TEACHERS' PLACE

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIII, Issue 4045, 25 September 1944, Page 3

TEACHERS' PLACE

IN THE COMMUNITY NEED FOR REFORMS Mr W. A. Valentine, retiring chairman of the Taranaki Education Board, was the guest of honour at a farewell function arranged by the North Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute at New Plymouth recently. Mr. J. Barnett, president of the Institute, referred to the unique position held by Mr Valentine. He was a life member of the Institute —an honour that was conferred very sparingly—an ex-president of the Institute* and an ex-president of the Institute, and an ex-Education Board chairman. Mr Barnett compared the reforms which had been advocated by Mr Valentine and those which were now before the Institute, and said that a perusal of Mr Valentine's presidential address to the Institute in Christchurch in 1907 showed that he was very much interested in rural schools and particularly in the consolidation of small rural schools. Since Mr Valentine's day as president a better understanding of this question had been gained by parents, teachers, ' and educational administrators, but it was interesting to note that, voicing its views through its president, the Institute was, then as now, in , the van as an advocate of this and other proposals aiming at educa- ' tional progress. To-day the Institute recommended that the rural school should be availed of to serve as the most convenient and effective centre of the leisure-time and cultural activities of the district. The rural school was to some extent such a centre now, but its usefulnes for such purposes could be greatly increased with benefit to both education and the community. It could be the centre for the library service, for many sports and other club activities, and for social and educational activities organised for the adult population. Community Betterment. The Institute that the teacher was in a position that enabled him to be of great service in connection with undertakings aiming at community betterment, continued the speaker. It therefo\ recommended its members to identify themselves as closely as possible with such undertakings. Mr H. C. D. Somerset's work at the Feilding Community Centre was an example of what could be done in this way by a teacher who had the advantage of special facilities and the support of people in the neighbourhood. The Institute's view of the line that educational advances should take had nearly always proved justified in the past, and it looked forward to a day when centres more or less like that at Feilding would be found all over New Zealand. Each such centre would, of course, adapt itself to the needs and conditions of its particular locality. But real community work, Mr Barnett said, could not be accomplished by teachers in their respective districts till the authorities had made a definite move to solve the housing problem. Not only in the country, but in the towns housing conditions made things very difficult for many teachers—so much so' that in some cases they were the cause which prevented a school from getting the teacher best qualified, particularly if, having a family, the sort of house attached to the "school was a consideration to him. "It had, moreover, to be said with regret that living conditions for teachers in some localities were unworthy of any -civilised country. Dealing with district high schools, the speaker said the Institute's experience made it a strong believer in the value of district high schools whose record for two generations was a proud one and compared favourably with that of post-primary city schools. In the past staffing difficulties had hampered the work of district high schools by preventing them from offering a range of subjects as wide as did secondary schools in the larger towns and the cities. For that rea.son the Institute recommended that the staffing of district high schools should be considerably improved, and that provision should be made for them to have the aid of specialist teachers in such subjects as rural science, domestic science, and engineering. Also, wherever possible, specialists in physical education, music and art should be made available. Pupils in rural areas would thus he enabled to enjoy the same educational advantages as their fellow pupils in the centres of population. In conclusion, Mr Barnett said that such high schools thus built. equipped, and staffed, and each in the middle of a group of scattered rural communities, could be ideal institutions giving the best of educational opportunities to their pupils and serving as cultural centres in a manner it would be hard to excel. They could become the hub of the wider life of all the adults within their district. Their buildings would be available as meeting places for such bodies as farmers' unions, women's divisions, women's institutes ,and young farmers' clubs. The inter-wcaving

of the life of the school with that of the area from .which it drew its pupils was a main aim of modern education. Could any institution give more furtherance than the district high school, developed along the lines suggested by the Institute?