EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20106, 9 December 1930, Page 9

EDUCATION.

♦ REPORT OF THE RECESS COMMITTEE. ! ATTI TUDE OF TEACIIBRS. (tress association tbligsak ) WELLINGTON, December ?. Irt a supplement to Hie Gazette various phases of educational problems touched upon by a deputation of representatives of the New Zealancl Federation of teachers, which waited ujkjii the Minister for .Education, the lion. .It. Atmore, are published. General agreement with the report of the Education Committee was expressed. In reply the Minister urged the importance of unification of control. The chairman of the executive of the Federation, Mr F. M. Renner, said members were in agreement with the principle of terminating primary education at the age of 11. plus and with the extension of compulsory post-primary education. to the age of fifteen. Tlicv were in agreement with the institution of intermediate education with certain reservations. Two of the bodies, the technical School Teachers' Association and the Secondary Schools' Association, considered that while this intermediate education Mas necessary the ideal type was the attachment of Forms I. and 11. and .junior technical forms to existing schools. They were all heartily in accord with the principle of consolidation. With very little exception the scholarship reorganisation was approved. Matters connected with the general administration were still questions that required to be threshed out. The Minister: You mean unification of control ? Mr Renner: The general administration difficulties that you have controlled. The Minister: I shall remain firm on that point as the ultimate solution of many difficulties. Classification of Teachers. Mr T. Ij. James dealt with the question of classification of teachers particularly as it affected those men in technical schools who lacked academic qualifications. At the present time most primary school teachers were certificated, but there were a few technical school teachers who would be in an unfortunate position. This applied especially to those who had come in from the industrial and commercial world to take on teaching as a profession late in life. The Minister, referring to the point made by Mr James, said lie strongly believed in the proposal put forward. lie knew there were men who were eminently qualified to impart instruction, but who could not show any certificate. These men must be judged on the fact that they were doing the work. Mr Renner: How far in future may the Federation hope to obtain a status similar to the Royal Society at Home? The Minister: I cannot see any reason against the suggestion. Yours is the greatest of all professions. It must be so. It provides training for all others, and I would go any distance that way which may be necessary. Unification of Control. Mr Atmore went on to say his contention was that there should be no secondary school without a certain amount of practical education. He wanted practical education to permeate every educational institution in the Dominion. There would be no "smothering" of technical education so far as ho was concerned. He was still convinced that the proposal in the report for the complete unification of control was a very sound one, and that the were ■not based on consideration of the best interests of tho child. If necessary an appeal would be made to parents and to committees. The committees were the creators of the Boards, and in the addresses he had given in different x»arts of tho Dominion he had found wherever ho had had direct touch with committees he had received a unanimous vote of approval. He was quite satisfied that if they had one controlling authority and one federated body of teachers it would be very easy then to consider the progress of the child from the kindergarten to the University, where such extended education was necessary. In regard to tho proposals in the report, the National Register proposed the payment of the teacher instead of the position. He had gone as far as he could to help. He did not think h© was asking too much when he sought their co-operation. Broadly speaking, the proposals in the report made for the benefit of the teacher, the child, and the committee and the members of tho newBoards would occupy a much more dignified position. Appointments. Education Boards to-day had no real powers in regard to the things that counted. They had no control over appointments, as all teachers were classified according to grading marks, which were allotted by the inspector, and appointments had to pe made strictlv in accordance with the grading list. The report proposed that there should b© one teachers' register for the whole of the teaching staffs, and that instead of the present system of grading, all teachers should ( be classified in three broad groups. The Committee considered that teachers should have a voice in the appointment of teachers, and it was proposed to set up a National Appointments Committee, consisting of an independent chairman, and representatives each *of the teachers and the Department, and all appointments would l>® entrusted to the committee in question. There was no doubt that the report represented a tremendous advance. It was an attempt to benefit all concerned, not excepting the taxpayer, who would get 20s of value for every £ spent, which he was not getting to-day. A great deal of opposition was coming from Boards through a misunderstanding of the proposals.