Reading claim rejected

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33514, 20 April 1974, Page 3

Reading claim rejected

The claim by the immediate past - president of the Booksellers’ Association (Mr G. W. Tait), that the Education Department was failing in its struggle towards literacy in schools, was rejected yesterday by members of the Canterbury Education Board.

“Mr Tait’s comments were put into perspective by a leader in “The Press” this' morning — they were exaggerated,” said the district senior inspector of schools' (Mr B. .1. Wilson). All teachers had a sound background in the teaching of reading. ‘ QUITE WRONG” Teachers colleges’ staff [ were well skilled in provid-1 ing intensive courses in reading — selected studies and reading programmes were given to all teachers, said Mr Wilson. It was quite wrong of Mr Tait to sav that more than 80 per cent of New Zealand school teachers were incapable and incompetent in the teaching of reading. Neither was the Education Board paying only lip service to t’.e importance of reading, as Mr Tait had claimed. "Mr Tait also claimed that many schools were without books.” Mr Wilson said. “But the amount of library grants, alone made each year would' ,refute this.” The board’s own in-service education for teachers paid strong attention to reading. EXTRA TEACHERS “The Canterbury Educa-i tion Board has recently injected into schools 74 fulltime extra teachers to ensure that reading is taught thoroughly. and part-time teachers of remedial reading have been installed in 20 schools in the district,” said Mr Wilson Dr .1. F. Mann, principal of Ithe primary division ol

! Christchurch Teachers’ Col-i lege, said: “College pro- : grammes now devote more time to the teaching of reading than ever before. Alongside this there are compul■sory language programmes; I which have a significant: amount of reading in their; courses.’’ LECTURER j Christchurch Teachers’ 'College had a senior lecturer in education with full-time responsibility for the design- ’ ing and teaching of programmes in reading. Over a three-year course. 60 lecture hours were de- ! voted to reading and children’s literature, compared ) with 48 lecture hours for ‘ other teaching skills. Reading was not, however, . identified as a “selected study” which meant that students could not take it as an extra study over a threeyear period. The national president of . the Educational Institute (Mr 1 R. A. Norman) asked Mr Tait! to produce evidence to sup- ; port his remarks. 1 SURVEY FINDING The International Association for the Evaluation of .'Educational Achievement had . placed New Zealand 14-year- . olds in top place for reading . comprehension in a survey of . 15 countries made in the . earlv 19705. A recent survey by the i United Nations, on the numI ber of books published and bought per head of popuia-, ■ tion, also ranked New Zea- ■ land highly, said Mr Norman.,