TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 189, 9 May 1934, Page 6

TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

Relation to Industry and Commerce VALUE OF VOCATIONAL AID ‘•Education is a preparation tor life and should be as many sided as life itself. Moreover, the educational emphasis bn the various departments of training should be in accord with that which the community places upon the corresponding departments of life. Preparation for a vocation, because of the large place it occupies in life, must occupy a very important place in the educational programme,” said Mr. T. L. James, M.Com., Dip.Ed,. in his presidential address on "The Relationship of the Technical School to Industry and Commerce,” at the opening of the annual conference of the New Zealand Technical School Teachers’ Association in Wellington yesterday. “Science and invention,” said Mr. James, "have brought about and are still bringing about such great .changes that an educational programme planned for a century ago is quite unsuited for to-day, and what would be ideal for to-day will be hopelessly inadequate a century hence. The programme at training 1 must not only be up to date but must be kept up'to date. The methods by which it is sought to achieve this now must not be overlooked or lightly valued. Our teachers are largely drawn from industry. They know what is required and they have the industrial outlook. They know their pupils and understand the vocational life into which they will enter, and they direct their teaching accordingly. Pre-vocational training and vocational skill both receive the attention they deserve. Changing Requirements of Industry. “But once a person joins the teaching staff, he tends to lose contact with his former profession,: and it becomes easy for him to perpetuate the system under which he was trained. Constant contact is essential if he is to keep his teaching adapted to the changing requirements of industry and commerce. He must visit factories, shops, offices; he must maintain contact with, his former colleagues, and he should be permitted, feven encouraged, to carry on in a small way his former occupation. If occasionally he should go back into industry and commerce, so much the better. By keeping himself up to date he will be able to keep his training up to date. Employers can and are often willing to co-operate, but the first move must come from the teacher. • “There can be no institution more important to industry than that where its future workers are trained. It follows that the closest contact and co-operation should exist between the technical schools and industry. This is a great need, the need of contact that brings about intelligent and sympathetic co-operation.

“Advisory committees can help; but they must be comprised of men and women who have a real interest in - the school, and who make an earnest attempt to assist. There must be no superficial co-operation. Addresses by business men; to the-pupils, or visits to factories, are 'both Useful, and are not used nearly to the extent they could be. If the teacher knew that, different employerswould allow-him to • take his pupils to their works occasionally to make educational use of his equipment .and methods, his ■ teaching could .cover a wider 'scope and be absolutely up to date.' The employers would take a greater interest in the school and its'welfare; they would realise that it was not a thing apart, but a .vita! institution training their future employees in a way that would bring increased -industrial efficiency. Vocational Guidance. “Addresses by business men are valuable. Apart from, giving the men. a greater interest in the school, they enable the teacher to check up on his own course to see that it is sufficiently complete. Inisome cases the appointment of a man: in the trade as examiner or coexaminer, as is done in' the French Trade Schools, may give confidence to employers. “In New Zealand vocational guidance is of very recent development, so recent that very little has been done except in one or two centres. Even in these centres, the depression has to a large extent hindered the carrying out of true vocational guidance. But something has been done. Contact has been established with industry, and (he technical schools are beginning to be entrusted with the selection of boys and girls to fill vacant positions. The employer is finding out that it is not very difficult to give the vocational guidance officer such a knowledge of his requirements that he can select the most suitably trained boy available. Even the slight contact and co-opera-tion, now existing is beneficial to all concerned. The employer is relieved, of the expense of calling for applications, and of the difficult task of selecting the best among the many applicants. The vocational guidance officer has known the pupil for two or three years, and he has records available and colleagues to consult. The boy selected is more likely to be proficient, and therefore happy in his work. Advice to Parents and Youtlis. “We look forward to the time when, with the co-operation of industry and commerce, the vocational guidance officer, in making a detailed survey of his district, can reach a very fair estimate of the number required annually by the different occupational groups. He will be able to advise parents and youths accordingly,. and there will be less heard of a shortage of skilled workers in this occupation, and a surplus in that. When vocational guidance has become general, the vocational guidance officers will be able to do a little as practical economists toward keeping the supply of various kinds of skilled labour equal to the demand. "We hope that the time is not far distant when the technical schools will be regarded as an important adjunct to the industrial system, when employers will look to them as the institutions for training their future employees. and from which they will draw their supply. It is impossible to measure the spiritual and material prosperity that will come when every one is employed in the job he con do best, because of natural aptitude and of training.”