JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1922, Page 5

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

THE PROPOSALS EXPLAINED. DEFECTS IN PRESENT SYSTEM. ADDRESS BY MR. J. CAUGHLEY. A very interesting lecture on the proposed junior high school system and education in New Zealand generally was delivered by Mr. John Caughley, M.A., Director of Education, at St. Mary’s Parish Hall, New Plymouth, last night. Mr. Caughley spoke at some length on primary and secondary education, past and present; and the difficulties and defects that had. been discovered, briefly relating the measures that had been taken to overcome them. The chair .was taken by Mr. Andrew Lees (chairman of the Taranaki Education Board), who, in welcoming Mr. Caughley. congratulated him on his appointment as Director of Education, and expressed the hope that during his tenure of office he would be responsible for increasing the efficiency of education in New Zealand. After extending thanks for the welcome, and stating that he hoped at an early date to visit the whole of Taranaki and so learn the local conditions and needs, Mr. Caughley said that most of the educational people in New Zealand were anxious to hear about the junior high schools. The scheme had been brought up at the Council of Education last year, and a tentative plan had been drawn up as a basis for suggestion and comment by local education bodies. This scheme had been adopted by a conference of representatives from the teachers’ institutes, and details had been distributed throughout New Zealand. The object of his visit was to explain in general terms the aims and objects of the junior high school system and its characteristics. The discussions that had ensued following on his addresses at other centres to which he had been invited had bpen most valuable in bringing up points probably overlooked, while valuable suggestions had been made.

PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY. He would like first to refer to a number of that were interesting the educational world to-day, and which must be solved. There were serious defects in the present system, and whether the junior high schools would solve them remained to be seen. Mr. Caughley then went on to speak briefly of the history of secondary education, because, he said, the junior high school was an attempt to deal with post primary education, which, up to the present, had been the secondary school system, established on the lines and ths traditions and customs of the Old Country. Up to 1900 it had been the preparatory school for the university and the training ground for teachers. It catered only for a very small section of the community, 30 or 40 years ago not more than | about 5 per cent, of the children want lin for secondary education. The mai jority of the children who attended the upper part of the secondary school had attended the lower part since they were about ten or eleven. That was the system which had obtained up Till • 1904. when the “free place” Was introduced. and this made it possible for the whole mass of the children of New Zealand to have the benefit of post-primary education.

1 Touching on the system of primary ’ education up to that time. Mr. Caugh- ’ ley said that in New Zealand it had al- ‘ j ways been of a very liberal character I and had grown out of the needs of the " great mass of the people. Tt was a seif--1 contained unit, in which those who eni tered it received all the education they ■ would receive in the whole of their I career. Very few passed on beyond the • sixth standard. Speaking on the curriculum. he said he was satisfied that the requirements of the sixth standard today were not more than half of wita* was required 30 years ago. It was necessary. because it was the only education 95 per cent, of the children were going to receive, and a great deal dhould have been left to a later stage in life. Much of the more abstract form of work had been carried over anl eliminated from the primary school course. Another effect which arose oiu, . of terminating at the sixth standard was the Government compulsion to make • children remain at school until they were fourteen. This was only an en- • deavor to make the course as long as possible and to give the pupil all he could receive before reaching fourteen. 1 A good deal- of the primary course i should have been left for the secondary school, and a good deal of the secondary work should have been commenced ear--1 pier. In 1906 or 1908 the free place sys- : tem, whereby pupils receiving a sixth I standard certificate were admitted to 1 the secondary schools was brought into I being, and now 90 per cent, of the s?c1 ondary pupils are ex-primary pupils, ’ and a smaller proportion are receiving ‘ l their primary education in the primary ■ department of the secondary schools. I TECHNICAL TRAINING. - After referring to the fact that the secondary schools catered more for the academic side of life, and that the matriculation examination, which to a Ihrge extent was ruled by the university, was very often the termination of the secondary school «-ourse, Mr. Caughley went on to state that if they examined the technical day schools in New Zealand they should find very little dif- ' ference, except in a few subjects, between them and the secondary schools, and they were becoming a duplication of the latter. Mr. Caughley said that in the technical schools there was a tendency to give too much vocational training of too specific a characte* at too early an age. The secondary school course, the speaker went on, was being commenced at an earlier age, and better j revision was being made for connectinc: the two systems. A great difficulty had arisen in the past in the sudden transition between primary and secondary schools. In the first year of the secondary course the pupil had to take too many subjects, and there was still a tendency in the secondary schools to overdo it in the matter of too much book work. The junior high school system was an effort towards the solution o-f a problem that undoubtedly existed. About the age of 12, and somewhere about a standard of education represented by standard 4, there would be a transition from the primary course into the junior high school course, which Would be intermediate between the primary course and the secondary course. Some pupils would complete the primary course at 11. and I would be moved into the junior high I school, while as regards the boy who I •ould not finish at 12, they had him at |

present. He would suggest that he be moved into the junior high school, because there differentiation would be found, and he would probably turn out all right. In the first three years of the juniol? high school three-fifths of the work would be common to all pupils. Physical instruction, singing, drawing. English, history, geography and arithmetic would be taken by all. The other two-fifths, representing about 8 or 10 hours per week, wou'd be differentiated. Some pupils would take academic work leading to the secondary schools, others would take commercial subjects, and others again manual trades, or, in the country, agriculture. The girls who did not take the academic subjects would be provided for in home craft classes. As far as hand’’crafts were concerned, his idea was that they should not teach any special handicraft, but that they should train the boys to work in wood and thin sheet metal, not as carpenters and plumbers. The boys would be taught the use of material, the care of tools, and how to make a drawing, and they would not need any elaborate apparatus. A feature of the junior high school system was that if the pupil did not make the right selection at first regarding his special subjects, a change could be made without any difficulty. The first selection would be made in consultation between the parent and the teacher. The classes would be limited to about 40, and the teachers, in addition to being able to teach other subjects, would be speclialists in some particular art. Mr. Caughley next went on to speak as to the places where these schools should be established. One will be opened in Auckland in October, but there was no Intention of placing them where they were not wanted. At places like Stratford and Hawera, where there was only one -form of secondary education, the present establishment might be enlarged to take in the junior high ’School. A difficulty existed in many places, that if the fifth and sixth standards were taken away there would be insufficient pupils left to warrant the retention or a staff, and thus cause the school to drop a grade or two. In the smaller districts a junior high school, however, might be established from two or three adjacent schools. A solution in the big towns might be found by utilising the present secondary and technical schools. The scheme would provide better facilities for education in the country districts. Because of the combination of pupil* drawn from several schools, thus providing a sufficient number to justify sending out teachers qualified to instruct in secondary subjects. At the conclusion of hie address Mr. Caughley answered a few questions, and was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks.