EDUCATION REFORMS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2569, 17 September 1915, Page 2

EDUCATION REFORMS

A FEW SUGGESTIONS THE NEED FOR ECONOMY The report of tho Department of Education was presented to tho House of Representatives yesterday by tho Hon. J. A. llaiian. As in other years, tho report is a complete compendium of available information about the State education system and the administration of it. Tho new Minister has introduced several new features, among them a number of illuminating statistical diagrams and graphs. He has also added a few general remarks, from which the following are a selection:—

"By the appointment later of a common head of' good professional standing to direct both medical inspection and physical training, it is hoped to secure the best correlation of physical education' with the medical aspect of the matter. The two branches are mutually dependent and should be under the same control. At present, under war conditions, it is impossible to take further action by widening tho scope of the medical inspection beyond tho tentative scheme already adopted, or by 'making necessary additions to the staff to enable the slieme to be expanded. As soon as conditions become more favourable it is intended, subject to the necessary provision, by Parliament, to make in both respccts a substantial advance. So far as the scheme has yet developed the yearly expenditure of the double service amounts to a littlo over £10,000 per annum. . . . Tho .establishment of dental clinics at convenient centres, or of a movablo character, to deal with one of the most prevalent of physical defects, the utilisation of the services of school nurses to fink the school inspection with tlie home, and systematic courses of lectures to parents on the care ofchildren, are among suggestions tliat will need consideration. •

. "There appears 110 reason to be dissatisfied with the results of the system established by the Industrial Sdiools Act in 1882 for tlie care of neglected and delinquent children, but the operations "of the intervening thirty years might well be examined iuore closely'to obtain an assurance that the country is getting value for its expenditure in this direction, and to ascertain what improvements or' developments it would be reasonable to expect. "Of the special adaptations of school curricula to meet universal wants of later life none is more important than those that concern home life and the domestic arts. Changes in social conditions insistently demand increased attention in tliis By -ensuring that in future every girl's education shall include some knowledge of, tho science which afFccts her home problems, and some practice of the domestice arts, the whole standard of home life would he raised, and trained experience substituted for instinct apd tradition which have hitherto been the chief guides for mothers. In the public schools much is already done through tlie medium of manual-training classes in plain cooking and laundry work, and instruction in needlework and domestic hygiene, but more is needed. Domestic courses are also formed' and widely utilised' in the technical schools, and in two of the chief centres training hostels on a model that might well be followed clsewhore have been established. Tho secondary schools also in many instances make provision for a doniestifc course, and much • encouragement is given to girls to take it, but other inlluences, chief among which is the necessity of earning their own living, work strongly in an opposite direction. That girls are not averse to devote their attention to such a course in prefereuco to more aca'demio studies is amply shown by the fact that when this necessity is less pressing the course is popular, and, in fact, evokes a 'go'od deal of enthusiasm. Thp maintenance of: a department of home science .at one of 'the University centres with a diploma in home science, and the recognition by the University of a home-science degree do much to lend dignity to the study, and the domestic science bursaries now in operation provido for a supply of competently trained teachers. Wherever ah opportunity occurs to encourage further effort in the training of young people "in women's spccial work it will b.e the duty of re,sponsible authorities to take it.

'.'One of the most urgent- needs in connection with post primary education concerns the position of boys and girls jvho leave the primary school and fail tn continue their education > elsewhere. Attendance at continuation or technical classes between the ages of fourteen and seventeen- is still to a extent merety. vpluntary, and tho difficulties facing any generally compulsory provisions are considerable. In European countries the compulsory principle for adolescents has long been recognised, and there is now a very general concensus of opinion that more must be done to supplement our system in this way. if tno necessary time off could be granted by tho employers to enable a few hour's of instruction weekly'to be. feiven in; the day time' tho problem would be' much simplified.

' "In view of the requirements for school buildings, it is to be regretted that, as the result of financial conditions' that have arisen, restriction in public expenditure in various directions jias become imperative, and only urgent demands can in the immediate futuro J)e considered. In some cases accomnioclatiqu that would in ordinary circumstances be regarded as sufficient will have to serve tho purpose for a further period. At the same time indications, it must be -admitted, are not wanting that the State is not always getting the be§t value for this expenditure. Each of the local boards whose -business it is to attend to the erection of the (jujldings lias its own ideas on the subject o fsfchool architecture, and soma of these do not always conform to the best principles. It is probable that good would result from a systematic investigation of the subject. . . . Whatever demand? there nia.v ho for buildings for secondary and higher educatinn in the immediate future, it cannot be too strongly emphasised that where financial provision cannot be made for all the claims of the'primary school, as representing the' school of the bulk of tho people, must _be paramount and have the .first consideration."