MANUAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13215, 28 June 1906, Page 3

MANUAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

-— ■ ■««-■ ■—■ ■' ■■■ ."'''_■ •-* ■ ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIBKGTOB, MOST SATISFACTORY If EAR'S WORK. The director of technical education in Aucfr land, Mir. George George, laid his annual ? report before the Board of Education at its meeting yesterday. The report states that the year 1905-6 was undoubtedly ;i record one. not only with regard to the considerable tticre.ts'J in the number of students, but also because of the marked change in the altitude of tire public towards these important branches of education. HANDWORK IN PUBLIC .SCHOOLS. Very consul'!able progress was made in the introduction ot handwork into the public school* during the past year. the average attendance having advanced from 10.330 in the previous vein: to 13,311. an increase of «$ per cent. The" im- .'. • provement made in drawing 1 and brurimork in : the Auckland city and suburban school* tinder the guidance of Mr. Harry Wallace, the Board'* chief art instructor, had been so marked that, tint Board decided to send Homo lor- another art. .. master, who would Rive instruction to the country ;, . ; teachers and visit their schools to help and ait- v vise them.in the teaching of. art subject.?. As a. result, Mr. Francis C. ,1. Coukburn.-'of the Halifax Higher Grade School, was appointed and arrived in Auckland in July last. Until Christmas . he was located in (lie' Thames district, where very good progress was made under his direction, although the attendance at the special teachers' '. :; ";-2 classes was not altogether satisfactory. At the commencement of the present vear tie was Iran}-' . tuned to the Waikato district, "and would shortlytake up a three months" residence at the Northern Wairoa. ■• •_;.; ' ■ '" ■:''/,'■':[s COOKERY AND WOODWORK IN PRIMARY • . SCHOOLS. - ; These continued to do excellent work, at the Newton. Newmarket, and. I'onsonhv manual training schools. Largely owing to the public spirited- , ' nexs of the inhabitant.-?, similar school* were bitlH and equipped during the year .-it Thames and at . • v nhangaiei, and work was commenced in them m August and September respective!v. Dr. Oartietl,- educational adviser to Ifto London Count Council Educational Committee, again lent Urn Board valuable assistance ill selecting, teachers ill England for these new schools. The number of girls in average attendance at the cookery classes f? at the live manual training schools was 1170, and |■■;; the number (ii boys at the woodwork 1605. .Moves '' : had also been niade of 'Hamilton and at Cambridge towards the establishment of manual train- - ing schools. At, Hamilton a huh of over £200 . : -"v : ;vfi bad already -been collected, and a. somewhat lets sum bad also been raised in Cambridge. Nothing had been more pleasing than the practical enthusiasm shown by the countiv districts .of Thames, Whaiigarci. Hamilton, and Cambridge ■ in the cause of manual training and technical ' education, The people in these districts, having come to the conclusion that schools such us hail previously been established in Auckland wmld prove beneficial in their midst, showed their whole-heat tcdness in the matter hv mhsciiliiuii ";, I; freely. ' ;, .-s. training '-of. tea ci irons. ' As in (be previous! year, classes for teacher* ' j in art, cookery, and woodwork weie conducted ill Auckland, whilst classes in these subjects were also held for the Thames teachers after the open- ? .';■ ing of the manual training school in August. At.---''« i : AVhangatei cookery and woodwork classes were eondnoted at. the new manual training school (lining the last lew months of the year. As this was : . ■■■ ' the third year in which cookerv and woodwork <: -Si classes had been held lor Auckland teachers, the ,' numbei attending was somewhat smaller than m '■':■'■ previous years, but the work done was in evenway us satisfactory, and the results obtained iii the City and Guilds examinations were very creditable. The Auckland ail classes continued ' to be as popular as ever, and were attended by . an even largo number of roacjiers, TECHNICAL ANT) CONTINUATION CLASSES IN ' %t THE COUNTRY, j The evening technical and continuation classes ; established at Thames in 1904 were continued in ..'•'•'■>.' | 1905, whilst, similar classes were inaugurated at I Whangarei. Dargavillc, and Onehunga. At ' : « Thames the total number of entries, was 790, ' as compared with 166 in the previous vear, At ! Whangarei the total class cut lies bad "been 430 and in Dargavdle 186, while the number attending evening classes in dressmaking, book-keeping, and trade drawing at Onehunga totalled 44. Excepting for the dressmaking class of 27 pupils, V the., entries wine not sufficient to warrant the continuance of the Onehunga. classes. An unsatisfactory fer.lrro was that, owing to lack' of ■' ■-' students, the Whangarei -horticultural class hud to be disbanded. At Dargavillc flic attendance fell off considerably towards the end of the year. ' Good work was done by flic students, who'were <i in earnest, but as a whole the work of the classes was scarcely satisfactory. The report then goes on to relet- to the foundation of.figricultural education to be. laid in the primary schools in the form of nature study and to the appointment oil Mr. V. W. Jackson, of Ontario. , "■■' The director speaks of the. introduction of this branch of education us being, one of ; th«--nit«t important developments that had taken place during his stay in the colony. CLASSES AND EXAMINATIONS. ' If, was now possible in, Auckland for till bovs and girls, no matter'how defective their education, to attend evening classes, which would eventually qualify them, to ; attend the. technical school ,for a period of live years free of'charge. In. June and July-last- a considerable number>ol students sat for the exam in at ' of "the Cite and Guilds of London Institute and of the London Board of Education, with the result, of 61 passed in the former and 81 in the latter examination, an increase of 34 in the grand total on 1904-5 figures. The iilumbingotudcnts were again very successful; in . fact, a' larger number of passes were obtained by the Auckland Technical Sehwd ; than by any of the. large technical schools in Loudon. One student passed with first class honour.?, and won awarded the full technological certificate in plumbers' work. . This certificate, was considered to be the highest that could -be . j.'■.obtained in plumbing, and it was the, first that had ever been gained by an Auckland student. In the model and freehand drawing examinations the teachers of the public schools made .an excellent show. These examinations were now of a very high standard, and, seeing that the teachers only received a year's-preparation for them of one evening per week, the result reflected th« highest credit upon students and instructor alike. ''''■■_'■ ;'\ ■:''.. SS|si Short reports on each department of the school were also included in the report, . .U; A SUMMARY. The director summed up by saying that dm in* the year great improvement was shown th most of the work nt the technical school. The earnest- -- ness of tho students was more marked and the attendance was much more regular. The percentage of students in attendance who had little interest in their work was much smaller than in any previous year : ;';" One of the -most disappointing features.in connection with tTie evening classes was the lack of interest shown in the students by the majority of their employers. In many cases masters employing a. large number of men did not < even take the trouble to point out to their employees . that it would be to their advantage te attend technical classes. He was fully convinced thai, if employers here would only use their influence., with their work people to get them to avail themselves of the opportunities now offered at the technical school that they would find it to their advantage. He hoped the time was not far distant when legislation would make it compulsory for all apprentices to attend a technical school two or three half-days per week, as was done ;., in some part* of the Continent of Europe, . Exclusive of teachers, the number of- individual students enrolled at Auckland Technical School was 517, as against 312 of the previous session; whilst the number of class entries increased from 796 to 1363. Including the teachers, the number of individuals was 791 (637 last year), and the , total number of class entries increased from 1701) '. to 2401. .... . •.•:' The... number of examination. papers . worked-.by students other than teachers was 636, of which 458, or over 72 per cent... obtained passes, coin* pared with 285 passes out of 407 papers worked .•; last year. Of the 1383 on the roll 633 sat for examination and 164 passed in the first-class and 294 in the second, there being 178 failures. The ■■; teachers attending the special classes for training of teachers totalled 1013, ami 160 sat for examination, 33 passing in the first-claaa and 60 in the second, there being 62 failures. . Although Auckland was eo .far away from the larger centres of civilisation, it was satisfactory to learn from numerous traveller's from different'' parts of the world, who have visited the schools, that the city was keeping well in the van of educational progress, and he believed that when the city was provided with a modern technical college ' , Auckland educational facilities would be second : /.i a to those of no other town of the same size in .--' the British Empire: in fact, some of the reforms thai had been introduced here during the last . r year or two were still in the "discussion stage" at Home. ' . In conclusion,, he tendered bis appreciation to lie Hoard for the progressive spirit it bad always" ■'; shown, in the development of manual training and technical education. To his colleagues also he expressed his thanks for their loyalty, earnestness, and enthusiasm. . , ... . ~ : -, In reply to Mr. C. J. Voir, Mr. George said that in. all some 2000 were attending technical classes at the present time in tho province, and 3000 the manual training classes;, while about 16,000 were, biking , hand work, as against 15,000 last year. Che report was ordered to lie on the , . talile, and the members expressed satisfaction at th* continued progress' of the de-