EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 128, 1 June 1908, Page 2

EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA.

SOME NOTES AND COMMENTS

INTERVIEW

WITH MR

STRACHAN

On Saturday a representative of this journal sought an interview with Mr D. A. Strachan, Inspector of Schools for the\«bMarlborough Education Board, and that gentleman, in an informal and conversational way, kindly gave him some record of Ms doings m Australia, and the impression he received from an educational standpoint. MANUAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. Mr Strachan was away on his holi•day for just a month, leaving Blenheim on the 29th April, and returning thereto on the 29th May. While in \Wellington en route, he visited the ■Education Board, where he met Messrs Fleming and Stewart, the Cjiief Inspector and Secretary of the Board. On their advice, he paid a visit to Berhampore School. This building, said Mr Strachan, was a very fine one, and it consisted of a y large central hall surrounded by ;/ class-/ rooms. The hall was lighted' from above, had plastered walls, and hylo-. plate black-boards at a convenient height for the children, who are brought to it from the class rooms for blackboard drawing. The building i^as adorned by pictures, different photographs, and he noticed on the w&Hs a copy of the Ten Commandments. Afterwards, when he reached Sydney and ; was discussing school-; buildings with Mr D. J. Cooper, the Principal Senior Inspector of New South Wales, Mr Strachan was much interested to hear him say that the

Berhampore School was the most up-to-date one he remembered seeing. "The woodwork and cookery rooms -were. in operation, and he (Mr Strachan) saw a number of devices which might be made use of in our own technical school. Amongst others > was an arrangement by every two girls had a Bunsen' burner, so tbat greater facilities were given for boiling pots, etc. While touching on the question of manual and technical work, Mr Strachan remarked that in this respect New Zealand was much ahead of any of tlLe three Australian States which he visited.

In each of these three States (New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia) there was a highly centralised system of education. No Boards intervened between the Department and the schools. No capitation system was in voguej and when money was required it was raised either by Departmental grants or by local exertions. This tended to sporadic effort, wjbereas the capitation system tended to be automatic. By way of illustration, Mr Strachan stated that he •dined at a cookery centre in Melbourne, where 65 girls _ were taught -cookery. They were in five classes? of; 13 each, and were chosen from probably three or four hundred in various schools in the neighbourhood. It was evident ; therefore, that the subject was taught to merely a selection, and nob to the entire school or class as in

New Zealand. Here they treated 'woodwork and cookery'as an integral part of the systeni; theJcej'-it toas mere- J ly an extra subject taken by a few. Very often the equipment observed, even in large schools, was hopelessly inadequate, as for instance, in one school of 1700. pupils in Sydney, a few benches in a passage formed the woodwork equipment. pf course, there were some schools, tor instance Fort Street, which had a complete equipment, but there, too, a selection was made- among the pupils. j \ SYDNEY. -■'■■'■ "' . :j Before leaving Wellington, Mr Strachan was given notes of introduc-1 tion to various gentlemen in Australia by Dr. Anderson, Assistant-Inspector-General of Schools, and by Mr Gray. Sir Joseph Ward also furnished him with letters to the Premiers of the three States. These enabled him to see everything that time permitted, and, indeed, he found ' everywhere the greatest courtesy and attention from every Australian whom he met. "The mere mention of • the fact that I was from ( New Zealand," said Mr Strachan, "seemed to make them anxious to ariswer my queries, and they responded with an equal desire for information."

Many items of New Zealand news appeared in every one of the papers, aud in conversation with a South Australian, that gentleman remarked that New Zealand occupied a peculiar position in regard to Australia. "Whenever a drought conies*." he said, "our eyes turn there, and our young men tend to go thither." The school population of South Australia, said Mr Strachan, had fallen off every year for the last five years ending 1906, having at that time 57,000 school children, as against New Zealand 140,000.

To come back, however, to the subject. The Ulimaroa arrived in Sydney after' a four days' passage, proving a fine sea boat. As Mr Wade (the New South Wales Premier) was in Melbourne atteding the Premiers' Conference, he called upon Mr P. Board (the Under-Secretary for Public Instruction). Every facility was afforded him, both by Messrs Dawson (Chief Inspector), Cooper (Principal Senior Inspector), and Nash, the editor of the Public Instruction Gazette. One or other of them accompanied him in the inspection of eight or nine of the large city schools. The schools in Sydney were usually very large; many of them had over a thousand children. Fort Street had nearly two thousand. These schools were mostly of two-storeys, nearly always built of brick, and in some cases not quite modern. Two or even three teachers would be teaching in the same room at once. Many of the rooms had galleries so placed that the children, had to sit with the light from behind. The window- space was also inadequate, but the Department was altering many of the schools to remedy this. In a general way there were in the schools an infant department and five classes, except in the superior public schools, where there is a sixth class. The headmasters do all the promoting. No final certificate was awarded, and if any child desires some r&cord of his standing, he must enter for an outside examination—the Bankers' Institute, Junior Public, etc. —the latter corresponding roughly to the New Zealand Civil Service. There was a tendency in New South Wales, Mr Sfcrachan found, to do away with copy books, as it was thought that the use of the copy book tended to produce fine writing in that book only, while the pupils scribbled in their note books, etc. It did not '■■ appear to him, however, that the average handwriting of the pupils was any improvement on that of New Zealand.

The cadets were under the Federal Government, and a capitation allowance of 7s 6d per annum paid for uniform, etc. The officers appeared to iiare a standing equal to that of the

Volunteers, so that the, cadets really foimed one of the military arms of th- Commonwealth. The discipline observed in the schools was very good, and (he would say, that all three States had a very fine type of teacher, included in which were a number of capable women. In New South Wales the teachers are a branch of the Civil Service, and the profession bears to some extent the stamp of the status this conveys. Altogether, between eight and,ten thousand children were seen at work in Sydney. There appeared to be a defect in the manner in which primary and secondary education, was linked up. As a rule, the secondary schools were carried on by private trusts after the style of Wanganui College in New Zealand. It was evident, however, that the matter of linking up the various grades was receiving attention. . •

The Technical College in Sydney was also visited by Mr Strachan. Here Mr Turner, the Director of Technical Education, conducted him through the building. ,It was an immense block in th'» heart 'of the city, and was attended by between four and five thousand students. Much the same class of work was being done as in New Zealand, except that there were no technical day school classes yet formed. In Wellington a secondary school of .a commercial character had been formed undet the direction \of Mr La Trobe, where English,, book-keeping; etc., was taught, but schools of a like character had hot found lodgment in any of the States visited by Mr -Straehan. ,

While in Sydney, Mr Strachan visited two very fine kindergarten schools, one in Riley Street and the other in Australia Street. There were between four and five hundred children in attendance at these schools, and they were under capable instructors^, and a number of devices were noticed, which he. hoped to bring under the notice of local teachers. Any notable occasion (Empire Dayj etc) was seized upon as the central thought round which the work gathered. For example, with Empire Day as the basis, the counting would be done by means of pictures of flags and soldiers, the songs would all be of a patriotic" character, etc. , : Another institution visited was the Teachers' Training College, which was ac present housed in temporary premises, but a new building was to be erected at a cost of £20,000. Mr Mackay, the Principal, conducted Mr Stiachan through the institution, which contains about 300 students. The Principal also showed his programmes, plans of new buildings,' etc. THE UNIVERSITIES. The .University iwas also visited. Here Mr Strachan met the DeputyRegistrar (Mr Dillon) and was conducted over the building. Mr Strachan-mentioned that the examination papers of the Australian University students were all examined in Australia, the Professors of the different Universities examining the work of each others students. In New Zealand all the papers are sent Home ifor examination. There were about 1200 students in Sydney, correspond- , ing roughly to the number in the four centres of New Zealand; In passing, Mr Strachan mentioned that he had also had an opportunity for inspecting the Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide, and they appeared to be well equipped. Adelaide had a com-' paratively small area of ground apart from the public parklands round the city; but the two former were in the midst of fine open University lands. Melbourne and Sydney had fine residential colleges, but Adelaide had not any at present. THE ART GALLERIES. The three cities, said Mr Strachan, bad considerable art galleries, and he was able to see the originals of the most striking pictures which appeared in the1 magazines. Among others was "The Bent Tree," by Corot, a small picture about 18 inches square, for which £6500 had been paid. Many people thouglit the, picture might have been highly valued at £500. Mr Strachan also inclined to that opinion. The Adelaide Art Gallery was due partly to a bequest of £65,000 by Dr Thos. Morgan. Other people had also donated largely, and the result was a gallery in which practically every picture is a gem. "I mention this," continued Mi- Strachan, "because I beI lieve, that these collections have a very I great influence in refining and giving an air of'culture to the people." THE GARDENS AND MUSEUMS. The Botanical Gardens of Sydney, Mr Strachan considered, were well i worthy of a visit. In a single bed one might see plants from New Zealand, \ China, South Africa, West Indies, ' Australia, etc., and it was with a feeling of old acquaintanceship that he saw a New Zealand shrub amongst others. The Sydney museum was of special interest, owing to the collection of Cook memorials and relies. Among other things, Mr Strachan obtained a copy of Captain Cook's Coat of Arms, which, he hoped, would be of some use to the Cook Memorial Committee. There were various museums in Sydney—the Botanical Museum, the University Museum of which the archaeological part was especially striking, and others.

THE MELBOURNE SCHOOLS. Passing on to Melbourne, Mr Straclian had less time in that city than in Sydney, nevertheless, through courteous introductions by Mr Bent, he was able to see through the University and the Working Men's Col-

tion, also offered 3ry facility for infection etc. ""Tr strachan had a conference Swindley (Chief InFussell, another Departoal Inspector, Mr Long, the author of a book "Explorers in Australia" and editor of the school paper. Mr Long said that he did not make it a special aim to teach ordinary subjects, as it attempted in New Zealand. He tried rather to foster a taste for good literature, and Mr Strachan noticed that he had columns of words set out at the beginning of each extract. Mr Fusseli accompanied him through the Working Meri's College, and through the Central Brunswick School, which had a very good kindergarten built on modern lines, and like the school at Berhampore, with a central hall. In Melbourne, pupils learning woodwork pay 2d per lesson, and they must bring the "tuppence" with them to class, otherwise they will get no lesson. He T^as informed that the result was thatythe pupils came to get 2d worth of instruction, and they thought more of the, article produced than they did of the educational objects of the. instruction. There was a very fine continuation school in Melbourne under Mr Hocking, a former inspector of schools. It had 400 pupils, arid was, practically a secondary school. With four other schools, it formed the beginning of Departmental control over secondary education. Although called a continuation school, it was as yet practically an institution for affording a prelininary education to teachers. Of its 400 students, about 350 would probably become teachers. It was therefore not like the continuation schools in New Zealand, for it had a distinctly specialised aim. In Melbourne, as in Sydney, secondary education was practically in the -hands of - private trusts. The ' continuation school, gave candidates for teachers two years' instruction. They then became school teachers for two years, after which they went to,the Training j College, which ,was under Dr Smythe, i lately of Wanganui. Dr Smythe's institution was affiliated with the University, and stood in the University grounds. It was a residential college, and many of its students attended courses at the University. This training college was fortunately situated, for there were available as practising -schools institutions containing 30, 50, 300, 650, and 1200 pupils. Mr ,Tate, who was a predecessor of Dr Smythe's, and who had been to Europe to the Imperial Conference, promised to send Mr Strachan a copy, of his report when completed. Mr Strachan mentioned tEat in all three States the authorities were very j ready to give him any literature bear- J ing on education, and it was easy for one to see by the collection he had brought back with him that he had made the best use of his opportunities.

Mr Tate, in Victoria, continued Mr Strachan, was laying much stress on the teaching of Nature study, and as a collateral part of this policy, three agricultural schools were in operation, the chief being at Vfarrnambool. He was rapidly bringing Victoria to the forefront. As yet the dual desks had not been widely adopted, but it was not because the.advantages of the desk were not known, but for financial reasons.

THE CONVEYANCE OF CHILDREN

This was a, question to which Mr Strachan also gave some attention. In South Australia nothing was done. In Victoria parents of children who lived far enough away were offered 4d or 3d a day, according to distance, on each child that attended school. The mode of conveyance was left to the parents. In New South Wales there were 49 schools to which children were "conveyed," the total number being 1160, out of a (school) population of about 250,000. The Department found \ that there w^ a good deal of prejudice against the idea, each community preferring to have its own school. None ! of the instances of conveyance in New South Wales were equal in magnitude to that of the proposal in regard to Marlboroughtown made sometime ago. ; ADELAIDE. Although Mr Strachan had only three days in Adelaide, he made good i use of his stay, and says that nowhere ! did he find a better type of school. { Mr Williams (Director or Education),; Mr -Stan ton (Secretary), and Mr Manghan (Chief Inspector) did every- ' thing they could to make his stay! profitable. j

Under their guidance, ihe- Univer- j sity iwas visited, also the training school, and three of the largest public schools. The Technical was found.to be very closely in touch with the University, and both at Melbourne and Adelaide the practical work done was , recognised at the University. Wool-' classing was a special feature. The students of this class got one year's instruction in the school and during ithe second year were sent out in teams to the stations. They now did prac- ' tically all the , wool-classing of the State, and one large landowner was said to have remarked that the better : classing of the wool was worth £6000 i a year to the State. I

The School of Arts and Public Library were also considered worthy of mention. The library was a fine institution. It was largely endowed, and received the latest fiction, not only English, but also French and German. It had files of papers extending back for many years, and among them were a number of New Zealand publications including New Zealand Mail (1877-1908), Daily Southern Cross (1866-1876), and the Lyttelton Times 1877-1908).

"At Adelaide," continued Mr Strachan, "I met Prof essor Ennis, who presides over the Conservatorium of Music. He gave me a ticket for entrance to one of the periodical concerts of the students, and the music, which was of a high order, may be taken as a fair indication of the musical taste prevailing in the city." In conclusion, Mr Strachan said that it was pleasing to note in all three cities, the care' spent in beautifying every available portion of spare ground. VWhen I looked at these places I saw infinite possibilities for Seymour Square, and other reserves of Blenheim."