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To meet the needs of an increasing industrialized Canadian society in the late 1930 s, the elementary curriculum was revised. This essay will explore the changes BC curriculum endured as a result of the progressive movement within the Greater Victoria area by way of the Greater Victoria Survey of Schools of 1937 - 38 and the Curriculum Guide: The New Programme of Studies 1936 - 7. The new system is commonly known as progressive education or the new education. Jean Barman describes new education as embodying a commitment to a child-centered, relatively unstructured curriculum allowing considerable freedom of choice to pupil and teacher alike, the expression of humane, egalitarian, democratic philosophy of education. The modern curriculum was an attempt to move away from the emphasis of memorization, facts, formalism and unrelated or irrelevant material within the classroom. John Dewey, an educational philosopher, can be held accountable for the radical outlook on education in the early 1900 s.
Dewey believed there was a theoretical gap between child-centered and subject centered curriculum. This gap was a failure to recognize interaction between child and curriculum. Individual difference, child reaction and interest were vital aspect of education that had been overlooked by traditional curricula. The refreshed program was intended to meet the childs physical, moral, emotional and intellectual needs through a variety of revisions within the curriculum.
Before browsing through the heart of the new curriculum, it is important to familiarize oneself in the parturition of progressive education before an appreciation for the impact the revisions had within the education system. Pressure from British Columbia Teachers Federation initiated a formal inquiry by the government to investigate the devastating situation of rural schools. Lack of facilities, supplies, financial instability, remote locations, incompetent teachers, sporadic attendance and severe weather hampered pupils progress in rural locations. Rural schools could not accommodate students adequately in basic education and therefore, were lacking equal academic levels as their urban counterparts, which concerned educators. Complaints from rural teachers and school inspector reports launched the Survey of the School System by J. H.
Putman and G. M. Weir in 1925, which gave progressivism the jump-start needed to allow revisions possible. Harold Putman was the Inspector of Schools for the City of Ottawa, when he was appointed to take on this study with George Weir. Weir had recently been appointed as the first professor of education at the University of British Columbia when he agreed to take on the study.
Influenced by Dewey, both men embraced the child-centered type of instruction that would later become the foundation of the revised school curricula. A new educational approach was utilized in elementary schools: an emphasis on child centered schooling, individual differences, activity programs, program testing, and teacher guidance. All portions of the philosophy had equal importance; however the core theory aimed toward child-centered ness; that is, the childs growth is heavily dependent upon his / her reactions and experiences within his / her surrounding environment. The Progressive Movement initiated the concept that students should be independent thinkers, creative beings, and expressive about their feelings. This was a sharp contrast from the prevalent educational approaches rooted in social efficiency in the early 1900 s in Canada.
Such approaches did not foster the importance of individualism and creativity, and instead emphasized classroom control, management and a structured curriculum that focused on basic skills. The classroom agenda was to meet the needs of children and cater to them through variety of programs suited for individual differences. Differential treatment was issued to those who were slow learners but also for those students who were fast or keen learners. Mass group teaching was no longer a sufficient approach in the 1930 s.
Students required individualized praise or remedial help to ensure overall growth within a subject. The quality of learning was much more important than the quantity being taught in the contemporary system. Although child-centered ness was the ultimate focus in progressive education, other components within the new education complimented the core focus. To achieve a child-centered approach, an ever-changing environment was essential. Children must learn by doing and to achieve this the unit system was developed. A unit consisted of a central thought, such as, the weather or transportation, and could be merged with all subjects in one way or another.
Student interaction and group work outplayed traditional rote, repetition, drill, and standardization methods of learning. The success of the unit depended entirely upon each childs participation in each activity. A students personal growth therefore, was dependent on interaction of one another. That is to say, new experiences develop from the reaction of others around them, thus affecting another's encounter. Without class interaction growth would not manifest to benefit the learning experience of each student properly.
The introduction of manual / technical training, domestic science / home economics, agricultural education, health and hygiene were created to promote learning by doing philosophy created by Dewey. These new courses were avenues not only created meaningful material that students could relate to but also created excellent opportunities to apply the knowledge learned in classes directly into their daily routines. SSGV states, health is a life to be lived and not a subject to be taught, and children should acquire skills to maintain healthy living continuously. Physical education involved technical classroom instruction and physical manipulation management. Physical training allowed educators to recognize a direct link between healthy living and emotional health in the late 1930 s. Physical activity was driven by variation.
Exposure to several activities would allow children to acquire a well-rounded base for mental and physical conditioning. Manual / technical training, domestic science / home economics agricultural education activities varied between schools but the theories and aims remain constant throughout. This curriculum was used as a vehicle to promote social reform, by way of, connecting school knowledge, habits, skills, interests, appreciation, attitudes, and ideals to adult life. This area of the curriculum was to assist students in transitions from school to job placements in the future.
Vocational / manual courses were to offset those who would not prevail academically. Those who were not academically driven could develop skills suited to their tastes and capacities through vocational / manual training that could be applied in related work after schooling was finished. The modernization of Canada in the 1930 s required a higher level of industrial training and it was the duty of these courses to expand individual and moral character and consequently, create productive, competent Canadian citizens. Individual difference was recognized as a result of new education. This is to say that students learn at different, rates, speeds and depths. Students array of intellectual, emotional and physical needs had to be accommodated.
Through remedial help, peer tutoring, and class activities; pupils had an opportunity to adapt according to the class skill level in any given subject. Freedom of expression to exhibit individuality and creativity within the classroom or project was introduced in the 1930 s progressive education movement. This tactic allowed individuals to think for themselves with little restrictions placed upon the outcome. Putman and Weir believed that the success of a young person functioning productively in society greatly depended on ones ability to critically think and problem solve All real education at every stage arises out of life problems. If the real education can arise only from genuine life problems, we make education easy for young people in proportion as we require them to face and solve an infinite variety of these problem stresses The Survey. Teacher guidance was used to steer children in some direction to ensure an impartial, but positive outcome.
However, ultimately it was the pupils responsibility to choose what direction to follow. Through pupil testing educators could determine the guidance students needed to be successful in their studies. A permanent feature of the new program was the implementation of scientific testing. Greatly influenced by Edward L. Thorndike, Putman and Weir opted to measure the intellectual capacities of each child. Through these tests a teacher could determine what area a student would most likely succeed or have difficulty in.
The teacher could then conclude where individual pupil guidance should be assisted and where guidance should be the strongest. Putman and Weir believed that individual differences could be reduced through testing If these individual differences are to be provided for, the modern teacher must use scientific methods of measuring abilities, of measuring progress, of diagnosing weaknesses and failure in growth, and applying remedial treatment where needed. Tests include a wide range of aptitude tests, standardized tests, intelligence tests, and informal diagnostic classroom tests. Results from testing would provide teachers with scientific information to apply to a variety of settings and new courses that had become available to students but also gave teachers an opportunity to improve teaching contemporary subjects.
As a result of the Putman and Weir Survey, new courses of study were implemented into the curricula and old ones improved. The Survey of Schools of the Greater Victoria Area (SSGV) describes reading as the fundamental subject of schooling, pupils progress in the great majority of subject-fields depends very directly upon his reading ability. Pupils reading ability undoubtedly led to the success of other courses therefore; reading dominated a large part of the students day as it had before. Although students were exposed to reading a large portion of the day, they were now responsible for dividing their time between recreational reading (on their own time), work-type reading, and factual reading. These selected types of readings were now required to compliment oral and silent reading. Material of this kind could be found in a wide variety of sources: books, text books, reference books, and supplementary readers for all subject were to be made available for students to benefit from through the Free Text Book Branch established in 1929.
However, there seemed to be a lack of literature available to students and teachers for these purposes. A new series of readers was introduced to students in the 1930, The Canadian Readers, to promote progress at a specific pace according to their individual skill level. The new program eliminated comprehension of words that were far beyond the childs intellect and level and replaced it with words that meant something to the child. While hands on work was difficult to incorporate into the new reading curriculum, it was the sole responsibility of the teacher to take advantage of the activity interaction method of teaching, introduced by progressivism, to ensure adequate individual differences were being fulfilled. Inability of teachers to incorporate this teaching technique was heavily scorned upon by school inspectors, There is little excuse for their lack of knowledge of modern practice in reading, stresses William Gray and H.
H. Mackenzie. Such expectations were filtered into other subjects as well. Aspects of the spelling portion of curriculum did not exist before progressive education was implemented. The teach it, know it, test tomorrow technique was no longer the basis for vocabulary or spelling education. BCs new framework for spelling was a combination of four building blocks and is stressed in the SSGV: students were given new criteria, a grace period to learn the material and a preliminary test before the study period.
Teachers were then to...
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