Proposals On Training Of Teachers Put To Inquiry

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29315, 21 September 1960, Page 7

Proposals On Training Of Teachers Put To Inquiry

(Neu? Zealand Press Association)

HAMILTON, Sept. 20. “The main functions which a child of present-day New Zealand society must prepare himself to perform remain basically the same as those necessary for previous generations. However, the social, economic, political, and ethical conditions of society within which he must perform these functions have altered and are continuing to alter,” said Mr J. S. Allan, principal of the Hamilton Teachers’ College, today in submissions to the Commission on Education. “These changes suggest a need for a reassessment of the kinds of preparation we provide for our children to enable them more effectively to perform their necessary functions in the face of changing circumstances.” He suggested that the place of teacher education within the education system should be clearly defined, and that salaries offered for positions in teachers’ colleges should be such as to attract the ablest people. He considered the ratio of staff to students should be changed to one in 12, and that staffs be granted facilities for sabbatical study and research leave. Another recommendation was that teacher training for both primary and secondary teachers should be carried on within the one type of institution, and that

the length of training for intending primary teachers be extended to three years at least. After dealing with recommendations concerning the qualifications of teachers and quotas required and for adequate buildings and facilities, especially library facilities, Mr Allan recommended that an independent board should be established to control each teachers’ college, and that such boards be responsible directly to the Minister of Education, He also recommended that the control and guidance of teacher trainees in their probationary year should be the responsibility of the teachers’ colleges, in cooperation with the headmasters, and that additional staffing should be made available to teachers’ training colleges for this work. “I believe we have in education a powerful means for helping present and future generations of New Zealand children to develop their talents and powers to the point where they may deal constructively with the rapidly changing problems of our age,” said Mr Allan. “But if these children are to make effective use of this means for change they must be trained to use it with skill, imagination, and convictton. The people charged with the major share of the preparation are the teachers.”