The teaching of social studies in technical colleges: with particular reference to the North East

Abstract

It is shown that the movement to introduce a classroom liberal education component into technical courses up to Ordinary National Certificate arose from the rethinking of the role of education under the influence of psychology and mass democracy after the First World War. The application and institutionalisation of the resulting concepts is traced, through the Spens Report, the 1944 Education Act and subsequent pamphlets, the Crowther Report, and Government White Papers and Pamphlets, together with related City and Guilds and individual developments. The present rationale of the subject, and the courses based on it, are shown to have as objects the enlargement of socio-cultural awareness and the inculcation of desired social attitudes rather that the acquisition of specialist knowledge. In the chosen sample area, North-East England (excluding the North Riding of Yorkshire), the influence of national directives on social studies teaching is shown in some Authorities to have resulted in a coherent liberal education policy, but otherwise to have led only to a series of revisions of technical courses, dependent upon L.E.A. size and wealth, local cultural and educational tradition, and geographical position. Effective teaching at college level is found to depend upon both Individual staff contributions and Local Authority policy, and especially therefore upon appointments and departmental status policy. The effectiveness of this teaching is evaluated by means of tests of cultural span and social attitude, completed by a group of 112 control and 38% experimental students from five colleges, covering all levels of student and methods of teaching. Results show that social studies teaching is not in itself a significant factor in effective scoring, but enhances other significant factors, by increasing the scores of the better students, in particular, Technicians and O.N.C. students. Social studies teaching itself varies significantly in effectiveness with college, method, and student interest.