TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 280, 23 August 1934, Page 9

TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

Question of Greater Development „ MORE ADVANCED WORK ■- “Fairly advanced work is now being done in many of our technical schools, especially in the evening classes,- but the stage has been reached where greater development of these classes should have serious consideration from ourselves and from the Education Department,” said the president, Mr. McGregor Wright, in his address to the annual conference of the Technical Education Association of New Zealand yesterday “There is a great deal that ean be done in this way without trespassing on the functions of the university colleges, and after all there are not university colleges in all the large towns of New Zealand. • “The matter is one that careful thought and probably some remodelling of the manual and technical regulations. Provision will have to be made for the payment at higher rates than is provided now for the right type of instruction. There is already provision in the regulations for the recognition of small classes wffien advanced work is being done in them. “The evening classes of our schools should, in my opinion, be 7 the place where instruction in the most advanced work in any trade or calling can be obtained. They should be such as to attract students who have done partial or complete courses in secondary and other post-primary schools. “The rates of pay to part-time instructors is in many cases inadequate for even work of an ordinary standard and quite insufficient to enable our schools to obtain the best instructors for advanced work. There Is no provision for paying more than 20/- per evening less salary cuts and wage tax. which returns only about 15/- to the instructor not only for his evening's work, but also for the time spent in preparation for his evening's work and in marking prepared work afterward. It is not surprising that some of our best instructors have decided that the remuneration provided does not make the work worth while. “In most of our schools training in evening classes particularly has a definite technical or vocational bias, and little encouragement can be given to those persons who wish to take up hobby work In this changing age. however, we ean foresee that one of the immediate problems in every country will be to teach people how to use their leisure'hours. For working hours will become fewer and leisure hours more, and there are possibilities of grave dangers among a people who are partially idle. Only a small proportion will ever use their added leisure In reading or in music, and most will incline to work in which manual dexterity will show practical results. “There is already too much attention given to sport and amusement in the filling of leisure time, -and we should endeavour to direct the attention of all people with spare time to the pleasure to be derived from the many forms of handwork in wood, metal and other materials, from the practice of music, drawing and the other arts, as well as from reading of all kinds. While I do not suggest that technical schools should depart from the purpose for which they are established, I feel strongly that they should point the way to the right use of leisure.”