EDUCATION

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1930, Page 3

EDUCATION

REPORT OF COMMISSION,

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS

(By Telegrapto—Per Presß Association.)

WELLINGTON, July 15,

Tile rejiort of the Education Committee of the House on the reorganisation of the educational system in New Zealand was presented by the Minister of Education, Mr Atmore, m the House of Representatives this afternoon. The report is a voluminous document of sixty foolscap printed pages, and it has been compiled as the result of exhaustive evidence taken throughout the Dominion, and after lengthy deliberative sittings of the committee.

The recommendations are unanimous, and are of great importance, as they involve sweeping changes in the present system of education. Tlio report is largely on the lines oi jtlie opinions which have so freely been expressed by the Minister of Education during the last eighteen months. The recommendations are as follows: That- the termination of the Primary School course be at II plus, or after passing Standard IV.

That the age to which the education of the child is required by law lieraised from 14 years to 15 years, with a provision for exemption in cases of hardship. •■ That Intermediate Glasses should form part of the education system, and that types of schools, or classes, as suggested by .Mr Garrard, be >ecommended to the Government as the basis.

The committee recommends the further consolidation of schools and ’oi classes, where practicable, so as io ensure adequate education, particularly for children in rural districts. The Committee is of opinion that the Scholarship system is no longer necessary as a means of providing free education beyond the primary stage, and recommends that the funds now applied to the provision or National and University Entrance Scholarships be utilised for the pur : pose of providing for the maintenance of bursaries'".to assist deserving pupils to continue their education to higher stages; the awards to be based, not upon ■ competitive examinations, but upon the consideration ot the individual crises recommended by „« senior or superintendent of each education district. It is also retohiniended that, in view of the great importance to the Dominion of ouf'/pfimary industries, the curricula of all our schools must include, adequate 'practical instruction in agriculture and • allied subjects.

The Committee is of the opinion that unification of the control of the existing'.'primary, secondary and technical education in Ne.W /Zealand is do-' sirable; that the' existing post-prim-ary School Boards be continued as aciiooi councils for their respective schools, except that, where a single hoard has controlled more than one school, a separate School Council snail be set up lor each school. It is recommended that' the present divisions of the Inspectorate be abolished, and that a single Inspectorate oe organised, consisting of specialist inspectors; the Inspectoral staff within each Board i|istrict to inspect ail grades and types, of schools within mat district, and to include one woman inspector.

it is recommended that the powers and duties of the National- Department under the 'proposed scheme oi reorganisation shall include the control of:—(I.) Administrative: (a) Native Schools; (b) the Child Wclfaie Branch; (c) the distribution of capitation allowances, special grants ana subsidies; (d) payment of teachers; (e) teachers’ superannuation fund; (f) power to make, regulations (1) requiring the Boards to share services and officers where, in. the Minister’s opinion such a course is desirable in the interests of efficiency or economy, and (2) to ensure that earmarked grants are applied to authorised purposes only;.. (g) ..the appointment oi nominated members of boards. (II) Professional: (h) the syllabus of instruction; (i) school certificates; (j) inspection of schools; (k) classification of teahers; (1) the appointment of teachers. It is recommended that the allowances paid to school committees should be increased and adjusted so as to provide adequate funds to meet essential requirements, and that subsidies oil moneys raised locally for school purposes should be on a generous basis. The report says .that there should he only one Teachers’ Register for the whole teaching service; that a new salary, scale should be prepared covering the. whole education service, with a view to the elimination of anomalies at present existing as between the primary v secondary and technical services and between men and women teachers, "and that this scale should be. based upon the principle of payment of the teacher, instead of payment of the position, together with a recognition of family responsibilities. It also says that the system of numerical grading hitherto in use in the primary service should be abolished in, favour of classification by the Inspectors in broad groups based upon teaching efficiency. It is proposed that the appointment of the teachers should bo entusted to a National Apppointments Committee, constituted in a manner similar to the present Teachers’

Grading Appeal Board, the system of appointment to include provision for Cl) preparation of a. teachers’ classified roll; (2) preparation of an annual promotion list within each classified group, based upon inspectors’ reports, copies of whiclfshould be supplied to the teachers 1 ; (3) the' National Appointment Committee should also, have the power to transfer, reasonable removal' expenses to be paid in cases of. compulsory transfer; (4) all appointments to be made in the same month of the year, with consequential appointments in the month following, the vacancies-then remaining to. be filled by transfer, and' a sufficient permanent: relieving staff'to be maintained to fill casual vacancies until the next period of. appointment; (5) the right, of appeal to a Teachers’. Court of. Appeal, againstfa) non-inclusion in the. promotion list, (b) suspension, dismissal, reduction of salary, non-appointment, or transfer to a lower-paid appointment.