Children burgeon at this unusual school

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32775, 27 November 1971, Page 11

Children burgeon at this unusual school

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KEN COATES)

Bare feet, old clothes, mud, an underground tunnel, a tree hut, old cars in which to play, mathematics only if you feel like it and definitely no strap.

It all sounds like a young schoolboy’s dream, especially the last part, but superficially at least, this is the norm at one of New Zealand’s most unusual schools —Tamariki, in Woolston, Christchurch. The school began in Derry’s Band Hall four years ago with 10 children. A group of parents decided they wanted a better way of learning for their children than the State or other private schools provide. Today, 43 children, aged from four to 13 and three teachers all seem to enjoy a learning situation that is interesting and unconventional.

Tamariki is outwardly an old wooden house on half ah acre of land. The children’s bicycles lean up against the walls. Inside, in the rooms off the hallway down the middle, is where the action is. And it can be music, painting, cooking, reading, acting, talking, and of course, learning. The accent is on freedom for the children—in a sense the concept is freedom to learn. Within this freedom, which does have limits, the principal, Mrs June Bent (“June” to the children) claims that the children become relaxed and

happy. This she says is the first step, the launching pad, as it were. A happy child learns much more quickly and effectively than one who is fear-

ful, withdrawn, lacking confidence and tense. The children certainly look happy; The first morning I called I came across two dusty little individuals, aged about six, at the back of the section behind the trees, having a wonderful time in an old car body. “We like the school —it’s good here, much better than the other one. Here you don’t even have to go inside,” said one, named Tony. There are three teachers at Tamariki —Mrs Bent, Mrs Pat Edwards, B.A, who has four children at the school, and Mr Brian Lilburn, M.A. There are no rows of desks and strict classes at Tamariki. The old house is clearly one in which children can pin their paintings on the walls if they want to, turn rooms into a “spook” house, play records or the piano in another, and even cook cakes and make milkshakes in the kitchen if they want to. There’s a pet goat called Basil in the backyard playground, an old bath, hose with running water, a homemade hut, a woodwork shed, and barrels for rolling in. School uniforms are out, although some children travelling by bus change from their school clothes to their bus clothes for the trip home. There are no bells, assembly or strict timetable. On the second morning I visited Tamariki at 9.5 a.m. there were few children in sight. But it was not long before they arrived. A closer look at this seeming paradise for children

reveals that there is freedom but not licence. Definite purpose There is, according to Mrs Bent, a very definite purpose behind the provision of the sort of place which children naturally find interesting and stimulating. Tamariki’s head teacher is a strong admirer of A. S. Neill, and his famous school in England and for a period was on the staff of Summerhill. Neill makes a comment that helps to explain Tama-

riki: “A school that makes active children sit at desks studying mostly useless subjects is a bad school.

“It is a good school only for those who believe in such a school, for those uncreative citizens who want docile, uncreative children who will fit into a civilisation whose standard of success is money. “Summerhill began as an experimental school; it is no longer such; it is now a demonstration school for it demonstrates that freedom works.”

At Tamariki, explains Mrs Bent, a group has developed so that each human being inter-acting with and within the group, may develop himself as far and as fully as possible, as a productive person.

“Tamariki children are free to act in any way whatever that does not prevent the free movement of any other of the Tamariki children. “And all must provide an environment that functions within those forms of communication that we know as love, freedom of action, stimulation and challenge.” Self-governing This then is the ideal. How does Tamariki function as a school if there is no discipline in the sense that we usually understand it? According to Mrs Bent it is a self-governing community. The children themselves make the rules. Here are some: No noise in the quiet room. No trespassing. Don’t touch other people’s property. No teasing. No bare feet past the washhouse. No sticks within six feet of a person. No hitting under any circumstance. All requests must be obeyed unless unreasonable. This last rule works some-

thing like this. A child being hit by another may request his attacker to stop it. It is of course quite on the cards he will not stop, in spite of being asked twice. The child who is hit can bring the matter up at a group meeting. There he learns to clearly express himself because “language is really a form of behaviour*’ says Mrs Bent. I sat in for half an hour on a meeting of the whole school. Teachers also take part and have a vote equal to that of the children. The main matter under discussion was the alleged selfishness of two boys building a moat in keeping the k others from going into the» area bounded by it. ' The meeting was a great' deal more interesting and discussion much more spirited than many a meeting of adults. The children were much more articulate than many a local body member I have had the misfortune to have to listen to. The whole thing was thrashed out. The boys maintained they couldn’t dig properly with other people squelching around in the mud. The others couldn’t see why two people should exclude them from a particular area of the school playground and there was a dispute over the precise area under discussion. A chairman kept order and the discussion was intently followed, even by five and six-year-olds. Eventually a compromise was reached and it was agreed the boys could dig the moat for an-

other day, but on Monday they must not exclude other children. Language important "A child whose desires have come into conflict with another’s must muster all his verbal facility to justify or explain behaviour to a group of critical listeners who are learning one of the most difficult aspects of language—that of receptive listening and discrimination," says Mrs Bent.

“Language in the selfgoverning community of Tamariki is an instrument of social strength, capable of influencing values, behaviour and attitudes, including social responsibility.” Experience in this field then leads to more tolerant behaviour, according to Mrs Bent and the children are more competent in their friendships. As to whether a system of self-government at an elementary school tends to be domination of the weaker by the stronger, Mrs Bent maintains that the children prevent this themselves. “They would not stand for any kina of tyranny.” Some of the children who come to Tamariki have come from other schools withdrawn and failures, in their own view of themselves. But

as they have improved socially in their relationships with other children, they have become more relaxed and happy. And if there is. one point Mrs Bent stresses, it is that a happy child is naturally curious and keen to learn. To think that children are naturally lazy is quite wrong —if they seem so, it is only because we have made learning difficult. And as Mrs Edwards points out, a child who has some particular difficulty, but well above average intelligence, can easily come to be looked on as a failure at school, and regard himself as one.

The casual visitor to Tamariki must be excused for asking whether there is not a tendency for all play and no work.

Mrs Bent and her colleagues might well dispute where one begins and the other ends, but she says that “anything and everything taught in State schools is taught at Tamariki.”

As a registered private school it is subject to Education Department inspection.

Good attitudes

“We are perhaps more concerned with developing good attitudes to learning,” she says. "Children cease to be withdrawn and they become enthusiastic about learning. “For example, a child might do mathematics for a day, and the craze might last for a week or two.” This will not last and he may then decide to go outside and work on an underground tunnel for a week. But with three teachers to just over 40 children it is possible to be alert to each child and his learning, according to Mrs Bent. “A child may make great development socially but have no energy for mathematics. But later he will come back to maths and make more progress.” She recalls that when teaching at a similar school, Tuarangi, in Gisborne (now closed) a boy was aged 13 before he went into the classroom. He came from a disturbed home situation, but once having developed socially he realised that if he was to make secondary school, he would have to work hard and quickly. This he apparently did, becoming competent at mathematics and English in a few months. He eventually went on to gain entry to medical school. '

There are no examinations at Tamariki. Because of the high teacher-pupil ratio, teachers are constantly analysing children’s progress. "At breaks we are always talking of this child and that," says Mrs Bent.

She says that in an atmosphere of freedom from pressure, some children virtually teach themselves to .read.

Learning by ear

“Two or three children have taught themselves to play the piano by ear,” she says. “Now they want to be taught what the sheet music means.

“Last year a boy aged eight came to us who had never come to reading. There are many reasons for children not being able to read, but unfortunately some parents regard a boy aged eight of average intelligence who cannot do so as a complete failure. “But after a while the boy suddenly began to read and soon he was able to cope well with Arthur Ransome.” One striking feature of Tamariki, at least to me, is its policy of taking on handicapped children. It does this out of a sense of obligation and to develop a sense of responsibility towards such people. It was ’»thought-provoking experience to see the patience and understanding extended to one such child—an autistic boy, aged about 12. Parents’ reasons tasked Mrs Bent what sort of parents , send their children to her school. She says they are mainly people who have thought deeply about what

sort of education they want for their children. Mrs Edwards, who was one of the original group who began the school, says there should be an alternative to the State school system. Even private schools, she says, are part of the same system of education. However, parents who do send their children to Tamariki obviously believe in its worth. It costs S6O a term for one child, or SSO if more than one from the same family. Just how successful is the school? The main factor here, of course, is how the children fare after they leave—and most will go on to secondary school. , . Those at Tamariki will first question what is meant by success. As A. S., Neill, of Summerhill, says: “better to have a happy dustman than a neurotic doctor.”

of Tamarikl’s worth. Mrs Bent tells of the girl who left the free, relaxed atmosphere of the school to attend a State high school. “She found no difficulty in adjusting to the new school. So many other children rebelled she felt a sympathy with the teacher and had a real understanding of the situation.. What helped here was own self-awareness

and her ability to cope with new relationships, and, of course, the work." Then there are the advantages Tamariki has, according to Mrs Bent, of being able to provide the flexibility children need to develop their own abilities. “A girl with high language ability can write whenever she feels like it. Another child able in mathematics can do it all day, during the lunch-hour or whenever he feels like it.” She adds: “In their last year at Tamariki, the children are working regularly and there is no real problem of adjustment when they go on to secondary school. “If a child has the potential, and is reasonably well endowed, it is more likely that he will go further if his emotional and social ment is catered for.”

Whatever the advantages or disadvantages of a school such as Tamariki, the fact is, according to Mrs Bent, that soon it will be unable to accept all the pupils whose parents want them to come. It is also certain that what Tamariki does will continue to be watched closely by enlightehed educationists.