Administration problems in education

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32959, 4 July 1972, Page 19

Administration problems in education

(By our education reporter)

The student sit-in at the University of 1 Waikato last week is the latest episode in an issue of concern in education —the reform of administration, and the place of students and teachers in this field.

Less spectacular than the Waikato students’ demands for representation on their university’s professorial board, but of serious concern to the Minister of Education (Mr Pickering) and his department are a list of administration problems, many of long standing, and most a legacy of the rapid growth of education since World War 11.

Soon Mr Pickering will initiate a special study which might suggest reform, and, prod many outdated educational bodies towards change. MAIN PROBLEMS The main problems are in: Teachers’ college councils. Education boards. Technical institute councils. Secondary school boards. University professorial boards. These bodies control education for more than 700,000 young New Zealanders, yet in only a handful of cases do any of the students and pupils or teachers have any say in the administration. TEACHERS’ COLLEGES It is more than two years since moves were first made to have staff and student representation on the teachers’ college councils. These bodies expected such steps when they gained their official independence from education boards in 1971.

The former Minister of Education (Mr Taiboys) is known to have favoured such moves, and his view is supported by many principals of teachers’ colleges. Dr J. F. Mann, the principal of the primary division of the Christchurch Teachers’ College, said in September, 1970, that he, too, favoured student and staff representation.

“We must find ways of , capitalising on the good will and obvious desire of students to participate in various aspects of college life and administration,” he said. “Confrontation seems to be the order of the day,” Dr Mann said. “It is interesting to note that in an American survey, dissatisfaction with the school or college programme accounts for about 50 per cent of student unrest.”

Predictably, student teachers, of whom there are more than 2000 at present, are also in favour of student representation. What is perhaps more interesting, however, is that the Student Teachers’ Association of New Zealand is also seeking staff representation on the councils. EDUCATION BOARDS The 10 teachers’ college councils are the newest educational bodies, but it is their oldest counterparts—the 12 education boards—that face most criticism and problems in adapting to educational change. Largely stripped of their extensive powers since they controlled all regional education more than 60 years ago, the education boards are now little more than “rubberstamps” for decisions made by the Department of Education on matters of primary eductaion.

The education boards came under a barrage of criticism in May from the primary teachers’ organisation, the Educational Institute, which called for the boards abolition, saying that they were no longer equipped to deal with the needs of education in the wider sense. The Educational Institute, however, might have had its tongue in its cheek, for at the same time it demanded teacher representation on the boards—a suggestion since rejected by the Education Boards’ Association. MEMBERS TOO OLD A further volley against the education boards was fired this week by the chairman of the Otago School Committees’ Association (Mr P. A. Ireland) who suggested that most board members were too old to give proper service. The situation had arisen, he said, because boards spread their meetings over three days, and this precluded younger men from taking time off work to devote to board business.

A reluctance by the Government to set up any more education boards might be indicated by the fact that local pressure for an education board to serve North Auckland has not led to action by the department.

TECHNICIAL INSTITUTES In another relatively new education group—the technical institute councils — there is an administrative anomally. The councils, each of which has its own constitution, do not have a staff representative, and although principals are ex-officio members, they have no voting rights. Many of the councils have grown from those groups which controlled the now defunct secondary technical

colleges, and as such they often have members who have carried on their membership unchallenged for long periods and sometimes have a lack of knowledge about the councils’ different role now. When the technical institutes complain that the Government often treats them like “overgrown high schools,” some of the blame for this might lie in the way that the technical institute councils are constituted. SECONDARY SCHOOLS It is the country’s secondary school boards—there are more than 150—to which the most urgent attention is being given by the Department of Education. The nomination of a secondary school pupil for a vacant position on the Wainuiomata Secondary Schools Board of Governors earlier this year gave department officials and teachers a shock. No regulation had been gazetted to prevent such an occurrence although teachers were barred from nomination. The Wainuiomata nominee was not elected, and the department might have been expected to have acted on the suggestion of a Christchurch high school in 1969 to officially debar pupil nomination.

Before such action could be taken, however, another pupil nomination was made —this time for a high schools board in Masterton. This nominee was elected. No regulation is likely to be passed before the annual secondary-school board elections next June to prevent a wholesale move by school pupils to gain representation on their school boards.

Parents are the only ones who can make nominations, and this might act as some

safeguard, but the idea of pupils acting technically as the employers of their teachers is repugnant to the Post Primary Teachers’ Association. FRAGMENTED GROWTH Another problem which besets secondary school boards is the fragmented nature of their growth. Some were set up by special act of Parliament, some grew from association with university councils, and some are linked to secondary school co-ordinating councils. Although they are members of a national association, there is little effective liaison between them on a regional level, as the present controversy about secondary school enrolment in. Christchurch and Dunedin indicates. PROFESSORIAL BOARDS It is in the last area—university professorial boards —that the most chances of success lie. Already two universities give students representation, but this is not without opposition. Mr D. W. Bain, a member of the University of Canterbury Council, best summed up the attitude of many university administrators when he said that "the arguments in favour of it (student representation) could equally be used to justify representation by primary school pupils on education boards.”

Much has changed since Mr Bain said this in 1957, for now students have representation on their university councils. The case for professorial board representation is, however, different, for if the university is to function effectively, it is important that all sectors of it are in communication.