THE SUMMER SCHOOL IN NEW ZEALAND.

By Edith Seakle Grossmann, M.A.

This is the second year that the Summer School has made its appearance in our colony, and there is a good prospect of its becoming a permanent institution. Wanganui led the way ]ast year, and now Auckland has gathered together over 300 enthusiasts who are giving up a fortnight of their annual holiday in order to attend lectures and model lessons. The big educational movement of which summer schools and university extension forms a part had its obscure and lowly birth some 30 years ago in a Methodist camp meeting. Two gentlemen who were atfendmg the Chautaugua Lake camp meeting in 1874 first organised out-of-door classes for Bible study on scientific principles. Other associations followed the example, and in 18 f 8 the famous Chautaugua Literary and Scientific Circle was formed. The original" scheme had by this time widened out, and included a series of lectures on history, astronomy, physical science, and philosophy. The "association now justly claims to be "the largest institution in the world for higher education." It has spread out in various ijranches, and has under it 15 summer schools, a large correspondence school, monthly periodicals, educational books, and extension lectures. The Literary and Scientific Circle alone has 25,000 members. These are not all teachers, but include large numbers of clerks, ministers, farmers, dressmakers, nurses, and, indeed, people of nearly every class. The movement has spread through other centres of America to England and Scotland, and to the Continent. Summer classes are now held in English cities. The London authorities pay not only the railway fare, but also £1 a week for board and^odging. In order to exclude anyone whose object is merely a cheap holiday, every member has to give written notice that he or she will be delivering a course of lessons in the subject taken up at the schooi. University vacation lectures are given in Cambridge, Oxford.^and Edinburgh. In Sweden there is a summer school for the practise of sloyd ; in Leipzig another for technical instruction ; and in other Continental cities others are opened for teaching modern languages. Our neighbours over the water have had summer schools for the last three years, and the Argus, in a recent article, claimed that owing to them no country in the world except the United States had made greater strides in educational capacity than Victoria. Now the institution has reached our shores. It was only natural that it should originate in "the roadless north." The members most urgently in need of its aid will always be the teachers who come from isolated country townships and settlements, and who, in the course of years, fall quite behind the march of progress. Now, there is much more of this isolatibn in the north than in the south, and, besides, neither Auckland nor Wellington has any Normal School, like those of C'luistchiuch and Dunedin, where teachers can be specially trained for their task.

The Auckland Summer School has lasted a fortnight. Its meetings have been held in the Choral Hall, whose tiers of seats have been crowded, morning and evening, with members from all over the Auckland province and a sprinkling of visitors from Taranaki and the other provinces, as far south as Otago. Here could be seen teachers of all ages, eager and alert for new ideas and new information ; freshfaced girls barely out of their leens ; workers in the prime of life, a little nerveworn and stiained with years of effort ; and a few veterans, the surviving fittest, the venerable grandfathers and grandmothers of the tribe. No outsider could fail to be struck with the real enthusiasm and earnest purpose visible amongst the whole mass. What other body of workers Avoii'd be so eager to sacrifice nearly half their holidays for the purpose of improving themselves in their work without any prospect of bettering their own position? Born teachers love their profession as an artist loves liis art. All their ambition, their pleasure, their duty centre 'a it, and if the circle seems at first sigct a narrow one, we must remember what an. immense work it is they have in hand. The modern teacher takes over half the responsibilities of parents in training the young. But there is no reason why amusement should not be combined with instruction, and I for on-i should like to see some social entertainments provided for the leisure hours of the visitors, where all could be brought together tor pleasant conversation and recreation. Summer schools raise the teachin!7 profession by making its members feel they belong to an honourable body of the community, by bringing the young and inexperienced into contact with the worthiest and best, and also by craating an esprit de corps. This year all attending havi? been granted free railway passes, but there the Government assistance ston«. Ihey pay their own expenses and als-o a small entrance fee. At the conclusion of the course certificates of attendance are issued.

The opportunities have been eagerly embraced, and more have applied than could be ieceived. The committee, consisting partly of the head masteis of Auckland primary schools, partly of members of the board, have secured the services of Miss Eva Hooper, who has great educational experience, and has been at Naas, in Sweden, at Leipzig, and Jena, in Germany, and whe at present holds the position of organise! in "the public kindergartens of Victoria. Miss Hooper gave most interesting model lessons in kindergarten and brushwork. Voluntary lectures on Nature study were given by the chief inspector, Mr Petrie, and by Mr Mulgan. A typical lecture was that on "The Succession of Life as Revealed by Geological Conditions. ' tracing the growth and development of life as shown by. the rocks the remains of ancient monsters and extinct anima's. Many of the organising committee have

given up the whole of their vacation to preparing for the meetings.

This year's experiment originated in a suggestion of Mr Mackenzie, a country teacher of Kohukohu, who has earned the title of '"the educationalist of rhe north." Great assistance was also given by MiGeorge, the new master of the -Technical College, who has just arrived from England, and is familiar with the methods of the summer school there. Outside the lecture room there has been on view an exhibition of classical and modern text works on education, a valuable Australian edition of Webster's Dictionary strictly up to date, appliances for kindergarten and technical instruction, plasticene in all its various uses from the modelling of tha outlines of the earth down to clay fruits. There are also exhibited modelling tools, relief mops, and various scientific implements.

This has been only a partial attempt. Henceforth it is hoped the Summer School will take a much wider range, and become not a provincial but a national institution. » Mr George's scheme is to have members from all over the colony — a certain number selected by each board — to meet one ye-ir in one centre, another in another. So far the instruction has been confined to kindergarten and technical subjects, science, and drill, but the .New Zealand School should include all the most important branches of education. Instead of the presenL miscellaneous classes, wbich can only give a smattering of knowledge, there should bo a series of lectures on different subjects going on simultaneously in different rooms. Members should state which subjects they will take up, and should devote their time to them. In this way they will get real good, and will go back to work with fresh interest and fresh knowledge. New Zealand must not lag behind the rest of the world in this matter. Its teaching staff deserves every encouragement. There may be wank members, but taken as a whole, it is a grand body of conscientious men and women, whose daily round of work is — as it should be with all of vs — their ohosen mission in life.