TEACHERS' VIEWS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20076, 4 November 1930, Page 15

TEACHERS' VIEWS.

education report.

agricultural bias" under CRITICISM.

Members of the North Canterbury Branch of the Now Zealand Educational Institute discussed at some length last evening the report of the Recess Committee on Education in \ eW Zealand, the principal criticism voiced being directed against the pro- ' posal to give an agricultural bias to the system. Mr D. M. Shirlaw presided over a large attendance. ■i jjiss A. Finlayson said Chapter HI. which dealt with "the termination of primary education at eleven plus years of age," was in tine with the views of teachers. , Most people were in accord with the idea that compulsory education should not terminate until the child was fifteen years of age. The speaker moved that the branch express its agreement with these two proposals, and with the recommendation that "intermediate classes should form part of the education system, end that the types of schools or classes as suggested by Mr Garrard be recommended to the Government as a basis." This was seconded, by Mr J. G. Polge®, who said the motion meant approval of junior high schools. The first two proposals were unanimously approved. Mr I>. F. de Berry moved an amendment to the third as follows: That the branch approves of the system of intermediate classes, as part of the educational system, and recommends that provision be made for full exploratory courses ior all pupils between the ages of eleven plus and fifteen plut,. Mr H. F. Penlington (president of the New Zealand Institute) seconded the Amendment. Mr J. F. Wilson said that education systems could not be judged on a few months' or a year's work. They should not pledge themselves 'to a system about' which they knew noth-

s , f*ha amendment was carried almost oaanimouslv. Mr S. Prebble eaid a farmer could not be made out of a City boy and the agricultural bias should be developed in. the country schools. How to make the best use of a ouarter-acre section W greater utility in the City. | ; existed lor the develt k rfftotv-n bov-very interested in farmfSLV Dividing the Curricula. The speaker moved that the branch express its agreement with the recommendation that. prominence be given to agriculture, but only as it applied to country schools; and that it suggest that pupils in town schools be given an opportunity for assimilating .the practical knowledge suited to theii environment. The curricula should be divided into two sections. Several members expressed opinions that agriculture offered little attraction to the town boy leaving; school, and the teacher was not justified in giving such a bias. Mr de Berry said that in the prim ary schools of Denmark, the foremost agricultural country of the world, no agricultural bias was given. The nearest which the education system got to that was the inclusion in the curricula of Nature study. Mr Poison said there was no need lor them to be afraid of the Recess Committee's recommendation, as the Minister had given his assurance that they did not aim at vocational training. ... Mr Penlington asked what utility ? there war in endeavouring to -placemore people on the land and increas- j ine the efficiency of agriculture, when I ' everything the land produced was m . over-supply throughout the world. The , of the times was for population to gravitate to the towns and manufacturing industries. . , . Speaking on the.question of jtdminigtration, Mr Penlington said placing of the Department in absolute control would tend to destroy the local ! interest so essential to the success ™ the education system. He was not surprised that some of the local bodies were anxious about their future status and pSwers. The Institute believed in | a very substantial measure of local control Some of the recommendations , 'in the report could hardly be said to be in that direction. It was nigh time that there was unification of the teacning service. There wns no difference in kind, he said, between the teachers in the primary and secondary schools. '"Give toj a shed and some equipment, lie said, "and we shall find enough Iranian capacity to make the system function and flourish." The administration would not collapse. ■ Mr Penlington moved: That we rapport the committee s recommendation with regard to unification of cm* tool and of the teaching service. «« also view with pleasure the committee's reneatedly expressed opinion in favour of investing local wita increased power, but regret that these powers are not. fully set out m the

discussion on the motion vaa *4jenraed until November 17th.