The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1972. Training more teachers

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 12

The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1972. Training more teachers

A change of government is a propitious time for an evaluation of all State-provided services, of which education is one of the most important The Labour Party, in its election manifesto, promised to implement the recommendations of the 1962 Currie Report “in relation to teacher-student ratios of a “ maximum of one to 20 in sixth and seventh forms “and one to 30 in third to fifth forms. In addition “it will implement a ratio of one to 20 in infant “ classes and aim for one to 30 in all other primary “ and intermediate school classes ”. Other aims of the new Government, such as maximum class numbers of 20 in infant classes and a school-leaving age of 16, also call for more teachers. More teachers; that must be the top priority of the new Government The Christchurch Teachers’ College, according to the principal of the primary division (Dr J. F. Mann), could take more than the present 800 students — the college roll has been more than 1000 in recent years — and the new Government will probably ask all teachers’ colleges to take more students next year. But the wastage among students is high: almost 30 per cent of primary teacher trainees drop out of teaching before they reach the end of their first year as classroom teachers. Would an increased intake of students merely produce an increased crop of drop-outs? Such an outcome — costly to the taxpayer and frustrating to the students who drop out — is more than a possibility; it will be a strong probability unless present selection, recruiting and training procedures are improved. Surprisingly, a higher proportion of male students than female students drop out of teaching within four years of commencing their three-year course at a primary teachers’ college. This fact suggests that both the recruiters and selectors of training college entrants have been trying too hard to persuade boys to take up teaching. Their motive is understandable: there are more than twice as many women as men in teachers’ colleges, but school boards want more men teachers.

An indiscriminate lowering of selection standards, especially for male students, would almost certainly produce more drop-outs. Paradoxically, this might be the very time to tighten screening procedures; a reduction in the drop-out rate would alleviate the shortage of teachers sooner than an increase in the number of enrolments at teachers’ colleges. The teaching profession is striving for representation on education boards and the councils of teachers’ colleges; and the Labour Party has promised to “ provide for teacher and student “ representation on controlling bodies ”, The addition of even one experienced teacher to the committees selecting teacher trainees should help them make a better selection.

More might be done to attract graduates, particularly science graduates, into teaching, perhaps part-time. More married women who have trained as teachers might be induced to return to teaching when their children have reached school age. Recruits from the ranks of graduates and trained teachers make fewer demands on teachers’ colleges. Another method of using the teachers’ colleges more effectively would be to lower the present barriers between the primary and secondary divisions at each college. Some of the drop-outs in recent times might well have become useful teachers if they had been enabled more easily to transfer from the secondary division to the primary, or vice versa. Improved recruiting, selection, and training of teachers should be given priority by the new Government; they promise better results, and earlier results, than enlarged enrolments at teachers’ colleges.