SCHOOL WITH 8000 ON ROLL

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32352, 18 July 1970, Page 5

SCHOOL WITH 8000 ON ROLL

(By

H. E. McVEAGH,

principal

of the New Zealand Correspondence School

Appeals by country mothers to the Department of Education 48 years ago led to the establishment of the Correspondence School. Today, with a staff of more than 200 and a total enrolment approaching 8000, “it is one of the biggest educational institutions in New Zealand.” Enrolments soon exceeded expectations and within two years a school was set up with a headmaster and a staff of five. The Education Act of 1877 made primary schooling free, secular and compulsory, but there was no provision for children who because of illhealth or remoteness were unable to attend school. New Zealand was then a sparsely populated country and by world standards we are still a somewhat scattered community. The Correspondence School, from its inception, has followed a persistent policy that its function is not simply to send out lessons and mark them. It has endeavoured in every way to make its teaching as real and as close and as personal as possible. Over the years the service to the pupils has increased. In this, the school works in close co-operation with a strong and keen Parents’ Association which has branches throughout New Zealand. Regular Meetings The school and the parents arrange many meetings during the year. In this they are generously helped by the hospitality and good-will of local headmasters who make available their schools and their facilities. In addition to these regular gatherings there are the bigger ones of a month s residential school at Massey University for senior pupils, a camp at Lake Rotoiti Lodge for Marlborough and Nelson children, and various other gatherings including the newly inaugurated culture week in Dunedin for Otago and Southland pupils. The school also keeps regular contact with its pupils by daily radio programmes and by visits to the families by teachers from the school. In addition, there are five resident teachers who live in convenient places and whose full-time job is visiting and assisting pupils. A feature of recent enrolments has been a number of New Zealanders overseas whose children may, in certain circumstances, be enrolled with the Correspondence School. New Zealand is playing an ever-increasing role in world affairs. Children of many government officials posted abroad, missionaries, Colombo Plan or U.N.E.S.C.O. staff, defence personnel, are enrolled with the Correspondence School and so their New Zealand education is not interrupted. It is quite common for the school to have pupils as far scattered as Afghanistan, Chile, Thailand, Lybia, and even Iceland. With rapid air-mail communications the work of these children can be back and marked in the school within a few days. Special Lessons There has been a steady increase also in enrolments in special education, including home training for the severely handicapped- Special programmes suited to individual needs are worked out, to help children attain their full potential, limited though this sometimes may be- Not only the children but the parents, too. are given great encouragement and support from these programmes. The Correspondence School rjpw caters for the educational

needs of a large number of New Zealanders who for one reason or another are unable to attend ordinary schools. Over the years the scope of the School has been extended to include the teaching at secondary and tertiary levels. This expansion is part of a world-wide trend. There has been a tremendous growth in correspondence education. It has been found most suitable in giving further education to adults, without disrupting existing life/work patterns.

In addition to its own fulltime secondary school pupils the School assists many other schools in providing courses and tuition where the local school is unable to do so. There are also many adults enrolled as part-time or extramural students. These include students of all ages, many of them women, who are studying for School Certificate or University Entrance. As we move into the 70s the problems of changing education to meet the rapidly

changing world presents a special challenge to the Correspondence School. Courses are constantly being written and rewritten, incorporating the latest knowledge and techniques in teaching. There is greater use in tape recordings to augment the radio and the written word of the assignments. This is a new technique which is proving of value not only in language lessons but in other subjects as well.