7

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his preparation for service in the larger sphere of the State. The fact that an institution of this character is forced by its circumstances to maintain close contact with primary education on the one hand, and with the needs of industry and commerce on the other, ensures that the courses provided for its students shall be designed not so much in accordance with custom and tradition as with actual conditions of life and employment in the Dominion. In 1914 there were some 16,602 evening and part-time day pupils in technical classes, and 1,839 full-time day pupils in technical day schools ; in 1926 there were 12,681 evening and part-time day pupils in technical classes, and 7,059 full-time day pupils in technical day schools. In the four large centres, where the numbers available permit of the free development of more than one type of secondary school, it is obvious that there is no possibility of harmful overlapping between postprimary schools, any more than between primary schools. In the smaller centres, on the other hand, where there is not room for more than one post-primary school, it is evident that such a school should discharge as far as it may the functions of all the types of post-primary school to be found in the large centres, and to this end technical high schools, with an academic course in addition to the ordinary pre-vocational courses of the town technical high school, have been established in some cases. In towns of intermediate size, where there is room for two post-primary schools of reasonable size, the choice may lie between having two co-educational schools—one of the academic, the other of the technical-high-school type —and separate schools for boys and girls, each leaning towards either* the academic or the technical-high-school type. Legislative provision was made in 1924 for the amalgamation of secondary and technical schools for the purpose of control by a single governing body in cases recommended by the Minister with the approval of the governing bodies or controlling authorities of the schools affected, but, so far, the Boards have been amalgamated in only one case, that of Masterton, where, however, the schools are separately managed by Principals each responsible directly to the Board. Recently absorption of the technical day school by the boys' and girls' high schools has been completed at New Plymouth, the courses of the high schools being rearranged to provide pre-vocational training for a considerable proportion of the pupils attending. How far it will be possible to obtain in the amalgamated schools such equality of status between the several courses as usually exists in technical high schools is a serious question, since on the relative status of a course depends to a large extent the quality of the pupils taking that course, and therefore in some measure the quality of the entrants to a particular trade or profession. The course which attracts the largest proportion of the pupils and keeps them longest is the academic course, and it must on this account alone be regarded by all concerned as the most important. When as is usually the case, it includes most of the brighter children preparing for Matriculation and all those reading for University Entrance Scholarships, its status is still further enhanced, and all the other courses are in danger of being regarded merely as dumps for " duds." Not only so, but the very methods of teaching and the viewpoints of the teachers tend to be adjusted rather to the intricacies of competitive examinations than to the needs of the average pupils in the trade or commercial courses. Tf, therefore, the demands of the Matriculation and University Entrance Scholarship Examinations govern to any appreciable extent the work of a post-primary school, it is thereby largely unfitted for assuming the functions of a technical high school. In one or two of the large towns the technical schools, especially the day schools, have grown too large for their buildings and sites, and various proposals have been made for relieving the pressure. It has been suggested that the commercial students should be accommodated elsewhere ; but, as the commercial work in both day and evening classes is closely associated with the work of other courses, it would probably be a mistake to transfer it to a, separate school, especially as regards day classes. Owing to the considerable cost of the elaborate equipment of a senior technical school, it would not be wise to establish a second fully equipped technical school in any town in the Dominion. Probably the difficulty could best be overcome by adopting the practice of large towns in Great Britain and America, and establishing junior technical schools under the same authority as the senior school, which should take junior evening pupils in all branches, and junior free-place pupils in the day classes, the senior pupils being accommodated in the more elaborately equipped central institution. If pupils were admitted at an earlier age than they now enter the technical high school, the junior technical school would serve all the purposes contemplated for the junior high school, besides utilizing its resources for the more elementary evening work. Regulations, cfie. —The authorities concerned have, with few minor exceptions, faithfully observed the provisions of the Act and regulations during the year 1926. 11. HOME SCIENCE. (Extracts from the report of Miss M. Dyek, Inspector of Domestic Subjects.) Teachers. —On the staffs of technical schools and Education Boards there were 105 full-time teachers of domestic subjects, besides a number of part-time teachers. Thirty-three (31 per cent.) teachers had university qualifications ; fifteen (14 per cent.) teachers had certificates in domestic subjects from the educational authorities of Britain or Australia ; seventeen (16 per cent.) teachers had had experience in dressmaking and the allied trades ; three (2-8 per cent.) fully-trained teachers had specialized in domestic work for a short time ; and most of the remainder of the teachers had served as studentteachers and afterwards been appointed with little or no further training. Thirty-two (30'4 per cent.) are itinerant instructors, each having charge of from two to six centres. Included in the above return is one Supervisor of Needlework, whose work has been most successful.