"THIS FREEDOM"

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 110, 12 May 1930, Page 10

"THIS FREEDOM"

A TEACHING PROBLEM

TIME INOPPORTUNE

NEED FOE EESEAECH

Teachers are to consider themselves free to make any alteration or rearrangement of work they think desirable, and the inspectors will approve any reasonable scheme tbat appears to meet the needs of the children of a particular type or a particular locality. It is recognised that' the pupil as well as the teacher has a right to a certain measure of freedom. It is most important ■ that the teacher shall use his freedom wiseThese extracts from the general introduction to the syllabus of instruction for public schools issued in 1928 formed the text for some observations by Mr. J. G. Poison, M.A., of Christchurch, in his presidential address at the opening session of the annual conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute this afternoon. Such statements as those, said Mr. Poison, were met by teachers with general approval, almost jubilation, as if in fact they marked the beginning of a new era in education. It seemed opportune, therefore, to face the question of freedom and inquire. what is connoted. Seeking a definition of "freedom," Mr. Poison said that if it was merely freedom to make a few adjustments in a more or less cast-iron system, ready-made for them —and many teachers would say that was as far as freedom went to-day—then the term was a misnomer. Although freedom in any field was rarely full and complete, ■but usually limited in greater or less degree, he took it that what was intended for teachers was a freedom based on trust and not on mistrust, a freedom that demanded high qualifications a_nd great responsibilities. The first question he wished to ask was: Were the teachers as a whole ready to accept the responsibility ostensibly conferred on them? RELYING ON THE PAST. In aiming to answer that momentous question, he would like to remind them that - education was dynamic, necessarily so, and that if they were to cope with the task entrusted to -them they must be ever on the alert culling from the past, estimating the present, and gauging the future so far as possible and providing that kind of environment for the child which would enable him to adjust himself to the life he had to lead. Reliance could not be placed on mere tradition. They needed to glance at only a few of the remarkable changes 'of this scientific age in order to grasp "the fact that blind reliance on past methods and past achievements was totally inadequate. . . . The plain fact of the matter was that science, especially science in industry, had advanced so rapidly that they could not adjust themselves quickly enough to the bewildering succession of changes. Hence they suffered from many evils of maladjustment, such as unemployment. In education no less than in other directions, there was ample evidence of ft groping after truth, and he proposed submitting his belief that" in that field the teachers themselves must be up and doing, not merely- alert to accept the ■test while rejecting the worst of what others were offering, but actively united in research work, partly, of course, to test what other educational authorities submitted to them, but more particularly to be active discoverers rather than blind followers or mere destructive critics. Thcy_, were determined to aim at placing the teaching profession on a basis similar to the dignity accorded to the legal or medical fraternity. But wore they proving their right to that claim ? , LIFE OE LIVELIHOOD? Presumably, they were the experts in education. What steps were they taking in a collective and organised way to ensure that aims and methods were such that the. young people of the country would be assisted to the fullest degree in equipping themselves not merely to make the best of life individually, "but also to build up a society morally sound and economically strong. It was useless to harp on some high-sounding phrase such as "Education should train for life rather than for livelihood," if. jfchey forgot that life was a sad failure unless livelihood was provided for. So long as the youth of a nation passed joufc from school days unable in great iiumbers to find a niche where service to the community ensured an; adequate living so long must they admit that something was wrong somewhere, even if [they were armed with the rudiments of jnusie, art, or literature to cater for the life apart from mere living. There was obviously one field ready for exploration. Education seemed to have failed to accommodate itself to the changed conditions, and they were still groping •for light. NOT READY FOP* FREEDOM. Wore they as a body of teachers continually reaching out after the truth, in education so that when freedom was conferred upon them they could use it wisely? It seemed to him that the answer should be in the negative—a qualified negative perhaps—but thetime was not yet ripe for an enlightened Education Department to sny to the teachers: "The education of the yijj^Ui of this country is your job. You arc the experts. Go and do it." In saying that he was not in any way belittling the standing, zeal, or.enthusiasm of the teaching service. "Too often the notion is held that -the end of education is to hand on to jthe child measured out quantities of certain subjects duly set out in a work book week by week and that subject teaching is. the. end of education," said Mr. Poison. "Despite the efforts made in training colleges to inculcate the- idea that subjects are but a means to an end, yet the thoughts of many teachers —I almost said most teachers —revolve round schemes of work, daily work book, and the best methods of presenting certain specified topics so that the pupils can afterwards reproduce them on request. They overlook to a great extent the allimportant fact that it is not the subjects that matter, but the children. Instead of worrying over which topics in the jistory syllabus they should select at any-particular stage, the question should be faced as to why history is to be offered to the child at all. What new responses do we expect froni teaching history? How is the child's adjustment later on to be assisted by the history wo offer? What an empty aim to accept someone else's statement that a certain subject is good for the child and then blindly attempt, to teach it,' without trying to get behind the idea and discover where it is expected to lead him." READY-MADE CURRICULUM. Mr. Poison said the great body of teachers accepted a ready-made curriculum with little thought beyond the day's work in presenting materials suggested by others. The fault was not- entirely their own. With an inadequate training period and little opportunity subsequently for cultivating a broad view of education, an almost blind acceptance of a rcady--1 made system was inevitable^ It was that fact that forced them to- accept

supervision for their teaching service and made them recognise that any freedom they claimed was necessarily as yet of a limited kind. Touching with temerity on the question of supervision, Mr. Poison said that men and women composing such a staff should in tho first place be chosen with the greatest care so that the teachers entrusted to their charge- would feel such confidence in their ability, knowledge, and judgment that their advieo and help would be sought for continually. Moreover, for a reasonable term at any rate, each supervisor should be placed in charge of a group of schools so that his desires might permeate the group and give a feeling of stability and definite goal at which to aim. Nothing was nioro -conducive to bad teaching and "catch" methods than the present system of different men visiting the .schools in succession. . . At present there was an unwarranted lack of sympathetic connection between teacher training and inspection of schools. Each of those departments was operating largely independently instead of 'in close sympathy and understanding.