EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 2, 3 January 1901, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

THE PRESIDENT CONDEMNS SYSTEM OF STANDARD PASSES. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS. [by TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, this day. The eighteenth annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute opened this morning, Mr w. J.. Grundy, of Wellington, the president, in the chair. The Mayor of Wellington delivered a hearty speech of welcome. The president in his opening address confined himself to two points (1) The working of the new regulations for examination of schools, and (2) the proposed colonial scale of stalls and salaries. As to the former, lie pointed out that though the teachers now had freedom of classification the standard pass was still retained, to the detriment of real education. He suggested the excision of the provision for a standard pass, and the substitution of a special examination for a “ heaving certificate, wbat might be called the “ honor certificate. As to a colonial scale, he deprecated the cry of some hoards that the Institute wanted control of the teachers taken out of their hands and vested in a central department. The only change desired was classification of the schools of the colony, in that the staffing of schools and payment of teachers should be according to a definite colonial scale, and to make the system truly national. He earnestly appealed to boards to take a generous view of the position,

At the Educational Conference a discussion took place on the subject of training teachers. A motion on the subject from Otago and Marlborough Institutes appeared on the agenda paper, urging the necessity of making more adequate provision for the training of teachers, One of the speakers saiil he thought it unfair that Otago and Canterbury, which had the only two training colleges in the colony, should bear the cost of training teachers’for the whole of the colony. A motion was moved that the Government should undertake the training of teachers for the whole colony. The mover urged that there should be one training college for the whole colony, and thought that Wellington would be the most suitable centre. Another speaker urged that a training college and chair of pedagogy, which it was proposed to establish in connection with tho Victoria College, would fit in well together, lie pointed out that the Government had appointed dairy and poultry experts, and asked why should it not appoint teaching experts to go into the back blocks and instruct the. teachers there how to teach. An amendment to the motion was moved, to tho effect that tho whole cost bo paid by the department, and no part conic out of the teachers’ salaries. The motion was carried. The following resolutions were also agreed to;—“That tho following changes be made in tho methods of examination for teachers’ certificates— (n) That code words or numbers ho adopted instead of names of candidates; (b) that the names of examiners be placed at tho heads of papers set; (c) that the spelling lists supplied to the supervisors for dictation to candidates should show pronunciation and meaning of each word for tho information of supervisors and candidates.” . A remit from the Southland Institute was amended and passed in the following form: “ That the Minister of Education he asked to introduce a School Attendance Dill to raise the school agu to fourteen years and to make attendance compulsory, tho liniit.pt distance being three miles for those over nine years of ago, and two miles for those between seven and nine years.”

At tho instance of the North Canterbury Institute it was resolved that the attention of the Minister of Education be called to the inadequacy of the provisions for enforcing tho School Attendance Act, and to the desirability of placing tho duty of such enforcement in the hands of the police; and it was further resolved that between tho ages of seven and fourteen years every child should bo required to attend school for not less than three-fourths of the number of times that the school was open each week. Tho report of tho treasurer showed that the legal defence fund had been raised to £438.