ROUND THE TABLE TALK

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 7

ROUND THE TABLE TALK

MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND COMMITTEES

The Minister of Education, Sir James Parr, and members of the School Committees' Association, and delegates from the school committees of the city and suburban districts of Wellington, had: a most interesting conference last evening. Mauy important questions relating to the schools of the district, to the duties of committees, and to education matters of a general nature, were thrashed out in a friendly rourtd-the-table talk.

In the course of a comprehensive review of the progress which has been made in educational matters in the Do-, minion during recent years, the Minister iu.entioned-.the grading system/ of teachers, which, he said, had done away with the canvassing by which teachers got appointments in former years. : He said he liked to ascertain what the teachers thought of the grading system, and so at a conference of inspectors of schools, and of members of the Teachers Institute yesterday, lie asked what the toachers thought about it, because, after all, it was the question of the promotion of the teachers that was the point at issue. Of course, it was impossible'to satisfy everyone, but the object was to get ithe majority of teachers satisfied. 'I said to them," remarked the Minister, "would you care to.go back to the system by which three names were submitted to the school committee for appointment?" They said "No," they infinitely preferred—the whole body of teachers infinitely preferred—the present system, even with its admitted shortcomings. The Board of Education actually made the appointment, but made it according to the expert opinion of tho* inspectors, who graded and classified the teachers. 'So that now the appointment of teachers had largely become automatic—according to the efficiency of the teachers as shown by the inspectors evaluation of the teachers' .merits. ' .

CONDITIONS IN WELLINGTON. When he came to Wellington about five years ago, continued the Minister, . ho. found a condition of overcrowding existing. I n nearly half the schools there were unsatisfactory conditions. In the five years of his term of office, the sum of. £336,340 had been spent in Wellington City and suburbs upon educational structures. That was an enormous sum of money. The expenditure related to primary, secondary, and technical school buildings. The Minister gavo particulars of the large suras ' expended. ' It was, he said, an extremely costly business to buy.land and build schools in the cities nowadays. He assured them that Us in 1914 went further in building than £ did to-day. .Speaking of the new Te Aro. School, ■ the Minister said he hoped to get'possession of the' whole Terrace Gaol site witbiiuthe next twelve months, in which case the Department would immediately push on the new school there. He referred to the intention to replace the present; Newtown School- with two schools—one, Newtown Wtst, near John street, and the other. Newtown East; m Douro avenue. Negotiations were . now in progress in regard to this matter. It was the policy of the Department to I'epUtee one. school in each 'large centre year. ' ' ' '

The, said lie .succeeded to a. lieriiiige, of; cbiis'id'er'able neglect—not wilful neglect, but, he 'would say, very ill-informed neglect of educational opportunities—of, buildings and -staffing of. teachers—and ,that hud made his tast all tho more difficult. NO OVERCROWDING. , He was glad to say that in this district there was practically no oyercrowding, and figures were given showing that except iv very few instances the maximum space for each child was provided. Wellington was growing rapidly, but as regarded space for each child Wellington was the best-off city in the Dominion. Reference was made to the claims of the country districts, and the extent- to which they were met. In addition, the Correspondence School in Wellington, conducted by the Education Department, provided for the education of 514 children scattered all over New Zealand in isolated' places. Mention was made of the fact that there are 1K57 students in the Teachers' Training Colleges of the Dominion, and thus a supply of certificated-teachers was maintained QUESTION OF SUBSIDIES. ' In, 1923 there were 1020 applications •from school committees for subsidies, and in that year the amount granted was £19,997. These grants had to be dealt with on business lines, and that necessitated certain restrictions being imposed in the general interests—limits had to be fixed in respect to subsidies for certain purposes. Eeference was made to tho. education systems of Great Britain, Canada, and Australia, and it was, pointed out that school committees only, existed in New Zealand and. Victoria, and m regard to the latter State the system was adopted after a visit of the Director of. Education to New Zealand, the Minister concluded by alluding to the problems that had to be dealt with in guiding the huge, complex machinery of our education system. The chairman of the School Committees' Association, Mr. A. Sando, then drew the attention of tho Minister to some of the difficulties which the committees had to deal with, and outlined many needs in connection with the schools which deserved tlie attention of the Minister, the Department, and the board. Amongst the questions dealt with was the limitation of schools to a' size to accommodate 650 children. Tub necessity for telephones in the larger schools was urged. The views ~of the bchool Committees' Association on a number-of matter* in connection with the schools were outlined.

After, answering a number of questions, which took the form of a friendly round-the-table talk, the Minister wa« accorded a hearty vote of thanks for nis courtesy in attending the conference, and in giving the members of the association so much first-hand information in educational matters. '