Mrs. Kay has a lot of positive qualities – she seems to have limitless patience. She answers Carol’s repeated questions about the trip, with tolerance and tries not to lose her temper with Mr. Briggs when he interferes in her organisation of the trip. She is good at handling people – she gets Ronnie, the bus driver “on side” and she can diffuse arguments with Mr. Briggs with humour and reasoning.
Mrs. Kay is not afraid of physical contact with the pupils: she holds hands, puts her arm round them and cuddles them when they need it, just as a mother would. She also listens to them and respects them and they tend to respond to this and are more likely to behave.
However she does upset the likes of Mr. Briggs because he feels she does not discipline the pupils, allowing so much freedom that they bring the school into disrepute when they run wild and steal sweets and animals.
MR. BRIGGS
Mr. Briggs is almost the perfect contrast for Mrs. Kay. He is a traditional teacher of the “old school”, with rigorous views of discipline, standards, uniform, appropriate behaviour and hard work. He is not used to dealing with pupils in the Progress Class and does not really know how to cope with them. He does not treat them as human beings, he simply expects high standards of behaviour. He tells them to sit quietly on the bus, to line up outside the shop and to walk round the castle in organised groups. His day out would be planned like a military operation, with no chance to change the arrangements and no opportunity for the pupils to have some responsibility.
Unlike Mrs. Kay, Mr. Briggs makes no allowances for the pupils’, ability or background. He does not consider the home life these children have, telling Digga and Reilly about the docks and ignoring the information that Reilly’s father hates his job. Carol Chandler notices the way he looks at her and the other less able pupils in the school. He seems to dislike the children who do not conform to what he sees as his expectations of behaviour and academic success. In scene thirty five, when Carol is on the cliff top, it is clear that Mr. Briggs is totally out of touch with Carol and children like her, telling her he’ll not put up with “a pile of silliness from the likes of you.” He is not used to being challenged by children like Carol whom he simply expects will do as he says.
Mr. Briggs is an idealist, believing that a day out must be totally planned and organised in terms of what the children learn. He will not tolerate any indiscipline or spontaneity. He is a disciplinarian and that is why the headteacher wants him on the trip. He also expects education will not change – that the brighter children work hard, get qualifications and go on to college or good jobs and the less able get through school, struggle to get qualifications and end up in a factory.
However we do see some changes in Mr. Briggs during the day out. At the zoo he begins to see the children showing some interest in the animals and actually starts to plan some lessons when they return to school, although he does regret beginning to trust them when they “borrow” some of the animals. A more tolerant Mr. Briggs is seen once he speaks to Carol on the cliff top and he actually suggests the visit to the fair when he seems to relax and enjoy himself. But the change is short-lived and as the bus returns to Liverpool, we see Mr. Briggs deliberately exposing the film of the day out which is a record of his relationship with the Progress class.
Mr. Briggs could be seen as a good teacher because he has consistently high expectations of all pupils; he expects and gets good discipline and he plans learning experiences. But his attitudes are rigid; he is out of touch with his pupils and their lives and he seems arrogant and disinterested when he is dealing with children like the Progress Class.
CAROL CHANDLER
Carol is an important character because she symbolises the most deprived of the children in the Progress Class. She is excited about the trip, has no real knowledge of where she is going but has an idea, perhaps from television, that there is a better environment outwith her own. She is one of the least able pupils, unable to master basic literacy, has little chance of acquiring qualifications and has a bleak future. She lacks confidence, clings to Mrs. Kay for support, is so overwhelmed by the experience of the day out that she cannot face it ending, thinks the lake is the sea and that the coach will have to use a ferry to get to Wales which is actually an hour’s coach journey.
What Carol wants from life is simple: she wants to live in a “nice house” with a garden. She wants what a lot of people take for granted. Her outlook on life seems bleak because she thinks nobody will give anything to people like her because they do not take care of it and she understands that she cannot simply work hard, get a good job and move to Wales – as suggested by Mr. Briggs- because it will just not happen.
In the conversation with Mr. Briggs, Carol recognises that if he had been her father, her life would have been different. She is a victim in the play and Willy Russell obviously wants to show his sympathy for her. It is clear that Carol character is one of the ways Russell reveals his theme.
COLIN and SUSAN
Colin and Susan are two young teachers who are full of enthusiasm for the job. They represent the future of education and offer some hope for the pupils of the Progress Class. Like Mrs. Kay, they seem to be on the side of the pupils and try to relate to them as people. Although they can relate to the children because they are probably not much older than them, their lives and experiences are very different. They are educated professionals with job security and this is something that the Progress Class will not achieve. They are also supporters of Mrs. Kay, so it seems clear that Russell wants us to sympathise with their view of teaching.
PUPILS IN THE PROGRESS CLASS
All the children come from deprived backgrounds – most have fathers who have left home and money is a problem. Pupils like Brian Reilly have learned to read and write but have few prospects of getting a job. Reilly also knows that he could never offer anything to someone like Susan, just as Linda knows “Sir” is unobtainable. Some pupils are lively, outspoken and cheeky, able to speak up for themselves but generally their future prospects are limited. Their attitudes, experiences and backgrounds help to reveal Willy Russell’s central concern.