TRAINING OF TRADESMEN

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 4

TRAINING OF TRADESMEN

♦ TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM TO BE REPLACED (FEOM OUE OWN CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, December 15. Important developments in technical education in New South Wales will follow the return of the Minister for Education (Mr Drummond) from a world tour. The State Government proposes to spend about £1,000,000 on technical education this financial year, including a new college at Newcastle and additions to the metropolitan college at Ultimo. In future technical education policy will aim at the complete training of skilled tradesmen, and this will ultimately take the place of the apprenticeship system. If the co-operation of the unions can be secured, tradesmen in future will go straight to their jobs from the colleges, instead of serving years learning their trade under employers. This is a development which the Minister studied in England, Europe, and America, and which he is satisfied will prove to be the solution of many industrial problems. “In technical education we are very much behind other parts of the world in organisation and equipment,” said Mr Drummond in an interview. “In other places they provide day school courses in skilled trades for youths between 14 and 18, and this is a sign that the old apprenticeship system is being cast into the discard. There is a tremendous demand for highly skilled workmen, and semi-scientists in industry, and we must seek to supply these.” Another development which Mr Drummond is keen to introduce is an enlargement of the domestic science courses now available. To this end he will seek to increase the facilities for this study at the university. The New South Wales primary education system, he said, compared favourably with the best in the world, and the domestic science courses at state primary schools were the best in , the world.