TRAINING OF TEACHERS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 40, 15 August 1930, Page 11

TRAINING OF TEACHERS

CONSOLIDATION UNDER

UNIVERSITIES

*' MANIFOLD ADVANTAGES

In- the opinion of the Committee, there is probably no part of our educational organisation so badly in need of consolidation and unification of coi> tro! as that which relates to the training of teachers. "Evidence submitted by the Director of Education, chairmen of education boardSj university-college administrators and professors, training college principals, and representatives t>f the' s&coii(|ary, technical, and nonKtate schools," states the report, "all went to show that in this field perhaps more than in any other there exist traiwarranted duplication of staffs and Bourses, want of co-operation, uneonJlMslcd friction, and manifest waste. On MM! other hand, with respect to a large jfciid important section of the teaching ««rvico—that of the post-primary teachers, secondary and technical—it was apparent that no adequate system of spe«ialised professional training as teachers it in. existence at all. . In view of the evidence placed before 3fc, the Committee came- to the conclusion that New Zealand could not do *«ttor than apply to local conditions tie- principles governing the latest English, Scottish, and Australian practice. "At the same time," the report says, •'it felt that it ought not merely to point to the principles which should, in its opinion, govern the desired reorganisation^ but to indicate also the practical method by which it proposes that these may be effectively, applied. It las, therefore, recoihmended the consolidation of the training colleges and their staffs with the university college aehools of education and their arts and science staffs.- The advantages.of such a course appear to the Committee to be manifold." '

That the training colleges in the four centres be handed over to the control of the university-college authorities, together with their buildings, equipment, and staffs; and that the general lecturers so handed over be utilised to1 ledue'e the size:of classes in the university arts and science departments. That the'professional lecturing staff ef the training colleges be consolidated with that of the university schools of education and psychological clinics to form a strong school of educationin eacli centre; and that provision be made for educational research -work/to be undertaken in conjunction therewith, .-.tfhat university degrees in educa.fcio'tf be established for teachers and administrators, with endorsement as ■to the .special fields for which qualifications are obtained. -That within the University of Korthern New Zealand the Auckland University College should undertake the training of sub-primary and primary teachers; and that the Victoria University. College and Massey Agricultural College should undertake the training of post-primary and agricultural teachers; and that within the University of Southern New Zealand the Otago University should undertake the training of sub-primary and primary teachers; and the Canterbury College and. Canterbury Agricultural College: the training of. postprimary and agricultural teachers. That for the immediate control of each training college, the direction of the courses of training, and the examination and certification oi trainees, a Faculty of Education should be set up* by each University College, to consist of an equal number of representatives of the University college, the Education Department, and the New Zealand Federation of Teachers, which should be responsible for the determination ot entrance qualifications, the preparation of syllabuses of studies,_the arrangement of teaching practice, and the granting of certificates, these to be awarded upon the internal examination system at present in operation in the training colleges. That arrangements bo made in conjunction with the Education Do•partment and District Education Boards for adequate teaching practice to "be obtained in the various types' of schools within each of the four centres; and that for this purpose the Hon. the Minister of Education, upon the recommendation of the Faculty of Education in any centre, should have power, if necessary, to make regulations requiring any school or schools to be made ■available for the purposes of affording teaching practice for students in training, and governing the conditions under which such training shall be carried out in the schools.