KING EDWARD TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 70

KING EDWARD TECHNICAL COLLEGE

MONTHLY MEETING OF MANAGERS. A meeting of the King Edward Technical College Board of Managers was held on Tuesday afternoon, the chairman (Mr T. Scott) presiding over a full attendance of members. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT. In his monthly report the principal (MjW. G. Aldridge) stated that he had been absent on leave from April 23 to May 15, during the last week of which was occupied in attending the conference of the Technical School Teachers’ Association. During his absence the school was conducted wholly by the assistance of the senior teachers, to whom he was greatly indebted for the extra duties performed. The examinations for Hillside apprentices were conducted by Mr Hynes. Mr Benton, and Mr J. R. Macdougall. Mr Alexander and certain other teachers took his place for one or more half days weekly, while during the holidays Mr Hynes carried on the supervision of the work in Tennyson street, and Mr W. P. Macdougall with the assistance of some boys inserted a new panel in the main lighting switch board, as part of the scheme for bringing the electric lighting of the school up to date. Mr J. R. Macdougall, again with the ready assistance of a class of boys, took in hand the calcitnining of the walls of his workshop, a much-needed and highlysuccessful improvement. The Technical High School and evening classes closed on May 8, reopening on Monday May 25. It was impossible to say at the moment what had been the exact changes in the roll number, owing to the fact that Miss R. Hore, junior registrar had found it necessary to ask for extended sick leave.

On April 27 Mr J. H. Howell, director of the Wellington Technical College, gave notice of his resignation. It was generally recognised that Mr Howell’s influence on the development of technical education during the last 25 years had been outstanding. It was chiefly his conception of the technical high school, his insistence on the value of co-education, the fertility of his ideas, and the tremendous vigour of his personality which have led to every successful technical high school being based more or less upon the plan of his own. His services in Christchurch covered the period in which technical high schools were fighting for recognition, and his subsequent service in Wellington coincided with their tremendous rise in popularity. It seemed probable that the next 10 or 12 years would be very critical ones for technical education and the difficulties to come would be intensified by the absence of his leadership, his example, and his advice. A regrettable feature of Mr Howell’s retirement was the suspicion that his repeated breakdowns in health had been largely due to the fact that as principal of both his first and second schools he could not under the regulations be provided with sufficient skilled assistance.

In the newspapers of May 8 there appeared a statement referring to the policy to be followed by the Minister and his department in bringing about control of secondary and technical schools in each centre by one board. It was a little difficult to square this policy with the views so strongly expressed in the Atmore Report of 1930 in favour of control over the whole of education in one district by a single board, and the retention of a strong council for each separate school in the area. It might be nossible to reconcile these apparently contradictory policies, but for technical schools the one important question at the moment was whether the newer policy would not prove inimical to the best interests of technical education generally. While the policy was applied only to centres like New Plymouth, Napier, and Nelson, it might be expected to have on the whole a beneficial resul, but it appeared that the practice was to be extended throughout the 1 Dominion thus: “The aim will be to have technical and secondary schools in one big area, with probably one headmaster, and a senior assistant who will be director of the technical division.” The foregoing sentence made it plain that no workable scheme had been evolved for the larger centres, but the technical section of the Education- Department was to diminish. He understood that regulations dealing with the co-ordinated control of secondary and technical schools were on the point of being published in the New Zealand Gazette. The Minister had publicly asserted in strong terms his resolve that tech; nical work would not suffer by “ submergence,” but probably he did not always realise the strength of the opposition to the development of technical school work. It would be tragic if a Minister as resolute as the Hon. Mr Atmore was to have technical education play its due part in the community should, with the best intentions in the world, bring into force regulations which would actually check its natural development. Drainage to the upper area in Tennyson street had been completed, but practically nothing additional had been done. It had been hoped that the upper area might have been asphalted before the end of this month. The engineer recommended the first payment of £4O to the drainer. The gallery to store unfinished woodwork had been completed at a total cost of about £44—a little over the estimate. No further construction work of the kind was proposed at the moment. The appointment of a physical instructor for boys, as well as one for the girls, at once raised the question of gymnastic equipment. It seemed that the majority of the apparatus could be made in the school, and he suggested that the board grant the sum of £5O for providing apparatus, on the understanding that as much as possible was to be manufactured in the school. The appointment of these two-part time teachers also led to the suggestion that a system like that employed in Auckland should be inaugurated for, the medical inspection of pupils. It 'seemed certain that no regular assistance could be ob-, tained from the Government in this connection. The alternative was for the board itself to undertake the work. In

Auckland the services of a young medical man were called upon for two hours in the week. He attended to cases recommended to his care by the teachers of physical drill, who were also responsible for letters sent home as a result of doctor’s interviews. Nothing beyond' examination and advice was provided for, but the system, besides being of undoubted value seemed to be working well.. He would be glad of authority to incur a limited expense in this connection. The report was adopted, the suggestion that medical attention be provided at physical drill classes to be left to the principal to make such arrangements as he thought fit.