THE N.Z.E.I.

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 94, 22 April 1935, Page 8

THE N.Z.E.I.

ANNUAL MEETING

REMITS FOR DISCUSSION

VARIETY OF TOPICS

One hundred and eighteen remits have been prepared for submission to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute, which is to open in Wellington on May 13. These cover a variety of topics, and many of them doubtless will provide ample material for keen debate. The North Canterbury branch has a suggestion that the five main subjects to be developed in open forum should be: (a) Size of classes; (b) relation of wireless to educational matters; (c) improved environment of schools and school grounds; (d) the examination question; and (c) the problem child and its relation to delinquency, etc. in somewhat the same category is a Southern Hawke's Bay remit advocating the selection of a few, say three, salient matters to place before the Minister of Education after the annual meeting. EDUCATION SI STEM. Five remits deal with the control of vthe education system, and judging from ihese it would appear that there is a olid support for the establishment of a. National Board of Education as reaommended by the National Expenditure Commission. It is suggested by FVihiatua-Bush that the board should have full control of educational administration and be directly responsible to Parliament. Such a board the Egnaont branch considers would be the best means of bringing about a more unifted and workable system of administration. Amother subject in respect of which there are a number of remits is the schoQ>l entrance age. It is recommended by several branches that in the interests of education the restrictive clause prohibiting the admission of fiw-year-olds be repealed. If the five-year-olds are not readmitted, the Buller branch contends that the meeting should define what definite steps should^ be taken. [SCHOOL EQUIPMENT. Seventeen remits appear under the heading of "school equipment." One, from Wellington, urges that the attention of tiie Education Department be drawn to the strong criticism of the inadequacy of school libraries contained in the recent report, published under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation, and that in order to permit some rectification of the position the grants to boards for library expenses be tocreased. Others also deal with library requirements. Another , Wellington remit urges that, in view fif the rapid strides being made in the educational cinema in other countries, the\ Department of Education be asked if the question is being considered in relation to; New Zealand schools. Two other, Wellington remits deal with the arithmetic syllabus and the influence of home environment. They are as follows:—(1) That the arithmetic syllabus be recast with a view to bringing true subject into harmony with the child! s stage of development and with his probable needs on leaving school; (2) that the annual meeting calls attention to the influence of home environment on the children in the schools, declares its conviction that it is impossible! for children who are badly housed, poorly clothed, and improperly fed to derive full benefit from any form of education, and urges the Government to embark on a determined policy for the abolition of inSanitary dwellings and overcrowding, and the increase of rates of payment to relief workers. TEACHERS AND SALARIES. Seven | remits deal with the subject of ; rationed teachers, and as many as sixteen with the always live question of teachers' salaries. Under the heading of "salaries" various recommendations are made, including a complete restoration of salary cuts. School staffing, judging from the number of remits drawn up on the subject, is also likely to arouse keen discussion. It is urged by the Wellington branch that, in view of the downgrading caused by the exclusion of the five-year-olds, the whole question of the grading of schools be brought before the Department. Recommendations are also made that schools be staffed on average roll and not on average attendance. It is considered by the Auckland branch that the present organisation oJ supervision of education throughout the Dominion fails to achieve the most desirable ends, largely because of the fact that no basic principles have been laid down for the guidance of inspectors. It is Auckland's opinion "that in order to meet the wide diversity of interpretation which at present characterises the inspectorate the' time has arrived for the laying down of basic principles of supervision." The superannuation 'and retirement of teachers is another topic on which delegates probably will talk at some length. GENERAL MATTERS. '*. Under the heading of "general," a miscellany of recommendations is made. Wellington suggests that the institute record its support of the proposal to provide free milk for schoolchildren, but that it should draw attention to the inadequate facilities for its distribution in schools. North Canterbury recommends that the institute urge that wireless be freed from all restrictions which prevent it being used at present to the' fullest possible extent for the education of the people "through a critical two-sided treatment of vital social questions of today."