PRIMARY EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23648, 4 November 1938, Page 5

PRIMARY EDUCATION

MODERN TRENDS IN METHOD RECENT IMPORTANT CHANGES ADDRESS TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY Recent trends in primary education in State schools and the changes that have been brought about in methods of teaching were discussed by Mr J. McK. Miller (headmaster of the Normal School) in a brief address to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand in First Church last night. After outlining some of the developments the speaker sought to indicate how they could be utilised to revolutionise methods of teaching in Sunday schools. The speaker' said that great changes were taking place in the primary school movement in New. Zealand, and suggested that many of them could usefully be applied to the Sunday school work of the Presbyterian Church. Children today had no reason to be afraid of their teachers, and there were few things to encourage them to absent themselves from school. The main factor in the changed conditions had been a realisation that the child was more important than the material of his education. The child was an individual and must be treated as such in his education. One of the important changes was the abolition of the proficiency examination and ' the substitution, for it of a sort of exploratory survey calculated to disclose the special' gifts or abilities of the child. It was the child that had tojbe nurtured and not the class, and to' this end there was being developed a kind of auto-education which encouraged scholars to launch out and discover things for themselves, and wherever possible to follow their own particular bent.

The speaker dealt with the changed approach to the three R’s, and the new emphasis placed onarts and crafts, and the important studies of dietetics, home sciences and housecraft. In the presentation of these classes of study new. almost revolutionary, methods were adopted, and the radio and the moving picture film were also being exploited with markedly beneficial results. There was no trend towards mechanical education because mechanical aids were being commissioned. The directing hand and mind were still the; teacher s. Improved library facilities in the schools were accomplishing many things in the education of the child which would have been deemed unpossible years ago. Libraries were of great assistance in the development of auto-education. Teachers indicated schemes of work, and provided there was a well equipped and suitably catalogued library; the child could follow its bent and thus make the best Mr Miller outlined specific forms of a group study under which sub- • jects were explored and examined from half a dozen angles by groups working separately. Later, the results of the investigations were pooled and notes were compared. All the teacher did was to indicate spheres of- work and useful books and literature which the children could peruse for themselves. There was miichr of' this modern ‘method that 'could be utilised , to improve the Sunday school practice in Dunedin. Improvements had been effected in many schools lately, but there was still a great deal that could be done. Of great importance was the preparation of the lessons with a view to discovering varied form of expression that would banish boredom and monotony Not all children cold , learn by ear; many required to be taught through the eye;; and for these it was necessary to have pictures. Visual education was of the greatest importance, even if it had to be confined to coloured chalks and a blackboard. The dramatising of lessons was another great help and could always be relied upon to produce infinitely #■ better results than pure narration of facts. There could be no impression without expression, and expresv sipn must be varied to the fullest possible extent of the ability of the . teacher and the facilities at hand. Mr Miller urged Sunday schools to , consider seriously the use of the film projectors, which were now f being so widely utilised in the State schools. The equipment was com- . paratively inexpensive, and he knew of , many very fine biblical films available for Sunday school work.