Headmaster Urges Junior Colleges

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31041, 22 April 1966, Page 12

Headmaster Urges Junior Colleges

Form I to Form VI high schools were not the answer to the present problems facing secondary education in New Zealand, the headmaster of Shirley Boys’ High School (Mr C. V. Gallagher) told the school’s board of governors last evening. He said that a whole new philosophy was needed, and the approach to higher learning needed to be completely reorganised.

Mr Gallagher had been asked for his opinion of the grading of secondary schools on the strength of their sixth form.

“There will have to be big -'■hanges.” he said. “The whole problem of staffing, leaving age, university requirements, and the teaching standards of our high schools needs a thorough investigation.

“We need to take a fresh look at the level of attainment we aim to reach in high school. Our present system of schools, with pupils from Form 111 to upper sixth does not provide a homogeneous society. Pupils in the upper sixth are much more mature than we were. Many of them, especially the girls, are too old. “What is needed is an intermediate step between high school and the university. The establishment of junior colleges would provide the answer. Younger At Top “The establishment of these colleges would take the cream of our upper school, and bring them together in one central point. It wouldn’t necessarily mean that we would lose the top of our school; it would just mean that the top would then be a younger age group. “Many of our good pupils are not doing the courses they should. They are not availing themselves of the opportunities of higher education. A sixth form education is often taken only because of the financial help it can provide for university. Mr Gallagher said the colleges would be easy to establish in the main centres. They would be a tremendous advantage for country pupils, too, who would be able to do a course for one or two years at such a college before going on to university. “This is something which should be done,” he said. “It would help with staffing difficulties in schools, and take a good deal of the load from stage one at universities. “At present, our best pupils are going straight to stage two at the university. They could be spending their time at a junior college getting a much better preparation for their higher studies.“We must take a new look at the problem,” Mr Gallagher said. “Unless we improve our higher secondary educa-

tion, the nation as a whole will suffer. We have a lot to face up to. “Altering what we have is not the answer. A whole new philosophy of education is needed. This is something which is vital to secondary education in New Zealand today.”