Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1937. EDUCATIONALISTS MEET.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 196, 20 July 1937, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1937. EDUCATIONALISTS MEET.

| The New Education Fellowship Conference lias brought to the Dominion educational talent on a scale never previously known. Last week sessions were held in Auckland and Christchurch, and now Wellington and Dunedin are the venue of most important addresses and debates, which teachers throughout the \provinces and others interested in the child’s , welfare have the opportunity of attending. For them there must be considerable profit in this week’s deliberations, for not only are they brought into contact with world authorities on the subject, but are privileged to learn at first hand of the latest developments in older countries i in the realm of education. Founded in England over twenty years ■ ago, the New Education Fellowship was soon extended into an international body. By co-opera-tion it is desired to approach the problems and aims of those who wish to see built a happier, saner, more free and more just society. One of its important watchwords is “open-mindedness.” The Fellowship operates to an important degree through the holding of regional conferences and the Dominion and Australia are the venue of this year’s gatherings. Thus we have leading educationalists from Europe, Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Their visit may very truly be regarded as a milestone in the Dominion’s educational history. It has undoubtedly awakened keen interest in the subject in both Auckland and Christchurch and given inspiration to those whose duty it is to , teach. The same undoubtedly , will be true of Dunedin and Wel- | lington. It is of importance to note that the Fellowship conference is being held at a time when iru- . portant changes are in education in tljis country. The Educational Institute has observed that big changes in educational practice loom ahead and the visitors can help in recon- ( struction. Their advice and as- ) sistance, it has been said, will not only be invaluable to the Government but also to the com- . munity, for these eminent personalities have a new and searching viewpoint to present. They are to confer with the Minister 1 of Education and his officials, and undoubtedly most of what they have to say has been given to the public in the centres visited. Each community knows therefore the ideas the fellowship hopes to see expressed in reorganisation plans here. The delegates have reached conclusions about our system and, according ' to Dr A. B. Fitt, Professor of Education at the Auckland Uniiversity, it is out. of date. The ] trend of the Auckland confer-

ence, he explains, was the freeing of the teacher as a professional man or woman; the freeing of the child as a creative and expressive individual; the broadening of the conception of education up to and including maturity to include within its scope the full intellectual, emotional, and bodily development of man, and the enlistment in that process of the services of parents and other sections of the community as well as the teacher. The question is one of great significance and importance, and whatever plans are devised to bring education up to date in this country they must be of a flexible nature, to meet our own peculiar needs, and to allow of growth so that as the needs change the position will be met. Australia has the same question under serious consideration. The Minister for Education in New South Wales (Mr Drummond) has been abroad making inquiries in several countries, and he has finely observed that “Education, to be an effective instrument of social welfare and national wealth and progress, must be a living thing, responsive to the growing needs of a young nation.”