TEACHING OF HISTORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3832, 23 August 1927, Page 35

TEACHING OF HISTORY.

DISCUSSION BY SCHOOJ TEACH ERS.

A general meeting of the Dunedin .subbranch of the Otago Educational Institute was held in the Teachers' Clubroom, Moray place, on Friday evening Mr A. Thomson presided over an attendance of 40 members.

Mr J. F. Wilson opened a discussion on ■■Teaching of History in Primary Schools. It had been said, he remarked, that there was something radically wrong with the leaching of history in New Zealand. A departmental special committee was set tip in 1923 to inquire into the teaching of history in the primary and secondary schools of New Zealand, and .as the representative of the Educational Institute on that committee he was aware that the committee had come to the same conclusion. It was so bad, indeed, it was really the worst-taught subject in the curriculum of the New Zealand schools. The same thing could, of course, be said about the subject in the schools of England. It would not be any great pity it all the present historical readers were scrapped. He believed that in the future oral teaching would play a large part in history lessons in the primary schools to make it a success. If a teacher was going to do any good with the child mind he must bring the ideas of history round a central figure. The child loved action and personalities. The time sense was developed in a child probably about 10 or 12 years, and a time system might be brought in at that age —about the Fourth Standard. In Standards V and VI there was so much to take, and so little time to take it, the matter was difficult. The best thing to do. he thought, was to take something straight through. The teacher tried to do too much in teaching history. The main question he asked himself was, What am I to leave out, so that I may give children an idea of great personalities and of the events that are hingeing round those personalities? History was a great subject, and was only now coming into its own.

Mr A. J. Woods, lecturer in the Training College, touched on the new system of history teaching. This system was. to his mind, the best yet produced. It was reasonable. It was an improvement on the old —at least iu this respect, there was far less detail required. It was much less ambitious. It seemed to aim at putting forward essentials, and it required teachers to present things that would be interesting to children. In the big issues, then, it was a good syllabus. At the same time, it might not be beyond criticism. He was not satisfied there was enough attention given to New Zealand history. The treatment of New Zealand history, which had been largely geographical in the past, was still largely geographical. The new syllabus might have gone further in outlining New Zealand history, periods and topics, as in British history. The new syllabus, he thought, did not stress local history nearly sufficiently. There were only a couple of sentences in the syllabus that required teachers to do anything in the way of local history teaching.

Several other members discussed the question. The Secretary (Mr J- C. Smith: read two letters bearing on the subject under discussion.

Professor R. Lawson, Professor of Education at Otago University, wrote regretting that he would not be able to attend the” meeting, to take part in the discussion on history. As convener of the Educational Commission in the League of Nations Union. lie would be glad to know how the branch viewed the 'League. Could the branch give him any guidance as to undertakifiir League propaganda, and would such piopaga.ir.ia he in place in the otdinary history •esson. or m the schools in any ft rm at all? The whole question of history needed consideration.

Mr Stuckey, senior inspector of schools,, Otago District, wrote apologising for his absence, and forwarding a copy of some suggestions* on the teaching of history. These notes were hurriedly drawn up for a teacher who wanted help, and he was aware thev were by no means above criticism. In his notes. Mr Stuckey suggested that the text book should be used chiefly as a reference book in which the pupils would read for themselves detailed accounts as a sequel to the oral lessons. The order of the book need not le followed, but the pupils should construct, with the teacher's guidance and supervision, a time chart by which events could Le seen in their chronological order. A sequence of work was recommended. The work in each topic should begin with the oral lesson, well prepared, fully illustrated, and presented, in an interesting and lively manner. The lesson should be summarised on the blackboard as it proceeded, then recapitulated and discussed. The person or event treated in the lesson should be “placed - in th<? time chart, a picture or a short paragraph (written bv a pupil) being affixed. Silent reading from the text book should follow, and later the pupils might be asked to write a paragraph or an essay on the subject. If these essays were within in. a . special book they formed a useful set of ’’notes” for revision, and these notes, had the merit of being made by the pupil and not merely copied. They should, of course, be carefully examined and corrected, where necessary. "by the teacher. Mr Stuckey added that it was not expected that any jcacher should be made the slave of these suggestions. They were primarily intended to induce teachers to adopt, some originality of treatment on a subject which, if taken merely on text book lines, was apt to become one of the dullest in the curriculum.

The meeting accorded a vote of thanks to Mr Wilson and Mr Woods for their ad-' •dresses and to Mr Stuckey for his valuable rjiggestions. The letter from Professor I.awson wm referred to a committee for consideration, to report to next meeting.