PRIMARY EDUCATION

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 4 May 1928, Page 9

PRIMARY EDUCATION

CHANGES IN SYLLABUS MINISTERIAL STATEMENT CO AUNG INTO OPERATION NEXT YEAR. SPECIAL TO THE STAR. AVELLINGTON, May 4. The Hon. R. A. Wright, Minister of Education, announced t-o-day that the new syllabus of instruction for primary schools, winch lias been in preparation for some tune, was now ready, and advance copies were being issued to teachers immediately. The Minister stated that the syllabus was not to come into operation until next year, hut was being issued at this early date in order that teachers might have an opporunity of becoming ramiliar with its contents, and that the various teachers’ organisations might have an opportunity of making constructive suggestions for further improving the syllabus before it was gazetted by Order-in-Gouncil. An early issue was also necessary to enable new textbooks to be prepared for use next year. The Alinister further said: The present syllabus has been in force for eight years and great changes in educational thought and practice have taken place since it was issued. Educationists the world over are urging the desirability of bringing the schools into closer touch with the life of the people. There is always a tendency for methods of education to beqome too cloistered, and thus out -of touch with the social environment. The new syllabus aims to remove this defect. Greater stress is being laid- on education of a practical type, but at tile same time the new syllabus is more broadly cultural than any -of its predecessors. A further aim is to bridge the gap between the primary and the secondary schools by introducing in a very gradual and very simple manner in the higher primary school classes the elements of socalled secondary subjects. Provision has been made for the rapid advance from class to class of pupils who are able to progress more quickly than their fellows, so that the reproach of retarding the brilliant child will no longer be levelled at the primary schools. At the same time supplementary courses are provided to' enable pupils who are more brilliant in one subject than in another to advance along the lines of their special aptitudes

FREEDOM FOR TEACHERS

The fullest freedom will he given teachers to modily the syllabus in any reasonable manner in accordance with the needs or their pupiis or the character of the district iii which they are situated. Encouragement will also be given to teachers to adopt the- most advanced methods or teaching, and particularly to make their teaching as practical as possible, it is recognised that the adoption of the most modern methods of individual teaching depends largely on the provision of adequate accommodation and reduction in the size of Classes, In both these directions improvements are being effected as rapidly as the finances of the country permit. The Department has consulted a large number of business men in various parts of the Dominion with the object of modernising the prescriptions in such subjects as arithmetic and writing, and has also given the fullest consideration to . the recommendations made by the primary school syllabus revision committee, and also by the inspectors of schools, who met in con.erence on the matter in February last. The greatest praise is due to the members of the committee and to the inspectorial staff for the earnestness with which they pin sued their labours hi this important task. The adoption of the new syllabus will not necessitate any radical alterations in the general organisation/of the primary school system. Provision will be made for the establishment of a Standard VII or Form 111 class in certain primary schools for the benefit of pupiis who after passing through Standard VI. or Form II are not prepared to stay a sufficient length of time in a secondary school to warrant their embarking upon a purely secondary course of education. Such a class will also be of benefit to pupils who .'or economic reasons have to seek employment soon after passing Standard Vi. In this way the. gap between the primary schools and technical school evening classes will be bridged and continuity in the educational process secured. Provision will also he made as circumstances permit for pupils of Standards V and A r l who are prepared to stay a sufficient- length of time in a. secondary school or technical high school to transfer there after passing Standard TV. 1 do not favour the establishment of separate junior high schools to accommodate pupils ol Standards V', VI and A r II (Forms I, 11, and III), as institutions of that type result in two breaks in the child’s school life. By attaching the higher primary classes to post-primary schools there will be only one break. Such a scheme will, however, necessitate the establishment of a larger number of post-primary schools, which i-s a- very expensive undertaking, and advance in this direction must be very gradual indeed. I do not propose to embark on any forced transference of pupils to the secondary -or technical schools fit a definite agebut it is intended, as 1 have indicated above, to provide for more rapid progress through the primary schools by the brighter pupils, so that they may reach * the secondary schools at an earlier age than at present.