Harold Rosen (educationalist)
Encyclopedia
Harold Rosen was an influential educationalist, particularly in regard to the teaching of English, a socialist thinker and a political activist, born in the USA but active mainly in the UK. He was a Communist activist in the 1930s; after World war II, he became an English teacher and later a teacher trainer; he became a major figure in leftwing thinking in education after leaving the Communist Party in 1957; and he played an important part in debates and developments in the fields of language teaching and Primary education, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s.
, on 25 June 1919. His mother, Rose, was a Communist activist from the East End of London
. Her mother's father and his own father were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and his mother's father had joined the Social Democratic Federation
, Britain's first independent socialist party. When Rosen was two years old, his parents separated, and he was taken to the East End by his mother. He was brought up in a mainly observant Jewish environment but in a strongly secular and Communist home. He recalled: "The whole family were atheists. But my grandfather had a very sophisticated approach to how to relate to the majority of people who were religious. He was very hard on religion but did not make futile gestures to offend religious people." Rosen was educated at the local state elementary and grammar schools.
In 1935, Rosen joined the Young Communist League (Britain)
, youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain
. There he met Connie Isakofsky. Their emotional, political and professional relationship, and later marriage, were to last until her death from cancer in 1976. They had three sons, Brian (1942-), Alan (1944–1945) and the poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen
(1946-).
Together Harold and Connie took part in the Battle of Cable Street
in 1936, defending the East End against a march by the Anti-Semitic British Union of Fascists
.
, and went into teaching, working in a number of schools. In 1945 he was drafted into the US Army and served in the education corps in Germany.
After his discharge, Rosen took his post-graduate certificate of education at the University of London
Institute of Education
, where he was a keen sportsman in rugby union
and track events. He then taught at Harrow Weald Grammar School, in Middlesex
. There he met James Britton and Nancy Martin, who were closely concerned with the development of children's language, and who became his major inspiration and later collaborators. Moving for a shortwhile to Leicestershire, he and Connie made the family home in Pinner. Teaching in Greenford he found his career stalled by the blacklisting of communists. Throughout this period he was an outspoken critic of British colonial policy.
When the London County Council
launched its great initiative in comprehensive education, Rosen moved to Walworth
School in south-east London, a pilot comprehensive just off the Old Kent Road
. He was Head of English from 1956 to 1958, where he put the teaching of English on fresh basis, moving from merely studying language to using it. This period coincided with his final disenchantment with the CPGB, following the Soviet invasion of Hungary and his disagreements with the Party over structure and organisaton. He left the party in 1957, adopting many of the perspectives (without actually joining any particular group) of the New Left
, associated with E.P. Thompson, who were strongly interested in problems of class consciousness
and working class self-activity, dialectics and praxis.
The theory and practice that were worked out at Walworth are the principle contributions associated with Rosen. Essentially, he demanded that teachers reshape the curriculum to respect the experience and culture brought to the curriculum process by the student. The fundamental part of the learning process is the construction of meaning through language. This is brought about through a dialogue between learners and teachers, and among learners themselves.
However, the socialist humanism of the New Left was complemented by a strong strand of traditional humanism. Rosen was a major proponent of modern literature in education, bringing works by novelists like J. D. Salinger
and William Golding
into classrooms still largely dominated by the work of earlier centuries.
, Middlesex, and later in the London Institute of Education, where Britton and Martin were highly influential. At first as their collaborator, and later as head of the English department and professor, Rosen became a major influence in teacher training and the teaching of English. Much of his direct influence was exercised through the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE), which provided a forum for the capital's teachers and teacher trainers.
A major product of this collaborative work was a report Language, the Learner and the School, he wrote with Britton (by this time at Goldsmith's College) and Douglas Barnes of Leeds, and first issued in 1969. While Barnes contributed a penetrating study of actual language use in the classroom, and Britton a paper on the importance of oral language development, Rosen wrote on behalf of LATE, opening up the question of policy. He called for schools to develop a "language policy across the curriculum" that would embed a collaborative and language-focussed model in all subjects and affect every aspect of school life. The Language of Primary School Children (1973) was a collaborative project between Harold and Connie, his wife, under the auspices of the Schools Council. It incorporated research across many local education authorities to present a detailed picture of how language was hammered out in social interactions. This time a special focus was placed on the potential of educational drama. The rise in the number of students from minority ethnic groups brought new challenges, which he welcomed, encouraging teachers to develop new tactics within the general strategy of getting into students' lives and culture. Connie and Harold were strongly influenced in this work by their own critical reading of the sociolinguists Basil Bernstein
and William Labov
.
These writings played a vital role in stimulating wide debate about the role of language in education and helped force the government to set up an enquiry into the subject. This led to the Bullock Report (A Language for Life)
which conceded one of Rosen's major objectives: "Each school should have an organised policy for language across the curriculum, establishing every teacher's involvement in language and reading development throughout the years of schooling."
Rosen became a founder member of the Society for Storytelling. His passion for narrative remained compelled him to pass on his own story. Partly this was embodied in his memoir Are You Still Circumcised?: East End Memories. For most of his life, he wrote poetry. A small selection was published in 2003 called Choose Your Frog. He remained a passionate critic of US and UK foreign policy and a supporter of the Palestinian cause. Rosen was interviewed in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Social Change and English, 1945-1965 project, an oral history study of developments in English teaching in post-war secondary schools. Sections of these interviews have now been published.
Origins and youth
Harold Rosen was born at Brockton, MassachusettsBrockton, Massachusetts
Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 93,810 in the 2010 Census. Brockton, along with Plymouth, are the county seats of Plymouth County...
, on 25 June 1919. His mother, Rose, was a Communist activist from the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. Her mother's father and his own father were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and his mother's father had joined the Social Democratic Federation
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on June 7, 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term...
, Britain's first independent socialist party. When Rosen was two years old, his parents separated, and he was taken to the East End by his mother. He was brought up in a mainly observant Jewish environment but in a strongly secular and Communist home. He recalled: "The whole family were atheists. But my grandfather had a very sophisticated approach to how to relate to the majority of people who were religious. He was very hard on religion but did not make futile gestures to offend religious people." Rosen was educated at the local state elementary and grammar schools.
In 1935, Rosen joined the Young Communist League (Britain)
Young Communist League (Britain)
The Young Communist League is the name of both the youth wing of the former Communist Party of Great Britain and the current youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain ; an organisation that sees itself as the successor to the Communist Party of Great Britain.-Original Young Communist League...
, youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. There he met Connie Isakofsky. Their emotional, political and professional relationship, and later marriage, were to last until her death from cancer in 1976. They had three sons, Brian (1942-), Alan (1944–1945) and the poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen
Michael Wayne Rosen is a broadcaster, children's novelist and poet and the author of 140 books. He was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held this honour until 2009....
(1946-).
Together Harold and Connie took part in the Battle of Cable Street
Battle of Cable Street
The Battle of Cable Street took place on Sunday 4 October 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascists, including local Jewish, socialist, anarchist,...
in 1936, defending the East End against a march by the Anti-Semitic British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
.
Teacher
Rosen studied English at University College, London, gaining his degree in 1940. Being an American citizen, he was not subject to UK conscriptionConscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, and went into teaching, working in a number of schools. In 1945 he was drafted into the US Army and served in the education corps in Germany.
After his discharge, Rosen took his post-graduate certificate of education at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
Institute of Education
Institute of Education
The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...
, where he was a keen sportsman in rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
and track events. He then taught at Harrow Weald Grammar School, in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
. There he met James Britton and Nancy Martin, who were closely concerned with the development of children's language, and who became his major inspiration and later collaborators. Moving for a shortwhile to Leicestershire, he and Connie made the family home in Pinner. Teaching in Greenford he found his career stalled by the blacklisting of communists. Throughout this period he was an outspoken critic of British colonial policy.
When the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
launched its great initiative in comprehensive education, Rosen moved to Walworth
Walworth
-Places:United Kingdom* Walworth, County DurhamUnited States* Walworth County, South Dakota* Walworth County, Wisconsin* Walworth, New York* Walworth, Wisconsin, a village* Walworth , Wisconsin, a town...
School in south-east London, a pilot comprehensive just off the Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road
The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London....
. He was Head of English from 1956 to 1958, where he put the teaching of English on fresh basis, moving from merely studying language to using it. This period coincided with his final disenchantment with the CPGB, following the Soviet invasion of Hungary and his disagreements with the Party over structure and organisaton. He left the party in 1957, adopting many of the perspectives (without actually joining any particular group) of the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
, associated with E.P. Thompson, who were strongly interested in problems of class consciousness
Class consciousness
Class consciousness is consciousness of one's social class or economic rank in society. From the perspective of Marxist theory, it refers to the self-awareness, or lack thereof, of a particular class; its capacity to act in its own rational interests; or its awareness of the historical tasks...
and working class self-activity, dialectics and praxis.
The theory and practice that were worked out at Walworth are the principle contributions associated with Rosen. Essentially, he demanded that teachers reshape the curriculum to respect the experience and culture brought to the curriculum process by the student. The fundamental part of the learning process is the construction of meaning through language. This is brought about through a dialogue between learners and teachers, and among learners themselves.
However, the socialist humanism of the New Left was complemented by a strong strand of traditional humanism. Rosen was a major proponent of modern literature in education, bringing works by novelists like J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....
and William Golding
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies...
into classrooms still largely dominated by the work of earlier centuries.
Teacher of teachers
Rosen left Walworth to begin a career in teacher education. He worked first in the Borough Road Teacher Training College in IsleworthIsleworth
Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
, Middlesex, and later in the London Institute of Education, where Britton and Martin were highly influential. At first as their collaborator, and later as head of the English department and professor, Rosen became a major influence in teacher training and the teaching of English. Much of his direct influence was exercised through the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE), which provided a forum for the capital's teachers and teacher trainers.
A major product of this collaborative work was a report Language, the Learner and the School, he wrote with Britton (by this time at Goldsmith's College) and Douglas Barnes of Leeds, and first issued in 1969. While Barnes contributed a penetrating study of actual language use in the classroom, and Britton a paper on the importance of oral language development, Rosen wrote on behalf of LATE, opening up the question of policy. He called for schools to develop a "language policy across the curriculum" that would embed a collaborative and language-focussed model in all subjects and affect every aspect of school life. The Language of Primary School Children (1973) was a collaborative project between Harold and Connie, his wife, under the auspices of the Schools Council. It incorporated research across many local education authorities to present a detailed picture of how language was hammered out in social interactions. This time a special focus was placed on the potential of educational drama. The rise in the number of students from minority ethnic groups brought new challenges, which he welcomed, encouraging teachers to develop new tactics within the general strategy of getting into students' lives and culture. Connie and Harold were strongly influenced in this work by their own critical reading of the sociolinguists Basil Bernstein
Basil Bernstein
Basil Bernstein was a British sociologist and linguist, known for his work in the sociology of education.-Biography:...
and William Labov
William Labov
William Labov born December 4, 1927) is an American linguist, widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has created much of the methodology" of sociolinguistics...
.
These writings played a vital role in stimulating wide debate about the role of language in education and helped force the government to set up an enquiry into the subject. This led to the Bullock Report (A Language for Life)
Bullock Report (A Language for Life)
A Language for Life, better known as the Bullock Report, was a UK government report published in 1975 by an independent committee, chaired by Alan Bullock, set up by the government to consider the teaching of language....
which conceded one of Rosen's major objectives: "Each school should have an organised policy for language across the curriculum, establishing every teacher's involvement in language and reading development throughout the years of schooling."
Later years
Rosen remained engaged and interested in every aspect of education and politics to the end of his life. After Connie died in 1976, he married Betty, an English teacher, in 1978, and it was she who cared for him in his last years. He lived to see his son Michael become Children's Laureate in 2007, while his son Brian has worked most of his life at the Natural History Museum in London and has made major contributions to research and exhibitions there, particularly in the field of marine paleontology and ecology http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-rosen/10/763/42.Rosen became a founder member of the Society for Storytelling. His passion for narrative remained compelled him to pass on his own story. Partly this was embodied in his memoir Are You Still Circumcised?: East End Memories. For most of his life, he wrote poetry. A small selection was published in 2003 called Choose Your Frog. He remained a passionate critic of US and UK foreign policy and a supporter of the Palestinian cause. Rosen was interviewed in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Social Change and English, 1945-1965 project, an oral history study of developments in English teaching in post-war secondary schools. Sections of these interviews have now been published.