FROM WEST AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 548, 1 July 1909, Page 5

FROM WEST AUSTRALIA

A , VISITING EDUCATIONIST.' , ' ~B y Manuka, from, Sidney josterdav, . thel'O arrived in Wellington'-Mr Cecil' Andrew, Director of; Education m West Australia, who is visiting the Dominion on a in sMon ot inquiry into tho.ianoui phases of our education Bjstom with re- : gard.toHho New Zealand methods of con- . - n^. 1 up the _ three -phaseaot eductition— I'fPnmary'f. schooli ' .t'flo colfci'o; and tho university—and the "free plato" system. - 1 In West-Australia, observed Mr. Audiew to a ropresentativ e of Tiiii Dominion jcetoiday, there are no umveisity colleges, 1101 M 6 tllcio any, State, becondary colleges.'■ The latter aro all tindw private control, and, . -With of,-one,; are all denominational. ino siuglo -undenominational nisti- . tutioii,, is in. receipt of :ian .annual Government subsidy "ot tIOOO, ' Mest Australia is a. vast and sp.irseKpopulated teintory, and the administration ot education such an extent is a big Jhcre aro ; iip , education hoards,- no . «ohool committees j tuO :ii hole-system is den- 1 tralised, the core ot activity being tho offioo ot tho J)ircctor of Education at Perth. Is thero any movenitot m tho direction of decentralisation . J • . • -- "No,' replied All. Aiidrev.*, "our system to give general fiatisfactioi}." - - • In such a dispersed district, - thcro must ' be a great many schools of tho 'aided' typo —the Up-keep of which 14 maintained paitly by Government giant and partly by local contribution r "Tilat w iQ. - Wo havo what : are 'enllcd subsidised schools." Mr., Androw went on to say that as rcgnub 9jllabusos of 111. struction and t'Mching methods, he believed that V/ost Amtialia was quite up-to-date. Manual r.nd tichnical instruction, 'woodwork, -agricultural: scioiice, and' cookery, all 'had their placo on the piogramme 'There was , also a scliool. cadet organisation, which was -under the ac;.;is of, and-part.of, the Coiri'.mouwoalth delence system. •'