The Dominion. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1937. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 298, 13 September 1937, Page 8

The Dominion. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1937. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Statements made by the president of the IW > Guidance Association at the annual meeting show that its efforts a being frustrated by the Governments legislation. Ihe aa vocational guidance is to ascertain by systematic metho aptitudes of young people in regard to future voc atlo > - t0 “ nce trate on these aptitudes in the later , period of their education, and by special training raise the standard of their quailfication s certain countries vocational guidance has become higiy y aiid with impressive results. . . . . hll . Much has been written and talked about it in this ' it is only in Dunedin, largely through the pioneering work of . McGregor Walmsley many years ago, that it can be said to a become strongly established as a permanent agency of social we fa with a very fine record of achievement, lhere have j attempts in other centres, and in quite a number of primary a c secondary schools head teachers have interested themselves with beneficial results. The subject attracted more widespread at^ ,on as a result of the amount of youth unemployment during the depression, and the efforts of the boy and girl employment committees to solve what was then becoming a disturbing problem. _ Ministers lately—the Acting-Minister of Labour in a F have been discussing ways and means of providing vocational traini g for youths at present on sustenance. Ihe Minister of Defence has announced a vocational training scheme for the three monthsl scrvic men who enlist with the coast defence artillery, and the Minister of Education has indicated that vocational guidance will be given systematic attention in the Education Act Amendment Bill to be introduced this session. All this is welcome evidence that what is really a most important aspect of education may now be given the attention to whic S But if the principle of vocational guidance which, m simple English, means no more square pegs in round holes, is to be successful y applied, careful thought will have to be given to the question of making our industrial legislation more elastic. The Dunedin association employs a whole-time vocational officer, and under his direct o positions were found last year for 746 boys and girls. The moi e we study the problem,” said the president of the association at the annual meeting, “the more we are convinced that no Government department or official could undertake the work we are now doing in Dunedin with as much acceptance and satisfaction to. all those most intimately concerned. . . . Careful selections and guidance was never more necessary. Legislation ostensibly intended to be in the interests of youth was, instead, causing much distress, loss of employment, and uncertainty of positions in the ranks of young men. Employers are now seeking to employ boys at an age at which t.*ey have been unable to acquire sufficient education to carry them far in any worth-while career.” . It is quite clear that if the Minister of Education is to make a success of his schemes of reform the co-operation of his colleague the Minister of Labour will be essential. Mr. Fraser aims to give the children more school time and more educational preparation tor the battle of life and the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. The effect of Mr. Armstrong’s legislation has been to hurry the young people out of school at the earliest possible moment. This highly unsatisfactory state of affairs has given cause for grave concern on the part of secondary school principals and educationists genetally. If a system of vocational guidance and training is to be of any use at all, it must not be hurried. The school period must be extended, and there must be no risk attached to this. In present circumstances those who desire to avail themselves of the full course of primary and secondary education open to them, and which all agree is desirable in the general interests of efficient citizenship, know that they can only do so at the risk of being penalised by unemployment when they leave school. ' This is the result of hasty legislation. It is to be z hoped that the lessons of this experience will not be lost, and that greater sagacity and foresight will mark the Governments legislation in the future. People in this country care far more about the lives and careers of their sons and daughters than they do about Socialism, which as applied' through the Government’s industrial legislation has in this particular connection been destructive rather than constructive.