PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 209, 5 September 1938, Page 12

PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS.

REVISED TIME-TABLES.

MAKING TTSE OF MUSEUMS.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.

WELLINGTON, Saturday.

• One interesting development in some . schools recently, says Dr. J. W. Mcll- • raith, Chief Inspector of Primary . Schools, in his annual report, has been the suspension of the ordinary timetable for one afternoon each week, or for an hour a day, to allow for the regrouping of the pupils, not according to standards, but to the inclinations of] the pupils. Thus, on such occasions, a i school may reform itself into classes or clubs, each devoted to some pursuit, such as the study ami practice of literaiture, drama, art mid crafts, popular science and music. Ajrait from the gain to the pupil, this system offers distinct inducement* to the teachers to make themselves specialists in some subject. A further enrichment of the school curriculum will be possible next year through the recent appointment of a! museum educational officer to each of the four Training Colleges. The salaries of these officers will be provided partly by the Carnegie Corporation of New York a n<l partly l.y the Education Department. It will be the duty of i these officers to reveal to college stiidente fliid teachers the educational value of a museum, to arrange specimens for exhibition in the schools, to conduct pupils through the museums, and generally to eneure that the museums 'become, as far as children are concerned, a department of the school itself. Thus it is hoped to get an organised and rapid extension of work that has been slowly developing for some years in the education system.