THE ATMORE REPORT

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1930, Page 2

THE ATMORE REPORT

A COMMENTARY. (By A. E. S. in the Otago Times.') At no period in the history of education in New Zealand lias it been proposed that .such widespread changes should be taken at one stride. The recommendations oi the Select Parliamentary Committee cut deep into the existing system of education in all directions, and it behoves all who are interested - in ■■• education to examine carefully the proposals and ento form a 1 sound judgment as to what; will , be, the ultimate result of sucli; important : changes.-. ; The report has been' well received' in all parts of, the' Dominion. Many will not be prepared to agree with it in its entirety; but all should recognise the boldness with which the various problems have been grappled and the interesting solutions that are put iorward.. It is a monumental effort to effect unification and to get better value for the money spent on education.

Recommendation I—“ That1 —“That the termination of the primary school course he at 1.1 plus or after passing Standard fins ;been generally conceded since the issue of the Hadovv report, and the Tate report. It is the method of carrying out this proposal ns suggested in reconunendat'op 3 that causes a division of opinion. Recommendation 2 is*-“That the age to which the education of a child is required, by .law bo raised from .14 to 15 yeans; with 1 provision ' for exemption in cases of hardship,” Statutory power for this reform was containedv in > the , Education Amendment Act of; ; 1920, but sq far has not been made Use of. It"is considered' fitting that this change should now be made as a part of the general reorganisation scheme. In this we are moving in the same direction as Britain. The English (Editcation Bill of 1930, at present before the House of Commons, provides for raising the compulsory school age to 15. In New Zealand there seems to be no serious opposition to the move.

Redommendation 3 is—“ That intermediate clfifsess should • form . part of ;the ed'uiqationj system, ' and that the types of school : or classes suggested by Mr Garrard-be recommended to the Gdvbrnmeht“as' .a basis.’’ Each section of; the teaching service—primary, secondary, and technical—has different ideas .as to the most suitable kind|of intermediate school. This recommendation would, therefore, be morb acceptable if all the words after “system” : were 'struck out. The Select Committee; favours the establishment or. separate intermediate schools of the Kowhai type for large centres.i;/The English Consultative Committee recommended and preferred 'the establishment of separate intermediate ; schools in England, and in the United States this type of school has had. la phenomenal growth; nevertheless," it hae been conceded that junior ’eiihbolsddiaye been eminently successful, ’ and in the Hadovv Report we find' unstinted praise for the junior technical school, The Atmore Report ■is barren in that re/spect, It proposes to reduce the inflow of junior to the secondary schools by .diverting them to intermediate schools, and it gives no definite constructive ideap as to the future of the senior technical school, in the way of strengthening it and making good the loss of pupils. Mr W. A. Armour, of Wellington College, jn giving evidence before the committee went so far as to urge that technical high schools should he abolished. Would not he shatter them to bits and remould them nearer to his heart’s desire as composite schools, with, of course, the academic side uppermost?' This is not the attitude in Victoria. When, in November, 1927, Mr Prank Tate arrived back from the Imperial Education Conference, bis first statement to the press was: “The most important questions of the conference were those of education in relation to the career and post-primary and vocational training we found in the junior technical schools, Australia had already done what was being proposed at the conference. Where Australia fell short •was in' the smallness of its field of activities.--. There were not enough of these schools! • There were too few highly trained teachers who were familiar .with the field of technical labour arid % education. There was a shortage of money.”

Mr E. P.' Eltham, inspector of technical schools of Victoria, in a paper read before the. School Inspectors’ Conference at Hobart in 1926, said: “Jit might in the first place be considered that our junior technical schools m n«t be expensive institutions to provide the necessary staff and equipment for teaching the range of practical subjects outlined, hut it must be remembered that this is only made possible by the policy followed in Victoria of associating all junior technical schools with senior technical schools.”

After explaining the several advantages of this arrangement, Mr Eltham goes on to say: “In all, 25 junior technical schools. are in existence in Victoria at the present time, each of which is very closely associated with a senior technical school; in fact, the junior technical school constitutes a department (and a very important department) of each senior technical school. The junior technical school is virtually a ‘trying out’ place where the pupil may discover in a limited jtime with the assistance of his te&cli-

era his aptitudes for various industrial or other callings.

The Atmore report states that “the essence of the junior high school system is its exploratory character,” and it attempts to ishow that this exploratory work cannot be carried out so efficiently’ if the junior high school is attached to a senior school. Against that charge can be placed the records of Rotorua, Whangarei. Matamata, and Waitaki, all of these are successful schools, and each on< is attached to a senior school.

Moreover, quite a good case can In made out in favour of having intermediate classes as “fops” to primary ■schools. There would l>e only onebreak then instead of two as is proposed. It seems highly improbable that Parliament will sanction an extensive programme of separate inter mediate schools, when highly-equippoe schools already exist to which junio. schools can be attached. Mor© ini or matiorr in required as to the financier cost of the scheme.

In dealing with the historiea’ foundation of the technical day schools, the report states-‘Thus was laid the foundation of the full-time modern technical high schools, which constitute one of the most satisfactory features of the New Zealand system to-day.” But, what of to-morrow, if the sources from which the technical schools obtain their junior pupils are to be exploited by separate intermediate schools?

Recommendations 4 to 11 should be satisfying to most people except those interested parties who expect to suffer loss of power. 1 Eighteen district education boards will take the place of the nine existing primary education boards and 45 other local authorities, In this respect ■ unification was long overdue. Mr A. E, Lawrence describes it as a * deadly blow at local control” Well, that re* mains to be proved. Not everyone shares his pessimistic views on tl 4 e matter.

In respect of recommendation 12, teachers will surely resist tire clause dealing with compulsory transfer. No good reasons have been given for its inclusion, and it justifies the statement that the shadow of the hand of the department hangs heavily over the report.

On the whole, the report should be accepted as a valuable contribution towards the betterment: of our educational system and a' praiseworthy attempt to keep New Zealand in the van of progress.