D

Dainton Report A Committee chaired by Sir (then Dr) Frederick Dainton, set up in 1965 to inquire into the flow of candidates in science and technology into higher education. Its report issued three years later warned of the harm both to individuals and society of the relative decline in the study of science and technology, especially in the sixth forms. This ‘swing from science’ it suggested, could be dealt with by introducing a broad span of studies in sixth forms and delaying premature specialisation. Schools and local education authorities should also ensure that the majority of secondary school pupils should come into early contact with good science teaching and should study mathematics until they leave school. (See also Swann Report)

Dalton Plan A system of teaching and learning devised by Helen Parkhurst and first introduced at Dalton High School, Massachusetts, in 1920. It was based on two major principles: first, that the pupil must be free to continue without interruption upon any subject that may arise in the course of her/his study; and, second, that the Plan would transform the learning process into a co-operative adventure. The basis of the Plan was that the curriculum was divided up into jobs and the pupil accepted the task appointed for his class as a contract. The contract job comprised a whole month’s work, designed to accord with the pupil’s ability. The Plan postulated the establishment of laboratories, one for each subject in the curriculum, with a specialist in that subject attached to each laboratory. Helen Parkhurst’s scheme was rapidly taken up in England, notably by Rosa Bassett at Streatham School for Girls, London.