Teachers' part in change

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33191, 3 April 1973, Page 16

Teachers' part in change

World-wide pressure i to bring about changes!! in education often | placed too much pressure on the class-room < teacher, an international;; authority on curriculum reform. Professor J. F. ;j Kerr, said in Christ- l church yesterday. “In Britain — and I suspect: here also — many teachers . feel overwhelmed and threatened by the changes they are expected to introduce,” said Professor Kerr. Professor Kerr, who is pro- > fessor of education at Leicester University, emphasisedi that change in education was; inevitable, but that individual: teachers must not be expec-' ted to “go it alone.”

■ Ideally, schools should be i regarded as units of change Sand a team approach used to I bring about innovations. Asked to comment on a recent investigation in Britain into literacy, Professor Kerr ;said that he was not sure ithat there had been any| I proof that serious problems ihad emerged. What teachers and parents needed to realise, he said, :was the fact that there was no one best method of teaching reading. “Teachers — particularly in the primary service — are often faced with a ‘crisis of dhoice’ over the methods they can use to teach reading. We i shouldn’t ever think that we j will reach a situation where it will be possible to recommend any one method as the best,” he said.

Referring to external examinations, Professor Kerr said that pressure to abolish these needed to be assessed carefully. Secondary schools required some method to select their pupils at the conclusion of their secondary education. “If you take away the external examination there must be something to put m its place. I would certainly like to see more responsibility given to secondary schools for assessing their pupils, but remember a written examination is really just a useful tool and should be only one of a larger group of assessment procedures.

“If there was better assessment by schools there might be less chance of young people dropping out.” During the 50 days that he is in New Zealand as the first recipient of a new travelling lectureship programme sponsored by the McKenzie Education Foundation, Professor Kerr will give public lectures and visit schools and teachers’ colleges.