INSTRUCTION IN RELIGION

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27011, 10 April 1953, Page 11

INSTRUCTION IN RELIGION

Course For Students At Training College MORE THAN 100 RESPOND TO APPEAL More than 100 new students at the Christchurch Teachers’ Training College have applied- for training as teachers of religion. They will undergo a course of instruction spread over two years. This is the outcome of an appeal to 400 new students by the Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. Martin Sullivan) that future teachers should give Bible instruction in State schools. The Dean told the students that he was addressing them on behalf of the New Zealand Council of Religious Education, a new body sponsored by the National Council of Churches. Up to the present the majority of. instructors in religion at the schools had been ministers or lay assistants. Although they might have a thorough knowledge of the Bible, they were not always well trained in methods of teaching children. There, were also some who, although able teachers, lack an adequate knowledge of the Bible. The proposed course would give those who took part an understanding of the Bible and its application in the present age. By taking their own classes for the week’s scripture period the teachers trained under the proposed course would be playing a worthy part in the spiritual development of the nation. “It’s essential that you realise I am not attacking the secular system,” the Dean told the students. r ‘l acknowledge its unquestionable advantages. The educational system in our country receives the high praise which it deserves.”

At the conclusion of the course the successful students will be awarded® ‘certificate of proficiency.” The course covers a wide field. It includes the books of the Old and New Testaments, Church history, and Christian doctrine. Lectures during 1953 will be given by the master of College House, the Rev. M. Peaston, and the vice-prmcipal, the Rev. D. M. Taylor. Next year’s lectures will be given by « Far{ iuhar Gunn and the Rev. M. Wilson, of the Presbyterian Church.