“A Live Subject.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20329, 12 June 1934, Page 6

“A Live Subject.”

Intermediate Schools.

Mr N. T. Lambourne Explains Aims.

that the intermediate school was intermediate in time., rather than in type, between the primary and secondary school, Mr N. T. Lambourne, Director of Education, last night explained the aims and advantages of the intermediate school system to a meeting of Canterbury school committee representatives at the Training College. Mr W. P. Spencer, chairman of the Canterbury Education Board, presided over an attendance of about eighty, which prompted the speaker to remark on the interest taken in a question which was at present a live subject, not only in New Zealand, but in other countries.

Mr Lambourne said that he thought it might be said that the greatest educational advance of the twentieth century had been the discovery of the child. For hundreds of years previously the child had been regarded by parents and teachers as a little man or little woman, and was in some respects treated accordingly. With the beginning of the twentieth century new views began to gain ground, and psychologists on studying the child as a child in his own environment had been surprised to find that he lived in a world of his own. Mr Lambourne traced the growth of the reorganised systems in England and the United States, and declared that because New Zealand was so different from England and America in the number and distribution of its population, the occupations of its people and the magnitude of its commerce and industries, the method of reorganisation adopted in the older countries was not considered applicable to the Dominion, hence the decision to make the new schools intermediate schools and departments and to establish new ones as opportunity offered, with two-year courses. Regulations Outlined. There were now 'five intermediate schools and eleven departments, of which six were attached to secondary schools, one to a technical school and four to district high schools. Mr Lambourne went on to outline at length the regulations governing the Dominion intermediate schools, and then dealt with the advantages claimed for the system. His summary of these was as follows :

“ (1) Smaller classes: The provision of one teacher for each forty pupils on the roll at March 1 makes the classes smaller than they generally are in the contributing schools.

“ (2) Better classification of the pupils: When the Form 1 and 2 pupils from contributing schools are gathered into one school it is possible to classify them in accordance with their natural aptitudes and inclinations. The pupils can be taught according to their particular requirements because they can be arranged in more or less homogeneous groups. The preliminary tests upon which the initial classification in an intermediate school is based reveal a group of pupils the approach to whose minds must be made through the hand and eye. Experience at intermediate schools has shown that such pupils who made little progress and lost interest in the old primary school heterogeneous class regained their self-respect and developed rapidly when taught by suitable methods in a class by themselves. Greater Progress.

“ (3) Greater progress of the pupils: When courses are made to suit the pupii instead of fitting the pupil into the courses provided, greater progress is made. A higher all-round standard of education is attained and greater happiness is secured.

" (4) The intermediate school is a tryingout or exploratory school: When the Form 1 pupil comes to the intermediate school the principal must take into account the report of the head teacher of the primary school last attended. From this he ascertains the aptitudes that the pupil has shown during his primary course and provides for him accordingly. If the judgment seems to be correct the pupil will continue with the course he has begun, but if there is doubt the principal, after consulting the parent, may change his course and try him out in another. With the opportunities for better classification and change of courses it is reasonable to expect that at the end of the two years in the intermediate school a sounder, opinion can be given concerning the nature of the future education the pupil should undertake. “ (5) The effect on the contributing school: The remaining pupils are more nparly of the same age and, with few exceptions, are children who are not yet on the threshold of adolescence. The Standard 4 pupils become the ‘ top ’ of the school and quickly assume the responsibilities of leadership, an opportunity they do not get while Forms 1 and 2 are present.” Mr Lambourne conoJuded his address by quoting from a speech made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education detailing the successful results of reorganisation in England and Wales. He answered a number of questions and the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the director.