CHAPTER 4

"If only one could be sure that, in the Bill, the overriding sub-clause 1(2) would dominate. This reads:

(2) The curriculum for a maintained school satisfies the requirements of this section if it is a balanced and broadly based curriculum which -

(a) promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society; and

(b) prepares such pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. This is light years away from clause (2) with its itemised requirements for the attainment targets, programmes of study and assessment requirements." (Brown, in Warnock, 1988).

AN EXAMINATION OF CONTEMPORARY
EDUCATION IN BRITIAN TOGETHER WITH
ROSMINI'S EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES

The chapter will detail the ideas and proposals that Rosmini formulated, and these will be examined together with specific aspects of contemporary education in Britain.
The nature of the current debate (with constant amendments to the Baker proposals being put forward, and in some cases accepted) makes the situation too fluid for any definitive treatment in books to be available; and so it has been necessary to rely largely on newspapers and educational journalism in order to follow the debate. It is an accepted fact that anyone who wants to put forward a point of view in such circumstances will do so by means of a letter to the Press. Practically all the issues under discussion, concerning the way forward for education, have been reported or debated in the country's influential daily newspapers; and these articles and letters come from people who are involved in education or who are concerned, directly or indirectly, with the educational system - and in particular with the topics which are the concern of this study. It follows therefore that the present chapter will draw from sources such as The Times Educational Supplement, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.

In order to understand the part played by the State in English education at present, it will be necessary first to recall the relations between education and government authority in the past. This will help to put the current Education Act into its historical context.

4.1.1 The relation between the State and education has been argued over from the 18th century onwards, and the extent of State participation and State control has varied a great deal from one country to another.

4.1.2 In 18th century France for example there was a reaction against what was seen as clerical domination of education by the Catholic Church and the religious orders, especially the Jesuits. (The anticlerical attitude was largely the result of the thought of the Enlightenment.) Both Rousseau and the Encyclopedists wanted to see reform, though they differed in their philosophy - Rousseau putting emphasis on the importance of the individual, while the rationalists believed that the way to any real reform of society lay in committing education entirely into the hands of the State. In his Essay on National Education (1763) La Chalotais put forward a case for the provision of State education. He wanted to see "a national system of education with laymen and clerics serving as teachers"; and he was against the education of the labouring classes. It is interesting, in the context of what we shall be looking at later, to see that La Chalotais, faced with a shortage of both teachers and textbooks, saw the solution in, first of all, setting up a commission of experts, and, second, in telling them to organize the composition of elementary books. Rosmini proposed a similar solution to a similar problem (see p.76 and p. 123). He believed that this would compensate for the lack of training of some teachers.

The principle of State control and direction of education was accepted first in Germany and subsequently in France. England was generally opposed to State control. Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776), while agreeing with La Chalotais in regarding education as a matter of public concern, favoured only a modest degree of State intervention though he stressed the need to educate the common man, "whose occupations tend to deaden the intelligence without which no man can be a proper human being."

4.1.3 After the Revolution in France there were those who feared that State control of education might pose a threat to liberty, who disliked the idea of compelling parents to submit their children to a uniform discipline, and tried to provide opportunities for education independent of the State. But the more despotic reformers (who had their way in the end) insisted that the child belonged to the State, not to the parents, and they would have nothing to do with any education which did not make loyalty to the State its main concern.

Against this, Condorcet, the outstanding educational thinker produced by the Revolution, while he believed that: "Education, if taken in its whole extent, is not limited to positive instruction, to the teaching of fact and number, but includes all opinions, political, moral or religious" (Boyd, 1950), contended that the State has no concern with education in this wide sense, and that any intrusion into the sphere of opinion would be a negation of liberty. He stated that in matters of politics, morals or religion, no public authority has any right to interfere with the parent in the upbringing of his children, or with the thinker in search of truth.

4.1.4 In France, once Napoleon had made himself master, the State assumed entire control of public education. At the same time there was a good deal of interesting thought on private education - not least from women - for instance Madame de Saussure, whose ideas were considered in Chapter 3, and who was a contemporary of Rosmini.

4.1.5 In Germany, and particularly in Prussia, the move towards State domination of education went rapidly forward. Basedow's contribution is interesting, in that he proposed two types of school, one for the common people and the other for the better-class children; and he too, like Rosmini and La Chalotais, thought that teachers would need no special training if suitable textbooks were put into their hands. In 1803 the Prussian code of laws freed schools from any tie with a religious confession and declared both schools and universities to be State institutions.

4.1.6 The defeat of Prussia by Napoleon in 1806 was soon followed by a national renaissance, in which its leading men set out to make education the tool which would promote the nation's rise to true greatness again. Johann Fichte (1762 led the way with his Addresses to the German People. For him education must from the beginning be a training for citizenship. Among the other leading thinkers of the time who influenced ideas on education were Herbart, Hegel and Froebel. (Something of their views was given in Chapter 2). Their philosophical standpoints were widely different, but it is striking that each in his own way emphasized the importance of morality. Herbart, in the opening sentence of his The Aesthetic Presentation of the World, said: "The only task, and the whole task of education may be summed up in the concept of morality." For Hegel, "Pedagogy is the art of making man moral." And it was Froebel's belief that the Christian religion must be the basis of all education. Nevertheless what emerged in Germany, from this period of intensive educational and philosophical thought, was a sort of broad humanism - liberal, in the sense that it paid respect to the individuality of its citizens, but strongly pragmatic, in that the end in view was to strengthen the nation.

4.1.7 In the earlier half of the 19th century, England was content to leave the organisation of schools on a voluntary basis. The new industrialists, who created the slums in which their "hands" lived, opposed the philanthropists who wanted to better the situation of the workers and give them some education. The factory-owners hypocritically proclaimed that State interference would paralyse and destroy the incentive to self-help. The State did make a tentative start by the Factory Act of 1802, which provided for a minimal education for some children. Robert Owen was one of those who fought for popular education, putting the onus on the government to provide this; while Herbert Spencer, for instance, bitterly opposed any central control by the State.

4.1.8 In the last quarter of the century there appeared the first of a succession of Education Acts, starting with the Foster Act of 1870, which was important as an organisational step forward - filling in the gaps of elementary school provision throughout the country. This Act corresponded to the industrialists' need for workers with basic literacy and numeracy and in 1902 the Balfour Act which created local education authorities (concentrating on secondary schools) met the increasing need for the education of the sort of people who were necessary at that particular stage of industrialisation - clerical workers, teachers, and bank workers. Thus the English educational system has moved from universal compulsory elementary education, to secondary education for a few, through to secondary education for all - as stipulated in the 1944 Education Act which committed the government to such a policy. It stated:

"it shall be the duty of the local education authority for every area, so far as their powers extend, to contribute towards the spiritual, moral, mental, and physical development of the community by securing that efficient education throughout those stages (primary, secondary and further education) shall be available to meet the needs of the population of their area." (Section 7).

It also tried to reach a compromise arrangement concerning voluntary schools, resulting from consultations with different religious bodies. This showed the recognition by the State of the contribution of such schools to national education. In short, the provision for continuing church education in England made it possible for schools to be set up. Rosmini had made a small contribution to this in the 19th century, by setting up schools at Ratcliffe (where his priests educated the sons of the gentry) and at Loughborough (where the sisters became involved in meeting the need to educate poor girls).

4.1.9 The English system has always leaned to the side of laissez-faire and given much administrative power to local education authorities. It has also left examinations in the hands of a number of independent Boards, while exerting no direct State control over syllabuses. This is a sharp contrast with what took place between the State and education in France and Germany, as was pointed out earlier, and in Russia and Japan, as will be seen later, where the governments of these countries, while not invoking religious convictions, nevertheless express a concern for moral values to be transmitted through the educational system.

4.1.10 The curriculum of English secondary education up until the 1970's was strongly influenced by two very different curriculum traditions: the 19th century public school tradition, and the curriculum ideas inherited from the elementary schools. These two traditions, with totally different aims, came together in 1944; since then they have been combined in different proportions, at first as the tripartite system and later in comprehensive schools. Public schools were still outside the State system.

4. 1.11 It only remains to look very briefly at what has happened in education since the 1944 Act. A constant feature of the English educational scene has been the presence of a number of private, independent schools, including the so-called public schools, alongside the State system with its several categories of schools. The former grammar schools and direct grant schools have mostly become respectively either comprehensive or independent. The independent schools have to a great extent maintained high academic standards - largely because they are subject to market forces: if they are not good they cannot expect parents to pay the high fees which are economically necessary for the schools' financial survival. It needs to be said also that parents choose such schools not only on academic criteria but because of the largely religious ethos which is found in them. Meanwhile their opponents accuse them of being based on privilege and having a socially divisive effect.

Curriculum development and curriculum inquiry have become inextricably linked with school reform through the events of the past twenty years. This was not always the case; many of the early attempts at curriculum change were conceived independently of the social structure and purposes of the school. In the early 1980's schools were being questioned about their failure to equip their pupils with sufficient skills to adapt to current uncertainties attached to adult life. David Hargreaves in The Challenge of the Comprehensive School (1982), clearly outlines this shift in calling for a curriculum where pupils work together co-operatively in order to maximize the use of their individual talents. Both The School Curriculum (DES 1981) and The Practical Curriculum (Schools Council 1981) advocated a much greater compulsory element in the secondary curriculum than there was at the time. In the latter it is stated: "There is an overwhelming case for providing all pupils between eleven and sixteen with curricula of a broadly similar character". (Schools Council 1981).

In addition The School Curriculum, (given greater force with the issue of the DES Circular No. 6/81) constituted a legal obligation - the Secretary of State, Sir Keith Joseph, clearly expressed his wish to see all schools set out their curricular aims in writing and later to measure their success. The moves towards a common curriculum described by Peter Cornall (in Galton and Moon 1983), who suggested that "we must consider the case for the largest possible common core" based upon the reasoning of "the central arguments in favour of having a comprehensive system of schools", represented a development attracting support across the political spectrum. Bob Moon in Changing Schools (1983) commented that this might be the beginning of a genuinely common school of the sort envisaged thirty years ago by Brian Simon in one of the first published advocacies for the comprehensive school. (The Common Secondary School. (1955)). All the points made above are part of the background to the present debate.

Without entering into the controversy, it can be said that in relation to the schools in the State sector there has for some considerable time been a growing public unease about such things as academic standards, discipline and moral education. To sum up - James Callaghan initiated the "Great Debate" in 1977, which was set up on the premise that British education was failing. And this in turn was instrumental in drawing general attention to the need to improve education in the country; Sir Keith Joseph (as he then was) followed this up; and at the time of writing Mr Kenneth Baker, with his Education Bill, has taken steps to remedy the situation. (The draft of his proposals was published as Bill No.53 of the 1987-8 session of Parliament, 20 November 1987). Some of the main areas of concern have been and are: the relevance of what is taught in school to modern life in a scientific and technological age; standards in subjects such as mathematics and English; the general under-achievement of children in this country as compared with those in for example, Germany and Japan. All of these concerns are in addition to the more general anxieties mentioned earlier under "discipline" and "moral standards".

4.3.1 The proposals put forward by Kenneth Baker have met with a good deal of criticism, as was inevitable, given that education is always a topic which arouses strong and contradictory views. But the more substantial of these criticisms need to be looked at. And this thesis is concerned to see where the principles expounded by Rosmini have a bearing on the current debate, which covers a whole range of educational matters. In summary form the general objections to the proposals are:

(2) The lack of any practical steps to implement even the vague aim contained in the opening Clause - "(to promote) the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils..."

(3) The lack of any definition of just what is "a balanced and broadly based curriculum" (Clause 1).

These three are the most fundamental objections. But equally fundamental from the point of view of the churches is the fact that, as comments from the Press and radio suggest, a large number of parents are concerned about the following:

(4) The original marginal position given to religious education (R.E.), and the apparent absence of concern in the Bill as a whole with the formation of moral and spiritual values.

(5) The provisions for schools to opt out of local control and become grant-maintained. The machinery proposed for this was seen by the bishops, both Anglican and Catholic, as a threat to maintaining the religious ethos of the schools.

(6) The changes in the machinery over admissions, which could require a voluntary (i.e. Church) school to fill up its numbers by accepting pupils with no commitment to the existing ethos - thereby increasing the proportion of "uncommitted" pupils, to the detriment of the religious education of the pupils for whom the school is intended.

(7) Some have seen the proposed legislation as restrictive of innovations in method and flexibility of approach to a subject.

(8) Many "interested parties" have pleaded for a proper provision for their particular subjects - for example classics, history and P.E.

(9) Some maintain that the curriculum as a whole puts teachers in a straitjacket; while others are against the whole principle of setting attainment targets monitored by testing at various intervals.

It is true that Kenneth Baker has indicated that he is willing to accept amendments that will remedy some of these objections - he has, for instance, raised the status of R.E. But if, as many contend, this is a bad Bill, it will not be put right by piecemeal changes.

4.3.2 Kenneth Baker pointed to specific shortcomings within the educational system at the North of England Education Conference, 1988. He claimed that the Education Bill had been misunderstood and misrepresented. He criticised "the second-rate schools" and the "clear lack of learning objectives"; he said that there were too many schools in which teachers fail their pupils. This idea is supported by the annual Report of School Inspectors (HMI, 1987) and Mary Warnock pointed out that nothing much has been said about "how a new kind of teacher is to be found who will man the schools and provide the education that is desired." (Warnock, 1988).

4.3.3 Clearly there has been a whole range of objections aired concerning the Baker proposals. Basil Hume represented a consensus of opinion in a letter to The Times (13 January, 1988) in which he pinpoints certain areas of major concern. First he says, the Bill offers an educational system and curriculum "at the heart of which there is spiritual emptiness". And the second cause for concern is the setting up of grant-maintained schools; this "opting-out" process he sees as a serious threat to the provision of Catholic voluntary education (he is convinced that voluntary schools have made and continue to make a "noteworthy contribution to the whole educational endeavour").

4.3.4 The criticisms that have been detailed on pages 90-91. are supported by several authorities on modern British education: for example, David Konstant (Chairman of Bishops' Conference) identifies "A lack of coherent philosophy of education underpinning them" (the proposals), (Briefing, 1987).

Sheila Brown (former Senior Chief Inspector) in a Presidential Address to the North of England Conference, Nottingham, said:

Basil Hume expresses concern over the new Education Bill's attitude to religion and its possible destabilising effect on church schools. Concerning Clause 2(a).

	" In the opening section of the Bill is the requirement for the curriculum to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental... development of pupils. Such words appear as a result of preliminary consultation and are welcome as far as they go ...they are given no substance within the Bill itself. They constitute a mere palliative. If the legislator offers no means of achieving a stated aim, it remains an empty hope". (Hume, in Briefing, 1988).
	"The Bishop of London, Dr Graham Leonard, has Government support for an amendment to be tabled during the Report stage of the Education Reform Bill calling for Christianity to be a major part of religious education in schools" (Times Educational Supplement, 6 May, 1988).
	"The proposed Curriculum lacks clear definitions of aims and purpose... An educational philosophy must go beyond... general principles.... such a philosophy depends in the end on a coherent philosophy of life. As it is, the only discernible approach is mechanistic pragmatism... but without a shared understanding of aims, and a shared educational vision the approach will lack that coherence and harmony that makes for purposeful confidence among all those concerned." (Konstant in Briefing, 1987).
	"...and most significantly, there is a lack of any reference to the role of the curriculum in developing attitudes, relationships, and moral and spiritual values." (Konstant in Briefing, 1987).
	"There is no moral dimension to the programme although moral education is just as crucial as - indeed more so than - meeting the challenges of employment." (Haviland, 1988).

Jack Straw (Shadow Education Secretary) says that no one can be certain whether the opting-out will take off.

Basil Hume addressed the major anxiety among the bishops with regard to the Bill's proposals.

"Opting-out is more than a matter of funding and administration. There are principles involved, and these concern the role of the trustee. The churches pioneered public education in this country and in the past hundred years or so have partnered the State in the provision and development of the nation's schools. Catholic bishops are therefore concerned that the present Education Reform Bill, now before the House of Lords, should be adequate to its important task." (Hume, 1988).

"Perhaps the most worrying of all, Clause 9 of the Bill apparently forbids all innovation without the express approval of the Secretary of State and that by a cumbersome procedure." (Tomlinson, (1988) (Professor of Education, University of Warwick) Curriculum and Market: are they compatible? in Haviland, 1988).

"No case for a morally neutral teacher... (The teacher)..must be seen by the pupils (of whatever age) to be fair, honest and kind ... cannot be non-judgmental." (Warnock, 1988).

"...and the most disastrous fact about the education of children at present is its wastefulness... every year hundreds of children leave school... with no permanent gain... teachers have been wasting time... we..money. The gap between successful and unsuccessful school education must be bridged... The training of teachers must address itself specifically to this problem: How to provide a body of people committed to teaching in such a way that all children profit from their time at school." (Warnock, 1988).

Senior Tories say that they see religious education and compulsory school worship as important. Lady Cox (an influential voice in Conservative education circles) has alleged in the Lords that parents who want and request Christian worship and Christian-based religious education for their children are being denied them. She complains of "dilution of Christian teaching in a multifaith mish-mash" and of its secularisation by concentration on social and political issues. (Cox, 1988).

Two articles in the Times Educational Supplement (29 April, 1988) throw light on what is being done in education in Russia, (by Brian Wilcox, Chief Educational Advisor in Sheffield) and in Japan, (by Richard Lynn, Professor of Psychology at the University of Ulster). It is instructive to see where and how the approaches to these two very different countries contrast with Kenneth Baker's proposals.

In somewhat more detail: the intention of Russian education is to produce homo sovieticus, a citizen entirely conformed to the Marxist-Leninist view of society, and therefore a suitable member of a socialist State. So everything is geared to this end. And apart from the usual subjects, provision is also made for teaching not only information technology and computer education but also "Ethics and Psychology of Family Life".

4.4.1 In the course of this article, Brian Wilcox maintains that, contrary to what obtains in Russia, there is in Britain "no comparable consensus about the nature and purpose of education." It can be argued therefore that the fundamental weakness in Mr Baker's curriculum is "the lack of an explicit, developed and broadly-agreed rationale". And his conclusion is:

"Despite the past twelve years of intense educational debate, successive governments have signally failed to provide a vision of education which commands wide appeal. It has been assumed that an educational consensus exists over such terms as breadth, balance and relevance, and a set of educational aims which have been restated with little modification, and even less analysis, in Government publications from 1977 to the present time. It has also been assumed that such notions are unproblematic - that their meanings are transparently the same from person to person. Anyone who has engaged in serious curriculum discussion will know that this is very far from being the case. Behind the slogans of contemporary curriculum debate there lurk manifold and conflicting value issues which reflect in turn the larger intellectual dilemmas of Western society. The educational consensus which the Government proclaims is essentially an illusory one. Despite the lack of real agreement on the purposes of education, the Government is intent on implementing a national curriculum." (Wilcox, 1988).

It can be argued therefore that the fundamental weakness in Mr. Baker's curriculum is "the lack of an explicit, developed and broadly agreed rationale."

(1)

The Japanese Minister of Education, advised by a Curriculum Council, prepares handbooks setting out in detail what has to be taught in each subject to each age group. The Ministry also issues a list of approved textbooks, from which teachers can choose those they wish to use.

(2)

The differences between the Japanese curriculum and that proposed by Baker are for the most part minor - but with two important exceptions: first, a considerable amount of time is devoted in Japan (at both primary and secondary stages) to social studies, whereas in Baker there is no provision for this area; and, second, a small percentage of teaching time is given in Japan to moral education (again at both stages). Here too there is contrast with the complete lack of provision in Baker. The article gives some details of both the theoretical and the practical approach which the Japanese adopt over the teaching of morality and a sense of personal responsibility. Judging by the relatively low crime rate in Japan these efforts appear to meet with some success. At the very least they recognise a problem and try to deal with it.

And on this subject, it is worth noticing that the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachov, speaking recently of the efforts that are being made under his leadership to develop democracy within his country, has felt the need to state, "Problems also exist in the spiritual sphere, in the sphere of moral philosophy and morality." (The Time , 1 October 1987).

4.4.3 These articles underline the concern within the two countries for clear aims in social ethics and for moral values to be communicated through the educational system.

If we now turn to Rosmini, we shall find that the main areas over which his views connect with the current debate are:

As we have seen earlier in this chapter, both Germany and France (by Rosmini's day) had taken up education as a matter of national importance, by which political ends could be gained (even though individual thinkers on education had proposed more or less person-centred educational ideals). For Rosmini, however, the Christian education of the person remained paramount. England had (by Rosmini's day) made little progress towards any State concern with education, and left things to the many and varied schools. It was only after 1870 that the State in England became progressively involved in education - although with no overtly political aim, nor was the system centralised as it was in France and Germany.

4.6.1 The question of rights (of State, of parents and the right to teach) and responsibility in education assumed more and more importance during Rosmini's lifetime because of the increase of active State participation in educational matters. Today the situation in Britain is similar: there are questions about State control and centralisation; about governing bodies; about the role of Her Majesty's Inspectors; and about the quality and training of teachers. Each of these areas calls for much discussion; and new powers and rights will probably emerge as a result of such discussion. Schools are to be subject to the national core curriculum, which in turn will determine certain standards for primary and secondary school learning because it will set attainment aims to show exactly what pupils should have learned in basic subjects at certain stages. At the same time it will point out cases where this has not been accomplished. Schools themselves are to be given more responsibility for their own management - new powers will be given to the new governing bodies with an increase of parent representation. Schools are to be encouraged to provide parents with what they want by enabling them to recruit as many pupils as they wish.

4.6.2 Rosmini was against the State having a monopoly of education, because this would injure the rights both of parents (whose freedom of choice would be restricted) and of all those people who possessed the necessary qualifications to teach but were not part of the State machinery - those who wished to run private schools and who should be free to do so, He examined the question of the rights which belong to the State over education and saw it as a difficult and controversial one to which various answers were given according to the view held of the nature of the State. Some see it as possessing a sort of sovereignty; others as a guardianship; others again, as a social administration governing society. He found the first two views unacceptable because they are too restrictive of the rights of individuals. In his view a right-minded government must respect the rights of its subjects, and see these not as granted by the State but as inherent by nature. The State must, then, administer education in this spirit. It has a duty to see that its subjects receive an appropriate education, and should set up public schools (not in the English sense of the term) to meet the needs of its people but without limiting the freedom of private education. (Rosmini, 1854).

It was pointed out earlier that the human person is the subject of education - an idea underpinning all that Rosmini believed - but one that is barely mentioned in the draft of the Baker Bill. But the aim of the educator has been very varied, as was pointed out in Chapter 1. Milton wrote, in his essay Of Education. that the educator's aim was "to fit a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offices both private and public of peace and war." (Of Education, 1644). Next we come to what used to be called a "liberal" education - one definition of which was "an education in which the individual is cultivated not as an instrument towards some ulterior end but as an end unto himself alone; in other words an education in which his absolute perfection as man and not merely his dexterity as a professional man is the scope immediately in view." (Hamilton, 1836). There has often been a much more restricted aim: for instance to provide the bare minimum (the three R's) to enable the individual to read and write; or to produce good soldiers for the State; or to produce citizens who will make the maximum contribution to their country; or to ensure that there is an adequate output of technological experts, so as to enable a country to compete with its trade rivals. As William Boyd (1950) states, "The educational system of a country is always to some extent a microcosm of the larger social system, and conflicting views are quickly reproduced in it." It is broadly true to say that in the Western world, apart from the more enlightened Greek thinkers, only Christianity (and cultures based on a Christian inheritance) will see the human person as the subject of education, and respect him as a person - and (in Christianity) as a child of God.

4.7.1 Unity, morality and religion all belong to the system of aims identified by Rosmini; therefore the following section of the thesis will discuss these topics as they seem to be manifested in British education in 1988 and then relate them to the conclusions as Rosmini saw them.

Prince Charles in a recent address gave voice to a disquiet over education which many thinking people share. The importance of his intervention lies not in the fact that he said these things but that he gave expression to an ideal and an important tradition which is nowadays often lost sight of. He pointed out that while it was right to seek the kind of technical education relevant to the twentieth century, an important truth seems to have been forgotten - viz. that "a good man is a nobler work than a good technologist". He also emphasised the importance of not letting children be absorbed entirely in a world dominated by technology, but rather of teaching them that to lead a worthwhile life in this world requires standards to live by. The Prince touched on areas which must concern those who are involved in education today, especially when he stressed the importance of educating the whole person; he said that modern education had lost sight of the Greek philosophers' ideal: "...to produce a balance between the several subjects that catered for a boy's moral, intellectual, emotional and physical needs." (Valley, 1986). The proof of this is the widespread reaction to the first draft of the Kenneth Baker Bill - which gave a new emphasis to technology, but made only a fleeting reference to moral values. The claims of subjects as diverse as the classics and P.E. have since been put forward vigorously, because a good education aims at precisely the sort of balance about which Prince Charles spoke. But such an approach is now more difficult because of the way our present system has been fragmented - an idea to be considered later in this chapter.

4.8.1 One of the reasons for the fragmentation mentioned earlier is the lack of a unified aim. The Education Reform Bill proposals (published 20 November 1987) open with the recommendation that schools teach:

4.8.2 It is questionable whether Kenneth Baker, in setting the curriculum in such a context has in fact met the strong criticism voiced against him. At a Press conference he stated that the government's aim was to provide a better education, relevant to the twentieth century and beyond, for all children irrespective of ability, of where they live and of the type of school they attend. He said the Bill will: "channel the pressure which has built up in the country to raise the quality of education in our schools, colleges, polytechnics and universities." (The Times, 21 November, 1987). But to speak of "a better education" without ever defining what is meant by education or defining its aim is surely something less than satisfactory.