CANDIDATES FOR TEACHING

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22073, 22 April 1937, Page 8

CANDIDATES FOR TEACHING

i"TOO MANY MISFITS" OTAGO EDUCATION BOARD'S CONCERN [THE PRESS Special Servtce.l DUNEDIN, April 21. A suggestion that a good number of the candidates commg_ forward for admission to the Dunedin Tracing College were not really suited £? the teaching Profession was made bv several speakers at a meetSf of ?he eV Otago P Education^rd It was contended by .one member that restoring the pupil teacher system would'have a valuable effect in ?£& persons unsuitably.for teaching to be discovered in time^ The discussion.arose, from the re port of a committee for.the selec Sn of training college which recommended that the heaos of high schools and district . high schools should be communicated with and asked not to encourage young people to prepare themselves Lr the P teachingprofessionunless they were entirely suitable. Greater attention should paid to the speech of applicants, the . stated, particularly to that of boys where there was a tendency to speak through closed teeth. Mr D. T ; . Fleming: I think there is a tendency for teachers Jo prepare pupils who.are not suitable. . Mr W. M. Cooper: That is right. There are far too.many misfits in the teaching profession. Mr Fleming* said he ered that the fault lay in not trying out young teachers as was the practice some years ago. Some of them were quite good academically but did not possess an aptitude for teaching work. , ' «,« Mr H. Colquhoun expressed the opinion that it would be desirable to have the pupil teacher system reintroduced. ■■ It was decided to follow the recommendation of the committee.