SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1926, Page 15

SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS

A COURSE IN TARANAKI COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTION. BIG GATHERING IN HOLIDAYS. Teachers from all parts of Taranaki will assemble in New Plymouth for the refresher course to be held from January 31 to February 5, inclusive, under the auspices of the Education Board. Over 350 will attend, it is anticipated, and it will probably be the largest gathering of its kind that has taken place in New Zealand. Mare than 260 enrolments for the course have already been received, a Daily News reporter was informed yesterday. Many of the visitors will go into camp and the board will provide accommodation and meals for these, but ail the teachers will pay their own board and travelling expenses. Instruction will be given in the block comprising the Central School, the board buildings and the Technical College, and the syllabus covers a very wide range of subjects. As a recult it is hoped that the teachers will derive special benefits that they will lie able to pass on to the children under their care, thus developing the schools of Taranaki into a high state of efficiency. The supervision of the gathering will be in the hands of Mr. R. G. Ridling, senior agricultural instructor and director of manual training for the board, and Mr. M. R. McKenzie, senior inspector. The New Zealand Educational Institute and the Women Teachers’ .Association have been invited to co-opcrate. LECTURES OF HIGH STANDING. Men and women prominent in educational circles have been invited to lecture and generally assist with the instruction and addresses on subjects of general interest will be given. These will include such topics as the Progress of Education, Education and Mental Development, Nervous Development of the Child, Influence of the Endocrine Glands on Physical and Mental Development, and the psychology of special subjects, of which reading may be quoted as an example. As indicated in the News on Thursday, a special effort is being made to give a national aspect to the teaching of handwork in Taranaki, and to this end arrangements are in train for demonstrations of weaving and the making of mats and kits from materials such as flax, that can bo obtained in the vicinity of the schools. Handwork that has been carried out in the schools of the provinces is to be on show. Local booksellers and stationers are l.eing invited to make window displays of suitable books. "It is likely that there will be a demonstration of Native work,” said Mr. Ridling yesterday, ’’and if posible, a Maori will instruct the teachers.” Courses have been provided to suit each department of school training. The first will be for those engaged in infant room work and will include instruction in child study, eurythmics, the health of the child, singing, drawing, speech training, practical handwork, nature work, and other subjects common to the infant classes. A WIDE RANGE OF SUBJECTS. The second course will be for teacher* in the standard classes, and will comprise addresses on the teaching of history and civics, the physical development of the child, the teaching of drawing, singing, handwork in its relation to other school subjects, nature study and agriculture. Those requiring special training in drawing, handwork, agriculture and forestry and hygiene are to be provided for, and a fourth course will be for advanced teachers. This will include discussions on mental measurements and standard tests, the organisation of work, the training of teachers, the syllabus, practical teaching, and the instruction of non-academic pupils.

It will be realised that this school for teachers is to be a very ambitious and comprehensive undertaking, and there is no doubt that the community as a whole will benefit both now and in the future. A gathering of a similar nature took place in New Plymouth in 1914 when all the Taranaki teachers received instruction in physical drill only. The number on -the staffs of the schools of the province was not then so large as it is to-day, of course. Some years ago, too, a course for women teachers was held in the town.