KINDERGARTEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 88, 31 January 1947, Page 8

KINDERGARTEN

SYSTEM RECOMMENDED

COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The' Consultative Committee on Pre-School Education which was set up by the Minister of Education early in 1945 has now issued to the organisations presented a draft report. The terms of reference of the Committee were to consider and report on educational services for children below school age with special reference to the financing and control of such services and the traning of personnel. The chief proposals are:—

1. That, in the interests of the mental, physical, and moral health of children, and so of the community, a programme of developing and extending pre-school education services should be pressed forward as rapidly as possible until they are in the end available to all who wish to use them.

2. That attendance at pre-school institutions should continue to be voluntary, even though education in such places is recognised as being most favourable to the children.

3. That, since the health and right nurture of children must increasingly be a community responsibility as well as, a parental one, the community should support, reinforce and supplement the resources of the home by establishing and maintaining a national pre-school system; and that, therefore, the Government should institute a State pre-school education service.

4. That existing kindergartens and play centres administered by voluntary bodies should be absorbed into the State system, and that thereafter State assistance to voluntary bodies providing pre-school education services cease.

5. That a short-term policy should be adopted immediately, to run for a developmental period of five years, and that during that time preparations should be made by the Education Department for the taking over of full administrative responsibility for the pre-school services. 6. That for a limited number of years following the establishment of a State pre-school service local areas should be required to raise a percentage of the capital cost of their kindergartens. 7. That during the developmental period the main concern of the Education Department should be with the training of enough teachers to inaugurate a State system. 8. That the standard of pre-school institutions should be the kindergarten, broadly of the kind already established in New Zealand, rather than the all-day nurseiw school.