The distribution and relations of educational abilities / London County Council ; report by the Education Officer submitting three preliminary memoranda by Cyril Burt on the distribution and relations of educational abilities.

  • Burt, Cyril, 1883-1971.
Date:
1917
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The distribution and relations of educational abilities / London County Council ; report by the Education Officer submitting three preliminary memoranda by Cyril Burt on the distribution and relations of educational abilities. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    His first concern was the line which should mark off the special (M.D.) child from the normal or ordinary elementary school child. His investigations next led him into a study of the average attainments at each age of the normal children and the limits of deviation above or below that average. He then carries his readers through a long but deeply interesting study of back- wardness and special aptitudes. After many hours spent on Mr. Burt’s three memoranda I have been deeply impressed both by his methods and results. He has shown, by extensive inquiry, ingenuity and resourcefulness, how the principles and processes underlying the commonest school facts and operations can be revealed; and has initiated a group of investigations which, if continued extensively and intensively, should hft the practice of teaching from empiricism and lay it on a broad scientific foundation. Every teacher who, even at a considerable distance, follows the spirit and conclusions of these investigations by so much helps to establish the claim that his profession is a learned one. Were the majority of teachers operating in the same spirit, a great impetus would be given to educational research which would result in lasting benefit to the schools. The survev shows that in education there is a vast field for practical research. ‘‘ When the present crisis is over,’ writes Mr. Burt, ‘‘the nation will stand confronted with the task of social reconstruction. In preparation for this general overhauling one urgent item is the research for which I have appealed. To take the place of the ability that has been lost to the community, we have to discover the best methods of detecting fresh supplies of ability and the best means of training and utilising it to the utmost of which it is capable. Scientific research in educa- tion is thus needed not only to enhance the practice and profession of teaching, but also to promote the welfare of the nation in the near future.’’ Several times Mr. Burt has insisted that his suggestions and conclusions are tentative and provisional. Even so, many of them are of immediate practical value for those engaged in educational administration and particularly for the teachers in the schools, for example, in testing the value of their own classification. After much hesitation I have endeavoured to re-state some of his conclu- sions in a different order. I am fully conscious that in removing such conclusions from their context I have inevitably given them much baldness; and that in using as far as possible the less technical language to be found frequently in the body of the memoranda, I have lost much in precision. I hope, however, that in gathering the main conclusions together from the body of the text I have done something to assist those who will be unable