SCHOOL EQUIPMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 12

SCHOOL EQUIPMENT

RADIO AND PICTURES

ATTITUDE OF BOARD

POLICY ASKED FOR

Members of the Wellington Education Board were unanimous in their support of the radio and cinematograph as educational equipment when these facilities were discussed today, and a motion asking the Education Department to determine a policy for their use was carried. The matter was raised by Mr. J. J. Clark, moving: "That in view of the educational value of wireless and the cinematograph, the Education Department be asked to determine a policy of either fully providing these in schools, or to what amount they would be prepared to assist committees." The possibilities of the use of cinematograph and radio in the schools had been discussed at the opening of the N.Z.E.I. Conference, Mr. Clark said. The Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) had just announced, the extension of the school-leaving age, and when older children were attending the schools there would be more reason for using every facility for teaching. Many school committees had funds that could be used for-equip-ment if authority was given for the use of funds in that way. In seconding the motion, Mr. A. C. Blake said there should be far more radios in the schools, and he urged the board to give every assistance in the matter. He considered it was the duty of the Government to provide receiving sets with loud-speakers for all classes: The chairman (Mr. W. V. Dyer) said he had listened to Professor Shelley addressing the N.Z.E.I. Conference, and the main point made was that the teacher should direct the pupil in listening rather than that the radio should take the place of a teacher. More could be done without radio in the school than the majority of the teachers appeared to realise. CART BEFORE HORSE. Colonel T. W. McDonald said Professor Shelley had given him the impression that to put radios into the schools willy-nilly would be to put the cart before the horse. Educational programmes were needed first, and the bosrd could leave it to' the Government to see to that. . Mr. G. M. Henderson said he supported the motion, because he agreed with Professor Shelley that more could be got in an hour from the cinematograph than from any amount of statements. The motion assumed that the equipment should be put into the schools, ,but that would be useless until the material and teachers were ready so that full use could be made of them. He moved that the words after "a policy of" should be struck out and replaced'by "introducing these modern inventions into the practice of teaching in New Zealand, and implementing their use." Mr. P. Robertson urged the board, to support a £ for £ subsidy for the installation of radio and cinematograph equipment. Mr. A. Donald said he thought the motion and amendment should be combined. .It was all Very well. to talk about radio in the homes, but in some country, districts there were very, few homes equipped with sets. Radio in schools should be co-ordin-ated with the work of the teachers and not be something extra, Mr. H. Duckworth said. Mr. W. H. Jackson said Mr. Robertson's proposal brought the matter within the range of practical politics, because it would give the school committees an incentive to act. A LEAD NEEDED. A lead was needed, said Mr. C. H. Nicholls, and the motion would give that lead. There were homes where the radio was not used because it distracted the children who were busy with lessons. If. one of the stations could broadcast an educational session early in the evening it could be used as an adjunct to the ordinary school lessons. Mr. L. J. McDonald said he had not heard Professor Shelley, but he could not imagine the Professor saying anything against the value of radio as an educational medium. Colonel McDonald: He quite supports it.,Books should be used in the home as well as in the schools, said Mr. McDonald, and the same applied to radio. The value of radio in education could not be over-emphasised. It provided a medium for conveying specialised knowledge that every school staff could not be expected to have. What was even more important was the widening of contact and the removal of antisocial parochialism. Radio was so potent an instrument that they could not afford to leave it out of the schools. The radio in the home might be valuable, but the radio in the home without the radio in the school would lose a great deal of its value. The notice of motion also included the cinematograph, Mr. McDonald said, and it was probable that visual education was of more importance than the radio. The cinematograph could bring travel, habits,, and customs, industry, history, and nature study into the experience of the pupil, and he believed all educationists were agreed that visual education was of far more importance than aural education. Both radio and the cinematograph were so important that they should not be left in the hands of school committees at all. The purchasing and supply of equipment should be a national one and a departmental responsibility. Mr. Clark said lhe was prepared to accept Mr. Henderson's amendment. He agreed with Mr. McDonald that cinematograph was of even more importance than radio. However, the two must go together, and his idea in raising the matter was to urge the Government to adopt a policy so that the schools could be equipped. The amended motion was carried.