ABSTRACT
The foregoing indicates the complexity of decision-making procedures in English informal classrooms. The English primary school has become the symbol for many school reformers of the 1970s—the standard by which to measure and judge the deficiencies of elementary schooling in America. When a child has finished the required work, or if no work is required at a given time, generally in the afternoons, he may 'choose' from activities such as reading corner, painting, Wendy house, or blocks. Every afternoon all children in the school leave their home teacher to attend 'commitment groups,' courses usually lasting a week in areas such as physical education, dance, science, creative writing, music, or library. The English informal teachers' concrete resolutions to the dilemmas may be useful guideposts to American school reformers interested in transplanting English informal methods to American elementary schools.
