NEW METHODS IN EDUCATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20984, 12 March 1938, Page 10

NEW METHODS IN EDUCATION

FINE SYSTEM IN USE AT WAIMATAITAI DEMONSTRATION GIVEN The playground echoes with the , laughter and shouts of happy children. ; Suddenly a bell rings, and the pupils , scatter in the direction of their respec- , tive rooms. Then a shrill blast of a j whistle—a hush comes over the scene. ; “Some of you children are not stand- ; ing still.” A pause, and then the voice < again. “When you get to your rooms, | I have some announcements to make. Now listen for the music.” ; Another blast of the whistle, the i strains of a recorded march echo over 1 the playground, and the lines of chil- : dren move forward, keeping time to the music, and in a short space of time i the grounds are efnpty and the class- < rooms full again. I Hardly a sound can be heard in any ' of the rooms, as all ears are strained ’ to catch the expected announcements. ! Again comes the voice of the head- 1 master, for he it was, sitting in his office in front of a microphone, who had commanded the attention of over 700 children spread over a wide area 1 in the school grounds. Sitting along- ' side him was a representative of “The Timaru Herald,” viewing for the first ■ time yet another innovation in the rapidly changing educational system. Recent changes have seen the disappearance of the examination system. No longer are the children permitted to be subjected to the trying ordeal of ' tests; pitting their knowledge against fellow classmates. No more homework—at least not of the kind parents of present day pupils were accustomed ' to. If anything is. set a child to do at home, it must be in the nature of a , hobby. So, too, has the general idea of teaching changed. Book learning ( is essential, up to a point, but the ( underlying theme of the primary sys- . tern to-day is practice, not theory. Every effort of the teacher is in the direction of encouraging the child to use his or her hands aS well as the brain. Value of System But we have wandered off the track. To come back to the microphone. The ■ announcements completed by the headmaster, he informed the school that a | string of beads has been found, atid the owner could reclaim them at the office. Within a minute comes a knock at the door. “Please sir, I lest some beads,” and the string is handed over. The brief scene described above was enacted at the Waimataitai School this week. In this institution, the largest 1 primary school in Timaru, there has been installed a wireless and broadcasting system which may be said to 1 have completely revolutionised the control of the school. As the school roll ' increased, and additional accommoda- ' tion became necessary, classrooms were erected in various parts of the grounds, i thus adding considerably to the task of the headmaster of keeping in direct touch with all departments. At Wai- I mataitai there are no fewer than 17 class rooms and a teachers’ room. Hitherto, when it was necessary to make announcements affecting the school as a whole, the headmaster was obliged to walk round every room, and the trip occupied upwards of an hour and a half. By means of the new system which has been installed, messages can now be conveyed to every room simultaneously, and in the space of a few seconds. Personal Touch The big factor in the successful conduct or any school is the personal touch, and the saving of so much time walking round the school now enables the headmaster to devote much more of his time to tire work of the school. Nor is this the only advantage. The radio, properly handled, is recognised as a wonderful educational medium. By the system in use at Waimataitai, any educational item on any programme put out by the radio stations can be placed at the disposal of one class, a number of classes or, if need be, ths entire school. The cultivation of radio “sense” or in other words familiarising the children with the microphone can also be encouraged. One of the new phases of education Is the giving of talks by the children to their class. On a recent occasion an outstanding talk was given by a standard one boy to his classmates. He was asked to repeat the talk to primers 4 and 5 and he did so, not by going to the respective rooms, but through the microphone' in the headmaster’s office He addressed an unseen audience, and did so with every confidence. And how does the system, which has proved wohderfully effective so far. and which has unlimited possibilities, work? In the headmaster’s office is a radio set, and attached to it is a control board on which there are a large number of switches. Each switch, which is numbered, represents a room in the school, and in each room there is a loud-speaker. Two big loud-speakers are located outside the building, one on the northern side and one on the southern side, and these cover the whole of the playground space. If it is desired to speak to one room only, the switch representing that room is pulled down, but if it is intended to speak to the whole school, while in the class-rooms, all the switches are turned down. Similarly when speaking to the children in the playground, only the outside switches are used. The volume of music or speech can also be controlled. Die headmaster may turn on music to a certain strength in his office, and then switch over to the school, and he knows that every class will be receiving the music or speech at the same volume as he had It in his office. Care has to be exercised in operating the system, but its intricacies are soon mastered. The children are now familiar with it. and it is working perfectly. At the same time, while the headmaster is .ctually in control, the remaining members of the staff also have responsibilities. An instruction having been given, it is their duty to see that it is carried out, and so all work as a unit, and one which must ultimately be for the benefit of the children as a whole.