Closing of Hogben House defended

Press, 13 June 1981, Page 11

Closing of Hogben House defended

The decision to close Hogben House, the Christchurch in-service training centre for teachers, was made after consultation with all teacher and employer groups at kindergarten, primary and secondary school, teacher training and technical institute levels, a spokesman for the Minister of Education (Mr Wellington) has said. • Mr Wellington announced on Tuesday that the residential national centre, one of only two in New Zealand, would be closed on October 1. The other is Lopdell House, in Auckland. The decision would not be a popular one, but in terms of the most efficient use of departmental funds it was the best, the Minister said yesterday. Use of Hogben House cost at least $400,000 annually, and engaged the equivalent of 18 inspectors full time. To replace the loss of the

centre the Government would gradually increase the number of local in-service courses. These would be of the sdme quality, but would relieve the department of the costs of transport and accommodation for teachers attending the present weekly courses. These costs comprised half the annual bill for the Hogben House and Lopdell House .courses which ran most of the school year. The local in-service courses might be held at schools, and cater for teachers within a radius of

20km. Teachers attending would return home each night. It seemed obvious that teachers in the South Island would be disadvantaged by the proposed closing of Hogben House, said the Labour member of Parliament for Christchurch Central, Mr G. W. R. Palmer, yesterday. “The Government appears to have a policy to close the South Island down,” he said. “First it decided to close the training school for dental nurses, and now an important educational institution is for the chop.”