CAN BE IMPROVED

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 125, 23 November 1923, Page 8

CAN BE IMPROVED

COUNCIL OF EDUCATION

SUGGESTIONS BY A MEMBER

Before the Wellington branch of the Education Association on Tuesday evening some criticism of the constitution and work of the Council of Education was offered by Miss N. E. Coad, a member of the council—a, representative of secondary women teachers.

The points to note about the constitution of the council, remarked Miss Coad, were :—(1) That out of the seventeen members, nine are drawn from the primary school service. (2) That the secondary and technical services are badly represented. • Some people say that the technical service is not represented at all. (3) That the lay and the administrative elements are largely represented.

As set forth in the Education Act, one function was to report on methods or developments.- in national education which, in its opinion, it was desirable to introduce into New Zealand. This bore on, the expert or professional side of education. • As at present constituted, the council was very much hampered in discharging that function. To begin with, it was a mixed body composed of the lay, the administrative, and the expert elements. Experience had shown that such mixed bodies were rarely a success when dealing with professional or technical matters. As a matter of fact, the council dealt largely with administrative details. There were many other bodies dealing with those aspects of education, and so the question arose : "Is the council superfluous?" "Of course," continued the speaker, "it is natural enough in these times to give chief prominence to administrative matters, but at the risk of a digression I wish to point out that that is a mistake. After all, the vital part of education is the expert's—the teacher's—part. The chief influence of education in its effect ore the rising generation and on national life is exerted by the teacher in the class room. Teachers need to' insist that there is as much special training and technique, as "much special skill and experience put into their work as there is into the diagnosis of a doctor, the legal opinion of a lawyer or the operations of a dentist. Until teachers do that, neither they nor their work will be taken very seriously, and lay opinion will be accepted on expert matters. Teachers are perfectly justified in making these claims, for as far as the tone of the teaching profession goes, it compares favourably with that in the other professions. To do the council justice, howecver, it is only fair to say that when expert matters do come, before it they generally receive a, very fair and sympathetic treatment. It has made some' good recommendations recently, acting on the advice of a subcommittee of experts. WIDE SCOPE OF RECOMMENDATIONS. "The council is to report upon any matters concerning the provision of facilities for education i,n New Zealand or m any district thereof, and upon the-co-ordination of the work carried on by' the .various bodies controlling education. Under the shelter of this clause almost anything can be squeezed in. As a matter of fact, the clause opens the door to all the hardy annuals of the teachers' conferences. The ■ familiar motions dealing with salaries, classification, and staffing again come up smiling. I myself always try my luck, and send in for the order paper the motions passed by the secondary organisations. Some are ruled out by a stern chairman, but acting on the principle that everything in the world is connected if you only keep on long enough, a great many remain standing on the order paper. And co the question arises again : "Is the council meant to be a reinforcing body for the_ various teachers' organisations? If so, is it superfluous?" I "It is the second part of this clause, however, that deserves special attention —the part which deals with the co-ord-ination of the work of the various bodies [controlling education. The first essential for that is that all the controlling bodies should be represented. But that is not so. Boards of governors, technical school boards, and school committees have no representation, and these bodies are doing important work. The primary school boards alone have adequate representation, and the result is that the primary school service has been given the power to legislate for every branch of the,profession. Vesy' naturally, it will do so on the ground that what holds good in the primary service will also hold good in every other branch of the service. This is not true, for what holds good for a' girl i n a primary school does not always hold good for the same girl in a secondary school Judging from some of the discussions I have' heard, one would think that the education profession is a system of pure mathematics, where no variation is needed for different conditions. To give an instance: a motion was brought down by the Department dealing with the number of teaching- hours in a secondary school day. Understand. I am not dealing now with the merits or dements of increasing the legal hours of a. secondary school day. I am leaving that aspect out just now, but I am trying to show that the Council of Education was not the body to deal' with that question. The motion was approved, however, almost unanimously. AFTER SCHOOL HOURS' WOEK.

Another matter brought forward in the same way dealt'with the length of the secondary school year. This, too. was gaily passed by the council, the secondary school representatives a^ahi being in a minority. Th© motion has since been approved' by the Minister. Ihis very same matter was brought up by the Department at a secondary school conference; but it was introduced without adequate notice, and without good enough facilties for discussion. . The secondary conference in these circumstances did not rush to any definite decision. However, the Council of 'Education, with the secondary teachers in a minority of two, deemed itself" competent to legislate for the secondary service, and it passed this motion. Now, leaving the merits or demerits of the recommendations out of the question altogether, I do_ not think the council took enough things into consideration, and my explanatkjns fell on unheeding ears. Firstly, it did not take into consideration the factthat in many girls' schools practical Bubjecfcs, such as dressmaking and cooking, are taken after sohool hours. Any further increase in the hours will mean undue hardship fox- the girls. Further, there are the long-distance pupils to consider and how trains and boatß are to be caught, and what time the girlß will get home, when the school day is increased, are difficult matters to determine.

Socrmdly, the council did not tak« into consideration the fact that the boards may require the services of a secondary sohool teacher for six hours a day. Thirdly, it did not take into consideration the faotthat a secondary school teacher hag very heavy work outside of school hours. . There is a great deal of nonsense talked about ft teacher's short hours, but us a matter of fact a «co. bndiiry teacher does nearly as much work after school hours as in them. It .comes, to thin in the seyondary larvics

that outside work is required, but it does not seem to be recognised. "That alwaps happen with work done outside the usual hours, and done at home. Correction of examination papers and social activities conected with a school too, are important features, and they take up a great deal of a teacher's leisure and energy. One does not complain of the work, of course, but one does complain of the,want of recognition and the nonsense talked about short hours. After all, the secondary school teacher does need some time and energy aftfer school hours to keep up with her subjects and with modern development in education. . . . This is recognised in the case of the University; it should be recognised to some extent in the case of the secondary schools. On this point the council is hampered in discharging this function, for important sections of the profession are not represented. "The third function of the council is to report to the Minister on any educational matter which he refers to the council. The Minister is not in the habit of referring important educational matters to the Council of Education. Finally, the Council of Education holds some very undesirable possibilities for the secondary and technical school services.

"The council needs a change of constitution. At any rate, if it is to be retained, I should suggest that it consist of two divisions. The first should be tha administrative division composed of an equal number of representatives from all the controlling bodies. The second should be a division for experts containing an equal number of representatives from every part of the profession. Each division should sit separately, but joint meetings should be arranged when occasion demanded it. This suggestion is only my own personal opinion; lam not expressing the views of any organisation id the matter."