Rosa Bassett

Infobox Person
name = Rosa Bassett


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = Birth date|1871|8|9|df=yes
birth_place = Deptford, London
death_date = Death date and age|1925|12|19|1871|8|9|df=yes
death_place = London Borough of Wandsworth
nationality = British
known_for = Educationist
education =
occupation = Headmistress

Rosa Bassett, MBE (9 August 1871 – 19 December 1925)cite web |url=http://www.soniaking.info/RBSRosaBA.html |title=Rosa Bassett B.A. |accessdate=2008-01-24| last=Noble |first=Jean C |work=Rosa Bassett School Homepage] was an English educationist and headmistress of the County Secondary School, Streatham, in London.She was instrumental in the first application of the Dalton Plan of teaching within an English secondary school. She contributed a chapter to Helen Parkhurst's book on the Plan,cite book |last=Parkhurst |first=Helen |authorlink=Helen Parkhurst |title=Education On The Dalton Plan |url=http://www.archive.org/details/educationontheda028244mbp |accessdate=2007-12-01 |year=1922 |publisher=E. P. Dutton & Company |location=New York |pages=pp. 175–195] as well as writing the introduction to a book of Dalton Plan class assignments prepared by the staff within her school.cite book |last=Streatham County Secondary School for Girls | others=with an introduction by Rosa Bassett |title=Dalton Plan Assignments |year=1922 |publisher=G. Bell & Sons |location=London]

Early life

Rosa Bassett was born in Deptford, London, the daughter of an engineer's clerk. She was successful academically and obtained a BA degree from the University of London, going on to become a teacher. In 1905 she was appointed to a position as second mistress at Kingsland County Secondary School (later known as Dalston County Secondary School) in north London, at which she was seen to be a great success, and in 1906 she was made headmistress of the new Stockwell County Secondary School for Girls.cite journal |year=1979 |month=November |title=From the Balham & Tooting News and Borough of Wandsworth Chronicle, August 21 1917 |journal=The Old Grammarian |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=pp. 7–8 |url=http://www.oldgrammarians.co.uk/ |accessdate=2007-11-18 ]

Headmistress of the County Secondary School, Streatham

The school at Stockwell prospered and, in 1913, it transferred to a new site between Streatham and Tooting, becoming the County Secondary School, Streatham. Under Bassett's continued leadership the school was a success, and by 1917 was noted for its academic achievement and encouraging self-reliance and responsibility amongst its pupils.

The First World War saw Bassett's organisational skill put to good use when she was invited to help set up the processes for the recruitment and testing of new female staff at the War Office and later other parts of the Civil Service. It was her work in this area that led to her receiving the honour of MBE in 1917.LondonGazette |issue=30250 |linkeddate=1917-08-24 |startpage=8797 |supp=yes |city=London |accessdate=2008-01-24 ]

The Dalton Plan

On 27 May 1920 an article on the Dalton Plan by Belle Rennie was published in the "Times Educational Supplement", introducing the ideas of Helen Parkhurst to a British audience.cite book |last=Parkhurst |first=Helen |authorlink=Helen Parkhurst |title=Education On The Dalton Plan |url=http://www.archive.org/details/educationontheda028244mbp |accessdate=2007-12-01 |year=1922 |publisher=E. P. Dutton & Company |location=New York |pages=p. xvi] Parkhurst's view that education should move away from traditional, rigid, class-based teaching and allow for teaching to be adjusted to the pace of each individual childcite book |last=Dewey |first=Evelyn |title=The Dalton Laboratory Plan |url=http://www.archive.org/details/daltonlaboratory00deweiala |accessdate=2007-12-01 |year=1922 |publisher=E. P. Dutton & Company |location=New York |pages=pp. 1–21] clearly aligned with those of Bassett, as within a month Bassett had started a small-scale trial using the Plan at the school with a group of pupils who had already completed their university entrance examinations. The results were deemed a success, and the full-scale use of the Plan within Streatham County Secondary School was phased-in over the 1920–1921 academic year.cite book |last=Dewey |first=Evelyn |title=The Dalton Laboratory Plan |url=http://www.archive.org/details/daltonlaboratory00deweiala |accessdate=2007-12-01 |year=1922 |publisher=E. P. Dutton & Company |location=New York |pages=pp. 93–107]

Rosa Bassett's support of the Dalton Plan was considerable, and she wrote about the school's introduction of the Plan for "The Times", which was reprinted as a chapter within Parkhurst's book. Bassett supported Parkhust's visit to England in 1921 by opening the school to visitors who wished to see the Plan in practice. A two-volume set of Dalton Plan assignments covering English, Geography, History, Mathematics and Science, prepared by the staff of the school with an introduction by Bassett, was published in 1922.

In 1921 Bassett was given leave of absence from the school so that she could visit America to see the operation of the Dalton Plan there.cite journal |last=Major-Stevenson |first=Irene C. |year=1978 |month=November |title=The Rosa Bassett School |journal=The Old Grammarian |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=pp. 9–10 |url=http://www.oldgrammarians.co.uk/ |accessdate=2007-11-18 ] She also lectured in New York on the experience learned while introducing the Plan in England, donating her fees to the Dalton Association to support further visits of teachers to America.cite web |url=http://www.soniaking.info/RBSHistory.html |title=Rosa Bassett School History |accessdate=2007-12-02 |last=Buser |first=Marguerite |coauthors=Zehra Khan, Julie Sadler|year=1966–1977 |work=The Pimpernel]

Rosa Bassett's legacy

Rosa Bassett's career was cut short by her early death in 1925, resulting from a fall on an icy pavement, however the school continued to apply many of the principles of the Plan in the years that followed. The County Secondary School, Streatham was renamed Rosa Bassett School in 1951, in honour of its first headmistress.cite web |url=http://www.soniaking.info/RBSDalton.html |title=The Dalton Plan |accessdate=2007-12-02 |last=Gillies |first=L. |year=1977 |work=The Pimpernel 1977]

References

External links

* [http://www.soniaking.info/RBSHome.html Rosa Bassett School – A Tribute Website by Sonia King]

Persondata
NAME = Bassett, Rosa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Headmistress and educationist
DATE OF BIRTH = 9 August 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH = Deptford, London
DATE OF DEATH = 19 December 1925
PLACE OF DEATH = London Borough of Wandsworth, London