:

1. Improve the academic success of all students by strengthening standards-

based reforms, including assessments and accountability measures.

2. Establish and maintain in Pennsylvania a statewide education finance

system based upon principles of adequacy, equity, accountability and
predictability.

3. Build effective educational capacity to support learning by all students,

with special emphasis on the need to ensure a qualified teacher in every
classroom at all times.

4. Ensure that all Pennsylvania school districts and every school shall have
school leaders who will promote and support high achievement for all
students through effective instructional leadership, school management and
governance.
5. Enact state policies that shall ensure that every young child in
Pennsylvania shall have access to high-quality early education programs
including pre-school and full-day kindergarten.

6. Ensure that all citizens of all ages shall have practical financial and
physical access to a rich range of post-secondary educational opportunities.

Three Core Strategies of EPLC

The Education Policy and Leadership Center has developed and implements
three discrete but complementary core strategies to support its mission.
These strategies are to:

 Strategy #1 – Information
Link relevant and reliable research and other information to state-level
education policymakers and others and to provide assistance with policy
analysis and policy development.
 Strategy #2 – Leadership
Develop awareness and capacity among policymakers, educators and
community leaders to serve as advocates and champions for significant
education policy issues.
 Strategy #3 – Public Advocacy
Promote a public climate that expects and holds policymakers
accountable to advocate, adopt and implement effective policies that
advance significant education goals.

The Education Policy and Leadership Center is committed to:

 Be a Catalyst
The Center initiates and supports public and policymaker discussions
concerning significant education policy issues.
 Inform
For policymakers and the public, the Center is a source of objective,
comprehensive and reliable information concerning current and emerging
education policy issues. The Center is both proactive with materials and
programs that provide information from a wide-range of resources as well
as reactive to specific requests from education policymakers and lay
leaders for information and various forms of technical assistance.
 Promote Leadership
The Center sponsors and supports programs and activities designed to
build awareness and capacity among policymakers and community
leaders to champion significant issues concerning education and young
children.
1. Parents make a difference in student achievement and behavior. Schools
should institute policies requiring teachers to contact parents periodically
through the year. Half-term or end-of-term reports are often not enough.
Calling takes time, but parents can often provide solutions to difficult
classroom problems. While not all parental involvement will be positive or
have a measurable effect on student behavior, many successful schools use
this approach.
2. Create and Enforce a Schoolwide Discipline PlanDiscipline plans provide
students with acknowledged consequences for misbehavior. Effective
classroom management should include the dissemination and use of a
discipline plan. Teacher training on implementation along with periodic
reviews can encourage the consistent and fair application of behavior
standards.
3. Establish Leadership
The actions of the principal and assistant principals form the basis of the
overall mood for the school. If they consistently support teachers, fairly
implement the discipline plan, and follow-through on disciplinary actions,
then teachers will follow their lead. If they slack on discipline, it becomes
apparent over time and misbehavior typically increases.
4. Practice Effective Follow-Through
Consistently following through on the action plan is the only way to truly
foster discipline in schools. If a teacher ignores misbehavior in the
classroom, it will increase. If administrators fail to support the teachers,
they could easily lose control of the situation.
5. Provide Alternative Education Opportunities
Some students need controlled environments where they can learn
without distracting the wider school community. If one student
continually disrupts a class and shows an unwillingness to improve his or
her behavior, that student might need to be removed from the situation for
the sake of the rest of the students in the class. Alternative schools provide
options for disruptive or challenging students. Moving other students
to new classes that can be controlled at the school level can also help in
some situations.
6. Build a Reputation for Fairness
Hand-in-hand with effective leadership and consistent follow-through,
students must believe that teachers and administrators are fair in their
disciplinary actions. While some extenuating circumstances require
administrators to make adjustments for individual students, in general,
students who misbehave should be treated similarly.
 7. Implement Additional Effective Schoolwide Policies
Discipline in schools can evoke the image of administrators stopping fights
before they begin or dealing with hostile students in a classroom setting.
However,effective discipline begins with the implementation of school-
wide housekeeping policies that all teachers must follow. For example, if a
school implements a tardy policy that all teachers and administrators
follow, tardies will decrease. If teachers are expected to handle these
situations on a case-by-case basis, some will do a better job than others
and tardies will have a tendency to increase.
8. Maintain High Expectations
From administrators to guidance counselors to teachers, schools must
institute high expectations for both academic achievement and behavior.
These expectations must include messages of encouragement and means
of support to help all children succeed. Michael Rutter researched the
effect of high expectations at school and reported his findings in "Fifteen
Hundred Hours": "Schools that foster high self-esteem and that promote
social and scholastic success reduce the likelihood of emotional and
behavioral disturbance.

The politics of curriculum in schools

This paper provides a review of curriculum change under successive governments,

highlighting the damage caused by intensive ministerial control and the impact of
political ideologies of neoliberal functionalism and neoconservative nostalgia. Under
New Labour, the impact of neoliberalism involved restricting educational aims to
economic competitiveness, to the neglect of other curricular purposes such as personal
growth and democratic citizenship. Coalition policies have struggled to reconcile this
drive with nostalgia for traditional versions of academic achievement.

The paper begins by considering how the conditions under which mass education was
established in Britain in the late Victorian age continue to affect current practice,
including the reflection of class division in the divide between public and private schools.

It draws on examples from the decades before Thatcherism to show how the
emergence of a broader view of education occurred, though it was often obscured by
politicians’ and media caricatures of progressive education. This section includes a
summary of the forms of support once provided by local education authorities and
national agencies for curriculum and professional development.

International examples are provided to illustrate how English schools are being
overtaken by systems which rely on improving teacher qualifications and professional
collaboration, rather than surveillance and standardisation. This includes an outline of
how Finland has reached excellent standards of education without cramming young
children or demoralising teachers.

The drive to accelerate the formal learning of very young children, in nurseries and early
primary, is seen as counterproductive since it overreaches child development, neglects
learning through play, and replaces creative and engaged activity with rote learning and
memorisation. The serious weaknesses of the new National Curriculum for primary
schools are exposed.

Finally, the paper looks to the future by outlining some general principles for the renewal
and enrichment of the English school curriculum. It argues that policymakers should
avoid shifting between a narrow functionalism and the restoration of mythical past
glories in order to prepare young people for the scientific and ethical challenges of a
complex and changing world. This will involve an emphasis on cognitive development
and problem solving, critical literacy, creativity, and communication for a range of
purposes and in different media. It will improve achievement for all by reducing teaching
to the test and introducing more learning related to real situations and culminating in the
satisfaction of a product, presentation or performance.