Primary Schools’ Curriculum Change

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30219, 26 August 1963, Page 13

Primary Schools’ Curriculum Change

(New Zealand °ress Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, August 25. Mathematics, science and a foreign language were to be introduced into primary schools at Form I and II level, said the Director of Education (Mr A. E. Campbell) today.

Mr Campbell was speaking at the annual conference of the parent-teacher movement

This move involved many problems, he said. One of the biggest would be to find sufficient teachers to take part in the scheme.

The introduction would not be drastic. The Education Department realised that younger children had a different approach to subjects. The Commission on Education said the difference between primary and secondary education should not be regarded as a horizontal break. Rather, it should be regarded as an inclined plane. It was proposed that the science taught would put some children on the path to technological professions. Simple apparatus would be used and the work would not be all new.

“I do not want you to think we are disregarding

nature study,” said Mr Campbell. “It is just that we are reaching out to provide a broader field in which to advance.”

The new work in mathematics would be built on the basis of arithmetic, he said. By introducing the subject earlier it was hoped to clarify the various processes. It was well known that in the past many pupils did not know what they were doing when learning mathematics at secondary school. Teaching foreign languages offered new prospects. There had been many advances made in this field since World War H.

Unhappily, there were few teachers who could speak languages properly. However, skilfully - designed courses from Britain, France and the United States were available and the new system offered great possibilities.

Evidence from schools overseas showed it was possible to gain a command of a spoken language at an early age even before form 1 and form 2 level However, the department wanted to walk before it ran, and would be happy just to get the system started in these forms.

It was not intended to put all this material before pupils notable to absorb it. It would be tempered according to the pupil's ability. The idea was to co-ordinate the schooling process from form 1 to form IV. It was a step towards the ideal of offering pupils a challenge and realistic goals, said Mr Campbell.