EDUCATION LAID ON SOUND FOUNDATION

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31088, 17 June 1966, Page 35 (Supplement)

EDUCATION LAID ON SOUND FOUNDATION

James Edward Fitz Gerald, Superintendent of Canterbury, spoke on education at the session of the Provincial Council. “It is your fortunate lot, gentlemen,” he said, “to enter upon this question unencumbered by conflict between the ideas of the past and the necessities of the future. Whatever you recognise as theoretically right, it is in your power to carry into action.”

One-third of the proceeds of all land sales were to be set aside for religious and educational purposes, for “without a certain provision for religion and education the gentry of England, who are religious and educated men, cannot be expected to emigrate,” said the directors of the Canterbury Association who planned an Anglican settlement which would be a segment of English society.

The possibilities of this handsome endowment were not immediately realised. No money was available for churches or schools and the settlers had to arrange schooling facilities themselves.

To provide itself with ready money the association paid over to itself the “onethird” endowment and reinvested these funds in unsold land of its own as an endowment for the purposes of the trust

The foundation of the Canterbury College and Grammar School (in fact a grammar school only) and the appearance of some private and church schools were the earliest developments envisaged in the educational scheme by the association’s founders.

Fitz Gerald early begged Provincial Council to intervene for efficient management; but it preferred to make small grants to the Bishop of Christchurch and the Wesleyan and Presbyterian Church leaders and leave them free to organise education in their own way. Vindication came years later. The dissatirfaction of FitzGerald spread with experience and the Provincial Council established a commission of inquiry. In 1863 it reported that “the practical result has been not only the creation of an authority independent of the legislature but also of one incapable in its very organisation of acting harmoniously within itself.” The upshot was the formation of a public education board to administer funds formerly controlled by the denominational heads. Stormy In the first 25 years the movement toward secular education had many stormy interludes. It has always been surprising that such a feeling should arise so early and be carried to successful legislative conclusion in a province which was planned as a church settlement. The dispute culminated in a victory for the secularists in 1873, after which all grants to denominational schools ceased, religious instruction by teachers disappeared entirely, and only right of entry for the clergy remained by a narrow margin. Advances under public control had been steady and toward the end of the pro-

vincial period Canterbury boasted a very widelydeveloped primary school system of a standard envied by other provinces. Otago had better provision for post-primary and higher education at that time. When the time came for the organisation of education on a national scale it was not surprising that Canterbury and Otago men should be chosen as the architects. The Rev. W. J. Habens, secretary of the Canterbury Education Department (so called after 1875) became first inspectorgeneral. Antonomy Willing enough to assist other provinces in educational development, Canterbury nevertheless still believed intensely in its own administrative ability and the desire for a larger degree of provincial autonomy in education survives to this day.

The first move toward central control arose from concern that the provincial pattern generally was not meeting minimum requirements, with only half of the children between five and 15 going to school by 1870. Canterbury and sister provinces of the South Island were far in advance. In 1869 Canterbury was spending an average of £2 10s on education for every child of school age, compared with an average of about 5s in the rest of the colony. The wise endowments (though mishandled early) were bearing fruit. Education Act Canterbury’s Charles Bowen then Minister of Justice, who had been intimately concerned in education in the province,

was the author of the Education Act 1877 which gave New Zealand her national system of free, secular, compulsory primary education. He desired that “the key of knowledge be put within the reach of every child in New Zealand,” to keep control as decentralised as possible, and that churches should have no control over schools provided by public funds for fear of friction. Canterbury’s s c h o ol s rapidly spread widely over territory which had not the difficulties of access encountered in other parts. They became community centres for the district. As concentration of population arose, a pupil’s transport scheme evolved for scattered classes, and was followed by consoli-

dation in the main country centres and the building of modern schools in town suburbs. Open Air The open-air classroom was pioneered at Waimataitai, developed at Fendalton, and is now employed generally in the many new blocks throughout Canterbury. The tradition for meeting new needs goes back to 1880 when public desire led to the establishment of the School for the Deaf at Sumner, where speech problems were also first handled.

The training of speech therapists is centred in Christchurch. Vocational guidance began in Christchurch as the special interest of a teacher in 1926 and its Dominion organisation has grown from that Swimming Swimming instruction has had remarkable success, with the best supply of baths in all the provinces. Meals in school appeared early in Canterbury, and dental clinics, free milk, and apples, and other health schemes have had stimulating public support Equality of opportunity has resulted in a phenomenal broadening of the curriculum and, though New Zealand got many ideas from abroad, it was often among the first to put them into general practice. The educational records of the Dominion show the big part played by Canterbury men and women in these advances. Individuals have gone to the head of the educational service and those remaining in the province have been among the most active in pressing for reforms.

The new Students’ Union building for the University of Canterbury at Ham, shown in sketch plan above, is estimated to cost £230,000, and will provide an efficient lay-out to cater for the variety of purposes which the building will serve as a centre. The bold roof line on the

left marks the theatre, which will seat 490 on the upper floor. On the extreme left is a rectangular block to house the stage “flats.” The neighbouring sloping roof follows the line of the theatre floor. The main common room is located in the middle upper storey. On the far side will be a small lecture room,

television room, billiards room and a music room, set on the pillars shown at the extreme right. On the near side of the upper floor, from the left, will be a caretaker’s flat, an executive room, a meeting room, a small common room and the women’s common room, on the pillars at the right corner.

The ground floor will have a very large general circulation area under the theatre, and there will be a cafeteria, to seat between 450 and 500, on the right. Along the rear side will be small meeting rooms, a students’ shop, and the cafeteria kitchens. The administration offices will be located on the near side.

Space is provided in the plans for extensions, for an extra storey and for an adjoining gymnasium. The building will be of about 40,000 square feet in floor area, and will be located between the present temporary School of Art at “Okeover” and the Hara Primary School grounds, and will front on to Ham road.