EDUCATION TRENDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 135, 8 May 1940, Page 2

EDUCATION TRENDS

THE VOCATIONAL ASPECT. TRAINING FOR LIFE. When the proficiency examination departed from the range of immediate objectives of the primary school children a great deal of room was left in which to embark upon a more elastic curricu.um which had necessarily been denied by the restricted scope of the test. Various schools have met the change in differing manner, but generally the trend has been in the direction of broadening the curriculum and heightening its "interest” factor so far as the children are concerned. For some time an interesting departure has been made at the Teachers’ Training College at Christchurch, attended by students from all parts of the Dominion, in laying stress upon the vocational aspect of education, emphasising its relation to everyday life, and in particular to the district in which the children live and the Dominion generally. During the present vacation about 150 trainees are pursuing "social surveys” in the districts in which they reside with the object of gleaning facts historical, geographical and geological of the countryside to utilise in future activity. In conversation with a “Manawatu Standard” representative,' a Palmerston North student teacher attending the college, Miss P. Hobbs, indicated the trend of the new methods. "Education is for life—not just trying to cram down academic facts. It is really life itself,” said Miss Hobbs, adding that the principal aim was to relate ithe child’s education to_ the community in which it lived. History was, in the first place, based upon the development of the district and province in which it was brought up. As the child passed through the various classes; so the scope grew, ultimately embracing the entire Dominion, the Empire, and the whole world. But the chief emphasis was placed oil- an assurance that, ear'y in its mental development, the child should assimilate the facts relating to the commencement and growth of its surroundings. Geography, it was intended, should be less and less an abstract subject. In contrast, when the weather in the summer terms allowed, classes were taken to various places in the locality and permitted to study their features. In a farming community invaluable information was gained relating to the different tyj>cs of farming carried onwhy certain crops were grown and, perhaps' why it might have been advisable years before not to have attempted to break : n certain land for, farming Miss Hobbs cited the instance of the Marshlands district at Christchurch, where onion growing is the principal industry. There the children —some, of them descendants of Dalmatians and Poles—studied the social reasons for undertaking this particular type of work, also the geological factors. Thus civics, arithmetic (computing costs and returns), geography, gardening and even history might all become subjects enhanced in value and interest because of their .practical application. THEIR OWN SCHOOL. Perhaps one or the most unique examples of the manner in which the application of instruction to life is experienced has arisen at Jacks Mill School, on the West Coast. There, in effect, the children—enthusiastically assisted by their parents and teachers—have made their’ own school. They - wrote the correspondence to the mills in • the district which supplied the timber, acknowledged in the same way gifts towards the project, made their own pictures, and even their own rugs (an achievement of the infant classes). In that small place, thanks to the exercise of initiative, the youngsters have accomplished something that may be unique in the world. In other schools the children have undertaken arrangements for trips, doing the correspondence themselves and heightening their interest in arithmetic by working out the cost of fares. Freshness is imparted to English lessons by permitting various pupils to tell the class of what they have seen on visits elsewhere, and, Miss Hobbs emphasised, not only apt pupils are entrusted with the task. Conlidenee, dependability and a heightened standard of general knowledge are secured by permitting as many as possible to undergo the experience. Iri Canterbury schools, in particular, the new trend in education has been accepted and encouraged with enthusiasm, partly as a result of the close proximity of the training college. But Miss Hobbs believes there is another factor —the readiness of the Cantabrians to adopt better methods of assimilating culture. “When the Canterbury Pilgrims arrived they did not bring ploughs, but pianos!” she observed, pointing.to the historic Provincial Chambers and the Cathedral as early examples of the province’s interest in things - cultural. To-day classes from infants who “play shops” and draw their own placards and compute their own measures to the highest standards successfully embrace the “education for life plan, teachers and children being most enthusiastic. At llangiora, especially, where the pupils have responded in striking manner to added responsibilities, it-has wrought remarkable results. It is the beTief of those most closely identified with the movement that it will achieve most desirable results in relating school life to the child’s ultimate role as a partner m the human family at work in the world.