SCRIPTURE IN SCHOOLS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27075, 25 June 1953, Page 8

SCRIPTURE IN SCHOOLS

SURVEY OF NEEDS PLANNED EDUCATION BOARD GIVES AUTHORITY To ascertain means of assisting religious instruction in . primary schools, Mr Howard Mackie, a retired headmaster who is secretary of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Council of Christian Education, has been granted permission by the Canterbury Education Board to visit schools, subject to the consent of individual committees. Religious instruction in the schools is conducted under the approved “Nelson system,” under which one period a week is set aside when ministers and others may give scripture lessons, at which attendance is voluntary. The New Zealand Council of Christian Education has prepared a tentative national syllabus under which it is hoped that uniform and graded lessons may be given through all primary school classes and throughout the Dominion, in line with sound teaching practice. Mr Mackie’s mission is to ascertain the extent to which this scheme is being used and to find out from ministers and others helping what improvements may be made in a revised syllabus. Three or four years ago the Canterbury council made a survey of most schools in its district, and found that 80 per cent, of the scripture lessons were being given by ministers, and the others by lay helpers. In country areas where ministers have to cover wide districts some difficulties were found in arranging for scripture teachers. Coarse for Instructors To meet this need, a course was inaugurated in Christchurch this year by the district council to equip teacher trainees and others to help with scripture lessons where they are willing. A total of 46 Teachers’ College students and about 24 others are taking lectures voluntarily. The programme is spread over two years with halfyearly study courses, the first of which is now concluding. The Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Council of Christian Education hopes to provide a better service as a result of these developments. In Otago and Southland, such work is much more advanced. Each province has a full-time officer of the Council of Christian Education who, two years ago, made a complete survey of all schools and have since provided an effective service of visual aids (film strips, pictures, and films) for use in school scripture lessons. By securing approval of a national syllabus, the New Zealand Council of Christian Education hopes that there will be sufficient stability in the content of lessons to warrant the preparation of supplementary material on a Dominion-wide basis. These are some of the questions which Mr Mackie intends to discuss with headmasters, ministers, and others concerned with school scripture