Discussion Groups

Te Ao Hou, September 1967, Page 18

Discussion Groups Two full mornings were spent in discussion groups. I joined the group discussing. ‘Education for Parenthood’, and found myself in a group of Kindergarten teachers and trainees. The general attitude of these teachers was that parents contributed little towards the education of the pre-school child; the three year training period these teachers had undertaken had given them the answers to the problems of the young child's development; little attempt was made to communicate with the parents, with the result that parents were unaware of the intellectual development and growth and expression of creativity possible in the preschool. They became unwilling to share this knowledge with parents or to provide opportunities for mutual interchange with parents. Parents were capable only of accepting instruction and assisting with money-raising activities, kitchen duties and children's outings. Our New Zealand emphasis on parent involvement was quite foreign to them. While they could see the value of this involvement, they resisted the idea. As one young Director said, ‘My three years training would be of little value if parents were given more responsibility in the Kindergarten.’