TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3885, 28 August 1928, Page 66

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. At the annual conference of the Technical Education Association of New Zealand, which was opened at Wellington on Tuesday, Mr H. 8. W. King (president), in his presidential address, stated, inter alia:— * In my address to you this year I have again used as my main theme a restrospect of the educational movements in other parts of the Empire, more particularly in Great Britain, owing to the important nature of the recommendations of those concerned in the production of what is known as “The Hadow Report.” The second part of the report of the Committee on Education and Industry (England and Wales), known as the “Malcolm Report,” has only just come to hand; and, although many of its recommendations may not be altogether applicable to New Zealand, owing to the difference of tiade conditions and environment, the result of the work of this important committee is well worthy of our consideration. In the report of the Consultative Committee on the education of the adolescent, issued by the British Board of Education in December, 1926, the main conclusions arrived at were:— 1. That the primary stage of education should be regarded as ending at the age of 11 years, and that post-primary education should extend to at least the age of 15 years, which the committee recommends should be made compulsory. 2. That schools dealing with the secondary stage of education should include:— (a) Grammar schools of the secondary type, represented by our high schools and grammar schools, carrying the pupils forward to the age of at least 16. (b) Modern schools with a less academic bias, giving a larger place to various forms of practical work than is customary in secondary schools, and intended for pupils remaining for three or four years. (c) Departments of the elemental? schools providing post-primary education for pupils who do not go to new secondary schools. 3. That, in spite of this multiplicity of existing examinations, there should, after a short period, be established a leaving examination for pupils of the model n schools to be taken at the age of 15. The importance of the report to those engaged in administering technical education in New Zealand is undoubtedly found in the emphasis placed on the need for modern schools side by. side with the other types of secondary school. The report aptly puts it thus: “School and industry are different facets of a single and the habit of mind -which isolates tacin from each other is a habit to be overcome. . . It is to a clearer realisation of the dangers to which many boys girls are exposed at a critical period of their lives that the increased nubile interest in the education of children between 11 and 15 years of age is in great measure due.” ° Too often, in the past, we have bad it asserted in New Zealand that oui technical education system was wrong in principle; that a cultural education was impossible in a technical school; that the early specialisation practised therein v\ as wrong, and that practical work had no educational value. It is, therefore, refreshing to those engaged in administering technical schools to find so much encouragement in the report of the Consultative Committe. I may be pardoned for referring particularly to two points of main interest:— The work of the school must not seem, as sometimes perhaps it still does, the antithesis of real life, but the complement of it. Children must, as far as possible, be helped to feel that, when attending school, they are handliii". though in a different atmosphere and from another angle, the matters which seem to lnt ® res , t i n g and important outside school. It is essential, of course, that nothing should be done to prejudice the continuance of the general education of the pupils or to cramp their mental development for the sake of demanding some form of specialised proficiency. But there is no reason why any of the materials of a good general education should not be found in activities bearing c r y 1 0 -?. immediate environment of the children. More than one of our witnesses expressed the opinion that some of the pupils in the existing ‘secondary schools would profit more by a less academic curriculum.” One of the main conclusions of the committee is that a humane or liberal education is not one given through books alone, but one which brings children into contact with the larger interests of mani! n ij l a * m modern schools ghould be to provide such an education by means of a . curriculum containing larger opportunities for practical work and related to living interests. In the earlier years the curriculum in these schools should nave much in common with that provided in the schools at present commonly known as “secondary.” It should include a foreign language, subject to permission being given to omit it in special circumstances; and it should be given a “ practical ” bias only in the last two years. The need that the curriculum of many post-primary schools should contain large elements of practical work has been emphasised by almost all our witnesses, and is not likely, we think, to be seriously questioned. But this does not mean that the pupils’ intellectual training is to be regarded as of secondary importance. It has been amply shown that for many children the attainment of skill in some form of practical work in science, handwork, or the domestic arts may be a stimulus to higher intellectual effort. The abundant practical work which we wish to see provided in the new schools is thus to be regarded partly as a means of intellectual training specially suitable to the interests and capacities of the majority of the pupils. We must, however, add that the attainment of a reasonable standard of practical skill is in itself an objeqt of importance in a modern school, particularly if it leads to mastery of one or more of the simple arts and crafts •whose educational value we emphasise elsewhere.*

I think that from these words of the report we may confidently declare that our technical high school courses are so designed that for the great majority of our boys and girls they would be approved by the leading educationists of Britain, and that following this well-sup-ported declaration the New Zealand Department of Education should develop our technical high schools as a first duty in providing secondary' education. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

(b) The second point of the report of the committee to which I -wish to refer is the one with which it commences—namely, the recommendation that primary education should end at the age of 11 years (our Fourth Standard), and that thereafter all pupils should then begin a “secondary stage” extending over four years, the compulsory leaving age being raised to 15 years. The secondary stage should be provided by grammar or high schools (five-year schools), central or junior technical schools (four-year schools), and higher tops (our district high schools). In trying out the junior high school system New Zealand recognised that it was necessary to commence the secondary stage of education two years earlier than had been the practice in this Dominion. It is inevitable that New Zealand must commence soon to permit entry to the secondary schools two years earlier, as is the practice in most other countries. TJiis will involve a much larger number ot secondary schools and a decision as to the nature of their courses. I understand that the Primary Schools’ Syllabus Committee reported that all secondary se.iools should be of the same type and intended to meet the needs of all classes of pupils. That would mean that grammar schools, high schools, and technical high schools would provide similar courses. It follows the secondary school plan ot the United States. The Hadow rePort, as indicated above, recommends that the schools remain distinctive in type. This is as we have it now in jNew Zealand—namely, (a) Grammar schools and hvh schools mainly literary and scientific, providing courses and taking pupils irom 11 to 16 years of . (b) Modern schools (our technical high schools) with less academic bias providing courses for pupils of 11 to 15 years of age. (c) Higher tops to elementary schools (our district high schools).

I am referring to this point particularly because I believe that, though in the smaller centres the composite school must be adopted, I do not think it best for the larger centres. I think that schools that specialise on one kind of education will be more efficient than those that do not. J am of the opinion that the American composite high school as recommended by the Syllabus Revision’ Committee, should not be adopted in preference to the varied type of secondary school favoured by the Hadow report. If composite high schools are adopted in New Zealand they will probably be in charge of men of academic type, "and the spirit of the schools will not be such as is considered essential for modern schools by the Consultative Committee whose report says: ’ “ In selecting head teachers for modern schools local education authorities should aim at choosing men and women who are interested in the social and industrial conditions of their pupils and of their pupils’ parents, whose outlook on life is not predominantly academic or professional and who are not- pre-disposed to base their curriculum on some conventional examination system. . . . The head .teachers of such schools should be men and women who, while possessing an intimate knowledge of their children’s needs, have also developed an extensive range of interests, and shown themselves to possess initiative and capacity to strike out fresh lines of development and to introduce a new spirit into their schools. Having become familiar to some extent with the details of certain industries or commercial concerns, they could introduce this knowledge judiciously into their teaching, selecting such matter as would excite the interest of the pupils and illustrate different points in the subjects of the ordinary curriculum.” The Director of Education told us at our conference last year that “he felt convinced that our future development in post-primary education would be towards the school which gave the broadest possible curricula ”; that “technical schools provided a better return for capital expenditure than any other institution ”• and “ that technical schools should b" valued very much more highly for their social value than had been the case in the past.” These remarks were encouraging to us, but the Minister of Education has made no announcement as to the intentions of his department; and, as public discussion of such a matter is essential. I think we should ask for a statement of the Government s policy for the future development of our system of post-primary education. i * A • a ' so that it would be unwise to let this conference pass without a discussion of the whole problem from our point of view, and I believe we should consider how the technical schools will be affected if pupils are admitted to them after passing Standard VI and remain for four years. Such a policy would create the need for heavy expenditure on new schools and equipment, and I suggest that we give our attention to the means we consider advisable so that the change may be brought about gradually. Such a discussion should be valuable to all engaged in technical school administration, as the problems to be faced in all parts of the Dominion will be brought out, and each board will thus be guided in dealing with its own local problems as part of the whole problem of the Dominion. CHOICE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL. In some parts of New Zealand the department is taking the stand that pupils must go to the secondary school to which it directs them. Such a policy is an interference with the rights of parents to select the school in which they have confidence that their children’s development will be best provided for in accordance with their own ambitions. The department, I understand, has held that secondary schools or district high schools must be attended in preference to technical high schools. I think that this conference should record a strong protest against such action by the department in connection with the secondary stage of the chil-

dren’s education. It seems to be made purely in the interest of finance, and it is a strong example of interference with the powers of boards. If a matter such as the parent’s choice of school is - to be determined by the central authority, we as representatives of local boards must surely protest in such extreme cases of | bureaucratic control. If the standard of 1 secondary education is to be maintained, it must be a selective standard. TECHNICAL SCHOOL BOARDS. I have referred to this matter before, but the department’s proposal to get authority to conduct technological examinations is my reason for again bringing it forward. Such examinations are conducted by the Education Departments in Australia, but Mr Frank Tate’s report recommended a board on which representatives of trade and industry would sit with representatives of the technical schools. He also recommended that the board work through expert committees for each trade, and I believe that such a method of detailing courses and conducting examinations would result in a far closer alliance between industry and the schools than will result if the Education Department conducts the examinations. V ery definite recommendations on the value of this alliance are made in the Malcolm report, a special body representative of the views of employers, workers, local education authorities, and teachers being proposed. I ask you to make further representations to the Minister, who has been reported as saying that he is opposed to the creation of a multiplicity of boards with power to act independently of the Department of Education. Surely if there is to be that close relation between our schools ahd the outside life of the community—the very breath of life for technical schools—it cannot be brought about except through the technical schools board we have recommended in the past. The Minister himself has referred to the fact that employers themselves are not recognising the value of the education given in technical schools. The Minister’s proposal should not in the least make us content to drop our former sound request.

EVENING CLASSES. In the past two or three years there seems to have arisen doubts as to what kind of instruction may be given in our evening classes through a desire to abolish “ hobby ” classes. The intentions of the Minister are undoubtedly sound, but they are restricted severely in practice, and at times injustice is done. In the Auckland Technical College a class in wireless was refused recognition, although the students were all engaged in earning a livelihood through wireless, either as operators, salesmen, or mechanics. In this case, a class of students suffered because wireless is usually a hobby. Similarly, cabinetmaking may be a trade or a hobby class. Even home science has been attacked. In our schools, almost every student is engaged in the trade to which the subjects relate or is preparing to enter such a trade, and I am sure that the department’s objection to so-called “hobby” classes is not well founded. We are entitled to a clear statement of the grounds upon which recognition of evening classes will be refused, and, in default of such statement, which I propose the conference should ask the Minister to give, the department cannot fairly refuse to recognise classes for which sufficient i students enrol. If it does, this association should take the matter up. CONCLUSION. The matters I have placed before you in this address are some of the problems confronting those administering technical schools to-day, and I trust they will merit a full discussion by this conference, representing principals and members’ of boards from all parts of the Dominion. Last year I put forward figures intended to show—1. That in the past five year technical education had not received a proportion of the total vote for education in accordance with its increasing attendances. 2. That New Zealand’s total expenditure per head of the population was considerably lower than in Canada. South Africa, or 30 of the United States. 3. That the increased expenditure per head of the population of New Zealand between 1900 and 1922 fell far short of that in many of the United States. This year I .wish to put on record some facts quoted in the Labour Gazette for Canada, of May, 1928, showing the importance attached to the development of technical education in the State of Ontario (population about 3,000,000) :— -n , 1918-19. 1926-27. Building grants .. .. £13,300 £64,553 Schools offering vocational courses .... 11 33 Equipment grants (provincial) £8,330 £42,990 (1923-27 ~ .. average) Attendances (day schools) 4,739 17,329 Attendances (evening classes) 16,733 37,434 Teachers (day schools).. 155 755 Teachers (evening classes) 611 1,297 . The development of technical education _ indicated here is marvellous, and it will serve to show how technical education is regarded in one other of the dominions; where technical education is governed by a Technical Education Act. Not much has been said recently about the greatness of our education vote, but I draw attention to the uncontradicted figures of my last year’s address in order to direct public attention to the fact that they have not been disproved, and so to counteract the statements made by some public men that New Zealand’s expenditure on education is too large. Natural resources must be developed by human intelligence, and while we spend so much on the development of natural resources, we must not neglect the development of our young men and women in line with the best educational opinion, and the practice of the most progressive countries. CREATION OF DISTINCTIONS. PASSAGE IN REPORT RESENTED. WELLINGTON,. August 22. A strong protest was made at the Technical Education Association Conference to-day in regard to the statement in the majority report of the Syllabus Revision

Committee, which it was claimed reflected on the technical schools throughout the Dominion. On the motion of the president, Mr H. S. W. King (Auckland), it was resolved—“ That this conference emphatically protests against the statement made in the report of th? Syllabus Revision Committee (page 16) that the institution of technical high schools has created among children distinctions which are educationally unsound and socially undesirable, ami asks that those responsible for such statements should be required to make an explanation.”

Mr J. H. HoweH, director of Wellington Technical College, read a letter from a professor whose son had attended a technical college for over three years. The letter expressed appreciation of whit had been done at the college and satisfaction at the results achieved.

The statement in the committee’s report was put down to foolishness or ignorance. Other delegates alleged that the statement was made through envy, jealousy, or prejudice.

EFFORTS TO IMPROVE SYSTEM. WELLINGTON, August 23. The Technical Schools’ Conference held a discussion on the reorganisation of the post-primary education scheme, in the course of which the Syllabus Revision Committee’s work came* in for some uncomplimentary criticism. The following resolutions were carried:—

1. Wherever possible, pupils should be transferred to a post-primary school two years earlier than at present (as advocated in the Hadow Report, and by the New Zealand Syllabus Revision Committee.

2. There should be more than one type of post-primary school (as advocated m the Hadow Report, but not by the New Zealand Syllabus Revision Committee) in those centres where the number‘of pupils warrants their establishment.

3. The proposed introduction of secondary subjects into the primary schools’ syllabus should not be allowed to work in the direction of a general revival of Standard VII in centres served by post-primary schools, thus bringing about the establishment of “ tops ” to primary schools.

Among the subjects discussed was a memorandum from the Minister of Education referring to the relative decay of evening classes, especially in domestic work. Whereas in 10 years the attendance had increased over 100 per cent., members in evening classes showed no appreciable increase at all. The opinion was advanced that the reason was that more children were attending day classes, and did not need to attend evening lessons;, and also that the evening classes should take more advanced courses. It was decided to ask the Minister to furnish further information as to. where the decay had occurred. The Minister also suggested that the conference might consider a revision of the fees for evening and part-time classes in the direction of increasing them. The conference took the 01° posite view, an 1 :’d n r: 'hition in favour of the abolition of fees.

j 1 remit, " ilia; i;,>. cmii’eTence affirms the desirability of teaching dietetics and home science in postprimary schools as well as the more practical subject of cookery,” was carried unanimously. Most of the speakers were of opinion that the value of good food could not be over-estimated. Members deplored- the too great use of tinned food. *

Other remits carried were as follows : —

“ That this conference urges on the Minister the necessity for providing better facilities for advanced technological instruction.

That if the passing of Dominion technological examinations by a candidate entitles him to a certificate of competency as a craftsman it should replace the present examinations, such as the wiremen’s registration and plumbers’ registration. “.That this conference affirms the desirability of maintaining good continuation classes in the evening schools of the technical colleges with a view to helping those persons who have not been able to remain at a day school long enough to obtain a good general education.

“ That the. department be urged to make it possible for boards of managers to pay to school instructors who do not hold university degrees or the equivalent salaries equal to those of instructors holding degrees. It is suggested that the salary scale should vary in accordance with the nature of the class—junior, intermediate, senior, advanced—and that a trades instructor in a technical school should not require the equivalent of a degree to qualify for the highest rate of salary. “That the advisability be urged on the department of establishing a technological museum.

That the opportunities now provided for co-education in technical high schools should be conserved. °

“ That the conference supports the recommendation of the Technical School Teachers’ Association with a view to encouraging town boys to qualify for rural occupations by providing agricultural courses in post primary schools in or near the cities.”

The following officers were elected:— President, Mr H. S. W. King (Auckland) ; vice-president, Mr J. H. Reed (Invercargill); secretary and treasurer, Mr G. G. Park (Auckland); executive— Messrs W. K. M. Luxford (Wanganui), M'Gregor Wright (Christchurch), and T. Scott (Dunedin). '