Education: no cause for alarm or for elation

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 38

Education: no cause for alarm or for elation

This article was contributed by Mr C. M. McGeorge, who holds a Master of Arts degree and is lecturer in education at the University of Canterbury.

New Zealand’s education II •ystem is now one hundred j years old. The Education Act; of 1877 created the Depart- 1 ! tnent of Education and a | 1 system of free, secular prim- i ary schools. It also required I school attendance until the ; age of 13, and perpetuated i the system of Education < Boards and school com-J mittees which had developed during the provincial gov-I1 ernment period. ji Initially secondary educa-]' tion was only for those wholi could afford substantial fees, but early this century the 1 high schools were induced toh offer free places to those i passing the Standard 6,i Proficiency Examination. : Abolishing this examination'! in 1936 and raising the leav- ; ing age to 15 in 1945 finally; brought universal secondary achooling. The system has grown steadily more complex with new services to meet special; needs. Some examples are: the School Journal, estab-j lished in 1907, the Corres-I pondence School (1922). dental clinics (1923), the School Library Service (1942), the school transport system, and] a wide range of advisory. services. The basic pattern of 8 year primary schools and 4 vear secondary schools has| been modified. Experimental; 3 year Junior High Schools, 1 set up in 1922, were cut] back to two-year Intermediate Schools in 1932. Now well over 60 per cent of Form I and II pupils are in Intermediates. The first I-VII high school was set up in 1962 and since then many rural secondary schools, and most district high schools, have been converted to I-VII schools or to Area Schools. The education system has grown particularly rapidly since World War 11. In 1945 19 per cent of the population was enrolled in educational institutions: this year well over 30 per cent are enrolled. In the last 25 years primary rolls have doubled, secondary and technical rolls have increased fourfold, and university rolls have trebled. These rises are due to an increased post-war birth rate, a tendency for pupils to stay longer at high school, new forms of tertiary education, and the demand for skilled] qualified manpower. In 1945 technical educa-1 ton was a variant form of secondary schooling: now it is a well-established form of tertiary training provided in 13 technical institutes and one community college. New teachers colleges and universities have been established and all ternary Institutions have been involved in exten-

sive building and rebuilding programmes. All this has cost money. In 1946 education accounted for 6 per cent of Government spending. Over the last few years this rose to 16-17 per cent. The current estimates provide SBOIM for education, an increase of 13.8 per cent over last year. How well does education fare in the competition for slices of the national cake? There is no simple answer to this or the related question, “How well has this or that government treated education?” This year education makes up the third largest item in the estimates after Social Welfare and Health. On the other hand 22 out of 32 items have received larger percentage increases than education. Education accounted for a larger percentage of Government spending under the recent Labour Government than before or since. But the present Government has just voted almost SIOOM more for education than has ever been voted before. Those who want more in the same vein must turn to Hansard. The fact that political debate on education often takes this form emphasises ,tbat there is no great difference in educational ideology between the major parties. Both are for such things as

preschool education, technical education, State aid to private schools, and “lifelong education.” It would of course, take a very brave or very foolish party to come out against any of these.

How well is New Zealand served by its education system? Many recently saw a clear, comforting answer to

this question in the results of an international survey of school achievement in 14 ( and 17 year olds. New Zealand children topped the list' [in literature and reading) ‘comprehension and did welll in other subjects. Morel recently, however, the method used in these surveys and the results have been questioned. In 1976 Dr Warwick Elley of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research reI viewed studies of achieve[ment in basic skills over the [years. He concluded that the (evidence indicated “a general improvement in reading land general ability, a slight

decline in spelling, and a more marked decline in computational arithmetic.” He added that the surveys reviewed were not perfectly designed r.nd that further, more careful studies were needed.

The evidence neither justifies wild alarm nor complacency. The education system is in good heart and is not, as some critics suggest, about to crumble about our ears. On the other hand there is still much to be done. For whatever social, educational, or economic reasons Polynesian pupils do not, on average, achieve as [well at secondary school as Ipakehas. There are still, as ithere always have been, children who do not learn to read well or to handle Elley suggests would help in some areas but some of what I happens in education does (not depend on research. It I depends on public opinion, | lobbying, or hard bargaining. State aid to private schools and the drafting of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act are cases n point. Preschool education is now generally held to be a right and a necessity, rather than an optional extra. The budget repeats the government’s election promise to

make preschool education more widely available and provides, this year, $10.9 million for preschool education, a 20 per cent increase. This, however, is less than half the amount, $22.1 million, provided for aid to private schools which now get up to 50 per cent of their salary costs from the public purse.

Some educational developments in the late 1970 s can be easily forecast. The budget promises community colleges in Southland, Rotorua, and Whangarei. One can expect further experiments with interna) assessment for School Certificate. There will be more adult learners in secondary schools and further steps towards school-com-munity co-operation in the use of facilities.

Other issues raised in the early 1970 s are much more contentious: religous education, sex education, the size and application of the Tertiary Bursary, and the integration of private schools into the state system. Perhaps fhe best measure of ot” education system will be the extent to which people are swayed by slogans and snippets of evidence on these issues.