BIG TRAINING COLLEGE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1934, Page 6

BIG TRAINING COLLEGE

SUGGESTION FOR AUCKLAND

SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS LIKELY.

ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED SOON.

CONFERENCE OF PROFESSORS.

(Special to News.) Wellington, Last Night

Proposals for the establishment of a great training college for teachers in Auckland in the near future have been laid before a special conference of professors of education which has been meeting at Wellington this week. These proposals come from the Minister of Education,(the Hon. R. A. Masters) and a Government announcement on the subject of the decision reached may be expected in the next few days. The conference of professors, which was hurriedly called because of the fact that the Minister wishes to complete some plan at the earliest possible moment, has met because of the fact that a large shortage of teachers has been discovered to be facing the Education Department in two years’ time, and steps must be .taken to fill the vacant places. When the Government decided to close the training colleges at various centres and transfer the personnel elsewhere there appears to have been some official miscalculation of the future supplies of teachers in relation to the needs of the education boards throughout the country. In any case the overwhelming supply of teachers which was thought to be available has dwindled alarmingly, and to-day it is stated that there are only about 300 available for appointment in place of the many hundreds previously listed by the department. As the natural wastage or loss of teachers is estimated to be about 500 per year, due mostly to marriage of the women teachers and to deaths and retirements, this supply will not serve the country for very long. SHORTAGE EXPECTED. While details of the Government’s proposals to meet the shortage are not yet made public it is stated on the best of authority that the project laid before the conference of professors was that there should be a great training college at Auckland and that no less than 1000 student teachers should be enrolled in order to fill the gaps expected ifi the near future. The shortage of teachers throughout the country is expected to mount to this total by 1936. Apparently the Minister of Education is anxious-to centralise the training of the students for reasons of economy and, it is claimed, of efficiency also. But this course has been opposed by the professors of education, who have raised a number of ob- t jections to the plan of concentrating all the training in one centre. In the first place it is pointed out that to restrict the work of training to Auckland would have the result of preventing some South Island students from enrolling and would cause grave inconvenience to many others who were able to enrol but would have to move far from their homes. In the second place it is argued that such a course is not necessary as the training can be done economically and efficiently at the various university colleges without the need for large additional expenditure. . . Apparently the Minister fears the need to re-open the training colleges in each city, or at least one in each island,. it being the desire of the Government to restrict expenditure to what is absolutely needful. But the professors of education have pointed out that the training could be carried out on the English system.Under this plan students would be 'placed on the rolls of the different university colleges and their work would be carried out as part of the ordinary work of those colleges. There would be no question of re-opening training colleges specially to deal with' the situation. It is understood also that* the professors have pointed out that though under this plan the Government would have to make a contribution to the cost of training the 1000 teachers needed in the next two years, such a course will be cheaper even than asembling the students all at one college. After a whole day’s conference the professors departed home feeling that they had made some impression on the Minister. Now, however, the matter has to be taken before Cabinet, and it is stated that the Hon. R. Masters will make a public announcement of his intentions early next week. / DENIAL OF THE RUMOUR. NOTHING DEFINITE YET DONE. Wellington, Last Night. The rumour to the effect that the Auckland training college was to reopen for the purpose of training 1000 teachers was denied by the Director of Education (Mr. N. T. Lambourne) when interviewed tod “There is no training college in the - Dominion that would hold 1000 students, said Mr. Lambourne. “The most we could accommodate-at Auckland would be about half that number— certaintly not. more _and nothing has yet been decided about the reopening of that institution.