TEACHERS' INSTITUTE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14142, 28 February 1910, Page 3

TEACHERS' INSTITUTE.

REPORT ON CONFERENCE. A meeting of the South Canterbury branch of the Educational Institute ■was held in the Technical School on Saturday. The President (Mr Dalglish) occupied the chair, and there were a dozen teachers present. The only correspondence was a letter advising that a copy of the amended Classification and Superannuation Act had been forwarded to the branch. • Mr Valentine said that two piincipal clauses affecting them in this respect were : Any contributor who, before the commencement of, this. Act, has acted under section 24 of the Public Service and Classification, and Sur perannuation Amendment Act, 1908, may at any time before the first day of July, 1910, so long as he remains a contributor to the Teachers' Superannuation Fund, revoke the election so made by him. The maximum retiring .allowance was fixed at £3OO per annum. Mr G. T. Palmer, M.A., headmaster of Pleasant Point, D.H.S., was elected a -member of the Institute. ■■■ Mr Menzies and Mr Valentine, as delegates to the recent Conference of ,the Institute, reported on the work done at the Conference. Mr Menzies .was unable to be at the meeting on .Saturday, but he sent a written report. In this he stated that the meeting was a very pleasant one ; as well as one of great, industry on.,the part of delegates—pleasant because there was an utter absence of that friction which had been noticeable at previous meetings, which he had attended. A right good spirit prevailed throughout the sessions. A new departure was made in the introduction of addresses by experts. Those given by Messrs Bailie, Gibbs, and Professor Hunter were a most appreciable feature, but if the order paper was to be as full at future meetings, delegates;,, must rbe prepared to sit four days instead of three otherwise it would be a case of legislation by exhaustion. The papers given would appear in the Journal. Qn the speeches in general he would make no comment, but he was pleased to note the ability with which the Southland embryos spoke. Mr Menzies testified to the able way in which, his co-delegates, Mr Valentine and Mr McLeod, had represented their Institute at the Council meeting. . Mr Valentine also reported on the meeting, prefacing his remarks with., the statement that Mr Menzies had been one of the most useful working members at the meeting. The delifberations of the delegates had been of s most interesting the syllabus taking up most of their time/There 'had been considerable diversity of opinion about it at the stnrt, but a com-" mittee of members from South Canterbury; Auckland, : Nelson, arid Taranaki was set up to bring down a report, and after much strenuous labour the committee submitted a report which I was generally approved. The re- ' commendations of the coinuutee were I as follow That the syllabus" is based on sound principles, and is gener.M\ w ell adapted to- the needs of our pupils, yet the time has now come w hen s ime of the details of the syllabus should be reconsidered and amended in regard to the requirements of the syllabus itself, the way in winch these are set out and the \arjing interpretation of these requirements by different school inspectors. * ! The following mere suggested as ne- I cessary amendments.— English.—That* m writing, encouragement shduld be given to the acquirement of facility in conjunction with legibility. That m selecting subjects for composition, teachers and inspectors should be required to give prominence to those topics of which ihe children have a fitst-hand knowledge. That m examination tests there is no objection to the emplojment of the technical giammatical tei ms used in the present syllabus, provided that formal definitions of these be- not required. Arithmetic—That the syllabus in aritumetic should be reduced and also recast, so that the burden of work may be- more equally distributed among the standards In this connection a£ tention is directed to the great amount of arithmetic demanded by the New Zealand syllabus as compared with! iw* reqU f ,re T, nts . of «w- English Board of t Education. The ~ work l n _,°i, , subjects is often retarded, by the undue amount of attention given to arithmetic. That it is not advisable to. attempt to-teach the whole subject ln primary schools. Xnat arithmetical exercises should be drawn from the actual surroundings of the children should be in the form used m daily life, should be taught practically;* and shoukUbe suited to the j.. age of p upi i 3 . the foundation of success in this subject is unremitting practice in'mechanical operations connected" with commercial mental work. That raccuraby, speed, and neatness in mechanical/work must be aurad- at in aIL classes. and fawter,t»rt, say 60 per cent., ofthe exam-' tnation, shotildtbe mechanical, ,*and still irfclude "examples." v^Tables 1 should U ;car.efu%<« taught. That J ihV'atandaias 2, f *u^onajnncipla i! ttfto a *S? ,T should be.introduced>',irh J n t ifce neces^ iatAm measures i fftSh^|^^^^^n&l?-M WI "^

treated in 8Q hours while the extent of the A course demands a very much ~! greater allotment of time,: there is a .comparative neglect of political geography and an-undue emphasis on the lnathmetical and jihysieal, and the i subject, generally, especially in the upper standards, is receiving too large a share of the school time. The institute therefore suggests that there be only one course in geography, comprising all necessary topics. History.—That the subjects in history should be systematically grouped and arranged, and a concentric series of historical readers should be used. Drawing.—That geometrical drawing should not be required from girls. Sewing.—That the sewing syllabus be entirely remodelled so that it may be treated in an educational manner. Moral Instruction.-—That in _the pa- . .ragraphs headed health and moral instruction, greater emphasis he placed on temperance. General.—That the Education Department be asked to issue periodically a pamphlet similar to the " sugeestioW J of the English Board of EducaraSn. That this institute is of opinion that geography should be removed from the list of compulsory subjects for St. VI; proficiency examination. Mr Valentine said the InspectorGeneral had made it clear that the whole of course A requirements in geography must be taught, and course B must be treated thoroughly also. Some of the lady delegates had slaughtered the sewing syllabus, and had quite converted the meeting by their arguments. As. regards, the promotion of teachers, it was made abundantly clear that a national scheme is required. An interesting discussion took place relative to the size of playgrounds, and it was made, clear that in some parts the play grounds are very inadequate. - One delegate suggested that the Government should procure larger playgrounds, hut he did not explain just how they could do it. All the remits from South Canterbury received sympathetic treatment and all were carried. , Mr Valentine also gave an account of the papers which were' read at the meeting, the" most interesting , of which was one of Professor Hunter , who dealt very ably with the subject [. of mind development in children. As a result of the conference he felt sure s that the syllabus would be altered in some respects. The geography course . would certainly be remodelled, and the ( more important subjects would -he . given a more prominent place. Arithmetic would be altered to some extent. The question of a longer school day was discussed, but it was agreed that the present school day is quite long enough. ' .4, hhe a r t vote of thanks was passed to the delegates. NOTICES OF MOTION. >. Mr Menzies forwarded "the following notices of motion for next meeting _ That the full cost of delegates in traveiling to and from the annual meetr I ng i° f the , Council be paid, such cost - ;£ % supplemented by a grant from the funds of the South Canterburv . District Institute; that the secretary ■ be a representative ex officio; that the basis of represenation of district Instatutes at the annual meeting of: the > Council, be readjusted. c {«?« as ' Bta^ d J iliat at the nert'meefc. S?«? u Fe W i lT b8 a discu ssion on the > difficulties of a country school teacher