EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 91, 11 January 1919, Page 12

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

ANNUAL MEETING-OPENED REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE The New Zealand Educational Institute opened its thirty-sixth annual conference in tho Masonic Hnll (Bojiicott Street) yesterday. Mr. A. Erskine (actingpresident) occupied tho chair. The chairman 6aid that this :v.as the fifth occasion on which tho Institute had met since the fateful year of 192-J, mid the first occnsioa /on which it had met 6inco the return of peace conditions. Ho felt that the meeting- should mark the occasion by singing the "National Anthem." : . All present rose and joined in tho singing of the first verse. Speeches by Visitors. The Mayor, Mr. J. P. Luke, M.P., was invited to address the conferenco. Ho referred to international events which had culiuimUsrf iii a state of affairs amounting j,i-«ctical!y to an established peace, and ho epois of tho eacrij iicea that had been made by members ! of the teaching• profession in the course: jof , the* war. Touching briefly "dpon. the ; question of education, His Worship said ; that, the country had not yet, in his. j opinion, realised its responsibilities to- j ,! wards those who were . educating tho i j young people of the Dominion. This j I was apparent from, comparison of the ! I'emolument of teachers with that of the j heads-of commercial concerns. He did j not think that tho present Minister of i Education should he blamed for the! position in ivhicli education stood. Tho j Minister-was/die believed, honestlv doing his -best, (Applause,) In wishing*"the In- j 6titute success, His Worship said lie sin- \ cerely believed tliat tho teachers wero as- i sembled in conference not to advance ! themselves or to build up their own at- j fairs, but to make the educational ays- ; tern the best possible, with a view solely j to tho prosperity and greatness of - tho! Dominion. Dr. Newman was the second visitor to ! speak. He reminded teachers who might j he dissatisfied .with present conditions that education had, after all, made great; strides in the past few years. The public i now realised that they must have trailed | teachers, and that it was not every per- ; eon who was qualified to hold a place in j tho profession., Tho war had altered! things very much, nnd the public mind ' was now determined that the State should j properly look after the ( interests of' tho I child whoso parents were not in a posi-' tion to ca,re adequately for its health \ and education. While tho public irand ! was growing to a realisation of these ] things, it was also learning that, in or- j der to give the children tho best, tho | Stato must offer greater rewards to the i teaching profession. Mr. T. Forsyth, chairman of the Education Board, congratulated the Institute ( on tho steps it had taken to secure educational reform. Tho time hod arrived when education was coming into its own, and it was for the profession and thoso connected with it to see to it now that education was put on a proper basis for its development in the future. He thought that the idea of holding an annual conference such as the one he was addressing was a splendid one. Tho Wellington Education Board had proposed last year to discuss, in conference with other boards, §omo of tho vesy matters that wero on the order paper of the Institute. But the epidemic had supervened, and tho Conferenco of Education Boards had had to bo postponed. It would bo held about the time at which tho nest Parliament met. The speaker's idea waa that tho boards and the Institute should be a3 an organised body in connection with tho next general elections. Unless tho boards and the Institute organised, they could not so confidently expect to seo their demands granted. His sentiments with Regard to the present Minister of Education might l>e el-press-ed in the phrase, ''With all his faults, I love him still." He considered that tho Minister was doing his host. He' hoped that the future would soe expended in tho cause of education amounts at ' least in fair proportion to those which had recently boen 6pent in the destruction of life by war. He wished tho con- . ference every in its work. Mr. Bakewell, Senior Inspector of Schools in the Wellington province, said that out of the crucible of tho war the teaching profession had come with a record second to Qione. He thought that while reforms wore urgently required, they could bo accomplished-without depreciation of or detraction from tho work of tho past, whatever its shortcomings might have been. Thero was no douht that great work had been done in tho past, and npon that work the achievements of tile future must be founded. A vote of thanks to tho speakers was carried by hearty acclamation. Work of tho Past Year. The chairman read to the conferenco a statement prepared by the .executive. It opened with a reference to the fact that the annual meeting last year had inaugurated a enmpaign in tlie' interests of education; and it proceeded to describe at sorao length the steps that had been taken in the conduct of the campaign, and the results that had been achievod. Ono result was a vote of <£'100,000 for sohool buildings; another was an increase in tho size of staffs and consequent reduction in the size of classes; a third was some addition to teachers' salaries, but not an addition largo enough (in tho •opinion of the executive) to make the teaching profession an attractive ono to ithe class of young people most needed in 'it; a fourth was the giving of power to the Governor-General-in-Council to es'tablish; continuation 'classes in the daytime. The last-mentioned result represented the beginning of what might be the greatest movement of all, since it conveyed tho recognition that not only the best, but all the nation's young people were in need of, and were worthy :Of better training than they had hitherto'received. : : It was twenty years since tho institute had first asked for the medical iitspection'of school children, and though for half those years it had asked in vain, yet a beginning' had at last been made, alid substantial progress had followed it. ■When medical and dental inspection were followed by medical and dental treatment there would be reason to feel that .the State was really caring for the greatest good of its people, There .was room for. the .closest co-operation of the Education and Public Health Departments. After luncheon adjournment, the institute went into committee to consider matters connected with the "Journal of Education." When it resumed in open session, the chairman announced the appointment of Mr. C. ,T. M'Kinnon (Wellington) as editor. Mr. H. A. Parkinson was appointed •paid secretary to the institute.