Foreword
by Lady Plowden，
Chairman of the Central Advisory Council for Education
(England) whose report Children and their Primary Schools
was published in January I967 and is known as the Plowden
This is a book to be welcomed. It describes for the general
reader the primary schools of England today. It tells how the
schools and their curriculum developed， how they are
organised， and how and what the children in them are
learning.
There has been a great wind of change in the primary
schools since most of the adults of today were primary school
children and many :of the old beliefs have been blown away.
New and exciting th~ngs are happening; this is the only stage
in the whole of edudation when the child is educated as a
whole person， and his many interests can be encouraged.
Formal examinations are far away， there is no specialisation
in subjects and the child can range freely over the wide field
of knowledge within his comprehension. There is a greater
emphasis on the child learning， rather than on the child
being taught. One is an active process while the other may
well be passive. We all know that you can take a horse to the
water but you cannot make him drink. It has been thought in
the past that you could send a child to school and make him
learn. The new methods in the primary schools have shown
how much more the child learns and how high can be his
achievement if instead of being made to learn， the emphasis
is on making him want to learn. This is one of the most
important skills of the teacher.
There is however an even stronger influence than the school
in the education of the child， and this is his home and all that
goes on there. If these two powerful influences are kept apart
or， which is worse， pull in different directions， the educational
development of tile child is hampered. His life should not be
in separate compartments， with lack of understanding
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