Education Conference

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26117, 20 May 1950, Page 6

Education Conference

Chairmen of education boards, will have an unusual opportunity of helping to shape education policy when they confer with the Minister (Mr Algie) next week. The possibility of decentralising administration apparently heads the agenda, a summary of which was printed yesterday; and the chairmen of the boards should be able to give Mr Algie some useful opinions based on their experience. But it will be a pity if the conference is so preoccupied with administration that it has little time to i give to fundamental questions of I education policy—character build- I ing. work and play in teaching ’ method, the effect of frequent staff , changes, and the role of intermedi-' ate schools, to mention only a few. 1 The conference will have the oppor-

tunity, in discussing these matters* to emphasise that the interests of the children, New Zealand’s future citizens, must come first. It is usually taken for granted that in an education system the interests of the children come first—far ahead of all others—and that administrators and teachers as a matter of course give first consideration to the interests of the children. Unfortunately the assumption is not always justified. It is obvious that ' everything possible should be done ' to ensure that teachers work in' conditions in. which they can do I their best—not because that is the teachers’ right, but because it is ; the children’s right. More and better-equipped teachers and more! and better classrooms are needed not for the advantage of teachers or for the gratification of ..education boards, but to give the children the sort of education they should have.' In coming to its conclusions, the conference should keep in mind the fundamental importance of giving j every child the widest possible education, not only to fit him to I make a living, but also to ensure his welfare and well-being in the I living he makes. The Minister, no doubt, is fully conscious of these , considerations; but the education ' organisation is so big that every--1 body in it needs to be reminded, ' occasionally, of its real aims. ,