Developing a Pupil’s Capacity at School

Schools must develop the pupils capacity for critical and independent appraisal and their ability to resist tendentious influence. This aim should be constantly pursued in, not least in addressed to classes or groups and in practical vocational orientation. A critical attitude means among other things that pupils are taught to query the theoretical foundations of and the selection of facts in the information supplied. They must be made aware, for example, of the uncertainty of forecasts, and they must be made critical of categorical statements concerning developments in the labor market. Schools should always state their sources and discuss whether the end in view has been allowed, deliberately or unconsciously, to influence the selection of facts or their presentation. An attitude of critical analysis also means that in connection with field trips, homework and practical vocational orientation, the pupils will ask questions and procure facts shedding light on social relations at work, values among different groups and problems such as the aims of activities, pay differentials, the status of different occupations, the relation between subordinate and superior, sex roles and so on, and that they will then discuss these questions and relate them to their own choice of occupation.Schools have a special responsibility towards those who, for physical, mental and other reasons, encounter difficulties in their school work. School staff must therefore also devote special care to these pupils in the context immigrant children and their parents too are often in special need of assistance.In principle, must be conducted using the same working methods and the same work procedures as other school activities. It must tie in with the pupils I perception of reality and must gradually broaden their perspectives. It must employ investigatory working methods and aim at pupil activity and individualization. It may constitute elements of class or group instruction as well as individual work, and it can provide a starting point for in-depth studies and project days.An important part is played by the pupil’s conversations with teachers and counselor concerning his (or her) interests and plans for the future. The subject matter of many different teaching subjects, contributions by persons active in the community at large -trade union representatives and representatives of enterprise, the public sector and parents -field trips and practical orientation will give pupils an increasingly broad understanding of educational and vocational activities as their school career progresses. In this way personal interviews can lead the individual pupil to seek education and to attach importance to it.Schools should encourage the individual to be independently active, to engage in self-analysis and to subject alternative choices to a process of appraisal. This will increase the pupil’s ability to cope with situations of choice and to revise his educational and occupational choice, for example when his educational and vocational plans have to be altered because of external circumstances or contact and partnership a change in his interests. But the person providing individual educational and vocational guidance should not remain passive. If teachers and counselors merely operate as the suppliers of information on demand, it will not become a powerful counterpoise to the influence exerted by the family environment, classmates, mass media etc.Individual educational and vocational counseling interviews are optional for pupils and, of course, for their parents, but schools should endeavor to reach as many as possible, not merely through the medium of printed matter but also through activation measures.Like other aspects of school instruction, requires a supply of printed material. Pupils must therefore be able to find the general and specialized information they require in the school’s book collections.It is the responsibility of school management to ensure that is planned and evaluated as part of the school working plan.In the various subject who are taught, teachers must let their pupils seek knowledge and develop skills which are of importance in the context. In language teaching, for example, it is natural for the pupils’ attention to be drawn to the importance of knowledge of languages in different occupations and fields of study and for a discussion to take place concerning the various occupations in which knowledge of languages is essential. Other subjects can make equally natural contributions towards an all-round orientation. Practical vocational orientation involves extensive co-operation with the working community outside the school. This participation by enterprise, public authorities and organizations etc. is an essential ingredient of educational and vocational orientation.The school doctor, school nurse, school social worker and school psychologist have a special knowledge of the pupil’s aptitudes and needs. The work done by the counselor has a vital bearing on individual interviews, general information, and liaison work with receiving schools and contacts with labor market authorities. But the counselors should also join with teachers in discussing and planning the role in school work. In doing so they can make suggestions regarding investigations, projects studies, individual assignments, exhibitions and field trips.