Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
1953
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    10 December, 1952.] [Continued. with in the Bulletin. JThat is a _ plan analysis of these two schools showing how the area has been reduced. The circulat- ing space has been reduced from 16 square feet per place to about 5; and the teaching area has been increased in the second school, although the total area of the school is about one-third less. Miss Ward. 95. Have you decided whether you want a single-storey school or a double-storey school? Has that controversy been settled?—I do not think that is a thing one can generalise about altogether. Practic- ally all the secondary schools are on more than one storey, and about half the primary schools are now being built on more than one storey. (Mr. Flemming.) It depends very much on the site and local conditions. (Mr. Nenk.) Generally speaking, the only schools on one floor now are those built for the five to seven vear olds. Mr. James Johnson. 96. By and large the policy now is to have two-storeyed schools; the upper floor would conserve site space?—Yes, broadly speaking. Chairman. 97. Can we come to the question of economy of costs? (Mr. James Johnson.) In paragraph 18 one is talking of economies and this question of circulating space and corridors. Would you think sometimes it can be a false economy to have narrow corridors in view of the congestion and the large numbers in the classes?—That is the sort of economy we do not recommend. The idea is to have as little useless space as possible, and corridors cannot be used for anything very useful. You have got to get from A to B, but the less corridor you have the better. We like people to design a corridor adequate for its purpose. We do not try to chip away at the width of corridors, but try to put out a principle of planning which involves devoting less space to circulation pure and simple. Chairman. 98. In this paragraph you say: “ Area per place has been reduced by about a third since 1949; this has been achieved not by whittling down standards but by thinking out afresh the fundamental educa- tional requirements of each type of school.” What steps did you take in considering this as to whether or not the changes you recommend do effect teaching efficiency?— We start at that end. That is what is meant by saying “thinking out afresh the fundamental educational requirements”. We start with what the teachers are asking for and try to provide them with what they are asking for as economically as possible. Teachers for a long time have been saying that classrooms of 520 or 480 square feet are too small for primary schools. We agree, and in the second of those schools in the diagrams you will see the classrooms are 800 square feet, whereas in the earlier school which provides a total of over 70 square feet per place compared with 45 in the later, the classrooms are only about 520 square feet. 99. Did you have conferences with teachers to discuss this?—-We have not ourselves directly had conferences with teachers. We are in touch with a number of teachers up and down the country, and through the inspectorate we keep in very close contact with what is going on in the developments of educational methods and ideas. Mr. James Johnson. 100. In (c) you say perhaps 60 per cent. of the total consists of things which are not usable for teaching purposes. I would have thought, for example, the teaching of hygiene is important; you have to teach them to wash, and things of that kind. I regard that as direct teaching in a way? —Certainly, but a great deal depends on how you plan your lavatories. The old style of school, where you have a battery of wash basins and W.C.s is not, accord- ing to our information, a good way of teaching children hygiene. You need something very much more domestic in scale. In this, as in so many other ways, you find that when you get down to providing what the educators want you can do it more economically if you break down your lavatories into a number of dispersed units in different places in the school, which 101. Do I take it now the lavatories are all inside the schools. In the old days we had them in the yards. In the new plans the lavatories are all inside the schools?— Yes: 102. You say in (d) there are many highly specialised rooms which, because they are suitable for only one form of teach- ing, are in use for only part of the school day. Can you tell me what you are think- ing of there on which you can economise apparently?—One example is the second gymnasium which was commonly provided in a four form entry secondary school. That was provided because you could not get the requisite number. of P.T. periods in one gymnasium in a school of that size, and it had not been regarded as suitable that the assembly hall should in part be used for physical train- ing. Now we provide one gymnasium in- stead of two, and the hall for part of the time is used as a second gymnasium. 103. Are you building any schools now without gymnasia?—Not complete schools, no. (Mr. Flemming.) Primary schools. (Mr. Nenk.) Primary schools, of course, did not have a gymnasium, anyway.