Supported Self‐study in Schools and Colleges

Abstract

The paper looks at how the (then) Council of Educational Technology investigated the idea of supported self‐study and established a project to develop these ideas. It considers the key elements of ‘Support’ and ‘Self, and looks at models for sixth‐form, lower‐school and various special situations.

The term ‘supported self‐study’ was first used in the UK in 1981. It owes its origins to investigations carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the Council for Educational Technology (now the National Council for Educational Technology). The first of these was reported in a Working Paper by Nichols (1979), which examined some of the problems of A‐level teaching: small groups that seemed to be uneconomical; wide ability ranges, and shortage of subject specialist teaching staff. It described a small number of case studies where educational technology was being brought to bear on these problems. The second investigation was reported in a Working Paper by Beckett (1981), which addressed itself particularly to the problems of the declining school populations which were to be a feature of the 1980s. It investigated the possibilities for the role of educational technology, adopting for it the broad definition which emphasizes clear thinking about objectives, careful choosing of materials, media and methods, and systematic assessment, together with an emphasis on student responsibility.