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By Carlin Lockee
School of Journalism
Giving children their
childhood is the aim of the
Evaline Lowe Primary School
in London. Headmistress
Elizabeth Aggett defines the
philosophy of her school as "a
purpose-built school designed
to fit the needs of the
children."
Ms. Aggett arrived in
Lincoln on July 21 and has
since attended a conference
concerning "emerging
alternatives in education"
sponsored by the -Nebraska
Council of School
Administrators and the'
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Teachers College. She will
participate in seminars' and
workshops and speak on trends
in British primary education
until Aug. 14.
The Evaline Lowe Primary
School, located in the heart of
London, works with children
from deprived families.
Therefore, the school program
is geared to the needs of the
children coming from the
area's high-rise "flats."
It is a state-supported,
urban, open-plan school which
opened in 1966. Ms. Aggett
described the school as being
"purpose-built" for the
open-plan method of primary
education.
Completely open
Instead of the traditional
corridors with closed
classrooms on either side, the
purpose-built school is a
completely open area with.
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The SUMMER MEBRASKAN is published nine times
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different levels. No one can
shut himself off in a room.
Sometimes, however, the
purpose-built building tends tp
overtake education instead of
education- overtaking the
building, Ms. Aggett said.
The school uses open
classrooms and team teaching
to allow the student td
progress along different
schemes of instruction. There
are no shut-off classrooms, but
certain withdrawal areas for
the teachers and the students,
and home bases similar to a
classroom, are provided.
However, all the teaching is
done in open areas with a team
of two or more teachers.
There are 350 to 400
children from ages 3 to 11. The
faculty includes 13 teachers
who get help from parents,
nursery assistants, student
teachers and other volunteers.
At first there was parental
disapproval to the school, Ms..
Aggett said. Since it was
described a's an experimental
school, the. parents didn't want
their children to be used as the
experiment.
Flexibility
'However, since the parents
can help with the school
programs and see the type of
learning occurring, the
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disapproval has faded, she said.
Also, the results obtained
from this type of teaching
indicate that the students leave
the school with a high standard
of academic work and
individual learning, Ms. Aggett
added.
The structure for the school
is flexible and tends to pay
ducat loo
more attention to how a
particular subject is
approached. Ms. Aggett said,
for instance, if a child didn't fit
into one reading scheme, the
scheme would be changed to
fit the child. Since full records
on each child constantly are
kept up to date, there is no
difficulty in assessing how far
the child has progressed under
one scheme.
"There isn't one British
educator I can think of today
that wouldn't acknowledge the .
debt we owe to nursery school
methods of education," Ms.
Agget said.
Nursery schools have no set
format for instruction, but
focus on the children's needs
and Interests. The individual
child, his creativity and
capabilities, is the main
consideration, she said.
Influence spreading
More than 60 per cent of
British primary schools are
niversify
for director of minority affairs
Positions wanted: director
of minority affairs.
With seven applicants so far,
the search committee for a new
director of minority affairs is
only in a "preliminary stage of
looking at those ' who are
acceptable and unacceptable
with the applications we have,"
said David Williams, search
committee chairman and
elementary education and
ethnic studies chairman.
Finding a new director may
be difficult according to
Williams because "many people
have already accepted fall
contracts" and "some
applicants are over-qualified."
Advertisements in both the
Lincoln and Omaha papers and
The Chronicle of Education
and through personal or direct
mail contact have been the
major means the committee
has employed to ' find a
replacement, according to
Williams.
The position has been open
since June 30 when Leroy
Ramsey resigned to become
chief of the Bureau of
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based on nursery school
programs, and that influence is
spreading into secondary
schools as well, Ms. Aggett
said.
T-h i s e I i m i n a tes the
tendency to force 5 to
18-year-olds to conform to a
different method of education,
she said, and "Helps to better
epare students for college,
wi.jre again the influence of
nursery school, methods is
felt."
Therefore, with open
education, "in prfmary schools
the whole child matters, in
secondary schools, the whole
adolescent matters, and in
college, the whole adult
matters," she said.
Ms. Aggett said that her
rough impression of Nebraska
primary schools is that of a
wealth of audio-visual aid
material and a clinical
approach to education.
However, she added that she
hasn't seen any schools in the
area with children, because of
summer vacation, and "nothing
is more soul-destroying than
seeing a school without
children."
But, she said, a good
example of a sort of open
education in Nebraska is the
country schools. In these
committee
Educational Integration for the
New York State Education
Department. "The committee
projects the position will be
filled by Sept I," Williams said.
"But if we don't get the proper
person then we are willing to
extend the deadline."
weekly
Tuesday, August 7
"Taming of the Shrew", 8
p.m., Howell.
Wednesday, August 8
"Company", 8 p.m., Howell.
Thursday, August 9
"Taming of the Shrew", 8
p.m., Howell.
Friday, August 10
Final date for oral
examinations for advanced
degree.
"Company", 8 p.m., Howell.
Saturday, August 11
'What the Butler Saw", 8 p.m.,
Howell.
Sunday, August 12
"Taming of the Shrew", 8
p.m., Howell.
For Sale: One bedroom
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iversified
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432-JM.r 1
schools there is an open
classroom, even though it is
only one classroom. There is
also vertical grouping of the
students, grouping children of
different ages together.
The biggest problem with
explaining the British
open-plan schools to
Americans is the terminology,
Ms. Aggett said. Whereas open
education here tends to mean
education with freedom, it
actually means freedom with
license, she added. Also, what
Americans might call "learning
disabilities" would probably be
referred to as "part of growing
up" to a teacher in an
open-plan school.
"A frightening aspect of
teaching in America as well as
Great Britain is that teachers
know so much of how children
learn; but the teachers
themselves are slow to
change," Ms. Aggett said. '
There is a tendency to
advocate teacher-oriented
package deals for the students.
Ms. Aggett referred to it as the
"chalk and talk" method.
Another, problem in
education is that teachers are
giving up hope about ' the
effectiveness of new teaching
programs. Ms. Aggett said that
no program imposed on a mass
will work in one year. The
administration must not give
teachers only support, but also
time, she said, and added that
"We at the Evaline Lowe
School are coming into our
own now, but it's taken six to
seven years."
searching
The job is a 12-month
appointment with a salary of
up to $20,000 depending on
level of experience. The major
job responsibility is to plan,
develop and coordinate
minority affairs, services and
programs at UN L.
calendar
Monday, August 13 .
No events scheduled.
Tuesday, August 14
"Company", 8 p.m., Howell.
' Wednesday, August 15
Final date for candidates for
advanced degrees to deposit
theses and file final report
sheets.
"Taming of the Shrew", 8
p.m., Howell.
Thursday, August 16
"Company", 8 p.m., Howell.
Friday, August 17
Final examinations and end of
session.
"What the Butler Saw", 8 p.m.,
Howell.
G.E. Carry Cool portable
Air Conditioners $99.00.
Installations and terms
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.1918' O", 432 6521.
Wanttd babysitter or
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one day class this fall.
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summer nebraskan
tuesday, august 7, 1973
s