TEACHER TRAINING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27079, 13 May 1949, Page 8

TEACHER TRAINING

PLANS FOR IMPROVEMENT ADOPTED BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE PA WELLINGTON, May 12. Important suggestions for improving the present system of teacher training in New Zealand are contained in a special report adopted at to-day’s conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute. Dealing with the selection of trainees, the report suggested that district quotas should be abolished and candidates selected on a Dominion basis. The conditions under which teachers lived and worked were thought to be a deterrent to those entering the profession, so that, if teaching were to secure more of the right type of entrant, the staffing, accommodation, equipment and service conditions generally would have to be substantially improved, the report stated. A scheme for candidates to be selected early in the year preceding their entry to training college, with provision for regular visits to selected teachers, was also included in the report. Recommendations for an adequate number of associated normal schools to be established in addition to the existing ones were also made. Contending that the isolation of training colleges under their present local*education board control was indefensible, the report urged more complete affiliation with the University. The report will be presented to the Consultative Committee on Teacher Training, which is considering these problems ‘