TRAINING OF PLUMBERS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28530, 8 March 1958, Page 12

TRAINING OF PLUMBERS

Trade Journal Criticised

A leading article in the New Zealand Plumbers’ Association’s journal, criticising the present system of daylight training of apprentice plumbers in technical centres, was a “shocking piece of nonsense, written by someone who knows nothing whatsoever,” said the principal of the Christchurch Technical College (Mr D. W. Lyall) at a meeting of the board of managers of the college last evening. The article was a sequel to a published report of the examiner who suggested that the -main reason for poor results was bad teaching. “We can no longer stand by and watch a struggling daylight training scheme muddling around, trying to prepare our apprentices for final examination,” the article said. “Conference declared itself to be in favour of the principle .of daylight training. In the early years after its inception we agreed to suffer it, and now for years we have opposed it in its present chaotic form- We saw the drift years ago . . . and predicted the shocking results.” The Education Department had never seriously concerned itself with the training of plumbing instructors, the article said. Board’s System Mr Lyall said that sections of the examiner’s report had been published in daily newspapers. He said that the „ reason for the poor response to the examinations could well be the fault of the Plumbers’ Examination Board and its system of examinirig apprentices, especially when a similar examination conducted by a different body had shown good results from the same class of boys. “The editorial is ill-informed, ill-considered —in fact it is the worst thing I have seen come out of the industry. It is a direct slight on many very capable teachers, and any suggestion that the fault lies entirely with teachers is untrue,” said Mr Lyall. Reply to be Made “Something is going to be done about this editorial. The writer uses a lot of phrases he has got somewhere from a book. I had to restrain my plumbing instructor from writing a reply to an earlier article because he would have made enemies in the trade; but I am going to reply. I’m going home to find* a bottle of acid in which to dip my pen,” he added.

Mr K. A. White, a plumber, who is a member of the* board, said that many excellent tradesmen who were teaching apprentices were not trained as teachers. “Since daylight training has come into effect we have only had two or three refresher courses,” he said. ‘‘lf the Education Department could be urged to train these people as teachers of apprentices we would get better results.”