EDUCATION SYSTEM

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3924, 28 March 1929, Page 4

EDUCATION SYSTEM

EXPECTED REORGANISATION

THREE CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.

For in'any 'months mudli public discussion has centred round the , need for a roorganisation of the education system. The probable form that the reorganisation may take has been the subject of anxious speculation. The executive of the .New Zealand Educational Institute, inj 'view of the probability that it will not be long 'before an official announcement is made, takes the present opportunity of putting before the public the main principles that should be observed if ,a system is to be developed that is at once in keeping with modern thought on the educational process 1 and worthy of the nation in which it is to be applied. By way of brief historical introduction, it may be pointed out that our education system in the beginning was ,a primary school system only, administered by education boards' in the various districts, stales Mr. H. A. Parkinson, secretary of the institute. As the needs of the Country grew, secondary schools, and, later, technical schools were established, not administered by the education boards, but by separate governing bodies of their own. These schools were thus 'added to the system, but not incorporated into it; and it is this fact more than to any other that the criticisms and complaints against Ithe faults of education in New Zealand have been due. In fact, there has not been a single system of education in New Zealand, but three systems, each a separate compartment, ignoring if not actually ignorant of ,what is going on in the other compartments. Many colulmns could be filled with descriptions of the evils arising from this division into compartments of what should be a united ■whole. UNITY. The executive of the institute, therefoi'e, would lay it down as the first principle to be observed in reform of the system that there should be unity. It has been the custom to speak of the various stages of education, the secondary stage, the technical stage, the university stage. In actual fact there are no such stages. Education is a continuous process, and the education system, should be so constructed as to recognise and apply that fact. The break that is heard so much of between the primary and secondary schools is not ,a natural break inherent in the qualities of .children, but an unnatural one forced oh them by the lack of unity in the

education system. There should be no greater break for the pupil in passing fro/m the primary to the post-primary school than in passing frolm the second standard to the third in the same school. The loss of ability that the nation suffers through the disjointedness of the existing system is beyond calculation.’ The first thing, then, that the institute looks for, in any scheme of reform is unity—not uniformity—but unity of organisation. CONTINUITY. The reason why the institute asks lor .unity of organisation is that by that means alone can the greatest need of an education system be met —'the need for an orderly continuous progress of the pupil from the infant school to the end of the school course —whether that be at a high school, trade school, or university. In every enlightened country to-day effort is being made to get rid of the artificial and false distinction between prijmary and secondary (or technical) education. It is customary to talk ,of the break at the eleventh or twelfth year. There is no such break in the pupil’s growth, and there should be noiie in his school course. Said Dr. Ballard recently: “There is no universal change or phychical crisis at eleven yeans of age.” The second principle, then, that the institute hopes to see embodied in the reform of the system is the possibility of a single continuous course tor curriculum that will allow, the pupil to proceed .without any break at all through the whole ( of the school career. That does not mean that all pupils are to follow the. same course —far from it. If modern educational science has anything to teach it is that there is infinite diversity among pupils and the easense of educational .administration is that it should provide ip as large measure as possible for parallel courses along which 1 differing qualities and aptitudes may be developed and utilised. In this way, by this

provision of parallel ■courses, pupils of literary bent will be able to follow their bent, pupils of what is I called the motor type will devote themselves more to the hand-work course, scientific leanings will find scope in the laboratory ,and the budding farmer in the agricultural course, and* so for the commercial [course, and, by no means of least importance, the home science course. That is what is implied hi tile phrase continuity of progress ) and by thalt means the breaks that have done sucli mischief in the past and are doing it now will be avoided. Ho!w is this to be brought about 1 There is probably only one 'way. 'Certainly, the most obvious way is by a co-ordination of control.

C O - OiiDIN ATION. To give effect to the'principles of unity of progress and continuity of curriculum, there must be a breaking down of the barriers that separate 'the so-called primary schools from the so-called secondary and

technical schools. In each district, instead of three separate. governing bodies dealing with only a part of the work, there should be a single authority. In real fact there is only one work to do, and one body could do it much better than three. It is ■inherent in the nature of the work to be done that it is only one body that can do it to advantage, and not three. Given a single controlling authority in any area, it Would be possible to so aixange the work tha't the facilities available could be used .to best advantage of the pupils. A hoy of mechanical tendency need not then be compelled to ■pass his time in the uncongenial atmosphere of the gramJmar school, nor Would a girl with a leaning towards science be confined to the commercial school. .The parallol courses under co-ordinated control ■would give 'opportunity for changing from course to course as abilities and temperament and desires began to declare themselves. A single authority would be able to take a comprehensive survey of the whole of the area under its control, ■and arrive at the best means ot using the facilities available and estimate the need for development in one direction or another. It is not ( a matter of calling pupils primary pupils till they are eleven years old and then calling them ■something else. It is a matter of providing for all pupils such opportunities of finding and developing their real powers, their natural endowment of intellectual, moral, and s'oeial qualities, as will enable them to make the best of themselves for the community, .and not, as iis so often the case under existing conditions, the second best, the third ibest, and even the “nth” best. Such a sohdme means, of course, the welding .into a single body of the three existing .forms of governing bodies. No apology need be made for that. The old tripartite system has had its day, and lias done its work. It is not suited for, and it is not capable 'of doing, the work that lias to be done in the administration of a system that will be worthy of the name of an. education system as distinct from a schooling system. A single authority is needed to survey the whole field and direct the work within it. Such a body must have definite responsibilities and the corresponding powers. Modern education imakes ian ever-increasing appeal 'to the hearts and minds of the people, and the system that is going to adequately recognise that fact must give scope for and opportunity to make use of all the thoughts and feelings and endeavours that are summed up in the term local interest. Local knowledge, local enthusiasm, local pride, offer' a wealth of support .and assistance that no wisely-designed system will neglect. In what has been here set down the executive '.of the institute has confined itself to what it regards as three cardinal principles that govern the situation. Matters of detail have been avoided. They can be dealt with as occasion demands, and the only probable effect that would follow their introduction here would be to confuse the issue. At the proper time the institute will be ready with replies to any questions that may arise on particular points.