Intermediate Schools

Press, Volume C, Issue 29505, 5 May 1961, Page 19

Intermediate Schools

It would be a great mistake to absorb the intermediate school system into the secondary one. Professor R Winterbourne, professor of education at Auckland University. submitted to the commission. He would like to see a third year added to the intermediate schools, Professor Winterbourne said. Children of 10, 11 and 12 were still essentially "little children," with outlooks and needs very different from those of secondary-school pupils. “I believe that the atmosphere of the intermediate school, or the top of the primary school, is better for children of this age than that of the usual secondary school,” said Professor Winterbourne. The system of educational and vocational guidance had served a useful purpose, but a stage had now been reached

where considerable modifications were required, he said. The general idea of centres staffed with specialists, together with a system of counselling and other guidance activities in the schools, was a sound one, and was in line with the best overseas practice. The trend there was toward much more guidance work within the schools, and less in central offices.