AN EDUCATION DEGREE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 54, 1 September 1926, Page 10

AN EDUCATION DEGREE

(To the Editor.)

Sir—ln the House on Wednesday last Mr. Eraser asked the Minister of Education if he considered the advisability of including the B.Ed, degree among those which the University ot New Zealand be empowered to confer. The Minister replied that it was not advisable; that honours could be taken in education, and that there was the diploma; also that the arts course covered the proposed B.Ed, course. It is unfortunate that the Minister could not see his way to include the B.Ed, degree in the Bill. It is very necessary that he should do so, for the sake ot raising the status of the teachers' examinations, the teaching profession, and to make a plain, straight course for teachers to follow m their examinations. The degree in education would have the weight of the University of New Zealand behind it, and would carry weight beyond New Zealand. The weight of the teachers' examinations, beyond New Zealand, are almost negligible. The degree would place the teachers' examinations on a level with those in law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, and even commerce. ' At present students and teachers study for two examinations at the same time, the teachers' examination and their degree. This leads to a great deal of trouble and worry, and between the two of them they waste time and often do neither properly. When the law student and medicine students have their LL.B. and M,B. respectively, they are finished; they do not have to pass another examination before they are registered practitioners; but the student teacher must. He could have his M.A. and D.Sc. and still be at! uncertifieated teacher. He could have all the degrees and all the diplomas in the Umvercity calendar, including the diploma of education, and still be uncertificated. Every year in' every training college in New Zealand there is a great deal of heart burning among-students, because the principal wants them to study for their teachers' examination, and they want to pursue their degree course, a course that is worth while, because it carries with it a'degree that is necessary in the secondary and technical schools. All this could be obviated by the B.Ed, degree, including all the compulsory subjects for the teachers examination. So the arts course does not by any means cover the proposed B.Ed, course, as said by the Minister. The Minister also said that the B.Jid. degree was not advisable because honours can be taken in education. Education is only one out of about a dozen subjects compulsory for the teachers' examination. Latin is compulsory for the LL.B., and ami if a law student, took Latin for his B.A. there is no necessity for a law degree. Physiology may be taken for the B Sc. degree, and if a medical student took his B.Sc. degree, including physiology, there is no necessity for a. medical degree; and because a teacher may take education for his arts degree therefore there is no necessity for a degree in education. This is queer reasoning for a Department of Education. A B.Ed, degree would carry as much weight in the teaching profession as the bachelor of medicine degree does in the medical profession. The arts course is not the most suitable course for teachers, because it may include every subject except the one required for their work in the schools. This is why it is discounted so much by primary school teachers. We need a degree that includes every compulsory subject for. a teacher, and a degree that does not require another examination to be passed before one can" be a certificated teacher. Then there is the diploma. What use is it? It won t give you a certificate. You still have the teachers' examination to pass. A diploma is not a degree, and at the present both m New Zealand and outside of it degrees count much and diplomas little. The recommendation of the University Commission should be carried out; the Training College should form part of the University in the same way as the engineering, dental, or medical school; and thus each be engaged in preparing students for its own respective degree. The request for a degree in education has been a hardy annual at teachers' conferences. There seem to be two bodies against the request. The Education Department wantß to control its own examination for teachers. The Health Department does not control the examination for medical students; the University does; but even so, power could be given it, or to the teaching profession, in the same way as to the Law Society in regard to law examinations. It pays to have members of your own profession in Parliament. The other body against the degree may be the professors in the colleges, because if the teachers followed their own degree there would be fewer students in the arts and science courses.' The granting of a degree in education would raise the value of teachers' examinations, and place them there on a level with those mother professions; it would raise the status of teacherß, and it would lead to thorough study of the subjects required in the schools. It therefore' behoves the Upper House to include the degree in the Bill.— I am, etc., P. M. JACKSON, President N.Z. Primary Schools Assistant Masters' Association, Wellington Branch. 31st August.