Susan Isaacs was born in Lancashire in 1885. It is clear from her personal history that she had an enquiring mind - her father put a stop to her education when she was 15 because she declared herself an agnostic. Her reflections on his refusal to speak to her for the next two years may have furthered her determination and her later insistence on children's need for freedom to explore and express themselves.
For the next seven years Ms Isaacs remained at home, assisting her stepmother. However, at the age of 22, she enrolled in a teacher education course to work with five- to seven-year-olds at the university in Manchester.She transferred to a degree course and graduated with first-class honours in philosophy in 1912. Subsequently awarded a studentship in the psychology department, Ms Isaacs gained a master's degree, later qualifying in medical psychoanalysis.
Following a series of lectureships in Darlington, Manchester and London, she set up her own practice as a psychoanalyst in 1923.
This strong multi-disciplinary knowledge base underpinned Ms Isaacs' later work with both children and students. In conjunction with her powerful, challenging mind and determined character, as evidenced in her achievements and her writing, this made Ms Isaacs a pioneer who is rightly still remembered and revered in the field of early childhood.
What did Susan Isaacs achieve?
Apart from Ms Isaacs' personal achievements - as a woman who graduated and worked in both the academic and caring professions during the early years of the last century - she was notable for her exciting experimental work in early childhood education and her influence through networking, writing and training.
Much of Ms Isaacs' writing about children stems from her meticulous observation and records from the Malting House School. This school was set up in Cambridge by a rich businessman, Geoffrey Pyke, because he wanted his son to experience a trauma-free education, in which he could learn through scientific enquiry and self-discovery. Mr Pyke was determined to have a well-qualified young woman as the teacher in charge of the school. Ms Isaacs applied, was appointed in 1924, and left in 1927. At first ten boys aged from around two-and-a-half to almost five attended and by Ms Isaacs' last year in charge, 20 children were enrolled and the age range extended to eight-and-a-half.
From the accounts, one would imagine Ms Isaacs' regime at Malting House must have fulfilled Mr Pyke's dream. The children were encouraged to express themselves - asking questions as well as stating opinions; to show their feelings - including aggression and anger; to follow their own interests - whether that was, for example, climbing on the garden sheds or dissecting a school pet after it had died, to explore the 'what', 'how' and perhaps the 'why', of living creatures. Further, the children's learning time was maximised by the lack of teacher-initiated routines (such as lining up and collecting dinner money).
The two main components which leap out as important lessons from this school are the rich, exciting, well-resourced environment and the adults' pedagogical approach, capitalising on the children's own interests.
Observing children
Both Ms Isaacs herself and her assistants at Malting House wrote notes of their observations and after she left the school, joining her husband Nathan Isaacs in London, these records of the children's learning formed the basis for her two books published in the early 1930s - Intellectual Growth in Young Children and Social Development in Young Children. She corresponded with Jean Piaget (see Nursery World, 20 May 2004), whose early books were published in England in the late 1920s, often challenging his interpretations of children's thinking as a result of her own observational evidence. She strongly advocated the acquisition of observational skills and knowledge of child development by all professionals training to work with children.
Although Ms Isaacs did not, sadly, survive to a great age (she died in 1948, aged 63), her life must have been extremely full, as she was not only the first lecturer appointed to run child development courses at the University of London's Institute of Education; she also conducted research, advised government, and wrote books and articles.
She also contributed regularly to a radio programme in which parents' problems and questions were discussed, and she provided a similar series in Nursery World.
Holistic development
Ms Isaacs was interested in the holistic development of young children. She considered play to be their work and she argued in particular that cognitive and emotional development are interdependent. She also believed in the importance of psychoanalysis in the study of young children, because it concerns 'the meaning of the child's experience to himself'.
It is important to return to Ms Isaacs' writings because so much of her work continues to provide challenges to our thinking and practice. My interpretation of her work leads me to the following main messages:
- observe children pursuing their own interests in real and relevant contexts
- remember you, like the children, are a learner - learn from observations
- above all, continue to be curious and to question and encourage the children whose lives you are privileged to share to be curious and to question too.
Most of her writing for practitioners draws the reader to focus on children's activities, with consequences for their teaching approaches.
I will end with Ms Isaacs' own words from The Children We Teach. 'It is the child's doing, the child's active social experience and his own thinking and talking that are the chief means of his education.'
Tricia David is Emeritus Professor of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College
Suggested reading
- Drummond, M J (2000) 'Comparisons in Early Years Education: history, fact and fiction. Early Childhood Research and Practice Vol 2 (1), spring 2000.
- Gardner, D E M (1969) Susan Isaacs. London: Methuen
- Isaacs, S (1930) Intellectual Growth in Young Children. London: Routledge
- Isaacs, S (1932) The Children We Teach. London: University of London Press
- Isaacs, S (1933) Social Development in Young Children. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
- Isaacs, S (1948) Childhood and After: some essays and critical studies. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
