VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22064, 21 September 1933, Page 10

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

MEETING OF LOCAL COMMITTEE

A meeting of the Vocational Guidance Committee was held in the Y.M.C.A. last evening, Mr J. L. Salmond in the chair. Mr J. R. Fairbairn reported on behalf of the Finance Committee that money for the carrying on of the work was coming in satisfactorily and the committee had sufficient funds for immediate needs. _A start had been made with a canvass by circular and the response had been such that it was proposed to extend the appeal. The report was adopted. On behalf of the Employment Committee, Mr G, G. Adess reported that it was encouraging to note the manner in which young people, particularly girls, were being placed. It was proposed to make a special effort to bring the character and aims of the organisation before retailers in tho hope that they would form the habit, already formed by several large firms, of drawing on the committee for their requirements. Last month the committee placed 35 boys and 20 girls, and this month to date work had been found for 21 boys and 26 girls. The report was adopted. Mr E.- Syrett referred to the difficulty of placing boys on the land. The vocational guidance officer had said that he could place more boys than were offerinpc for farm work. The speaker said some propaganda directed at changing the outlook of boys towards employment on the land was very desirable. Mr F. W. Mitchell heartily congratulated the Employment Committee upon the excellent results that had rewarded its efforts. , ~ ... Mr A. C. Cameron, on behalf of the Farmers’ Committee, said that more positions were offering than there were boys to fill them, and the position was such that a further appeal to farmers was not warranted at this juncture. It was unfortunate that lads could not be induced to go into the country, notwithstanding the attractive character of the homes to which the boys would in most instances be admitted. He would like to stress the fact that there need be no fear of inhospitable and inconsiderate treatment of boys in the country. Complaints were sometimes heard in this connection, but he would like to say that if any member of the committee heard such complaints the Farm Committee would be only too pleased to investigate the matter and, if circumstances warranted, it, the offending employer would be brought to book before his own organisation. The committee did not send boys out indiscriminately. Every care was taken to see that the boys were being sent to suitable homes. In conclusion he would like to pay a tribute to the zeal, tact, and earnestness with which the Vocational Guidance Officer was carrying out his duties. Speaking of the question of propaganda Mr Fairbairn said that the experience of last year showed that the biggest handicap lay in the tendency of parents to regard a secondary school education wasted in farming. It was almost impossible to convince them that some of the best work was being done by the educated type of youth. Mr T. Conly (vocational guidance officer) said he did not think the need was for propaganda. What they must do was to see that only the proper type ok boy was sent to the country. This was his view after interviewing 800 unemployed boys. Many of them would be only too keen to go to the country but their parents prevented them. The mothers feared country conditions and the fathers were afraid there were no prospects. It was difficult to change that viewpoint, and he wa« afraid propaganda would not accomplish it. The report was adopted. Mr Conly said employers were using the committee most for the placing ot girls, and a noticeable feature of the operations of the past two months had been the keen inquiry for girls, so much so that the vocational classes were at the moment almost bare of girls with a knowledge of sewing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to place boys in any sort of employment in the city. He was glad to say that there was direct evidence at the present time of the vocational instruction commenced two years ago bearing fruit among boys and girls leaving school. Referring to intelligence tests, about 60 of which had been carried out, Mr Conly said that in nearly all cases they had confirmed the estimate of school teachers. The results of about 40 tests had been recorded, and he was convinced that they were, generally speaking, very useful. They were not sufficiently explicit to be used as a final guide to vocation. They merely represented a test of relative intelliqence. At the conclusion of the meeting Mr H. H. Ferguson, lecturer in practical psychology at the Otago University, delivered an address on the application of experimental psychology.