Primary Education

Abstract

An account of education policy for children necessitates drawing a somewhat crude distinction between primary and secondary education, since in broad terms primary schools educate ‘children’, while secondary schools educate ‘adolescents’. In practice, of course, this division is blurred because, first, many pupils at the point of transfer from primary to secondary school at the age of 11 are still children rather than adolescents; and, second, maintained ‘middle schools’ and preparatory schools in the independent sector educate pupils up to the age of 12 or 13. The stage of education identified here as ‘primary’ thus refers broadly to the educational experience variously provided for children aged between 4 and 13 years of age in formally designated infant and junior schools or departments (collectively known as ‘primary schools’), as well as in middle schools and private preparatory schools.

What a wise and good parent would desire for his own children, that a nation must desire for all children. (Report of the Consultative Committee on Primary Education, 1931; quoted in Maclure, 1979, p. 191)