Committees' Views Sought On Education Controversy

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28250, 11 April 1957, Page 12

Committees' Views Sought On Education Controversy

Newspaper correspondence and recent public discussion in Christchurch of modern methods of education prompted a brief debate at the Canterbury School Committees’ Association meeting last : evening and it is possible that, after the school committee elections on Monday, the association will invite newly-elected delegates to give considered opinions. What was the association’s attitude in the present controversy? asked Mr R. K. Milne (Wharenui). “We represent an important branch of the community and we are the only body officially representing householders to be recognised by the Canterbury Education Board and, through the board, by the Education Department and the Minister of Education,” he said.

“We should have an opinionUon these matters,” said Mr MiEtr. It was vital that delegates shotw’ have a good look at all sides tithe argument and then decicr whether they were prepared . debate the issue. i “We know what we want fo\ our children, personally, but wha do committees feel?” asked M. Milne. The Minister of Educatior (Mr R. M. Algie) this week had suggested that parents should work through • their parent-; teacher associations. But had the? powerful body of school committees been forgotten? Safeguards for Parents

The question had been askec before in the association whethei parents’ interests were adequately safeguarded, said Mr A. J Mouat (Burnside). The curriculum was governed by regulation and did not come before Parliament. Recent criticism had not been strategic. It was not right to criticise the profession. If there were faults they should be properly traced to the curriculum

“We hand over to the Education Department almost unlimited powers to handle much of our public property, our finances, and even our own children,” said Mr Mouat. Discussion by the association would be useful whatever the outcome.

Mrs M. E. Holland (Fendalton) said she doubted whether methods of teaching were the province of the association. She thought the Education Act clearly classed committees’ responsibilities as administrative., “I feel that if we hold a debate here we may get far astray from the crux of the question and that we would need to be very well informed,” Mrs Holland said. Methods in New Zealand now had world-wide usage. But other countries, notably Sweden, had adjusted their economic arrangements to allow smaller classes, she said. Smaller Classes “Our task is to see that we get smaller classes,” Mrs Holland said. When she started teaching, her first class was 60. For efficient group teaching the number should be 20; at the absolute maximum 25.

“I don’t know whether I am for or against the new methods, because they have not been given a fair trial here,” Mrs Holland said. “But I do deplore some recent remarks discrediting the honest efforts of P.T.A.’s to get together with teachers for the good of the children. At the same time I take my hat off to the teachers who are trying to teach large classes of 40 and 50 in which there are children of widely differen abilities. It is an impossible task.”

Teachers should not be criticised for trying to meet the wishes of the department, she said. They were only human and when an inspector came to evaluate their work it was only natural that they should attempt to show what the department wanted. Mr Milne said he had not implied any criticism in raising the issue. The association might want to protect teachers from criticism. He simply thought the association ought to have an opinion. Mr D. G. Becker (Templeton) said the headmaster there had to teach 48 children ranging through standard 111 to form II in one room. And the condition of the school could be judged from the fact that a committee member recently “went clean through the floor.”

The Education Board had promised to cover the whole floor with three-ply. Major repairs were declined as long ago as 1944 because the school was due for replacement, he said.