| Schools must try to prevent pupils from running | | | | It therefore remains the task -and a difficult task |
| into difficulties in the course of their school work. | | | | -of teachers to try to steer the pupils' |
| Content, working methods and organization must | | | | spontaneous desire for knowledge into important |
| therefore be designed so as to be readily | | | | fields. and to utilize their practical vocational |
| adjustable to the individuality of different pupils. | | | | orientation together with conversations and |
| Local decision-making powers, vested in the | | | | interviews as a means of getting them to realize |
| individual school, the work unit and the class, | | | | the value of different types of knowledge and |
| concerning subject matter, working methods and | | | | skill. Schools must not isolate school work from |
| work procedures, are therefore essential in order | | | | the life of the community by making all activities |
| for a school to discharge its duties successfully. | | | | freely chosen work, otherwise the pupils will |
| If a pupil encounters difficulties in the course of his | | | | suffer a shock when they come up against the |
| (or her) school work, consideration must be given | | | | demands which life involves. Gaps in elementary |
| to the possibility of altering school working | | | | knowledge can result in lifelong social or |
| methods. Teaching must be planned so as to | | | | psychological helplessness. Lack of previous |
| permit a variable working method. The liberty | | | | knowledge tends to make pupils regard |
| which a school enjoys in the deployment of | | | | themselves as 'untalented', in which case schools |
| resources and regarding methods and the | | | | help to accentuate social inequalities. |
| selection of subject matter provides good | | | | It is above all necessary for basic training in the |
| opportunities of this type of preventive work. | | | | skills of speech, reading, writing and arithmetic to |
| Pupils with differing dispositions and interests must | | | | be conducted consistently and with determination. |
| be able to experience school work as something | | | | Shortcomings with regard to these skills |
| capable of furthering their own development. | | | | aggravate school difficulties at higher levels. |
| Schools must offer variegated contents. Pupils | | | | Boundaries between school levels must not be |
| must be allowed to participate in planning. And | | | | allowed to constitute boundaries regarding the |
| they must be able to choose different fields of | | | | practice of skills. Continuous reading instruction, for |
| study which are relevant to goals and main | | | | example, must be available to pupils at any level. |
| teaching items. Free options account for roughly | | | | As stated earlier, working methods must also be |
| one third of all school time at senior level. While at | | | | adapted to suit different pupils. Methods with an |
| junior and intermediate levels time can be | | | | excessively verbal emphasis are particularly |
| reserved for project studies. In certain cases | | | | prejudicial to many pupils. Work based entirely on |
| assignments of this kind can be made to last | | | | written material and written instructions gives an |
| longer for some pupils than for others. | | | | advantage to pupils whose ambition and |
| At the same time one must be alive to the | | | | educational motivation makes them less |
| conflict which often exists between the current. | | | | dependent on personal and emotional contact with |
| Schools must prepare pupils adequately for future | | | | a teacher for the maintenance of their endeavor. |
| working life and for future studies, for example in | | | | On the other hand it can very easily cause |
| the form of recurrent education. Total adjustment | | | | difficulties for pupils without these qualifications. |
| to the pupils' spontaneous interests can result in | | | | Extensive scope must instead be allotted to |
| their encountering great difficulties when they | | | | investigatory elements in the natural and social |
| come to enter working life or continue their | | | | environment and also to practical tasks. Methods |
| studies, in which case their school difficulties are | | | | of this kind are greatly facilitated by different |
| converted into impediments later on in life. | | | | teachers co-operating in teaching teams. |