A Study of the Curricular Influence System of the English Primary School

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Abstract
Taylor, P. H. & Reid, W. A. 1971. A Study of the Curricular Influence System of the English Primary School. Scand. J. educ. Res. 16, 1‐23. The major purpose of the study was to estimate the degree of influence exercised over what is taught in the English Primary School by a range of individuals (persons) and institutions, and to attempt to discriminate the influences exercised in terms of a general system of influences comprising a number of separable sub‐systems. Data were derived from responses by teachers to a 28‐item influence scale. Some 120 teachers responded from a sample of 12 ‘typical’ urban primary schools. The sample was selected by judgement. Results indicate in general terms that influences ‘internal’ to the school ‐ those of the head‐teacher, class teacher, pupils, staff groups, both formal and informal ‐‐ are stronger influences than those ‘external’ to the school whether educational or social influences operating at a local or national level. Within the school the influence of the head‐teacher was found to be the single strongest influence, and that of the class teacher the single strongest influence within the classroom. Seven sub‐systems of influence were discriminated, the most powerful of which the data suggest is the classroom based sub‐system and the weakest the administrative sub‐system. The School‐based sub‐system was found to be characterized by its client centredness, and the Classroom‐based by a teacher collegial orientation. The identification of separate sub‐systems for the School and the Classroom together with their power to influence the de facto curriculum are taken to be indications of the ‘freedom’ of the English primary school and its teachers.

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