Holiday Course For Homecraft Teachers

Press, Volume C, Issue 29599, 23 August 1961, Page 2

Holiday Course For Homecraft Teachers

Women who have done cooking or sewing as a job, young women in their early twenties who want to become teachers and married women with families of their own are taking special courses in homecraft teaching at present. Some of them have come from out of town, and others from Christchurch to study the practical side of this work at Christchurch Girls’ High School in the holidays. The course is being held in an effort to fill many of the vacancies for homecraft teachers in New Zealand schools and such is the demand that many of the students have already been teaching either on a full-time or part-time basis.-

“We have lecturers from throughout the South Island here,” said the lecturer in charge of the course (Miss M. B. Moore) yesterday. “We are hoping to, give the students the practical experience necessary for teaching.” The mixed class, in Miss Moore’s opinion, is well worthwhile. “The older women have a wealth of home or trade experience in the subjects and this must be of value in a classroom,” she said. “The students are learning from each other as well as studying together.” Correspondence

Till now their studies have been carried out by correspondence classes with assignments prepared and sent from Wellington. Mesdames S. E. Fogg, G. Mawdsley, and P. Smith. In addition the students have been attending a technical college for two half days each week gaining practical teaching knowledge in food and clothing subjects. Other subjects dealt with in the correspondence course include English, education, foods (practical and theory), clothing (practical and theory), nutrition, household

textiles and laundry, home management and chemistry of foods, textiles and laundry work.

At the end of the course and when they have proved themselves as competent teachers after one year in a school, the students will have gained their certificates which will give them the status of a permanent teacher. “Older women are welcomed into this work because they will possibly spend more years teaching than the younger girls who will not stay long before leaving to get married,” said Miss Moore.

To help one of the mothers in her class Miss Moore calls at her home each morning and takes her small boy to nursery school on her way to the class. Another student has two primary school children and another has four children. With 1% hours for lunch, “school” is in from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. On Saturday morning they will visit schools in Christchurch, and in the evening there will be a social gathering. Today a model lesson will be conducted, and before the year is out all the students will have taken one class in homecraft under guidance. For student homecraft teachers who have been able to enrol at Auckland or Christchurch Teachers’ Training Colleges there have been one-year courses available.