Nursery System In N.Z. “Better”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31723, 5 July 1968, Page 2

Nursery System In N.Z. “Better”

Nursery schools in England operate from 9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. but Miss N. d’Etlinger, adviser in pre-school education for the Department of Education in Wellington, considers the system here is preferable.

“I think the English system makes the time away from home too long. An afternoon or morning session is much better,” said Miss d’Etlinger, who trained as a primary school teacher and gained a National Froebel Certificate specialising in preschool teaching in England. She has been in New Zealand for two years. While in Christchurch Miss d’Etlinger has been visiting kindergartens, and has been impressed with the co-opera-tion between the Play Centre Association and the Kindergarten Association in this area.

“The amount of voluntary effort put into pre-school education, and the support given by the Government has also impressed me since I have been in New Zealand. The participation of parents is of considerable value to the children. It gives them added security and confidence,” she said. Father’s Part Parents also gained in understanding by observing their children at play. The developing tendency for fathers to take an active part in their children’s upbringing and education was also all to the good. Miss d’Etlinger admires the support given to both pre-school movements by fathers.

In the North Island, par ticularly in remote areas, more Maoris were taking part in pre-school education. In classes throughout the country Miss d’Etlinger has found a wide range of backgrounds among the children. “The percentage of children —one in four—receiving preschool education here is very high compared with other countries,” she said.

One of the most interesting posts Miss d’Etlinger held in

England was at a large Infant school catering for children from four to seven years old in Brighton. She was sent to open the school, which was the first of its kind to be opened in the post-war years. Nassau Post Before coming to New Zealand she spent five years as the senior woman lecturer at the Teachers’ Training College in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas. There she found the students very enthusiastic and the boom in education stimulating. “Four new secondary schools and quite a number of primary schools were built in Nassau while I was there. The best of the students would compare well with any in the world. Now there has been a fine new college built and one of my former students is on the staff,” she said.

A member of the Soroptlmist Club in Brighton, Miss d’Etlinger became a member at large and was affiliated with a club in Miami while she was living in the Bahamas. “They have a marvellous old peoples home. First they

bought an old house, then built two adjoining new wings, and eventually pulled down the old residence and joined up the two wings. There are single and double rooms, and residents can take their own furniture. “It has such a reputation that many people left donations to it in their wills, and it is now quite debt free,” she said. Miss d’Etlinger is now a member of the Wellington Soroptimist Club.