TEACHING OF INFANTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4003, 9 August 1915, Page 6

TEACHING OF INFANTS.

AV PA RAT US FOlt THIS SCHOOLBOOM. INTERESTING ADDRESSES TO TEACHERS. VIEWS OF INSPECTORS HILL <U\l> iS'JTt ACPI AN. The bra noli of the Hew Zealand Women Teachers’ Association recently formed in Gisborne is showing a pro>''ress'ive spirit. As the M-ontessori system of infant teaching.is at present attracting a great deal of attention, the members of this branch are discussing these methods, with the idea of introducing what is suitable- into our schools. At their invitation a large number of teachers and others; interested in education met at the Gisborne School on Saturday afternoon, when inter, sting and instructive addresses on infant! school work were delivered by Inspectors Ifill and Strachan. Miss Glanville, the president of the association, presided, and in a neat-speech introduced! the speakers. Mr. Strachan treated infant teaching from a psychological standpoint. Mr. Stratum said:—lnstead of dealing closely with some one- aspect of teaching in the infant room, such, for instance, as the teaching oi _ arithmetic. I propose to make a brief survey of five whole field. 1. An ailmentwriter dealing with teaching would probably have- presented a list of topics or subjects eonskh ml suitable and added a discourse on the range of each. 2, In present days wo begin not with a study of the subject to be taught but with a consideration of the child. 3. There are two couilieting principles involved in the education of the child, and these the teacher must reconcile or bring to compromise. (a) The first springs from the fact that the child Is an entity of itself, and has to live its own life, realising as best it may its own ideals or possibilities. in view of this aspect the teacher has to study and arrange for the cultural development of the child. (b) The State claims the child as a member of its community. It says:

“.I give you great advantages of personal protection, quiet possession of goods, facilitated intercourse for purposes of commerce and social relations. When you grow up you will have a vote and a right to push your claims to assist in the regulation of this society. You will., in fact-, be part of the Sovereign controlling this body of people, and it will be necessary for you to fit yourself for the position. "It will be at least your moral duty to promote the interests of:' the community. To enable you to do something effective, wo shall give you education at public (expense. We shall try to reconcile your personal interests and proclivities with tins interests of the State, but we may have to require you to add to your curriculum certain subjects that will make you a more efficient citizen, and weshall request you not- to dawdle on the way.” 4. These two principles force on the teacher two studies: (a)

A research into the physical and mental nature of the child ; (b) a research having as its object iho selection of subjects of instruction, their scope, mud the method of dealing with them. 5. What- does modern science tel] us with regard to the physical nature of the child ? A child is an aggregation of cells which are busy arranging a suitable division of labor among themselves. To attain this, organs are developed. The arrangement- attained is not stable, so that the organs of a child are not the same as those of an adult. Some organs that will be present in tlio adult have not- yet developed in the child, and all organs are m different proportions. A boy child is not a little man, e.g., a baby cannot digest starch ; he has not- the apparatus. His head: is very much larger than that of a man ; so is his liver, etc. If you work his muscles you cannot maM? them harden. For this reason drill is to the infant quite different from what it is to the adult. To the

cider pupil from 11 years upwards it fs an exorcise aiming at a sound bodily (condition, strong and supple muscles fitted for endurance and skill. To the child 1 it is merely a device to train the individual in concerted and social relations with his fellows. A child is,

from its helplessness, at first individualistic and self-centred. , His intercourse with oilier children ‘Tubs off his corners/’ as we say, and induces

in him a spirit of “give and take,” of mutual helpfulness. He learns to einply the oil that enables the wheels of society to run smoothly. This social-

sing and civilising of the pupil is the

aim of infant drill. The physical development goes on rapidly through the child’s life, and at all times has an important bearing on the teacher’s work. During the 12th, 13th, and 14th years an average girl is both taller and heavier than an average boy, and this is reflected in an -earlier maturity, mental as well as' physical.

(5. Wlmt does modern science toll u> with regard to the mental nature of the child. A former psychology might have been called a rainbow psychology. It considered: that a child’s mentality developed in stages, just as one might pass through the different-

bands of a rainbow: first the sensation, then the precept, the memory image, the concept, the judgment, and finally reasoning. Modern psychology is rather a plant- like psychology. Have you studied the poppy? Its stalk shoots up, then the head grows, and grows more swiftly than the stalk can bear, so that the head' is bent downwards. Then the stalk strengthens and holds the head up. The rush of stimuli now reaches the petals and they spread out. A later tide overtakes the seeds and they develop. It is even so with, the child. The germs of all phases of mental life are

present all the time, but they mature at- different'stages. Even a five-year-old child can judge and reason, but bis mental grasp is not so comprehensive as that of an adult. An elementary sense of duty is doubtless present in a child, blit- it is only at the olev-

onth or twelfth year that it really begins to. a/foci a child with a notion of responsibility for its acts. A young child’s acts have no .reference to tlio future, but only to the present. A child, is among other things a bundle of instincts, and different instincts develop as lifo proceeds. The present day psychologist is very busy studying instincts, .with a view to utilising theni in, the educative process. An early instinct is the spirit of “play.” Hence play is seized on by the educationist. Let ns revert to drill, and see again how it is affected by the scientist’s knowledge of the mental development of the child. It is obvious that in early stages drill should largely be “play.” Hence the teacher must study organised games, with musical accompaniment if possible. In American teachers’ colleges a great deal of attention has been given, to children’s games, in order to utilise them as far as possible, first in the cultural development of tliei child, and secondly in the unconscious development of a skill that may he useful in the later civic life of the child,. Manual and manipulative skill, taught early, becomes ingrained, and in order .to get a child- to try his skill the sob--ject.must be attractive, hence the employment of games. In order that the games may be scientific they arc sometimes based on the ordinary •open* lations,. first of primitive neople, and later of paonle in more advanced stages of civilisation. It is verv interesting to a child! +o imagine he is a Red Indian : he wiLI assist to make a. wigwam, n fire, bow and arrows, etc , anckalt' the time he thinks it is a game, but he is acquiring hoth useful information and skill. TJiere is no end to the apparatus that- an infant room would need for the proper developmerit; of this,idea. Thisj leaves' plenty

of room for the exercise of a teacher’s inventive faculty. It should! also bo noted that there is little use in supplying apparatus to a teacher unfitted to find good in it. The demand for apparatus must grow out of the instruction. It would be to “put the cart before the horse” if apparatus determined the instruction. The teacher must master bar apparatus, not lot the anpanat-us master her. 7. Lot- us turn how to the other principle regulating education—the demand from the State that the child shall he turned- out socially effective, and that all reasonable speed should be used in the process. The former requirements of an infant school wore: Heading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic. Wo have recently added (a) organised games—for socialising purposes; (b) singing, drawing, and handwork for the double purposed developing tho imagination and improving manipulative skill. Imagination is strong in a child, hence tlio extended utilisation of an alert observation. All of tlio.se additions should if properly employed result.in turning out an improved type of citizen. The chief danger lies in-tho possibility that progress in these arts may not keep pace with the development of the pupil’s psychology. Tho child is sweeping on with increasing momentum through successive stages of psychological development, and infant pap must not be fed to the grown ‘ man. If cultural studies are 'overelaborated, he may be bind!ml. Too great a lLiurgo on a vessel’s screw, instead of assisting progression, inducea lop-sided and impeded action. The same thing must not be taught twice in disguis'd form.' ft- is very mi portant that a careful balance of subjects should be maintained, and that more especially the original subject:-: of the infant room should not suffer from an over-development of the later ones, and a Iso that the individual's selfculture should not be develop!d without regard to the State’s demand. Mr Hill’s lecture was in a different strain, taking the practical .standpoint, and (hailing with the aspect of .suitable- buildings and apparatus for modern infant schools. He said that at the last meeting of the Education Board at Napier lie formulated a scheme, recommending that at leastthree of their teachers should be. sent to Australia to become acquainted with tho Montessori system, with, a view to establishing three model infant schools in. Hawke’s Bay. This had been referred to 'Wellington, in the hope of obtaining a grant for the purpose. The system which they had in New Zealand had been in operation since 1877, and there had been no development of the- infant school system Although the school age was 'recognised as from 5 to 15, the syllabus oi instruction bad been carried out for standards in which children varied in ago from Bto 15. Their education did not specialise for stalling. T lie infant mistress was part of a system of stalling that; was originally adopted, and had been in operation since the passing of the Act. In England specialisation was recognised in the fact that infant mistresses were independent to head masters, which they were not in New Zealand. In some measure the principle was recognised in High Schools, where lady principals occupied positions of similar responsibility to that of principals in the case of boys’ schools.

“The time lias come,” continued MiHill, “when this aspect of education should receive attention; particularly when it is found necessary to have infant schools in the larger centres of population.'’ He went on to say tho subject of infant training was so wide that tliev might discuss the question as to whether special preparation should be provided for teachers of infant work: whether buildings and furnishing of rooms should be.provnTed in this particular kind of school training, and whether the methods ot teaching should be similar to those adopted for older pupils. It should be kept in view that organisation demanded efficiency of the highest kind, and this was only attainable by means of specialisation. Notice, for example, tho careful preparation needed for a. soldier as to his physical and technical training. Everything was done to make him efficient, so also in the case of the factory, the counting-house and the farm, and wherever specialists were necessary. How was this to be . applied to the - schools in the case of a voung child without the knowledge of the world, and acquainted only with his own homo and objects within ms •immediate environment- ? TV hat was tho purpose of the school in his case? For what was he to be prepared and bow? “Has the education, of _the schools been hitherto of that nature which will humanise?” he asked. “I am bold enough to say that the schools and school systems that have been m a largo measure at the root- of the present war in Europe. The schemes of education are all material, all seeking profit. Money is deemed the basis of success in life. .Read the arithmetic -books, which are crowded from childhood to manhood with questions dealing with profit and loss, all bearing upon selfishness. It is tne commercial spirit- that lias been fostered, whilst the moral and humanising influences have been set aside, except now and then a lesson on ,vui dutv to our neighbor lias been enforced. But is this education ? He said lie came now to what km-d ot schools they wanted. The kmdoigarten school was originally tne nursery of the rich. Tins had slowly widened in its benefits, and had become absorbed in the public schools systems, wliero the creche and the nurserv have had to be carried on, whilst mothers worked and toiled for a mere pittance. No one would deny tho benefit of bright rooms, airy, well warmed and lighted, touching at every point nature and nature s work. v here the whole surroundings appealed to tho minds and the innate powers that lav slumbering. Schools must ho established on linos irrespective ot future employment of children in tne workshops, ‘it must aim slowly ano surely at acquiring the power to see nature in all its aspects and apply nature to the realisation that would come to one and all: to the attainment of happiness and to the fu rtneranco of benefits that would be common to all, both rich and pool. At the close of the address a hearty vote of thanks was passed to the Inspectors for their exceedingly helpiul ami able address. An adjournment was then made to tho Technical School, where a dainty afternoon tea was partaken of. A vote of thanks to tho Women Teachers’ Association, on behalf of the visitors, .was proposed by Mr J. IE Kirk and seconded bv tne Hon. TV. Morgan, M.L.O. Mr Kirk in his speech gave an interesting outline or the work likely to be undertaken by the Council of Education.