CHILD EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 36, 11 August 1936, Page 7

CHILD EDUCATION

INTERMEDIATE WORK

ADDRESS BY DIRECTOR

CONSOLIDATION SYSTEMS

The extensive work that is now being carried on to meet the varied needs of. different types of children in educational spheres was surveyed by the Director of Education (Mr. N. T. Lambourne) in an address last evening to the Wellington School Committees and Educational Federation. He referred particularly to the intermediate schools, which aimed, he said, at giving an opportunity to every pupil to undertake the course of work best suited to his capacity and inclinations. Another important aspect covered by Mr. Lambourne was the, consolidation of small country schools so that children in rural districts could enjoy facilities equal ' with those in the towns. : Mr. Lambourne said the matter of reorganising education was causing deep thought not only in Englishspeaking countries but beyond. When educationists and psychologists first began to study the child in his own environment they found that he was living in a world apart—^a world largely make-believe. With that knowledge they scrutinised curricula to find out how far they conformed with the changed outlook towards the child. As far back as 25 years ago the London County Council decided to terminate primary education at 11 years of age. That lead was followed by other centres, and early in the century the United States started the junior high schools. Mr. Lambourne traced the rapid development of education for children. In Scotland, he said, the primary course ended at 12 years of age, and in England, the United States, Canada, some Australian States, and in Denmark and other European countries at eleven. GROWTH IN DOMINION. The desirability of ending the primary course at eleven and transferring the pupils to another .system of education was beyond argument; educationists and psychologists agreed upon it. In 1922 the first junior high school was started in New Zealand—in the Auckland district—and today there were five intermediate schools and eleven intermediate departments. The regulations governing intermediate schools were discussed in detail by the director. Citing Wellington as an example, he said there were probably twenty schools in the area, and it 'would not be possible to provide the equipment that was necessary and desirable, but he hoped to see every intermediate school and intermediate department provided with the facilities he saw in .'. the central and senior schools at Home. The intermediate school was /• a trying-out or exploratory, school in which the bent of the child was determined, and, he thought that at the,end of two years an intermediate 'school teacher could judge what course a child should follow,in the; 'future; ;,; . ' . . "1 think the intermediate school will, in the, great majority of cases, be able to ■ determine the post-primary; course a pupil should follow, and lessen very considerably • the number of pupils who get into the wrong type of school; who get into a secondary school and start on a secondary course, and find after a few months that it is distastefur to th~em, whereas the same* pupils 1, if they had gone into a technical school, might have found—probably would: have found— a course that was totheir liking and in which they could have: made-sound.progress," said Mrv Lambourhe. .'"■/'' ■■■■' ; . :-:'. eONSOUDATION OF SCHOOLS. 'The consolidation "of schools, said. Mrv Bambourne, was intimately. 'connected with: the reorganisation of school systems. When he was in England he saw; many instances of where schools had been consolidated to give a larger school greater facilities. Since 1926 more than half the schools in England and' Wales.had been reorganised... The rural county of East Suffolk wasi supposed to have solved the problem of rural-reorganisation. The county was fairly .flat and not. very wet, arid; good roadsi.made .distances short. Children were givfeh an allowance for the prevision of bicycles, capes, and leggings, and. there .was also, a scheme under which parents could buy the machines; Ih New Zealand a good deal of consolidation had taken place. The small school in.the past was necessary, and was still necessary in '> a number of districts, but in the past it was necessary because the roads were often hot gobdj transport was difficult, horses drawn vehicles were not generally suit-i able for the conveyance of children even if therbads were satisfactory, and the number of children seeking post-primary-education was very small compared with today. The small school had served a very useful purpose in the past iri the Dominion, . but reorganisation had been going on gradually, until today there were more than eighty systems, some of them very large, under which a large number of children were being conveyed to a central school. Among the advantages of having consolidated schools were that a large school could classify its pupils into more convenient groups with a teacher in charge; facilities not possible in a small school could be enjoyed; if necessary a post-primary department could be established, and in a number of cases that had been done; better dental and medical treatment could be provided; and the knowledge that education in the country was as good as in the town would increase the attractiveness of country life.