TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8180, 23 July 1912, Page 7

TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGES

AN EXPERT'S CONCLUSIONS

(To tho F.ditor "X.Z. Times. )

Sir, —It is safe to say that the training colleges as constit.KCl to-day dc.not bring that iljdiU to tno service time might reasemahly bo expcclcd. - aim eminently iiuod for iho production of s<-c-ond-rato tcacucrs. I bej need radical reconstruction. , ~ ■V trainin', college should bo a fully uliilialed college 0,1 tho, university oneorori by a form of. matriculation specialised "as tiio matriculation for law, medical and engineering schools is spo-onliM-d. The .student having once cn-lor.-d its walla .should pursue a course 1 of stud’es in close relation to his own I oroioasiou and fitted to enable him to ' see it in true perspective. in America I mid (lerinaiiy education is a specialised ; urofossion, and tlm best colleges work , Ln tlm lines of the other professional I schools. I Tho II certificate .should be ctunula- | tivo on the specialised matriculation. In New Zealand education constitutes ■ only one optional subject in the B.A. ■programme. The conception of education as one subject is lamentable. Micro should bo a complete B.A. degree in education. There should bo an ■VI.A. honours degree * n education. All studies should bo carried on as far as possible at tho training college. After matriculating into tho training college —which should be dono at tho same ago as with the other colleges—the student should work for three years to a B.A. in a correlated branch of studies. The department’s C.B.A. tests servo only to side-track tho student who, if ho lias, reached tho A certificate and then wishes to take a degree, finds he must go back to matriculation. Not a few students have been led into that .blind alley. Tho following is a possible course: Compulsory; (1) History of educa- , tion. (2) Theory of education (including psychology', ethics and methodology)—each child is a mentally developing unit. (3) Biology (zoology)—extended to include school hygiene—each child is a physiologically developing unit. (4) Practice of education—includ- ‘ ing handwork, drill and drawing. Options; (1) Languages. (2) Mathematics. (3) Logic. . (4) Science (chemistry and physics to a standard similar to that required at medical intermediate, or an applied science, e.g., or a selected course in practical science suited to tho needs of primary schools, e.g., homo science). (o) Geography. (6) History. (7) Economics and sociology. (8) Educational statistics and research. ■ (9) Music. (10) Kindergarten work.

All of these should he taught as applied to tho purposes of education—a very different matter from treating them ns merely culture studies. Tho nodical man knows how to draw the lino between pure science and science applied to his work. Psychology for tho ordinary B.A. is a pure science; the same subject for training college purposes is an applied science. They aro no more identical than chemistry and agricultural chemistry. They should each bo taught .by men of the standing of professors with a worldwide outlook on their subject and the necessary leisure for research. In tho Otago Medical School there are eight or nine x>roicssors, and there aro at least three in tho Mining School. There aro two professors in tho Law School at Victoria College. Similar provision should ho mado at tho training college; at least four professors aro required, to de.al with tho four compulsory subjects. At present students of tho training college may attend university, classes and may take a quite aimless course. Many students aro all tho timo strain\g at the leash, desiring to got away from the college to their university studies so that they may attain a degree. Is that a healthy condition? Suppose the medical students wore all tho timo urging their professors to permit thorn to leave hospital practice so that they might attend classes in Gorman, Greek, constitutional liistory, mechanics and what notl How would their usefulness as doctors bo affected? Vet wo havo the same thing at tho training coliegca simply because the subjects are not properly correlated, they do not rise to tho right standard, and proper institutional organisation is not provided. There is in New South Wales one training college with 400 students. We havo in Now Zealand four training colleges with 100 students in each. If tlmy aro to be properly staffed, with duo room for expansion, wo simply cannot run four training colleges. ' It may b© advisable to have two. A medical school turns out a crop of medical men; a law school turns out a crop of lawyers. Our training colleges produce a crop of students Avhose degree studies may bo so disconnected that at tho end of their course they may well feel undecided whether law, journalism, or some other vocation is to claim them for life. This detachment is accentuated by the fact .that their university studies havo no ncocs sary bearing on education as a profession. They are not taught only as applied to education. If students fol lowed the programme outlined above they would be teachers for life and tho* chain of their studies up to a degree would bo . coherent and consecutive. Education, is not a fixed and stereotyped art. From ago to ago it is flexible according to the needs and ideals of society. And teachers properly trained should bring to their work, along with a specialised sense, a broad view of its purposes, outlook and tendencies. —I am, etc..

D. A. STRACH4N, Education Offices, Blenheim, July 16th, 1912.