NEW TEACHING METHOD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18211, 3 October 1922, Page 9

NEW TEACHING METHOD

CHILD EDUCATES ITSELF.

TEACHER IN BACKGROUND,

BEST RESULTS CLAIMED.

" To-day is an age of experiment in all | depariyents of life; it is an age of development and progress, and there can ' he no standing still," said the Hon. C. , J. Parr, Minister for Education, at the opening of the Curran Street School yesterday, in making an appeal for tho application of more modern methods in the Dominions educational system. He declared that New Zealand, in her isolation, should not become stagnant away from the rr o rld"s tide, but should keep abreast with it. Old shibboleths and methods were being examined in the cold light of science and research and were being cast aside; Now Zealand could not afford to cling to those for which others had already no use. New theories, new ideas, with rogard to the education of the child, were being evolved throughout the world. These might be summed up as self-education and solf-government, said the Minister, the child educating itself in schools disciplined by the children. The best teachor to day was not the one who crammed the child's mind with facts, but th-j one who inspired the child to seek knowledge, for itself. And it was true always and everywhere that those leswns were best learnt and remembered which we taught oiu-selves. All over the world, this idea of sotting th« child to teach itself was being developed. In Englandi under the Dalton plan, the method had been carried still further, and classes had been abandoned altogether. Each child was allowed to progress through the school at its own pace, and retardation and othe T educational ills were thus done away with. Instead of the teacher pursuing .the child, the child was inspired to pursue ths teacher, the latter remaining as the background of the scheme. Sometimes, said Mr. Parr, the Government was blamed for not doing enough for education, but no Government was domg more or spanding more per head of population than the Now s,ealand Government, Thejprasont bill for education was about £.T,5G0,000 annually, and. although he was not able to show a cash credit, he hoped the country would receive sterling value in good citizens. Referring to teaching requirements, Mr. rarr said that at no time had there been so many teachers in training. The present number was 1220, against oSO a few years ago. This recruiting of staffs had enabled the department to reduce the number of ■uncertificated teachers very considerably; last year's reduction being 15 per cent. Besides the elimination of the uncertificated teacher, the larger number of new teachers available was allowing for the gradual reduction of large c asses. The objective was to reduce classes to a maximum of 40 or 50 with a great gain of efficiency to both teachers and pupils.