CHANGES PROPOSED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 101, 1 May 1945, Page 3

CHANGES PROPOSED

EDUCATION SYSTEM

SECONDARY SCHOOLS' WORK

P.A. WELLINGTON, Monday. The Minister of Education, Mr. Mason, said to-day that he intends shortly to introduce regulations governing free places in secondary schools and the syllabus for the school certificate examination. Two developments had made necessary some changes in the post-primary curriculum.

"In the first place there has been for many years a steady increase in the number of children going on to secondary education, culminating in the raising of the school leaving age to 15 years," he said. "This means that the post-primary schools now have to adapt their curricula to the varied needs of nearly 100 per cent of the population—non-academic as well as academic.

"Secondly, the university, by adopting a system of accrediting,' has freed the schools in large measure from the domination of the university entrance examination and enabled them to carry out effectively their double function of preparing a minority of their pupils for university studies and the majority for immediate participation in the world of industry and commerce. The immediate practical effect of the university's action will be to make the school certificate examination replace the old 'matriculation' as a measure of satisfactory secondary education for the purposes of pupils' emplo3'ers who are not concerned with a university degree."

The Committee's Report Referring to the report of the consultative committee on the postprimary curriculum, Mr, Mason said there seemed to be among educationists such widespread agreement on the general principles of the report, in spite of a few differences on detailed points, that he had no hesitation in adopting the fundamental scheme recommended by the committee and embodying it in draft regulations. These regulations followed the report of the committee by providing for a "common core" of English, elementary mathematics, general science, social studies, physical education, music, arts and crafts, which all pupils would take, but which would be examined by the school itself. The committee's scheme had been modified, however, by permitting organised games to take up some of the time allotted to physical education and by permitting schools not yet ready to meet the demands in music, art and crafts to substitute for them an extra optional subject for the external examination. Candidates for the school certificate, besides taking "common core" subjects would present themselves for an external examination in English and three other subjects. These optional subjects were the ones set out in the committee's report and were such as to allow a wide range of choice for children with different interests and abilities, practical as well as academic. Although he felt that the fullest opportunity had already been given for criticism and discussion, Mr. Mason said that rather than appear to be rushing matters he had had copies of the draft regulations sent to teachers' organisations and other professional bodies likely to be interested in the details of the syllabuses. He proposed to wait at least a month before proceeding further with the regulations. After that they would be gazetted as soon as possible, so that they could become operative at the beginning of 1946. He was convinced they represented one of the most important and beneficial changes ever introduced into secondary education in New Zealand.