SCHOOL SYLLABUS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 282, 25 August 1919, Page 6

SCHOOL SYLLABUS

■ AMENDMENTS PROPOSED REARRANGING PRIMARY SCHOOL WOIIK A statement regarding the revision of tho primary school syllabus was made on Saturday by the Hon, J. A. Hamui, retiring Minister for Education. The amendments drafted by Mr. Hasan's officers were considered recently by a conference of - teachers and inspectors, and tho draft syllabus has now been printed. "In tho revision of the syllabus," said Mr. Hanan, "the main purpose has been to set out.tho regulations and the.course of instruction in a simpler and moro definite manner, so that young or inexperienced teachers will be able to follow it with. greater ease. The actual '.oiltents of the oouroo-of instruction ~ve not hten altered to any great extent, though some improvements havo been made. The course in English has been considerably improved, special emphasis beiijg laid on silont reading, on training in the independent use of 'books for the purposes of recreation and study, and particularly on oral English, with tho object of securing correctness, purity, and facility of speech. The course in spelling and dictation has been considerably simplified to meet the limited vocabulary of school children. The course in arithmetic has been considerably shortened and simplified, chiefly by the omisaion of rules and types of examples that have merely a conventional or pedantic interest. A considerable amount of the Arithmetic formerly dono in primary schools has little or no relation to ordinary life, or to business, and frequently dcais with examples 'which never require tuba worked outside of a schoolroom.

"A more even distribution of work amongst ihe standards has nfso ten made. Increased attention is to -be given to instruction in home science, homo nursing, first-aid, hygiene, temperance, history, and civics. The numerous explanations and suggestions formerly incorporated with tho syllabus have been removed to appendices; and, together witih a large number of additional suggestions, hftve been set out in a consecutive and comprehensive manner. Thus, there is'an appendix, relating to each of the subjects, 'such as' speech-training, reading, composition, arithmetic, history, geography, home science, etc. It is hoped that the matter dealt with in tho appendices will be of considerablp' assistance, particularly to the less experienced teacher?, in framing their schemes of work and in pfenning their methods of teaching. • Several speoimen schemes of work, in- subjects such as history and geography, are ihaludod in tho appendices, and these will be supplemented by others in tho .Education Department Gazette, which will shortly be-'published monthly and..circulated amongst the teachers of New Zealand." Mr. Hanan mentioned that the' revised svllabus, which would havo to bo considered now by his successor in office, would not come into operation in any case until tho end of the year. It embodied some of tho results of his own observation of the weak points of tho syllabus now in use in tho schools.