THE SCHOOL INSPECTORS' CONFERENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13831, 19 February 1907, Page 4

THE SCHOOL INSPECTORS' CONFERENCE.

An interesting resume of somo of the more important recommendations that were adopted at the recent conference of school inspectors at Wellington is afforded in Jho interview with Mr David White,.of which the particulars aro published in our issue of this morning. The conference extended over a fortnight—a period which might probably have been much reduced if, as Mr Petrie, of Auckland, suggests, the business hud been entrusted to a body of much smaller size—and the decisions covered a large portion of tho field of education. Three or four of the resolutions were of special importance. Ono of those, which lias reference to tho classification of pupils, leads in a direction which wo have long advocated as desirable. It is proposed now to make the classification of pupils uniform in point of time, and the practical effect of this will ho that pupila in tho Sixth Standard—the recruiting ground for the High Schools which admit pupils to the benefits of free secondary education—will be examined fit tho close of the year's work. Another proposal, the adoption of which will not bo viewed with the same measure of satisfaction, is that the standard of exemption shall be raised. Under the existing law, a child may he exempted from attendance at sohool upon certain conditions if he has passed tho Fifth Standard. It \s proposed by the inspectors, however, that children under 14 years of ago shall not be exempted, from attendance at school until they shall have passed the. Sixth Standard. It is hardly likely that pupils in tho town schools will be affected to any great extent if the change advised by the conference commends itself to the Education Department. Bnt it is probable that it may entail a distinct hardship upon the parents of pupils attending country schools if a strict compliance with the terms of regulations, under which attendance at school will be rendered compulsory until a pupil lias reached the age of 14 years or else has passed the Sixth Standard, should be insisted' upon. The .practical effect in the ease of most pupils in country schools would presumably be that they would bo required to remain at school until they had attained the exemption age. But it is difficult to hold that anv real advantage will be served by forcing children who aro likely to be occupied in manual work in rural districts to remain at school after they have passed the Fifth Standard. The education which they will then have acquired will have furnished them with a very fair mental equipment, and it is scarcely to be argued that they would be very much better prepared for the career that is before them if they were retained at school to secure tho benefit of tuition in the Sixth Standard. That is, we are sure, the practical viow which will be taken in the country of any proposal to raise the legal standard of exemption, and though tho practical may conflict with the ideal it is none the less entitled to carry a good deal of weight. Upon the pupil teacher system the conference adopted a decision which is indicative of a desire to bring educational methods in New Zealand abreast of those that OOtnin in the countries which are educationally the most advanced. The pupil teacher system, as we now understand it, is, in point of fact, doomed to abolition. The process of abolition is, however, to be necessarily a gradual one, and it will be a matter of five or ten years, it js estimated, before pupil teachers cease'to exorcise their prentice hands upon the instruction of pupils in the public schools. The system which it is proposed to substitute for that now in vogue is generally regarded by educational experts as likely to be productive of much better results than were, at the best, possible qf attainment under the system that is to be abandoned. It is a significant circumstance that, as we gather from Mr White, the Conference was absolutely unanimous in expressing its condemnation of the pupil teacher system as we have seen it in New Zealand. And upon this point the certificated teachers, as represented by tho Eduoational Institute, ore substantially in accord with the inspectors. Where inspectors and teachers agree, ns in this matter they do, we must conclude that the need of a revision of our methods is imperative,