THAT'LL TEACH 'EM

Last year, the hit history series That'll Teach 'Em brought the world of the 1950s boarding school back to life and questioned whether our brightest kids were being stretched in the same way they were 50 years ago. This summer, the school gates re-open on a secondary modern from the 1960s to test the notion that this state system, with its emphasis on vocational subjects like woodwork and cookery, was better adapted to the needs of less academically gifted pupils than today's aspirational comprehensives.

While Government policy has concentrated on getting more kids into higher education, some educationalists believe our children leave school lacking any real vocational skills. It is certainly true that you can't get a good plumber for love or money so are we failing to train the next generation of skilled workers? Equally, do modern food technology lessons teach kids all about packaging but leave them unable to cook a family meal? If so, are there any lessons to be learned from the Secondary Modern model with its emphasis on life skills?

Bringing history to life, That'll Teach 'Em transports 30 sixteen-year-olds, who have just finished their GCSEs, back time to an authentically recreated 1960s secondary modern where they will be put through a mixture of vocational and academic subjects of the day. To mirror the intake of the time, our students are all predicted grades C, D or below at GCSE (unlike last year's A-grade high-fliers). At the end of their 'term' the pupils will sit the old CSE exams in English and maths to see how they perform compared with modern-day GCSEs. Will a maths syllabus that prepares boys for measuring up a room for a carpet be stimulating and how will today's text generation cope with their English oral exam? How will the boys take to milking goats during rural science lessons? And will the girls rebel when confronted with a timetable of cooking, needlework and homecraft?

For four weeks, our students will be placed under the care of a strict headmaster and a number of subject tutors, all former or working teachers, as the conditions of an exemplary secondary modern are carefully recreated. The pupils will swap their mobile phones, hair gel and other modern luxuries for lessons in parentcraft and bricklaying and a diet consisting of boiled beef or bacon and onion suet roll followed by spotted dick or stewed prunes.

The secondary modern may not be remembered favourably but it did offer elements that are missing from today's schools. The emphasis on vocational teaching gave pupils a good grounding in skills for life, like how to run a home or learn the basics of a trade, although standards did vary. In the late 1950s and early 1960s some secondary moderns imposed a regime involving a strict dress code with its own uniform, daily assembly, Christian worship, plenty of PE with cross-country runs, as well as a curriculum that was carefully tailored to meet the needs of less academic students.

The teaching tended to be formal and didactic although a few "trendy" teachers started to experiment - bringing filmed material into the classroom or even donating their own cars for students to practise their engineering skills. According to the 1963 Ministry of Education report on secondary moderns, most had a timetable split evenly between academic and technical subjects such as metal work, woodwork, building, gardening and technical drawing for boys. The girls did housecraft activities such as cleaning and cookery and also studied typing, shorthand and parentcraft. Boys and girls would then spend the rest of the time studying academic subjects.

Secondary modern schools tended to encourage extra-curricular activity and community involvement. 50% of students were involved in clubs and societies outside school and our secondary modern will have its own Scout and Guide troop attached to it at the weekends.

Supporting the project are the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), one of the main examination boards in the country, educationalists and Gerry Parker, a former CSE examiner.

The series will be made for Channel 4 by independent production company Twenty Twenty. Series producer Simon Rockell, a former teacher himself, says: "It's true that many people were made to feel they failed at eleven thanks to the grammar and secondary modern split but our research shows that the best secondary moderns really had something to offer. Of course the test will be our students' reactions to their woodwork and cookery lessons."

"The first series of That'll Teach 'Em proved a hugely accessible way of looking at the history of our education system. We really got people talking about exam standards in today's schools. I think a series looking at the efficacy of a 60s secondary modern is timely considering the government are now introducing a whole range of vocational qualifications and apprenticeships designed to provide job related skills to less academic kids," says Ralph Lee, commissioning editor of the series at Channel 4.

Series Producer: Simon Rockell
Directors: Sophie Todd, Simon Urwin, Caroline Antscherl
Exec Producers: Claudia Milne, James Isaacs
Prod Co: Twenty Twenty