Bulletin Special Supplement Jun 1965

L5.11 We are of the opinion that every student in his first year should, no matter what his programme, have at least one tutorial a fortnight in one subject or course; in this we strongly endorse the view of the Committe e on Teaching Methods (para. 11(a) and (e)). It is for consideration whether the subject in wh i ch this is done should remain the same for the whole year, or should change after one term. We consider that th e subject in which the student expects to major should at the outset be treated in this way (even i f other students following the same course but not expecting to major in it have tutorials in other subjects, namel y those in wh i ch t h ey expect to major). I n this way, the difficulty of providing small-group teaching for large first-year classes may be very largely overcome. I n certain f i e l d s—e . g . mathematics �一 it might well be tha t written essay assignments were inappropriate; in o t h e r s—e . g . natural sciences ~ it m i g ht be that reports on readin g assignments (as referred to by the Committee on Teaching Methods) were preferred to essays . We should not wish to dogmatise on thi s matter. Similarly, though we have in para. 5.3 referred to tutorial groups of five, we do not wish to propose any standard pattern for small group work. As a group increases in size, the proportion of activ e participants in discussion is apt to fall, and the teacher' s task in conducting a discussion becomes more difficult; for this reason we consider that five should he a ma x i mum and f o u r a workable size of tutorial group, at any rate in the first two years of study. Again, a scheme of weekly tutorial groups w i th half th e students preparing work each fortnight, but attending discussion of work by the other half of the grou p in the intermediate weeks, might be favoured in some subjects; while weekly preparation of work, especially where only a few students are following a course, may in certain courses he feasible and desired. T he essentia], not to be lost sight, of, is that each student should, under careful supervision, be exposed to a teaching process wh i ch either coaches h i m or coaxes him , or both. Furthermore, that this process should be a continuing one, in which a series of " t u t o r i a l s" i s conducted for at least a term over a set of topics in a given field. T h is is especially important in the first year at the University. I t enables a teacher t o get to know the student's weaknesses or aptitude; it helps the student to find out what the teacher is really aiming to get f r om him. L5.12 I n The second year of studies, it wou ld be possible for the same approach to be made to the teaching of both th e student's intended major subject and probably one other subject, chosen perhaps i n the light of the programme's requirements seen as a whole, or the College' s policies or preferences. L5.13 Slightly different considerations appl y in the t h i rd and fourth years, in which also small-group teaching should have its place alongside formal lectures and laboratory teaching. I t i s clear that these two years are see n as f o rm i ng in some sense a unity, bounded at each end by examinations: that the coherence of courses in a programme is greater; that students are by the n more mature; and that classes are in most cases smaller. I t should be possible, and it is desirable, that in each programme of library subjects, and in th e natural sciences also, three or four parts of a student's programme in each year should be the object of systematic study in small groups (perhaps two in each term) . I n the final year, students should be sufficiently competent in the techniques of exposition and discussion to participate in seminars, organised to cover parts of a programme; if they cannot do so at this satge, some of the purposes for wh i ch a University exists w i ll not have been achieved. I n the social studies particularly, w e wou ld emphasise the importance of seminars as a means to two distinct ends: (i) the thorough mastery of theory in its application to exemplary material, and (ii) the bringing together of different angles of approach i n dealing w i th concrete examples — e.g., economics and sociology T h e same observations apply in varying way s to the study of history, and als o of literature and language. For the second of thes e purposes, it is clear that seminars are best conducte d j o i n t ly by members f r om each discipline. Finally, it is assumed that in programmes wh i ch include a small individual research-type project, individual tutorials w i ll take place f r om time to time as part of the supervision of such work. L5.14 We are assuming throughout that small- group teaching is undertaken on a College basis in all years. T h is of course raised again the question of staffing, t o wh i ch we shall revert; but it appears to us that the advantages of such a basis outweigh the disadvantages. T he staf f know their students, and are more easily accessible; they know the resources of the College Libraries; the y might be expected to be the the natural "allies" of their students in the task of preparing fo r University examinations, as distinct f r om examinations conducted on a college basis. These are merits not lightly to be set aside. L5.15 T h e necessary corollary of introducing small- group teaching in a l l f o ur y e a r s (in one f o rm or another) is a reduction in the student's teaching load. First, in the number of hours of formal instruction. We have assumed that f r om 28 to 30 weeks are in effect available eac h year for teaching (after deduction of public holidays and so forth). We recommend that in every case without e x c e p t i o n in which a course at present requires three hours' formal lectures a week, it should be an aim of policy to attempt to reduce these three hours to two �； and that every course of tw o hours a week formal lecturing should without e x c e p t i o n be examined w i th a view to seeing how it could be reduced to one hour a week. We consider this measure absolutely essential. W i t h o ut it, we see no certainty that the fundamental attitude of 34