EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Evening Star, Issue 22974, 3 June 1938, Page 12

EDUCATIONAL REFORM

AN ENLIGHTENING SURVEY UNIFICATION OF SCHOOL CONTROL INSTITUTE MEMBERS ADDRESSED A case for tie. New Educational Bill that aims to introduce reforms in primary and secondary school - education was given by Mr N. Matheson in his presidential address this morning at the annual meeting of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute. The keynote of his closely-reasoned and interesting survey of the shortcomings of ; education and some possible solutions was that examination-governed curricula forget that three parts of what is learnt at school is useless, and yet by emphasis on factual knowledge, tended to kill that mental zest that was the basis of self education—education that was not with school life only, but was continuous throughout life-—was life itself, in fact. Mr Matheson stressed the desirability for . the unification of inspectors • and ■ohools. and their control by a board of authority. , Mr ‘-Matheson said ■ that one could not. but he'struck by the real improvements made in education in New Zealand daring the past two years,or so. Mr Fraser took office with » long list of arrears to bo made np—a list formidable ■ enough -to daunt the stoutest heart. -It said-a great deal for him, that he had managed in so short, a tune, not only to put things back to the predepression state of affairs, but also, particularly during the past year, to make a -genuine-advance. The institute owed allegiance to no political -party, and rightly so. Political affiliations were a matter-for the individual. But no one connected with education, whatever might be his political views, could, in common' justice, refuse to grant to Mr Fraser unstinted praise _ for his attitude towards the educational needs of ‘this country. (Applause.) Prepared for his task by long years of active interest, the Minister, had shown an enlightened and sound appreciation of the social value of an improved education system. Moreover, he" had shown himself willing, in fact' anxious, "to take the initiative ininstituting reforms. The speaker cited- as an. example the new regulations for grading schools—the peak roll number. That was more than the institute had asked for it seemed more than it dared hope for, when for years it had vainly fought for the substitution of average roll for the ridiculous and inequitable averageattendance as a basis: of staffing.

TOO RIGID CURRICULUM. - ’Apart from a catching up of 'some of the arrears due to that dismal period of dire poverty genuine advances had teen made. Probably the >most outstanding one and the one that was exercising the thoughts of more than anything else was the abolition of proficiency and the resultant freedom. Tfie .speaker referred to what he consiaered might be the effect on secondary education. For years , educationists had considered that education was too bookish, too narrow, too far removed from the pupil’s life, and, rightly, teachers laid. the blame for a large measure of its faults on the proficiency examination. . Years ago attempts at a compromise were made, and while the examination was retained some measure of freedom was granted by lessening the requirements of it so that it might not hulk sb largely in the compilation of a' curriculum—a good deal of formal grammar need not be taught, the arithmetic requirements were lessened, and so on. More time could thus be allotted to real education. Immediately a murmur ,of-= criticism arose from secondary teachers—the pupils were coming, into their schools ill-prepared. “ The complained-of rigidity of the primary school cannot compare with the cast-iron rigidity of the secondary,” commented Mr Matheson. He said that the ties that bound education to the proficiency examination were nothing to the chains that linked secondaryeducation to matriculation. Thousands of pupils every February entered the gates of secondary schools from Kaitaia to Riverton, and more than half of them embarked on a course totally unsuited to their needs and abilities—a nineteenth century curriculum into which twentieth' century children were forced—moreover, a curriculum . based on that of the'English public school, which catered for a totally different class—children of the wealthy aiming at a career in the Army, the Navy, or the University. It was also a curriculum based on out-of-dato facultypsychology which assigned false values to subjects, and the result was instruction and not education. The emphasis was on the subject and not on the child. And how the subject _ suffered in the process, to say nothing of how the pupil suffered! ■ DEFINITION OF EDUCATION. ‘‘Education has come to mean a certain amount of knowledge ready to be trotted out on examination day and forgotten as soon as the pupil leaves school,” declared Mr Matheson. “ Ex-amination-governed education forgets that three parts of what is learnt at school is useless and yet, by its emphasis on factual knowledge it tends to kill that mental zest that is the basis of self-education—education that isn’t concerned with school life only, but is continuous throughout life,' that is life, in fact.”

, It might he supposed I am opposed to academic education, root and branch. That is not so. While not believing, for instance, that mathematics is the subject par excellence for training reasoning power, I believe it affords valuable practice in reasoning, and helps to form a habit of mind—a mental discipline as it were. The schoolleaving age is to be raised to 15—we hope that it won’t stop at 15. An influx of non-academic types to the secondary school will result. It seems that the secondary school will be forced

to broaden its curriculum and base the type and not. as at present, only the amount of education, on educable capacity. MORE SCOPE WELCOMED. “I believe that, with your new freedom, the academic child will leave the primary school better fitted than before. to take advantage of an academic secondary education. In an endeavour to get all pupils through proficiency, the smart pupil tended to be kept with the average of the class. Now, he can go as far as he is capable, and that is as far as he should go. But your nonacademic type will he less able .than before to fit himself into the narrow groove of academicism. That is why I say that the secondary school will be forced to cater for him. Nothing, to my mind, will or can be a greater force in bringing about this desirable and, in fact, necessary change than unification of control of all types of school. A single controlling authority must be in -a better position to bring about that continuity that is so necessary throughout a pupil’s school career. And to bring about that continuity and coordination to its fullest extent, a unified inspectorate appears to me to be necessary. Get rid of the emphasis on subjects (I might add, get rid of the grading system), and a unified inspectorate , working with a unified board would rapidly bring about that coordination so vital to educational progress. I once read, or heard, someone define ■ the object of educational control as ‘ to provide the right education for the right pupil under the right teacher.’ I would ask, ‘ How can that eventuate unless under a single controlling authority.* ” (Applause.)