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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20930, 21 January 1930, Page 8

AN EDUCATIONAL REFORM. The Minister of Education, speaking at the Teachers’ Summer School at New Plymouth, declared, rather sententiously it would appear, that one of the reforms in education that must be made consists in the reduction of the size of school classes. Mr Atmore will hardly presume to offer this as a new discovery, attributable to his own foresight and sagacity. He should rather have said that one of the reforms in education that must be continued is the reduction of the size of unwieldy classes. It has been the policy of the Education Department for a number of years past to bring down, as far as means have.pcrmitted, the size of school classes in which an excessive number of pupils arc enrolled. It has made considerable progress in this desirable direction. In 1024, in schools of the fourth grade and over, 79 per cent, of the classes consisted of more than forty children, and 23 per cent, consisted of more than sixty. In February, 1928, the percentage of classes with more than 40 pupils had been reduced to 67, while only three per cent, of the classes had more than sixty pupils. That meant, however, that there were still a hundred classes consisting of over sixty pupils, and, in order to romedv the matter, seventy-one additional assistants were appointed. Last year saw a further reduction in the'perc'mtagns of el----s ~v „ v

forty and of classes of over sixtj pupils and, the appointment of o*l a hundred additional assistants haring been approved, there should now, if the Department’s expectations have been fulfilled, be no class in the primary schools of the Dominion containing more than sixty pupils. That figure is, of course, a good deal beyond what is considered by educational experts to be the ideal size for a class under one teacher. But the elimination of large classes can, in view of the attendant circumstances, be a gradual process only. It is all a question of finance. Reduction in the size of school classes entails the provision of additional class-rooms and the appointment' of additional teachers. That spells considerable expenditure, find presents a difficulty that is not less formidable at the present time than in the past. All who are interested in education are agreed that it is highly desirable that the size of school classes should be strictly limited, so that pupils may have the better chance of receiving individual attention from the teacher. But not even the Parliamentary Committee, upon the results of the deliberations o£ which Mr Atmore appears to base remarkable expectations, will be able to discover a way of speeding up thin particular reform without adding considerably to the already exceedingly heavy education bill of the Dominion.