Education in New Zealand of interest to everyone

Press, 18 January 1978, Page 9

Education in New Zealand of interest to everyone

Some will leave home filled with eager anticipation. Others will trudge listlessly towards their objective. Many will be uncomfortable in unfamiliar ties, blazers and tight new shoes'. Most will look forward to renewing and making new acquaintances and resuming activities disrupted by the holidays. Parents will heave a collective sigh of relief — the kids will be back in school February 1, just a fortnight away. If there is one thing about which New Zealand-

ers are ever ready to voice their views it is the subject of education. Public discussion of educational matters . has been spirited and controversial since the first school opened its doors. It goes to show that people are prepared to argue about the matters they care about. There seems little doubt that the level of argument will continue indefinitely. But no matter how heated the- arguments, there is and always has been one point of agreement; whatever else it should or should not do, the public system of education should provide opportunity for all children, regardless of background, ability and promise, to develop their abilities so that their lives may become personally satisfying and socially useful. New Zealand is particularly fortunate in the manner in which our educational system has developed. In the past 25 years or so pupils in primary schools have nearly doubled and pupils in Secondary schools have increased almost fourfold, while the number of students in universities has more than trebled and students receiving technical education have quadrupled. At the same time, of necessity. Government expenditure on education has shown a considerable increase. The phenomena! growth in education in New Zealand can be attributed, of course, to population increases but there are other factors to be realised as well. There is today a marked tendency for students to stay on longer at school and also to undertake further education after leaving school. The years have also witnessed the growth and development of new educational services. The strongly egalitarian temper of New Zealand society — a product of historical, geographical and economic factors — is reflected in education administration by the policy of making education for all levels freely available. In few other countries is there closer approximation to equality of

educational opportunity and few countries have a larger proportion of their populations in schools, colleges and universities. One key to the success of the New Zealand system lies in the administrative sector with the central body being the Department of Education. But there is a great degree of local control as well represented by local school boards, councils, and private school bodies. Over the years there has been a marked trend towards the abolishment of single-sex schools so that today all State primary schools and some private primary schools have become co-educational., Three quarters of the State secondary schools are now co-educational with the remainder, and nearly all the private secondary schools retaining their single-sex character. Net Government expenditure on education has risen dramatically from a total of 815.7 M in 1946 to an estimate of about S6OOM last year. In terms of percentage of gross national product (g.n.p.) spent on education. New Zealand ranks well with the international leaders. A. United Nations report a few years ago showed that New Zealand educational expenditure as a percentage of GNP was 4.8, with Australia at 4.6 per cent, the Federal Republic of Germany at 4.5 per cent, .Japan and Switzerland at 4.3 per cent and France at 3.5 per cent. New' Zealand’s percentage was the same, as that of Italy and Austria. The period since World War Two has been one of remarkable growth particularly in secondary school enrolment. In part this results directly from increases in child population, which are known well before the pupils reach secondary school level. Not so firmly predictable, however, is the length of stay of pupils at secondary school. the present trend towards longer stay has been unexpectedly accelerated or retarded from year to year according to conditions

prevailing at the time. In such circumstances accurate planning schedules are difficult to formulate. In urban areas particularly, where it is seldom easy to procure large areas of land for new schools and their associated facilities, existing schools have tended to become very large and, therefore, require specialised accommodation. Handicapped children are well cared for in New

Zealand as well. A comprehensive range of special education services has been • established for those handicapped children whose needs cannot be met in ordinary classes. Small part-time groups for handicapped pre-school children are attached to selected kindergartens and playcentres. Education boards • provide special classes and resource centres at primary schools or special schools for pupils who are backward, in-

tellectually handicapped, deaf, visually handicapped, physically handicapped or maladjusted. Over the past 25 years there has been a continuing trend toward the consolidation of smaller rural schools, often against the wishes of parents. Yel, the reasons for such consolidations are sound. The primary purpose is to give to rural children the same advantages as urban children in larger schools with specialised equipment and specialised teaching. Such schools are known as area school and district high schools. While one would think such moves would necessitate larger expenditures on pupil transport, such has not been the case because the trend towards consolidating small country schools and improving educational facilities in larger rural centres has been paralleled by the continuing movement of families into provincial towns and cities. These factors 'are resulting in only a relatively small increase in transport