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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
REPORT BY H.M. INSPECTORS
on the
Summerhill School,
Leiston, SUffolk East.
Inspected on
both and 21st June, 1949
NOTES
1. This Report is confidential and may not be published save by the
express direction of the School. If published it must be published in its
entirety.
2. The Copyright of the Report is vested in the Controller of H.M.
Stationery Office. The Controller has no objection to the reproduction
of the Report provided that it is clearly understood by all concerned in
the reproduction that the Copyright is vested in him.
3. It should be understood that the issue of this Report does not carry
with it any form of recognition by the Minister.
Ministry of Education,
Curzon Street,
London, W.1
This School is famous throughout the world as one in which educational experiment is conducted on revolutionary lines and in which the published theories of its Head Master, widely known and discussed, are put into practice. The task of inspecting it proved to be exacting and interesting, exacting because of the wide difference in practice between this School and others with which the inspectors were familiar, and interesting because of the opportunity offered of trying to assess, and not merely to observe, the value of the education given.
All the children in the School are boarders and the annual fee is £120.
In spite of the low salaries paid to the staff, which will be referred
to later the Head Master finds it difficult to run the School at this figure
which he is reluctant to increase in view of what he knows about the financial
circumstances of the parents. Although the fee is low, compared with that
at many independent boarding schools the staffing ratio is high, the inspectors
were a little surprised at the financial difficulties of which the Head
Master complained. Only a close scrutiny of accounts and expenses could
show whether costs could be cut without loss and it might be a good plan
to invite such a scrutiny from some independent and experienced source.
In the meantime it may be said that whatever else is deficient, the children
are well and plentifully fed.
The principles upon which the School is conducted are well known to
the readers of the Head Master's books. Some have gained wide acceptance
since they were first declared, some are exerting a widening influence
in schools generally while others are regarded with suspicion and abhorrence
by the majority of teachers and parents. While the inspectors tried to
follow their normal custom of assessing what is being done in an objective
manner, it appears to them impossible to report fairly on the School without
some reference to its principles and aims, whether they accept them personally
or not.
The inspectors were able to attend a session on the first day of the inspection. The principal matters under discussion were the enforcement of the bedtime regulations made by the parliament and the control of entry into the kitchen at unauthorised times. These problems were discussed with great vigour and freedom of comment, in a reasonably orderly fashion and without respect of persons. Although it seemed that a good deal of time was spent on some rather fruitless lines of argument, the Inspectors were disposed to agree with the Head Master that the experience of learning how to organise their own affairs was more valuable to the children than the time lost.
It is evident that the majority of parents and teachers would be most hesitant to grant complete freedom in the matter of sex. Many who would agree with the Head Master up to a point would part company with him there. They would, perhaps, have no difficulty in accepting his view that sex knowledge should be freely given, that sex should be separated from guilt and that many long accepted inhibitions have done infinite harm, but they would, in a mixed school, take more precautions than he does. It is, obviously, exceedingly difficult to comment fairly upon the results of not doing so. In any community of adolescents sexual feeling must be present and they will certainly not be removed by being surrounded by taboos. They are, in fact, likely to be inflamed. At the same time, as the Head Master agrees, complete freedom to express them is not possible even if it is desirable. All that can safely be said here is that it would be difficult to find a more natural, openfaced, unselfconscious collection of boys and girls and disasters which some might have expected to occur have not occurred in all the twentyeight years of the School's existence.One other highly controversial matter must be mentioned here, the absence
of any kind of religious life or instruction. There is no ban on religion
and if the school parliament decided to introduce it it would presumably
be introduced. Similarly if an individual wanted it nothing would be done
to hinder him. The children all come from families which do not accept
orthodox Christian doctrines and in fact no desire for religion has ever
been expressed. Without doing any violence to the term it may safely be
said that many Christian principles are put into practice in this School
and that there is much in it of which any Christian can approve. The effects
of the complete absence of religious instruction could obviously not be
judged in a two days’ inspection.
It seemed necessary to write this introductory account of the School
before proceeding to the more usual material of a report. It is against
this background of real freedom that the organisation and activities of
the School must be viewed.
There are 70 children between the ages of 4 and 16. They live in four separate buildings which will be described in the section on premises. In this section their education in the narrower sense of the word will be described. There are six Forms organised very loosely according to age but with considerable weighting according to ability. These Forms meet according to a quite ordinary and orthodox timetable of five 40minute periods on five mornings a week. They have definite places of meeting and definite teachers to teach them. Where they differ from similar Forms in ordinary schools is that there is not the slightest guarantee that everyone, or indeed anyone, will turn up. The inspectors were at much pains to discover what in fact happened, both by attending classes and by enquiry. It appears that attendance increases in regularity as the children grow older and that once a child has decided to attend a particular class he usually does so regularly. It was much more difficult to discover whether the balance of work and subjects was a good one. As many of the children take the School Certificate their choice is controlled by examination requirements as the examination approaches; but the younger ones are completely free to choose. On the whole the results of this system are unimpressive. It is true that the children work with a will and an interest that is most refreshing, but their achievements are rather meagre. This is not, in the inspectors’ opinion, an inevitable result of the system, but rather of the system working badly. Among its causes appears to be:
1. The lack of a good teacher of juniors who can supervise and integrate their work and activities.2. The quality of the teaching generally. The teaching of infants is, so far as could be judged, enlightened and effective and there is some good teaching in the upper Forms, but the lack of a good junior teacher who can inspire and stimulate the 8, 9 and 10 year olds is most apparent. Some surprisingly oldfashioned and formal methods are in use, and when the children reach the age at which they are ready for advanced work they suffer from considerable disadvantages and present their teachers with severe problems. The teaching of the older children is a good deal better and in one or two cases really good.
3. The children lacked guidance. It is commendable that a 15 year old girl should decide that she would like to learn French and German, two languages that she had previously neglected but to allow her to attempt this task in two periods for German and three for French a week is surely a little irresponsible. The child's progress was slow in spite of her admirable determination and she ought to have been allowed much more time. It appears to the inspectors that some kind of tutorial system might be developed to assist children in planning their work.
4. Lack of privacy. “Summerhill is a difficult place in which to study.” The words are the Head Master's. It is a hive of activity and there is much to capture the attention and interest. No child has a room to himself and there are no rooms specifically set apart for quiet study. A determined person could no doubt always find somewhere but the necessary degree of determination is rare. Few children remain in the School beyond the age of 16 though there is nothing to prevent them. There are and have been some extremely able and intelligent children at Summerhill and it must be doubted whether, academically, it is giving them. all that they need.
At the same time there is some excellent work done wherever the quality of the teaching is good. The Art is outstanding. It was difficult to detect any significant difference between the painting of Summerhill children and that of children from many much more traditional schools, but by any standard the work was good. Some good craft work in great variety was to be seen. The installation of a kiln was going on during the inspection and the pots awaiting first firing were excellent in form. The provision of a treadleloom would allow another craft which has made promising beginnings to develop. A good deal of creative written work is done, including a Wall Newspaper, and plays which are written and acted every term. A good deal was heard of these plays but it is apparently not customary to preserve the scripts so it was not possible to judge of their quality. Recently a performance of Macbeth was given in the small School theatre, all the sets and dresses being homemade. It was interesting to learn that this was decided upon by the children against the wishes of the Head Master who prefers them to act plays of their own writing.
Physical Education is carried on in accordance with the principles of the School. There are no compulsory games or physical training. Football, cricket, and tennis are all played with enthusiasm, football it is understood with considerable skill owing the presence on the staff of an expert. The children arrange matches with other schools in the town. On the day visited there was a cricket match against the neighbouring modern school, in which Summerhill had decided not to play their best player having learned that their opponents’ best player was ill.
A great deal of time is spent out of doors, and the children lead an active, healthy life and look like it. Only a close and expert investigation could reveal how much, if anything, they lose from the absence of more formal Physical Education.
PREMISES
The School is situated in grounds which give ample scope for recreation. The main building, which was formerly a private house, provides for school purposes a hall, a dining room, sick rooms, an art room, a small craft room and the girls’ dormitories. The youngest children sleep in a cottage, where their classroom is also situated. The dormitories for the other boys and the remaining classrooms are in huts in the garden, where are also the bedrooms of some members of the staff. All these rooms have doors opening directly to the garden.
The classrooms are small, though not unsuitable, as the teaching is done in small groups. One of the dormitories represents a notable building effort by the boys and staff: it was built as a sanatorium for which apparently no use has arisen. The sleeping accommodation is somewhat primitive when judged by normal standards, but it is understood that the health record of the School is good, and the provision may be regarded as satisfactory. There are sufficient bathrooms available.While these garden premises are at first sight unusually primitive and public, they do in fact seem to be eminently well suited for creating the atmosphere of a permanent holiday camp which is an important feature of the School. Moreover they gave the opportunity of seeing how the children pursued their studies entirely undisturbed by the many visitors, who were present on the day of the inspection.
STAFF
The staff are paid £8 a month with board and lodging. To find men and women who not only believe in the principles of the School but are sufficiently mature and well balanced to be able to live on equal terms with children, who are well qualified academically and highly skilled as teachers and then to persuade them to work for £8 a month, must be a considerable task for the Head Master. Service at Summerhill is not a recommendation in many quarters and the necessary combination of conviction, disinterestedness, character and ability is rare. It has already been pointed out that the staff are not equal to all the demands yet they are very much better than the staff of many independent schools paying much higher salaries. They include an M.A. (Hons.) Edinburgh in English, an M.A. and B.Sc. of Liverpool, a Cambridge Wrangler, a B.A.(Hons.) London in French and German and a Cambridge B.A. in History. Four have teacher's qualifications. This does not include the teachers of art and craft who have foreign qualifications and are among the best on the staff.
While they need strengthening here and there the present staff is far from being weak and if, by attendance at courses and visits of observation, they could widen and refresh their experience and bring themselves up to date, they could give a very good account of themselves. At the same time it is too much to hope that a salary of £96 a year can go on attracting to this School the teachers that it needs and it seems clear that this difficulty will have to be squarely faced.The Head Master is a man of deep conviction and sincerity. His faith and patience must be inexhaustible. He has the rare power of being a strong personality without dominating. It is impossible to see him in his School without respecting him even if one disagrees with or even dislikes some of his ideas. He has a sense of humour, a warm humanity and a strong common sense which would make him a good Head Master anywhere, and his happy family life is shared with the children who are presumably as capable of profiting by example as any others.
He takes a broad view of education as the means of learning how to live abundantly and, though he would admit the force of some at least of the criticisms in this Report, he would feel that his School must stand or fall rather by the kind of children that it allows its pupils to grow into, than by the specific skills and abilities that it teaches them. On this basis of evaluation it may be said: 1. That the children are full of life and zest. Of boredom and apathy there was no sign. An atmosphere of contentment and tolerance pervades the School. The affection with which it is regarded by its old pupils is evidence of its success. An average number of 30 attend the endofterm plays and dances, and many make the School their headquarters during the holidays.
It may be worth noting at this point that, whereas in its early days the School was attended almost entirely by ‘problem’ children, the intake is now from a fairly normal crosssection of the population.
2. That the children's manners are delightful. They may lack, here and there, some of the conventions of manners, but their friendliness, ease and naturalness and their total lack of shyness and selfconsciousness made them very easy, a pleasant people to get on with.
3. That initiative, responsibility and integrity are all encouraged by the system and that, so far as such things can be judged, they are in fact being developed.
4. That such evidence as is available does not suggest that the products of Summerhill are unable to fit into ordinary society when they leave School. Information such as follows does not of course tell the whole story but it indicates that Summerhill education is not necessarily hostile to worldly success. Old pupils have become a Captain in the R.E.M.E., a Battery Q.M.S., a bomber pilot and Squadron Leader, a Nursery Nurse, an Air Hostess, a clarinet player in the Grenadier Guards Band, a Beit Fellow of the Imperial College, a ballet dancer at Sadler’s Wells, a radio operator and contributor of short stories to an important national daily newspaper, and a Market research investigator with a big firm. They have taken the following degrees etc., among others: B.A.Hons. Econ. Cambridge; Scholar Royal College of Art; B.Sc., xst Class Hons. Physics, I,1ondon; B.A.Hons. History, Cambridge; B.A., 1st Class Hons. Modern Language, Manchester.
5. The Head Master's educational views make this School an exceptionally suitable place for the type of education in which such fundamental work is based on children's interests and in which class work is not unduly governed by examination requirements. To have created a situation in which academic education of the most intelligent kind could flourish is an achievement, but in fact it is not flourishing and a great opportunity is thus being lost. With better teaching at all stages, and above all the junior stage, it might be made to flourish, and an experiment of of profound interest be given its full chance to prove itself.
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There remains in the mind some doubts both about principles and about methods. A closer and longer acquaintance with the School would perhaps remove some of these and possibly intensify others. What cannot be doubted is that a piece of fascinating and valuable educational research is going on here which it would do all educationists good to see.
