SECONDARY AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.
NEED FOR UNITY OF CONTROL. At a recent meeting of the Education Board, a letter was received from the Director of Education, asking the board to state its reasons for desiring that the technical high school, which was proposed to he established at Stratford, should be under the management and control of the Education Board, rather than under that of a board of managers appointed under the provisions either of section 90 or section 113 of the Education Act, 1014. The board set up a committee comprising Messrs. R. Masters, Trimble and Smith, and at yesterday's meeting of the board, a report was submitted by the chairman and Mr. Trimble, who reported that the discussion of the whole question of management' of secondary schools, technical high schools and technical (Schools was involved, for Stratford was not the only place in which a secondary school of some kind must be established. There mvist in the not distant future be one at Hawera, and all over the Dominion there iB certain to be an increase in the number of schools for post-primary work. It would seem reasonable to suppose that if the control of all the different branches of education in an 'education district were under the control of one authority, there would be better correlation of the work, and less liability for the schools in one locality to overlap each other's work, whereas, if each board of management is independent, there is a tendency to attempt all classes of work in each school, thus, to some extent at any rate, preventing the efficient working which would be sure to be obtained if all the. pupils who have obviously taken up the wrong linp of study, may be placed in their proper position.,. Probably there would alwoys be a certain amount of duplicating of work, but it should be reduced to a minimum. A considerable saving would be effected in the cost of administration, owing to office staff and office accommodation not being required for each separate school, and savings would, probably, be effected in other ways. The present Education Boards, being representative of ■ one section of the community only, i.e., of parents of children attending primary schools, it would be advisable to alter its constitution, and we would suggest its appointment somewhat on the following lines: Two mefabers appointed by the Gover-nor-General: six members elected by the school committees (or directly by the people, though this would be difficult, except in the towns; one member appointed by the senate of tho .university; two members elected by parents of pupils attending secondary schools, technical high schools ana technical schools.
To assist in the management, of each secondard school, technical high chool, or technical school under its jurisdiction, the board should appoint a committee consisting either entirely of members of the board, or partly of members of the board and partly of non-members, the committee to have such powers of consideration, inquiry, or management as the board might from time to time delegate to it. ■
Should these proposals appear to tl(e Minister of Education to be unacceptable, we would suggest that the Education Act, 1014, should be amended so as to provide that all secondary schools or technical high school; which way be established in future should be under the management of the Education Boafti as at present constituted. Mr. Trimble, in moving the adoption of the report' stated that they had gone fully into the matter, and any discussion should not be as to the control of any particular school, but as to the general control of high schools, technical and technical high schools throughout
the Dominion. It seemed to him much better that all should be under one control. At, present, owing to the rivalry between technical and secondary schools, there was a tendency to overlap. Secondary schools were taking lip what was really technical work, and vice versa. He, however, did not think that the board, as at present constituted, jvas suitable to carry out the particular work.' Its constitution should be widened on the lines laid down in the report. At present the, board was elected entirely by the parents of children Attending primary schools, and he thought it would be better if some were elected by the parents of the secondary scholars. Tho Government also supplied the whole of the money for the schools, and should be entitled to representation "on the administration of the board. It was also suggested that a member should be appointed by the university senate, and the reason for this was that he did not want people to get the idea that the university was separate from the education system. The whole education system should be treated as one, so that anyone who wished to could take advantage of it right from the primary school to the university. To enable local interest to be maintained in high schools or technical colleges,* he suggested that the board could set up committees to which they might appoint some local members, as was done by municipal authorities. Having all schools under one control should lead to more economy and greater efficiency.
The chairman, in seconding, said the committee liad been set up in the first instance to go into the matter of the Stratford school, but as they considered that if any alteration was to be made it would refer to any school that had been established Bince the Act came into force, for that reason they had faced the whole position as applied to high schools and technical schools. He agreed that the board was not widely enough constituted to control the whole of the educational phases, lit was logical that if the Government supplied the finance, that they should have some control in the working of it. Six members, as at present, representing primary schools, would give ample control. Parents of secondary school children should also have representation, us was the case now for boards of governors of secondary schools, j Unity of control would considerably reduce the cost of administration, as at present the cost of administering the various bejards of governors must be from ,-CGOOV to £BOOO. Moreover, there would lie considerable economy from the point of view of purchase. The rivalry between secondary schools and technical schools that now existed, instead cf unity, did not tend to the benefit of the children. At present a boy infinitely more suited to attend a high school might be attending a technical school.
or-vice versa, and it was only natural that the masters, who were anxious to maintain the attendance,at their schools, would retain the lad, where there was no provision made for instructing him in
the studies for which lie wns most suited. From a New Plymouth point of view, unity of control would he advantageous. 3S r ew Plymouth Technical College was suffering from the want of a hostelry. There were numbers of par-
ents in the country who wisjicd their children to take advantage of the college, but they" could not do so, because there were no arrangements for housing them. If under one control, the children attend-
ing the Technical College could board at j the High School boarding establishment, ] which would be advantageous as regarded cost of administration. He considered there were strong arguments for unity of control from an educational standpoint generally. While the report did not, perhaps, cover all the ground, it should give a lead to the Department, and, perhaps, tend to.have some definite system brought dowp. If the Department did not approve, the committee could at least say they had done what they considered the right thing. Mr. S. G. Smith explained that he was not present at the committee meeting, owing to insufficiency of notice. He had some diffidence in criticising the rejiort, because lie recognised that tht committee had given it much time and consideration. He, however, strongly objected to the board being partly nominated; in fact, he looked forward to the day when the nominative system would be abolished. It was not logical that the Government should have direct representation because they supplied the money. The I Government was, after all, the people, and it would be Departmental representation. His experience was that the Department could look after itself without direct representation on the board. He considered that the report shonld be referred back to the committee. This would give those interested an opportunity of discussing it, and valuable suggestions would be obtained. Moreover, the report would have the backing of the whole district when submitted to the Department. He favored unity of control, which would undoubtedly tend to greater efficiency and economy. He had • long recognised the lack of continuity between technical and secondary schools, and the need for co-relation of control. He moved as an amendment that the report be referred back. ®
I Mr. Wilkinson, in seconding the amendment, said the committee had been set up to bring down special reasons in connection with a special school, but had gone further, and brought down a cut and dried scheme for tho whole Dominion. The chairman: We're ambitious.
Mr. Wilkinson disagreed with the nominated members. He favored a' simple system of election by the parents concerned. Moreover, the proposed board would comprise eleven members, and he favpred smaller boards, with more direct responsibility. He considered the Taranaki Board, with six members, had done very good work. Mr. Dixon supported the amendment. He considered the report opened up too big a question. It was giving a lead to the whole Dominion, and before adopting it, he would like to give it further consideration. Mr. White considered the matter wanted further consideration.
Mr. Trimble favored direct election, as was provided in the Act for urban districts. This, however, could not be obtained in the country until the whole franchise was altered.
The amendment was carried, the names of Messrs Dixon, Wilkinson and White being added to the committee. On a division Mr. Trimble voted against the proposal, as he considered that no good could be served by referring it back.
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Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1917, Page 6
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1,681SECONDARY AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1917, Page 6
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