EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16497, 1 August 1924, Page 10

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

ENGLISH TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE.

NEW ZEALAND EULOGISED

Some interesting- impressions of New Zealand in general, and the Dominion’s educational system in particular were given yesterday by Miss Sybil Mowitt, an English school-teacher, who has been in New Zealand for the past fifteen months on exchange. . Since becoming associated with the Education Department, Miss Mowitt has been engaged at five different schools ranging in size from grade 7, Gisborne-main school, to grade 3, Motu school, so that she has had ample opportunity of obtaining an insight into educational matters in a variety of spheres. On two separate' occasions she was at the Gisborne school, for a period of two months each time, while) she was at Motu for about four months, and also spent a considerable period at Hutt. While in the Dominion she has visited the four centres, and Rotorua, and has even gone as far off the beaten track as Milford Sound.

Miss Mowitt, after Her experiences, expresses herself as being well pleased with colonial life, and perhaps the best testimony which she can give in its favor is her announcement that she intends to return to New Zealand permanently in a year or so. Some sympathy was expressed for Miss Mowitt when it was known that she was to go to Motu for a period of some months, but the young lady herself says she was quite pleased with the opportunity of experiencing life in the backblocks, and has no regrets -in this connection.

A comparison of the educational systems of New Zealand and the Old Country, according to Miss Mowitt, is not unfavorable to the Dominion. She was, however, greatly astonished at the size of the average class in New Zealand, where a. teacher has to control as many as sixty or seventy pupils, compared with an average of thirty or thirty-five at Home. This, to her,' was the most striking thing about the colonial schools, but, at the same time, she was greatly surprised at the success of the system which enabled such large classes to be taught with so much efficiency. Miss Mowitt explained that, in her opinion, the 'primary schools of the Dominion gave pupils a more thorough training and equipment for after-life than those al Home. In New Zealand a child who had passed through the sixth standard had a very thorough preliminary training, upon which it was possible to build very largely without, additional tuition, but in England, even with the customary seven standards, an intermediate training Stas required before a pupil could be said to have obtained the necessary educational foundation. While at Home she had speint two and a half years at Kelso, in South Scotland, and the system .in the Dominion seemed rnoi'e like that of Scotland than of England.

Miss Mowitt leaves on Monday overland for Napier, and sails for England early next week. Prior to leaving tire Gisborne, school yesterday the staff assembled to hid her au revoir. The headmaster. Mr. J. McLeod, expressed regret that Miss Mowitt was leaving their midst. They had esteemed it a privilege having her with them in Gisborne for such a long lime, and had felt that she was one of them. Ho trusted that she would have a pleasant return voyage, and that she would receive a bright welcome on arriving Home again. On behalf of the staff ho presented Mjss Mowitt with a handsome travelling cushion bearing a representation of a Maori tiki. Other members, of the staff spoke in similar terms, and Miss Mowitt .replied, thanking them for their kindness to heir during her stay in Gisborne. She had nothing but praise for her experiences in New Zealand and from the time she arrived had felt that she was among heir own kith and kin.