EDUCATION SYSTEMS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1935, Page 13

EDUCATION SYSTEMS

INVESTIGATION OF PROBLEMS. FUNCTION OF RESEARCH COUNCIL. There was a teacher who specialised in mathematics for his degree and obtained honours in that subject; not because he liked or was specially gifted mathematically or thought he was, but because it was the only subject whose lectures did not interfere with his tea hour. How many educational destinies have been similarly guided by the stomach or other extraneous considerations? How many boys have had their careers shaped not by their inborn abilities in certain directions, but by the driving force of circumstance? What effect have the answers to such questions had on policy in education? How far does educatiou react to the social system, and vice versa? The complex problems raised by these and other interlocking questions were briefly reviewed on Friday night by Dr. C. E. Bdeby, executive officer to the New Zealand Council of Educational Research, which is conducting investigations with a view to arriving at a policy or philosophy of education. “We are not spending nuich time at present on research in teaching methods or on the. standardising of tests, although that is ajj important and useful work,” said Dr. Beeby at a meeting called by the New Plymouth branch of the New Zealand EducWpal Institute. “We are beginning with the institution On one hand and the individual child on the other. How far is the education system sensitive to our national social System and how far is the social system affected by it?” , ~ . Declaring that we seemed to be living in a topsy-turvy world to-day, Dr. Beeby pointed to Germany and the influence th? N&d social system had on educar tien there. It was the same in Italy and in Russia—the education systems were part of the Communist and Fascist policies. In England, too, the education system Was affected by the national economic and social system of the country. How far was education in New Zealand affected by corresponding ences? he asked. This Dominion was so geographically that its educa-, tipn igystem was liable to isolation or to development through the importation of ready-made ngw types of schools when they were found. How far these nfluences were operating the council had to find out. For instance, the. New Zealand technical school system differed from those of other countries. Elsewhere the technical school w&s a trade school. Besides New Zealand, he knew of no other place in the world where the technical school was cultural. Personally, he liked that idea, but in Australia he had found the New Zealand schools despised because they did not turn out tradesmen qifly. The question was mixed up with the old apprenticeship system to which the technical schools hgd been complementary.' He would be sorry to see the technical r eV ert to the function of trade schools entirely, but were they on the right lines to meet changed conditions? "New : Zealand needed a stocktaking in education, and research was u form of Stocktaking. Such research was very complex. It consisted of getting the facts and treating ■ them objectively. Dealing with the branch of research concerning the individual, Dr. Beeby said they wanted to determine the effect of the echoed and home influences; or was the system “just growing like Topsy?” Thg thorniest problem at present was the question of centralisation and that was being investigated. The syllabus gave considerable freedom in the teaching of subjects such ?s history and geography, yet investigation had shown that there was little variation in the method of teaching in schools situated in dairying, sheep and timber districts. Why was the freedom not taken advantage of? The answer given was “Inspectors.” That was a question that affected the. problem of centralisation or decentralisation and he suggested the inspectors themselves might investigate it.

The grading system was another subject being investigated for its effect on the children and teaching methods. Then there was the university.' In many ways the Nfiw Zealand University was not a satiSfgetpry ipitjtutiop. If. a chemistry graduate desired to continue research work he had to go to England or enter a New* Zealand factory. Was the system that did net give sufficient scope for research the hast for the Dominion?

Other questions referred to by Dr. Beeby were the effect of the university entrance examination on secondary education, and the systems of adult and rural education, the school entrance age, the attitude of mind to war, religion, disarmament and morality and its influence by the school. Altogether about 20 investigations were being prosecuted with the help of funds from the Carnegie Foundation, he saidAfter answering a number of questions Dr. Beefey was accorded q vote of thanks the motjpn of the chairman, Mr. J. E. Bigelow-