Conference To Assess Curricula

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31150, 29 August 1966, Page 12

Conference To Assess Curricula

The adequacy of present curricula in schools will be a major topic at the bi-annual conference of the Australasian Association of Institutes of Inspectors of Schools, which opens in Christchurch today.

“We have to see whether what we are actually teaching suite the needs of the citizens in the second half of the twentieth century,” said Mr W. B. McPhillips. president of the Institute of Inspectors of Schools in New South Wales.

“There was a tendency in the past for pupils to leave at the official leaving age. and it is a challenge to us to make sure that the holding powers of schools are such that more and more will obtain the bene-

fits of higher education,” he said.

This involved providing curricula which met pupil’s interests, thus giving them the incentive to continue at school and go on to tertary education. Changes were already taking place. Multilevel courses had been established. and curricula, which once tended to be academic, catered also for those with other abilities—technical, artistic, musical. In New South Wales, this meant a heavy demand on the State, and on the schools themselves. An additional high-school year had been introduced. High schools tended tc be multi-purpose, providing facilities for all streams, and offering woodwork. arts and crafts and home science as well as languages, science and mathe- . matics.

Apart from specialised interests, however, it was generally recognised that all pupils should follow a basic course comprising English, social studies, mathematics and science, Mr McPhillips said.

“A certain competency in these subjects is essential for every citizen, no matter what the nature of his subsequent vocation.”

During the 10-day conference there would be a good deal of stocktaking to decide whether some subjects should be eliminated, or new ones introduced. In the latter category, for example, “government,” as emphasised in American schools, was a subject likely to be considered. Methods of teaching would also be examined, Mr McPhillips said. The school’s function in developing pupil's ability to seek information for themselves, and to acquire

attitudes, was receiving increasing attention, as was the social aspect of education. “I suppose in the past we taught for democracy in a rather authoritarian way something of a paradox. Perhaps there should be more' emphasis on the individual, on learning rather than teaching. Education should be a process of drawing out of the individual, rather than filling him up with factual information.” At the conference short papers would be presented on specific subjects. The conference would then break up into small . discussion groups. Group leaders would report on the discussions, and the chairman of each session would sum up.

“This is an example, I suppose, of what ought to be going on in our schools,” Mr McPhillips said.