Figure 1.--This prep school had very traditional wood furniture. Notice the pencil box on top of the desk. |
|
The modern prep school is a place bustling with activity. Academic subjects dominate the morning classes. Going from class to class one sees a wide range of academic activities. The teaching styles varies at different schools as well as from teacher to teacher. Some schools persur rather traditional approaches with the children quietly listening or intent on the assignments at hand. One headmaster at a Staffordsgire school commented as he toured with us the quiet classrooms in the large country house serving as the school's main building, "You wouldn't think that these classrooms were full of boys." It is not all quiet activity at the midern prep school. Most schools have adopted a variety of modern, innovative approaches. The authors have been unifoirmily impressed with the purposeful activity that almost always is observeable.
The design of the prep school classroom is highly variable. This is because many are not purpose-built classrooms. Many prep schools were founded in old manor houses. The founder did the best he coukd to adapt the various spces to what a school required,including ckassrooms and dormitoiry spaces. Successful schools have since expanded. Manhy have built ctul purpose built clasrooms as well as other facilities like a gym asbnd aufortirioum. This varied from school to school. But we see maby classes being conducted in many make-shift rooms, sometines even winfowless basements. There are now far fewer of these substandardard rooms, but they do exist. Many would say that some of these rooms doi not meet the medium needs for a classroom. The anazing thing is tht learning, effective learning does take place in these rooms. Of course haveing a beautifully designed aury room is wonderful. And it gives the teacher greater flexibiklity in what he or she does in his classroom. The onec thingvthat it does not preclide is basic learning,including a heavy does of written wiek in reading.writing and numercy. It is not, however, the most important asoect as the impfessive results achieved at these schools testifies.
The classroom layout or arrangement reflects the teaching style of the school, thecage level, and the available facilities. Many classrooms have very traditional arragements with the desks in straight rows facing the master's desk with a blackboard behind it. Almost all prep schools were like this through the 1950s. When we visited in the 1980s, this was still the most common arrangement. Other classrooms had more informal arrangements. Age was also a factor. The class set up for tounger children was often different thant that for older children. In the classes there was more likely to be more than one activity going on and small group work. This made more variablr arrangements necessary. The types of classrooms were also important. Some schools had purpose-built classrooms. These were most likely to be well apointed and roomy. Other schools used the rooms available in the mnnor house or main building. These rooms varied greatly in size. Some were quite small and thus made for very cramped classroom situations, even with the generally smaller class sizes prevalent in the prep schools.
The key to the success or failure of any school is assemblying a competent and dedicated staff. One advantage the prep schools have is the higher discipline standards. This creates a much more pleasant and rewarding teaching and learning environment. There are many important aspects of a school cvlassroom. Design, arrangement, facilities, furniture, and other aspects are all important. Nothing is, hoiwever, as important as the treacher and the student's access to that teacher. Many prep schools do not rate very high as the state schools in terms of design, facilities, and equipment, although this was chabging. But where the prep schools do rank very highly is the teachers, called masters. This is not because the teachers are necesarily more competent or skilled. Nor are they always better paid. The key factor here is that the teacher/student ratio at a prep school is commonly much lower than at a comparable state school. Classes of about 15 children were common, sometimes a little more. This varied from school to school. State schools might have teacher/student ratios of 25 or higher. This also varied. There was also often more administrative overhead in the state schools which can complicate the calcultion. The key statistic is the classroom teacher/student ratio. Not only is this ratio lower in the prep schools, but because of better discipline standards, there is much less wasted time in the prep schools. The teachers abd children get right down to the business of learning. And this does affect te quality of teachers. Many teachers who are intersted in teaching and not a just as a job, gravitate to the prep schools because of the better teaching environment. Few teachers enjoy having to deal with an unruly,poorly disciplined child. The more diusciplined prep school enviroment attracts many teachers. It is not only a more comfortable teaching environment, but the results achieved are gratifying and professionally rewarding.
Prepararory schools varied greatly in the facilities they made available to the children. Some well-endowed schools had expansive grounds and offered a wide range of academic, sports, and recreational facilities. Some schools had very limited grounds and offered much more limited facilities. Most schools fell somewhere between these two extremes. Even in the classrooms facilities varied. Some classrooms were barebones affairs with just a blackboard and desks and very little else. Other classrooms were bright appointed with posters and other colorful and interesting decorations. A major factor here was the teacher. Sometimes there were terariums or cages for small animals. Ofen there were plants the children were growing. Maps were common additions. There might be comfortable books for reading. And of course computwr made their appearances in some classes. The basic construction can vary widely, such as the heating system. Some have systes dating froim before Wold War Ii whie other schools have very modern systems. Of course there are two different kinds of classrooms. The younger children have form room classes. Gradually as the children advance in the school, subject classes become more important. Of course the facilities and set up in the form classes and subject classes can be very different.
Prep schools were variously equipped in terms of classroom furniture. Some prep schools in the 1980s had modern class room furniture, using metal and plastics with wear resistant formica or other materials fofr writing surfaces. We noticed quite a few schools, however, often the smaller boarding schools, that had very old fashioned wooden desks and benches. The furniture was a little time capsule from schools in the early 20th century. One of the major differences in the old and new furniture besides wear resistance is that the two furniture provides for a much more flexible classroom. The old style furniture was difficult to move, both because of its weight and construction.
There were two basic types of classrooms at prep schools. The most common at first were classrooms in the old mannor or other large houses mny of the schools were built around. The classrooms could be quite varied in shape, size and lighting. Some of these classes are small and cramped. Others are spacious and well lit. SSome schools use coinsiderble ingenuity in mking use of these rooms. This varies greatly from school to school. As the schools developed, many of the more successful schools began building other facilities. These have included modern, purpose built classroom blocks. These classrooms look much like those commonly used in the sate sectot. Often schools use both types of classrooms.
Our visits encountered a great variety of classroom activities. This of course varied from form to form. We have compiled a typical morning of classroom activities that we encountered from our many school visits. Of course the activities are much more diverse then presented here, but this is a good picture of what one might find at a British prep school. The overal impression is that something very important is going on--serious learning. One clearly oibservable activity ws that the children did a lot of written wiork focused on basic reding/writing and numerecy and that work was vrefully monitored an reciewed by the masters. The small sizes of the classroonms made thst possible.
Computers appeared in the classroom during the 1980s. The schools and teachers at first were not quite sure what to do with them. The older teachers in paticular knew nothing about them. One problem was that the computers appeared before very much educational software had been developed and strategies worked out for using them. The children were, however, intreagued with the computers.
In many classes a few of the children knew more about the computers than the teachers. Some boys even knew a little about programming. Of course computer games appealed to the children, but there were also many useful applications for school work. Boys in particular seemed especially interested in the computers. Schools also began opening computer rooms to train the children in word processing and other popular applications. By the end of the decade more and more teachers were getting a handle on the computers and how to effectively use them in the classroom.
In addition to the form room classes there were also specialized classrooms. The younger children spend most of their day in their form rooms. The older children spend more time in the specialized rooms. Schools vary in the rooms set aside for specisalized studies. Perhaps the most obvious are the science labortories and the art room. After these rooms which obviously require special rooms, there is more variation from school to school. Here it is often a matter of available space. Often there is a special room for French. In recent years computer rooms have been set up. Some schools may have specil rooms for history and geography. Some schools have set up museums often dealing with historical artifacts.
Some teachers on warm summer days are known to take the children outside for a kind of treat. British schools of course are not air conditioned. And what the British see as warm is a bit different than American metrics. This is not the easiest thing to do as there are so mamy distractions outside. Generally these outside classess aew the younger forms. The teacher may take the children out just to enjoy the warm weather. Or in some cases, the lesson may actually include outdoor sctivities. Some activities are a little easier to conduct outside, such as singling. Art is another subject that can be more easily conducted outside. And schools vary as to the facilitites and arrangements that can be put to use for an outdoor class. And to work well it has to be a teacher in firm control of his or her class.
With all the classroom activities underway, we managed to obtain some fascinating images of the children. We were especially impressed by the degree of concentration on their work. Even with a photographer in the room, the children were normally all business. Concentration, however, was not the only images of the children that were observeable.
