Administration Of Kindergarten Teacher Colleges

Press, Volume C, Issue 29633, 2 October 1961, Page 2

Administration Of Kindergarten Teacher Colleges

The New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union has approached the Education Department to take over the administration of its kindergarten teacher colleges, and the move will be discussed at the union’s conference to be held in Christchurch this week.

The president of the union (Mrs H. Downer) said, when she arrived from Rotorua yesterday, that the responsibility of dealing with the educational programme of students had become increasingly difficult for a voluntary service.

Support for the kindergarten movement eame more and more from parentl of children attending kindergarten. They raised funds for erecting kindergartens, equipping them and maintaining them. But they had neither the time nor the wish to extend their leng’h at service to kindergarten associations after their children moved on to primary school Their interests naturally moved with their children to paren’-teacher associations. school committees and similar organisations. “Parents have done an excellent job for kindergarten work. The fact that we have 207 permanent kindergarten buildings in New Zealand is ample evidence." Mrs Downer said. But the responsibility for administering kindergarten teacher-training was expecting too much of parents. Teacher Shortage The kindergarten union was meeting the same problems as all other educational services in New Zealand and Australia—the demands of expansion at a time when there was a dearth of trained teachers, she said.

Because the jieratatant public demand for pre-school services could not be met satisfactorily by an inadequate supply of trained personnel there was an urgent need for active recruitment of suitable students as well as encouragement for women with the right qualifications to return to the work as soon as they were free to do so. In Australia recently, Mrs Downer visited two kinder-

garten teacher colleges which held refresher courses in night classes for infant teachers who wanted to do preschool work. The approach to the Education Department only applies to the administration of kindergarten teacher colleges. Voluntary Service “The union is most anxious that its valuable voluntary service in administering kindergartens should be retained. This is the movement's life blood. But the administration of the educational programme of training kindergarten teachers is another matter,” she said. Mrs Downer will report to the union’s conference on the Australian Pre-School Association’s conference which she attended recently in Hobart.

“The way in which preschool work in Australia is co-ordinated by one association is something New Zealand could well consider and copy,” she said. “The kindergarten union and the New Zealand Federation of Play Centres have been exploring the possibilities of establishing a similar body and the matter will be discussed at the union’s conference.”

During conference sessions the kindergarten union will discuss the need for a realistic review of the kindergarten teacher salary scale. It will also consider further ways in which the administration of kindergartens can be strengthened by the amalgamation of individual associations into district associations. Mrs Downer said she was

very pleased to learn that the Christchurch Free Kindergarten Association had enforced the rule that parents must take full responsibility for their children outside kindergarten gates.

“The whole value of kindergarten services depends on a good parent-teacher-child relationship. Any practices developed, which undermine a child’s security and his faith in his home or his teacher, are completely at variance with the philosophy behind pre-school education,” Mrs Downer said.