From truck-driver to doctor

Press, 21 October 1977, Page 13

From truck-driver to doctor

The place of Hagley High School in the “hack-to-school” scheme for adults, and the principals back it to the hilt, complete this series by NANCY CAWLEY on “continuing education.”

In Canterbury, adult admissions to secondary schools began at Hagley High School in 1974. Mr lan Leggat, now headmaster of Christchurch Boys’ High School, was headmaster of Hagley at the time. It was his expansive and innovative attitude to education that made the launching of the scheme possible. The student who helped to trigger things off was a 27-year-old. Christchurch man, married with a child, who after trying surveying and truck-driving decided that he wanted to be a doctor. Paddy Grant found the

prospect of driving a truck for the rest of his life “appalling.” He had already attended evening classes at Hagley to gain his University Entrance and at the end of 1973 he asked to do a 7th Form year of day-classes, to study for University Scholarship. With six other adults, Paddy Grant was enrolled for day classes at Hagley in 1974; today, he is successfully continuing his studies at the Otago Medical School. Mr Leggat points out that the scheme came at a propitious time for the school.

Hagley is the result of a 1965 merger of West High School and Christchurch Technical College. When Mr Leggat arrived in 1971 a dwindling school roll had left large numbers of students in the lower forms and few in the senior school. The admission of the adult students lent a balance to the classes.

Adult admissions to Hagley brought “an enriched family atmosphere” to the school, says Mr Leggat. Early evidence of this was the sight of two 4th Form boys pulling a cartload of toddlers from the school creche around the playground — to the delight of all concerned. During the first year, the adults were on Christian name terms with the staff and shared their common room. But in 1975, with 60 adult students needing to withdraw occasionally from the rest of the school, an adults common-room with adjacent study facilities was set up. lan Leggat feels that Hagley’s continuing education scheme is satisfying a social need. Some of the students are in “muddled domestic circumstances,” and the acceptance and support they find at the school, from the staff and fellow-students, can create a turning-point in their lives. “There should always be a place for varying types

of secondary schools, ’’ says Mr Leggat. Schooling should not stop with classroom experience. A big part of education should be learning to “get on with people,” he says. And with a range of schools, offering different academic and social environments, students are able to choose the one that best suits them. Paddy Grant says he and his fellow students looked on lan Leggat as a “father-figure”; certainly, the success of the venture suggests thorough groundwork by a concerned administrator. It is obvious, too, that past and present staff at Hagley are carrying on this tradition. lan Leggat is modest about his contribution. He says that the school was alwyas an open cooperative community where ideas were welcome. “My function was to be receptive to ideas.” Miss R. Heinz, the present principal of Hagley, and the first woman in New Zealand to head a state secondary school, is continuing and expanding Mr Leggat’s work. All her adult students, she says, are highly motivated. “They come back with a purpose and perform successfully.” But for some the obstacles to reentering school are formidable. Finance can be a big stumbling-block, Some are

holding down part-time jobs, others just getting by on a domestic purposes benefit. Two-thirds of the 190 part and full-time students at Hagley are women, and many of them are mothers of young children. For some of these mothers there are unnecessary feelings of guilt to overcome. Another inhibiting factor- in adult students can be feelings of inadequacy. Often these feelings are an inheritance from the past, says Miss Heinz. They did not succeed at school before and think perhaps they never will. Sometimes staff counselling may mean that the student is directed to suitable evening classes or

a learning situation that is better geared to his or her needs. Some older students find the whole experience a bit unnerving. One middle-aged woman lasted two weeks before she found the hurly-burly of school-life — and being sandwiched between surging teen-agers in the corridors — too much. But she is going to try again. Motives for re-entering school vary. Students may have been in jobs where promotion was impossible without U.E. — the school’s most popular course. Some want to pace and encourage their own teen-agers. There is a big group of students who hope to enter medical school. And for some it is a general urge to furnish their minds and improve their life-style. One woman student, a mother of five, had calculated how many working years she could reasonably expect and had decided to work towards becoming a registered nurse. Another, a young mother of two, “couldn’t leave school fast enough” when she was 15. She got School Certificate last year and hopes to get U.E. this year. Although fraught with challenge, teaching a class that may range from 16 to 60 has the full support of the teaching staff at Hagley. (Presumably they would not be there unless this was so). There may be increased marking when the adults get extra keen over an assignment. And while correcting a pupil for talking or being late for classs is all part

of a teacher’s day, it is a bit tricky when the pupil is older than you are. But they agree that on the whole all those involved in a mixed class modify their behaviour and try to consider the others. The set-up is a stable one. Both Mr Leggat and Miss Heinz emphasise that the big bonus for many adult students at Hagley is the opportunity to reevaluate themselves. They may have been underachieving and isolated in the community. At Hagley, the work facilities and social interaction can give then a new feeling of worth. As well as nearly 200 adult students, Hagley has 3500 adults in evening classes under the enthusiastic administration of Mr T. French. The full school roll is 975. Ages among the adult students range from 18 to 57. The only criteria is that they must be 18 or more and must not have attended a day school during the last 12 months. Adults are not expected to wear uniform, and sth to 7th Formers are also exempt. Each year, at this time, Hagley sends out 500 brochures detailing enrolment dates, subjects available, subscription and book charges, and creche facilities, for prospective adult students. These are distributed to educational institutions, libraries, hospitals, and community centres. The tone of the brochure is friendly and brisk. It ends with: “Adult students attend normal day school classes and are expected to abide by the usual school customs."