Lecture on the New Syllabus.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42791, 14 October 1905, Page 2

Lecture on the New Syllabus.

Last evening, in the Te Aroha school, Mr Mulgan, M.A., Inspector of Schools, gave a lecture on the working of the New Syllabus for schools. Mr Mulgan was at the Education Conference, and was also instrumental in getting it into shape. He had. discussed with and heard many on the sub j ect. The New Syllabus was an honest attempt on I the part of the. legislators, to put education in the colony on a sounder footing. It was misleading to talk about the good old times-in „ connection with education. What was good twenty-five years ago was no longer good now. If we do not progress with advancing times, things will not go well with us. Mr Mulgan said he was not reflecting on the work of the past, for much useful work has been done. An article, written fifty years ago that he had read, shows how even at that time it was being urged that more importance should be attached to methods of application rather than to the knowledge to be acquired. It was only lately that a change had been made in Eng • land in this respect. Germany had also made changes, but it was to be hoped that we should not follow them too closely, for each country must evolve a system suited to its own conditions and circumstances. The whole trend of modem education thought, said Mr Mulgan, is towards the banishing of examinations.' It was recognised that the teacher, who saw the children day by day, was the proper person to determine how far a child was profiting by its work. Examinations will in time become a thing of the past. The New Syllabus provides that the teacher shall hold periodic examinations and keep a careful record of questions and the answers given to them. Mr Mulgan showed how a tabular record of, the results could be kept, in a way that would show the progress of any given scholar in all sub’ects for a number of years, on a single page of a special book. According to the New Syllabus a child could only be moved into a lower class at a period not less than three months before the annual visit of the Inspector. Mr Mulgan said he was daily becoming more Iconvmced of the necessity that' pupils should have a proper attitude towards the work that was going on, and that they should have a wish to co-operate with the teacher, and until this is brought about, no school could be considered to be in an eflieient state.

No child can enter a secondary school until he can show a fifth standard certificate. The Department provides a secondary education for those who have passed through the primary schools, but cannot be expected to give secondary education in the primary schools. A candidate for a certificate of efficiency need not necessarily have attended a primary school, but have been taught at home or elsewhere. There was not much difference in the reading under the New Syllabus. There must be one literary reader in a class, the other may be geographical or historical. The examinations this year would be very like those under the old regime, but Mr Mulgan thought that as years rolled on there would bo a good difference in the way that examinations are conducted. The main object of reading in schools is not to produce elocutionists, but to obtain a clear understanding of the subject read about, and he thought a deal more might be done in our schools towards creating in scholars a greater desire to know more about English literature after they left school.

In composition, work done in one standard should lead up to that taken in the standards above. Nothing was directly stated in the Syllabus in connection with the teaohing of grammar, but Mr Mulgan pointed out how this subject could be systematically taught. Inmost books dealing with the subject of composition, little attention was given to the evolution of thought, this, however, was a most important item, which should be followed by the pupils being taught to arrange their thoughts, and then to find \yords in which to clothe them. The Syllabus discountenances the use pf technical term®, but M r Mulgaq thought they shquld not be left out, as they were a great help in teaching. In arithmetic there was a great change, especiaily in the lower classes, where they dealt first with very small numbers, and got the children thoroughly used to the evolution of simple problems with these. He recommended giving short lessons at more frequent intervals, as children found great difficulty in concentrating their attention on arithmetic for any length of time. Children are expected to learn by using their powers of observation to gain information at)o4t things and the powers of nature around tijeiri" Here is splehdicj place for thenj' to study the wqrk of rivers, and icliil ■ dren should be encouraged to take an interest in these things, A new geography will no doubt soon he available for Standard 111. The Syllabus also requires tliftt aonje fopn of oiyio instruction. be‘given, spefi as ft description of our Parliament, and a comparison between those of other countries; the importance of upholding the British flag, oto. Nature Study.—ln some schools this began in the lower portion of the school and was dropped in the upper, but the lecturer was of opinion that it was a pity to give it up, and thought it should be continued as agricultural or rural science in the upper classes. Mr Mulgan then proceeded to answer ques- • tion in a lucid manner, mostly being of a purely technical nature,