Teaching centre to open

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 14

Teaching centre to open

A new in-service centre for teachers developed by the Canterbury Education Board, in conjunction with the Education Department, at the Burnside School, Memorial Avenue, will be officially opened on April 13.

At present the centre is being used for an early reading in-service course, which teachers take in their working year for self-improve-ment in teaching techniques, especially for reading.

The course and its highly specialised method of presentation was developed by the Education Department in Auckland, and is now being implemented throughout all education districts in New Zealand. The 12 units in the course are taken using a tape recorder with headphones, a slide viewer and an instruction booklet. The course is designed to be most relevant to teachers working with children in the first three years at aschool.

At first the course will cater for all schools in Christchurch, and after about two years it will be offered to other large centres and then rural schools in Canterbury and Westland.

The building housing the centre was originally a dental nurses training school, built in the primary school grounds by the Health Department.

The general manager of the Education Board (Mr D. Wilson) said it had been intended as a side school to the main dental training school when larger school rolls meant more dental nurses were needed. Now that school rolls had levelled the side school was no longer necessary.