ABSTRACT
To describe administration as a problem-solving activity is to reveal its proper limitations: it is not philosophy, nor even policymaking. His attitude to the organization of secondary education may be written off by some because it is not based on controlled experiment and research over a long period. The national survey in 1964, which strongly influenced the Report, suggested that of three variables in a child's education —parental attitudes, home environment and the quality of the school —the first carried most weight. The Plowden Committee determined its priorities according to criteria that were lucidly and logically expressed and based on the same social and educational premises as the 1944 Act itself. When a long-term process like education is subject to short term political decision and financial control the opportunities for planning are limited, particularly planning in terms of value for money.
