video record
Media not available in the Digital Archive
Description
This programme comprises a study of the psychological and emotional problems among primary school children on being transferred from primary to secondary school.
Metadata describing this Open University video programme
Module code and title: E341, Methods of educational enquiry: an empirical approach
Item code: E341; 01
First transmission date: 27-01-1973
Published: 1973
Rights Statement:
Restrictions on use:
Duration: 00:23:02
+ Show more...
Producer: Vic Lockwood
Contributors: Michael Argles; James Clark; Noel Entwhistle
Publisher: BBC Open University
Keyword(s): Airyhall Primary School; Class organisation; Emotional and psychological problems; Hadow Report; Hazlehead Academy, Aberdeen; Primary school children; Research findings; Secondary school transfer; Teaching styles
Footage description: Shot of primary school children entering a secondary school. They enter hall where they are received and told how they are going to spend the day there. Prof. Noel Entwhistle comments on the last sequence, explaining the purpose of the visit of the school children and how it originated from a research investigation. Prof. Entwhistle then informs us that this exercise in transfer will be used to illustrate some of the stages that one is likely to come across while undertaking reaearch. Shot of stages to be used in a research process flashed on the screen. Point is also made about the impact research findings can have on educational policy. James Clark is then called upon to say what is being done to ease transfer from one type of school to another. James Clark lists the problems and the steps which have been taken to resolve them. Prof. Entwhistle talks about the situation in Aberdeen in 1964 before the research started. He mentions the two problems he and Prof. Nesbitt started off with and how they set off tackling the problems by finding out, with the help of the librarian, what information was available on the subject. Michael Argles tells Prof. Entwhistle the two ways in which a librarian can give assistance in educational research. Prof. Entwhistle, using the research done in Aberdeen as an example, asks Michael Argles for material available on the subject. Michael Argles then lists the systematic approach he would take. From the Hadow Report - which was one of Michael Argles' recommended reading - Prof. Entwhistle reads a relevant passage from the introductory chapter. Information collected frmm the Hadow Report by Prof. Entwhistle is pointed out as relevant for the research to be undertaken. Assumptions in the Report are criticized and they form the basis for the investigation into the problems they create for children when transferred from primary to secondary school. Shot of a primary school classroom with children working together. Various activities are studied within the same class in groups and the teacher goes round the class helping children. Group study seems to be the emphasis here. Prof. Entwhistle introduces a shot of a science lesson in a secondary school to see how a lesson is structured and how a class is organised. The class is held in a laboratory and the lesson is on the structure of gases. The lesson develops from what is known about gases - what had been studied previously - to what is to be studied. Details about what is to be done are given by the teacher and the children form themselves into groups to carry out practical tests themselves. Prof. Entwhistle assesses the last two sequences pointing out the contrast in the formality of teaching styles. This he sees an important aspect children have to contend with on transfer from primary to secondary school. Prof. Entwhistle then introduces primary school children talking about their move to a secondary school. Shots of various children giving varied reasons about their likes and dislikes over moving. Prof. Entwhistle reflects on the last sequence and relates it to the research method they adopted by asking headmasters for their opinions about transfers from primary to secondary school. The contrasting views extracted from the questionnaires received are flashed on to the screen. From these Prof. Entwhistle and his team were set to find out which sort of children suffer from transfer. He stresses the important part research plays in formulating hypotheses and in collecting data and how various tests help in this regard. He lists the tests pointing out how the results help to identify which children are likely to suffer from transfer. How such conclusions are arrived at is made known. Prof. Entwhistle talks about tests other than objective tests which provide a rich source of data though a less precise method of measurement. Extracts from children's essays read. They reflect their anxieties on being transferred from one school to another. Shots are shown to reflect some of the anxieties expressed by the children. Prof. Entwhistle, commenting on the last sequence talks about how the whole transfer procedure was altered by a headmaster on reading similar comments as one mentioned in the last sequence. He then talks about what happens in a field experiment which enables researchers to compare attitudes of children under old and new procedures (of transfer) He also mentions what the results of the Aberdeen experiment showed and how it led to changes in the entire city. How useful is such an experimental reaearch is emphasised by Prof. Entwhistle even though its results might show that only a minority suffer from transfer.
Master spool number: HOU5158
Production number: 6HT70737
Videofinder number: 3893
Available to public: no