Teaching by Radio

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 450, 6 February 1948, Page 5

Teaching by Radio

T is greatly to be regretted that it has been found necessary to attempt teaching by radio, and. earnestly to be hoped that it will not be necessary to carry the experiment very far. If the whole scheme disappears before we have learnt much from it, parents, teachers, and the Broadcasting Service will all be happy. But ‘there is no present reason to expect such a development. The indications are that North Island schools at any rate, especially those in the northern half of the North Island, will not open for many weeks, and the choice is therefore radio teaching with correspondence or none. Without much warning, .and with far less than enough time for adequate preparation, a new technique has had to be attempted for maintaining instruction without too violent a break. It will not be claimed by anybody that this emergency teaching is sufficient. It is not a substitute for lessons in school but an alternative to no lessons at all. It may, however, prove a very intefesting alternative if there is active and imaginative co-operation. Neither the teachers nor the Broadcasting Service, nor both combined, can do the, job without help in the homes. Full co-operation is’ not to be expected, human nature being what it is; but no co-operation means failure at both ends, frustrated teachers and not even amused children. It is on the other hand at least possible-pro-bable is too bold a word for our ignorance-that co-operation will bring results which are at present only half-formed hopes. Though teaching by radio is not in itself an innovation, teaching by radio and correspondence alone certainly is. It will be interesting to see if we make an earnest enough attempt to use the new method to prove that we have been made sensible by the old method.