ADULT EDUCATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22985, 12 March 1938, Page 15

ADULT EDUCATION

00-OKDINATING WORK APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP AND DUTIES [Br TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION"] WELLINGTON, Friday The appointment of a Council of Adult Education, whose duty will be to consider the co-ordination and extension of various adult education agencies and movements throughout the Dominion, is announced by the Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Fraser. Members of the council are: —Mr. N. T. Lambourne, Director of Education; Professor J. Shelley, Director of Broadcasting; Professor T. A. Hunter and Dr. Elizabeth H. B. Bryson (Wellington), representing the Senate of the University of New Zealand; Mr. P. Martin Smith (Auckland), representing the Workers' Educational Association; Mrs. N. A. R. Barrer (Masterton) and Mr. W. G. Simpson (Hawera), appointed by the Minister and generally representative of other organisations actively interested in adult education.

The duties of the council will be to co-ordinate the different activities of adult education and take any action desirable to further the interests of adult education; to recommend to the Minister of Education the amount of the annual grant for adult education to be paid to the University of New Zealand; to recommeni to the Minister the allocation of a grant among such bodies or agencies engaged in adult education as the council may approve; to receive annual reports from the University College council and from any other bodies to which grants for adult education are made. "It is intended to ask the council to sit at an early date to consider the co-ordination of adult education throughout the Dominion," said Mr. Fraser. "It is obvious that the work which the council may perform is of the utmost value and importance to the community. With the increase in adult education and other community organisations the need for some such coordinating agency has become increasingly apparent. Preventing Overlapping "It is necessary to bring together the national organisations concerned bo as to secure mutual help and prevent overlapping and waste of effort. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, adult education to-day has a two-fold aim—to provide means of serious study for people who are interested as students and to provide means of raising the level of culture and stimulating the talent of the people as a whole." Public authorities throughout the world are accepting responsibility for adult education on progressive lines, continued the Minister. Two of the most important reasons fop this interest were the increasing amount of leisure time now available to the people and also an increasing interest in social and economic affairs. Request by Conference "A conference of delegates of the Workers' Educational Association, the Association for Country Education and other bodies interested in adult education, held in Christchurch in 1936," Mr. Fraser said, "carried a resolution asking the Minister of Education to invite the University of New Zealand to set up a committee, including representatives of the University, to prepare a comprehensive scheme for adult education in New Zealand. The Minister thereupon asked the University to set up the committee suggested by the conference and to submit for his consideration a scheme for adult education. " The committee, which consisted of Professor T. A. Hunter, vice-chancellor. Miss V. MacmillaV Professor Shelley, Messrs. G. Manning, A. D. Mcintosh and W. H. Cocker and Professor von Zedlitz, duly submitted a report which was adopted by the senate at the 1937 meeting," Mr. Fraser concluded. "That report recommended the setting up of a council of adult education and the appointment of the present council is generally in line with the senate's decision."