Methods of teaching defended

Press, 24 June 1978, Page 6

Methods of teaching defended

Education was a living I and growing experience, and' to be effective it could not! stand still or go backwards, I said Mrs N. J. Johnson, al Canterbury Education Board! member, yesterday. Mrs Johnson was com-] minting, at a board meeting,; on recent “very strongly ] worded attacks” on the education system, which she! said were concerning her deeply. Comments were being made about education standards, particularly those of primary schools. The criticism was directed at present teaching methods and the failure of some children to achieve basic skills. By implication, therefore, this criticism was directed at teachers, too, Mrs Johnson said. Mrs Johnson said she believed that the morale of many teachers was at a low ebb, and she was “absolutely

certain” this was not in the ’ 1 best interests of pupils. “We live in a vastly different world from the socalled 'good old days,’ and personally if the atmosphere of today’s world is the result of the restricted and rather narrow early education system, I for one have I no desire to return to it.”

Children must be helped to go forward to tomorrow’s world with confidence, she I said.

“I am sure we are all aware that there is still much to be done to improve the present system, and we should continue to strive for more resources to cater for the needs of pupils.

“But,” she said, “we must also understand that there will always be 50 per cent of people" above average and 50 per cent below. This is an established fact.” Mr R. W. Sansom, another board member, said he believed the problem today was that pupils were automatically moved into classes. When he was at school a test was given at the end of each year, and if a child did not pass it he would not go into the next class. Extra tuition was then given. Mrs R. J. Cowell said that a return to that old system would deny some young people the opportunity to go to secondary school. A child’s difficulties were recognised from the time he or she started school, with special assistance such as reading clinics. The capabilities of today’s child were “far in excess” of those of the child of yester-

day, and the children also: had more to put up with, said Mr M. C. Butler. More parents were out of the home in the evening when they should be with their children. While there was less support from the “home end,” more aid and support were being given in the classroom. Mr Butler said he felt admiration when he. walked through classrooms and saw what "the children of today were doing. Politicians should see this also, he said. The meeting agreed, in a motion, to commend the [work of its teachers and “to support them whole-] heartedly, particularly at this! time when their confidence is being undermined by those who are calling for a return to the basics.”