Call for flexibility in education

Press, 20 October 1980, Page 14

Call for flexibility in education

PA. Auckland School-leavers of the 19S0s will move smoothly from classrooms to working life omly if teachers and employers make adjustments, according to the president of the Employers’ Federation, Mr G. Reid. “In the employment climate of the 1980 s, the prime requirement of the education system is not to produce children with specific job skills,” he told the Club of Glenfield, at Auckland. Schools should teach children basic'reading and arithmetic skills, and help them see that they would probably have to change jobs and be retrained several times during their working lives. “That is not to deny the equal necessity to provide academic challenges for those so inclined, and with that ability.” Mr Reid said that employers had a responsibility 'to “stop being lazy jn selecting school-leavers for jobs.” • “Look behind School Certificate at the real,person, and if he fits your job needs don’t worry about the piece of paper" School Certificate results showed a young person’s academic ability;” Mr Reid said, but employers should not use the examination to ‘‘guess

qualities such as application to work, and basic, abilities and skills.” “There are strong moves, which we support, to provide pupils with a certificate which tells employers what they can do. I believe we should all encourage this.” Particular help should be given to school-leavers who did not have a pass in School Certificate, did not ' know what they wanted to work at, and did not present a good image at job interviews Mr Reid said. “This group soon becomes disillusioned and m a y well become unemployable. We are* building" up problems for the future if such a bitter group continues to exist and grow," he said. “Time is not on our side. “All children are born equally helpless. What they are and how they develop depends to a great extent on the social climate in which they are reared and educated. That is created by us.” Mr Reid said that soma groups were forecasting extensive permanent unemployment, and asserting that children should be educated for a life Without work. This was morally unacceptable, and the forecasts were inaccurate. In Wanganui, the

Director-General of Education (Mr W. L. Renwicksaid that school syllabuses had to be updated, to cope with social change. Mr Renwick told a conference of primary-school principals that attitudes were important, but thev displayed themselves in what people actually did. and how they coped with the demands of daily living. “Do school-leavers have the personal and social skills that will enablw them to win and hold down a job, be a good neighbour, a good spouse and parent, and a responsible citizen in a multicultural society?” Mr Renwick said there was no need for new subjects to be introduced in school programmes, but new issues meant that syllabuses should be modified or amplified. “There are many signs that the New Zealand community wants th# teaching profession to influence what young New Zealanders learn, and tn shape their lives in ways that will be in the besr interests of the New Zealand community itself,” he said. “Against that however, there are the nagging doubts whether ■ th* schools can realistically be expected to achieve these national aims for the very children for whom the schools would have to be most effective. “We have only to consult our own experiences to know that teachers and schools can make an important difference to the lives of boys and girls.”