PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14198, 25 August 1919, Page 2

PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

ALTERATIONS TO SYLLABUS. An announcement that the primary schools syllabus has been revised to some extent, and that the now syllabus wmuld be issued within a week or so, has been made by the Minister of Education. Mr Han an said that as a result of close study of the work done under the school syllabus, and consideration of the reports of inspectors, as well as examination of the work done in a number of schools he had visited, he had come to the conclusion some weeks ago that there was need for the revision and improvement in certain directions of the primary schools syllabus. He had asked the Department to take up the Avork of remodelling, the syllabus on lines he had indicated, and recently a conference of inspectors and teachers discussed the proposals and made valuable suggestions for amending the syllabus. It Avas now in the hands of the Government Printer, and should bo issued Avithin ;i week or so, but Avould not, of course, come into operation until the beginning of the year. “In the revision of the syllabus,” added Mr Hanan, “ the main purpose is to sot out the regulations and the course of instruction in a simpler and more definite manner, so that young or inexperienced teachers Avill be able to follow it Avith greater ease. The actual contents of the course of instruction have not been altered to any great extent, though some improvements have been made. The course in English has been considerably improved, special emphasis being laid on silent reading, on training in the independent use of books for tnc purpose of recreation and study, and particularly on oral English, Avith the object of securing correctness, purity, and facility of speech. The course in spelling and dictation has been considerably simplified to meet the limited A'oeabulary of school children. The course in arithmetic has been considerably shortened and simplified, chiefly by the omission of rules and types of examples that have merely a conventional or pedantic interest. A considerable amount of arithmetic formerly done in primary schools has little or no relation to ordinary life, or to business, and frequently deals Avith examples which never require to bo worked outside of a schoolroom. “A more oven distribution of Avork amongst the standards has also boon made. Increased attention is to be given to instruction in homo science, home nursing, first-aid, hygiene, temperance, history, civics. The numerous explanations and suggestions formerly incorporated Avith the syllabus have been removed to appendices j aiid, together with a large number of additional suggestions, have been set out in a consecutive and comprehensive manner. Thus, there is an appendix relating to each of the subjects, such as speechtraining, reading, composition, arithmetic, history, geography, home science, etc. It is hoped that the matter dealt with in the appendices Avill be of considerable assistance, particularly to the less experienced teachers, in framing their schemes of work and in planning their methods of teaching. Several specinien schemes of work, in subjects such as histpiy and geography, arc included in the appendices, and those Avill be supplemented by others in the Education Department Gazette, which Avill shortly bo published monthly and circulated amongst the teachers of Ncav Zealand. ’ ’