David Brockington – författare

Originally published in 1978, reissued here with a new preface, this book describes a project based outside the school institution, but in co-operation with it, exploring methods and courses which might offer meaningful education for groups of fifth-form leavers. Though the project had been primarily concerned with developing a survival curriculum for the non-academic urban adolescent, the format of living, experiential teaching and learning it exemplifies would be appropriate to the education of children of all ages and abilities.

The authors identified community resources and offer suggestions as to how these might be better employed. They show how education could be taken out of the classroom to extend ‘schooling’ beyond the schools, and in this context they point to the vast, untapped resources of both people and buildings outside the school walls which could profitably be incorporated within the existing learning framework. They show, also, how the training of ‘professionals’ – particularly trainee teachers and social workers – by involvement in such an experiment could constitute a fundamental preparation for their future roles.

Finally, the authors urge for an extension of social policy with regard to education; an extension of provision which they argue could be achieved largely through the re-allocation of existing resources, such as had already demonstrably worked in the city of Bristol. The perspective throughout is ideological as well as practical, and the book is both a polemic and a procedural manual suggesting workable approaches and ideas, many of which are still relevant today

Originally published in 1978, reissued here with a new preface, this book describes a project based outside the school institution, but in co-operation with it, exploring methods and courses which might offer meaningful education for groups of fifth-form leavers. Though the project had been primarily concerned with developing a survival curriculum for the non-academic urban adolescent, the format of living, experiential teaching and learning it exemplifies would be appropriate to the education of children of all ages and abilities.

The authors identified community resources and offer suggestions as to how these might be better employed. They show how education could be taken out of the classroom to extend ‘schooling’ beyond the schools, and in this context they point to the vast, untapped resources of both people and buildings outside the school walls which could profitably be incorporated within the existing learning framework. They show, also, how the training of ‘professionals’ – particularly trainee teachers and social workers – by involvement in such an experiment could constitute a fundamental preparation for their future roles.

Finally, the authors urge for an extension of social policy with regard to education; an extension of provision which they argue could be achieved largely through the re-allocation of existing resources, such as had already demonstrably worked in the city of Bristol. The perspective throughout is ideological as well as practical, and the book is both a polemic and a procedural manual suggesting workable approaches and ideas, many of which are still relevant today

Originally published in 1983, reissued here with a new preface, Tales Out of School presents the experience of seventy young people from different parts of the country, most of whom left school at sixteen and are now either in work, unemployed or in the twilight world of the Youth Opportunities Programme. Through a series of interviews they reflect upon their eleven years of compulsory schooling and the preparation it gave for the world of work, offer their comments and criticize the school institution and processes. Many of them have experienced long periods of unemployment, and their perceptions of the relationship between school and adult life are both revealing and thought-provoking.

The second part of the book initiates a dialogue between pupils and the Establishment by presenting responses to the young people’s comments from well-known adults who were at the time specialists in particular educational fields and who were in a position to have some influence on practice and policy. This unique juxtaposition of the views of both ‘consumers’ and ‘enablers’ provides the basis of a valuable and exciting debate. Today it can be read in its historical context.