Pupils with physical disabilities / a report of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland.
- Great Britain. Advisory Council on Education in Scotland
- Date:
- 1951
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Pupils with physical disabilities / a report of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.
43/78 (page 41)
![100 pupils, but we are of opinion that such a school is not likely to afford the friendly environment that physically handicapped children desire. In such an area it would be possible to have one school for older children, ranging in age approximately from 11 to 15, and a separate school for younger children. This arrangement might permit a degree of specialisation of instruction in the school for the older children and thus provide for their widely varying needs. 149. Itis often easier to manage a wider range of age in classes in residential schools than in day-school classes. The teacher in the residential school knows the children intimately and can adjust instruction to individual capacity. We cannot accept, however, any lowering of standards in residential schools as compared with day schools for physically handicapped pupils. We have already indicated that children in residential schools often include in their number some who are severely disabled and who may require a special degree of educational care. It would be a mistake in policy to increase the size of class for a group of children who are likely to present the greater difficulties. We propose, therefore, that the size of school and class should be the same for day and residential pupils. 150. We recommend that in day and residential schools for physically handicapped children the maximum size of class be 20, but the average ought to be approximately 15, that the school should not exceed 100 pupils, but ought from 5 to 15 years to have approximately 75 pupils, and that smaller schools be permitted, provided the total age range is diminished and the average age range of classes is less than three years. 13. Children in Schools: Vocational Training 151. We have already advocated (paragraphs 14 and 15) a measure of vocational] training for disabled children. It is highly desirable for the sake of physically handicapped pupils that during their schooling they should receive’ some help in preparing for entry into industry. In making proposals for the vocational training of these pupils we desire to reassert that an education unrelated to work, although apparently humane and liberal, defeats its own ends by leaving the physically handicapped at a disadvantage in seeking a place in the industrial order and by creating a sense of frustration in their minds at the threshold of adult life. We do not propose that their general education should be neglected but we are convinced that general education does not by itself meet all their needs. 152. Itis not possible, nor would it be desirable, to make detailed proposals for the content of vocational training. The needs differ according to the abilities and interests of the pupils. Attention should be given to training that will lead to employment in their own home district, and for that purpose there should be a continual watch over developments in local industry and a never- ending search for work that they can do and for employers who will value their skill. In some areas, for example, it might suit the interests of the pupils and increase their chances of employment to train girls in needlecraft in order that. they might find employment in dressmaking or millinery. In other areas, a demand might exist for pupils trained in commercial subjects. Some occupations such as telephone switchboard work might require a comparatively brief training to supplement a good general education; and this training could be done in the last few months of schooling. In certain localities,. where, for example, dressmaking is in demand, it might be desirable to have specialist teachers and specialist work-rooms in the school and to devote a considerable time to training for this employment. 153. In making a plea for vocational training we do not advocate that highly intelligent pupils who might desire to continue their studies and endeavour to enter a profession for which they are suited should be compelled to desert their chosen course of study in order to be put to a narrow trade. But we do not desire to see all handicapped children enter upon courses that](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32181498_0043.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
