INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS

Evening Star, Issue 23686, 20 September 1940, Page 5

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS

METHODS AT DUHEDIH NORTH ADDRESS BY MR 0. H. E. YATES The purposes of intermediate schools were outlined in an address given by the principal of the Dunedin North Intermediate School (Mr O. H. E. Yates) at the quarterly meeting of the School Committees’ Association of Otago held last night, his remarks being followed closely by a large gathering. The objective of education in the modern schools, said Mr Yates, was the production of good and responsible citizens. The success of the first intermediate school opened in Auckland in 1922 led to the establishment of others throughout the Dominion. The Dunedin North School was opened in 1934. There were no. restrictions of entry into the intermediate schools, which were intended to bridge the gap between the education given in the primary school and that of the technical college or high school. The independent type of intermediate school obtained in_ the large centres, and the speaker said he had been informed by the Minister of Education (Hon. H. G. R. Mason) that that was to be the type. in all the centres of similar size.

When pupils came to his school from the primary schools, said Mr Yates, confidential reports were received from the head masters of the schools from which the boys and girls were coming. This gave an indication of their aptitudes and ability, and they were tjien

put through their initial tests. There were two aspects to the curriculum; should the pupil be taught a wide range, rich in subject matter, or should he receive a specialised training? The former was the system adopted at the speaker’s school, as he held that a child of 11 to 14 was too young to specialise. In his school, however, a number of new subjects had been gradually introduced. The system in the Dunedin North School was to discover whether a hoy or girl would be best suited in his or her after life if they attended a high school or a technical college. Advice was often given to a parent regarding what school he should choose for his child after he left the intermediate.

Each teacher at the Dunedin North School, said Mr Yates, specialised in some line or another, and he showed examples of the work of the pupils in art, needlework, dressmaking, knitting, and so on. They had a large number of clubs at the school, and some of them were so popular that membership had to be limited owing to a lack of accommodation.

“ Vocational guidance is, I consider, the greatest problem of our schools today,” the speaker said, “ and whether it is primary, intermediate, or secondary, this question is one which must be given far more attention than it is receiving at the present moment.” It was a great problem for a parent to decide on the choice of occupation for his child. This problem was one of the most important of the intermediate schools’ duties.

On leaving school the interest of the child must come first. If the old school tie was to be placed before a child’s interests they could look for only disaster. Because father went, say, to Christ’s College, there was no reason why his child should go there too. That idea had to be discarded. He thought that

the time was coming when a vocational officer would have to be appointed to work in all the primary and intermediate schools. By the time the secondary school had been entered the irrevocable step had been taken for the child. If he went to a technical college his chance for a profession was small. If ho went to a boys’ high school his chance of becoming a tradesman was usually lost. The speaker gave details of other activities of the Dunedin North Intermediate School. At the end of his address Air Yates was given a hearty vote of thanks. ■