VOCATIONAL TRAINING.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1930, Page 8

VOCATIONAL TRAINING.

Th* departure of the senior instructor in manual and agricultural training hi the Taranaki schools, Mr. R. G. Ridling, will be generally regretted by all who take an interest in local educational matters. It is satisfactory to note that the organising and teaching ability he has displayed will be at the disposal of the whole Dominion, and there in little doubt but that he will extend tho good work begun in Taranaki. While politicians and. Ministers have spoken frequently and fervently of the need for vocational training and for the development of an interest in husbandry amongst the pupils of the primary echook, the Taranaki Education Board, ably assisted by Mr. Ridling and its other expert officials, has been quietly but effectively emphasising the importance of such training. The results can be seen throughout the province. The list of competitions in root-growing by school children published yesterday was a splendid testimony to one side of the teaching that has been -given, and the resultsof the calf-rearing competitions were further proof of good work performed. Another satisfactory outcome of the past seven or eight years is that the teachers, with ve / few exceptions, are taking a keen interest in the vocational work, though a great deal ef it lies outside what may be termed their ordinary duties. Most •satisfactory of all, it has awakened public interest in the schools. Farmers’ organisations are warm supporters of the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs for root-growing.-and calfrearing competitions and have done much to keep keen the interest shown in the :work of the children. School committees have been stimulated to a desire for bettor school surroundings, and the result of this is manifest in improved playing grounds and efforts at beautifying, school surroundings. In much of this work Mr. Ridling was a pioneer. He has had the warm support of the Education Board and of most of the teachers, and in hie wider sphere of labour he will be able to apply the result of experience in Taranaki to the benefit of the general education system.