Education system under scrutiny

Press, 27 July 1983, Page 20

Education system under scrutiny

Almost every aspect of the education system came under scrutiny at a panel discussion between two members of Parliament, a member of the New Zealand Education Institute and a senior district primary schools inspector at Lincoln. Concern about large class sizes and and increasing teacher-pupil ratio at Lincoln Primary School prompted the school’s Parent Teacher Association to arrange the discussion, which was titled “Primary Education in the Next Decade.” The member of Parliament for Selwyn, Miss Ruth Richardson, the member of 'parliament for Kapiti, Mrs Margaret Shields, a senior executive with the N.Z.E.1., Mr L. Chilton and the district senior inspector of primary schools, Mr H. C. A. Forsman, made up the panel. Miss Richardson told the meeting of about 50 people that if the teacher-pupil ratio were to be reduced to one teacher to 25 pupils across the board, it would cost $6O million per annum. About three thousand teachers would be needed, and they were not available in New Zealand at the moment.

Traditional trends in education administration had been based on a growth in school rolls, but a new policy on retraction was necessary now as rolls were falling.

i Her agenda for reform in the primary education system would be to concentrate on reducing teacherpupil ratios in the infant classes where the teachers

could obviate problems which would call for special needs later on in the child’s education.

Mrs Shields said there was a need to confront technology in schools and that the savings the Government was experiencing in the education system bei cause of the falling rolls .should be put back into the system to provide better facilities. One reason that smaller schools had a one-to-25 teacher ratio was to alleviate the problems of a teacher faced with a class of different age groups, Mr Chilton said.

The intake quotas at teachers’ training colleges had dropped because of falling rolls and partly because of the new bursary system, where teacher trainees were on the same bursary scale as university students, he said.

Continuing education for teachers had been cut back.

This was why a system of teacher grading was being considered — an evaluation of teacher performance to see where the strengths of each teacher lay and where there were difficulties.

Because of the new age of technology, and changes in family patterns, there was an increasing call for special needs to be catered for in primary schools. Schools were looking at including the handicapped in with the rest of normal children, so special needs were required there. “There is a 'Sinking lid’ policy in the availability of advisory services for teachers,” Mr Chilton said. “Reading recovery is a

top priority of the Ministry of Education, yet it is not attracting new resources.” Mr Chilton questioned the value of education when it was being used as a dollar saving exercise.

Selective improvements should be focused on, rather than trying to reduce the teacher-pupil ratio, Mr Forsman said. His list of four selective improvements included reading recovery, assistance in mainstreaming children,. improving the junior part of schools, and better in-school training for intermediate teachers.

The meeting which was largely made up of parents and teachers involved with the Lincoln school, expressed concern about the high numbers in the classes, four of which exceeded 35 pupils. Mr Forsman said that if the school was organised properly, this problem would not arise. The school had a sufficient number of teachers to reach the average of 31 pupils a teacher. He suggested that composite classes of five and six-year-olds, and seven and eight-year-olds were made up to ease the problem.

He said the Lincoln situation was similar to many other schools. The chairman of the P.T.A., Mr Tony Beck, said after the meeting that he did not think the problem had been solved, out the parents and teachers were now aware of the general problems in the education system, and where they could try to help solve some of them.