Some Aspects of Internal Organisation of Primary Education in Britain.

This paper presents a study of the organization of 60 junior school classrooms in Great Britain. The study was conducted to examine changes occurring as a result of the move towards comprehensive secondary education in Britain and as a result of the recommendations of the Plowden Committee for more individualized instruction at the primary level. In order to survey possible changes, classroom structure and teacher and student behaviors were observed in 60 junior classrooms. Although these observations indicated a change toward more flexible small group seating patterns, a concomitant change in the structure of the curriculum was not found. A traditional curriculum was still emphasized in most classrooms. In addition, the observations of the teachers indicated a high level of interaction with certain children, rather than with the whole group, small groups, or with each child in the class. Many of the teacher-student interactions involved task supervision. Within-group teaching and pupil-pupil interactions were not emphasized. Although the more traditional schools in the present sample had the highest achievement levels, the paper emphasizes the importance of considering a variety of variables before interpreting this result. The results of the study suggest the need for a greater emphasis on the internal organization of the classrooms at the junior level. (BD)