SCHOOL TEACHERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 112, 11 April 1929, Page 5

SCHOOL TEACHERS

t' FURTHER CONTROVERSY. Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, April 10. In replying to the criticism, of Mr John Stewart, of Marlborough College, regarding junior high schools, Mr A. G. Butchers, M.A., M.Ed., LL.B., author of tho pamphlet “After Standdard IV., what?” said, that tho first essential in the controversy upon educational reorganisation was the maintenance of a calm and judicial attitude of mind. There was no necessity to become excited or to talk in an undignified manner about “giving the lie direct’’ to criticism offerd in good faith and supported by the weight of the evidence of experts such ’as-Mr Frank Tate. In regard to Mr Stewart’s reported 1 statement that it is not true that secondary teachers are untrained, Mr Butchers called attention to the 1924 report of the chief inspector of secondary sphools of New Zealand, which read: “Lack of training among secondary school teachers has become almost a by-word.” Mr Tate, in his report to the New Zealand Education Department in 1925, also said that “a system of training for secondary teacli- ■ ers is urgently needed” and that “New Zealand has not developed any ■ system of training technical school i teachers.” The majority report of the I syllabus revision committee in 1928 said that “no proper provision exists for ’ the training of post-primary teachers.’ | In conclusion, Mr Butchers said that too little attention had been paid to Mr Tate’s report, which was construcp tive as well as devastating in its criticisms and both educationally and economically sound in its practical recommendations. ,