this pamphlet, including as it did John Vaizey and Tyrrell Burgess, might be expected to have produced a worthwhile effort. This expectation is_correct. The pamphlet deals with problems of teacher supply and suggests that auxiliary staff must be brought in to help the teacher and that the numbe of places for teachers in training pro posed in the Robbins Report should be brought forward at least four years. The authors also devote considerable space to arguing the case for nonstreaming from 8 to 13 years. “We firmly believe that, from the point of view of our society as a whole, streaming is a deplorable practice and recommend short-term measures to include positive encouragement to Junior School heads to unstream their schools. Considering that many Junior School heads are products of the selection 11 plus-grammar school syndrome, we must ensure that the reorganisation is done as a positive advance in educational development, with faith and conviction, and also with courage. Like all improvements in the Junior School it might be much easier to carry out with classes of 30, but in the foreseeable future this is impossible. It can, and has, been made to work with classes of 40, and in schools with a normal turnover of staff, and the usual proportion of newly qualified teachers. As has been said before, heads who have unstreamed their schools have indulged in a complete educational strip-tease to demonstrate their beliefs and their methods. It is up to the Secretary of State to influence Her Majesty’s Inspectors, to Education Officers to influence their committees, and to training college principals to see that their lecturers and students not only observe but practice these techniques.” All in all, “New Patterns for Primary Schools” may be said to come out on the side of the angels and could prove itself very useful in the struggle for a decent education system. *New Patterns for Primary Schools, a Fabian publication, from the Fabian Society, 11 Dartmouth Street, S.W.1, costing 2/6.
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