Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

19 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

< -,AFTERNOON SESSION.

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Rhannu

< AFTERNOON SESSION. 1 • EDUCATION AND LOCAL < NEEDS. MR W. G. DODD (chairman of the Den. bighshire County Council) presided at the afternoon meeting, and said he was pleased to think that North Wales people had tthown such great interest in Welsh edu- cation as to attend in such large numbers. Ho was pleased to seeMr Bruce was there as- one who had done a yre-ot deal for tWelsh education, and with it hom he work ed 30 years ago in laying the ioundations of the present system of uitc.ruiodia.to schools. About 30 years ago he had the tenacity to ask Mr Bruce to attend a meet- ing at L Jan go Lion in qonnociion with the establishing of a school in that town, and it was a pleasure to roalise that the ad- vioo ho then gave lead to the establishing of. a school in the town; aud which he I feJt had done oiuxxLleiit work. Continuing, Mr Dodd said that when tho Intermediate Education Act was (bussed, tonio of them wore enthusiastic enough to ieve that this first piece of bepa.rate legislation for YVales would be the foun. < dation upon which a compJcto Welsh na- Clonal system of secondary, technical, and Iù-gtl education would ultimately be raarod, but to-day they had to recognise that national ficAtimenk had had to give VnLy to financial expediency, and to all in- tents and purposes, they had simply a part in the legislation which !no tardily, per- hafts, had now been pn»v ilcd ior the cora- bined educational needs ol England and iWa-les. Let them, however, not forgot tho gpod that had been accomplished under fc, the Welsh Act, and Jet them take pride Bto/ in tho fact that efficient secondary schools Jgi had been set up in far larger numbers oon- Pf" cidaring the size of our native land than in any other^part of the United Kingdom. He thought that the pioneer work done h under the Wctshlutcnuediato Act was something which any nation would have L.. reason to be proud of. The first requirement of any reorganisa- y tion \5 that it should, as far as possible, be such as to command the assent of all, end that there should be no divided coun- t seU. If there was one lesson more than anoth_ er which recent terrible events had taught us, it was the greater need for unity arising out of mutual respect and confidence, and the elimination of every- thing which causes suspicion and mistrust A libera.1 education was the greatest uni- fying factor of all, and there was no more .precious privilege than to be allowed to ahare in the task of moulding a sound sys- tem of education. The question they were considering wa- a very complex one, and there was a danger thai owing to its many difficulties tho temptation would be to tear* the matter in the hands of experts, tcay lbok to them for guidance rather than r >, apply their own minds to tho problem. "l The lack of local interest in our schools "was very marked, and -as due. perhaps, to tho increasing tendency towards cen- tralisation of administration which obtain- ed in so many branches of the public ser- vice besides education. It must be re- membered that the true purpose of an edu- cs».io:i system- was to enable the bulk of our people to live as full lives as possible ii their own surroundings rather than to t tit the few for competition in the great ■" worl4 outside..When they reflected that i a very large percentage of those who paas- p ed through tnc mtermediate schools did not proceed to the legos. but spfcnt the KV rest of their lives in the districts from id1 they came, it was all the more desirable that there should be strong and [ efficient lo('.b.! bodies to sec that the school i ■■ were adapted to the needs of the districts. How it) seciLre this, as well as to co-ordi- j (ULU- tjao jure sent intermediate system with i ether stages of education formed part of fv I the g-reat subject which was being dealt with at the oonfercnce, and all he would plead for was that whatever the new or- ganisation might be, it should receive the hearty support and patient consideration of all who loved their country and were anxious for its uplifting. In conclusion, Mr Dodd said he regretted that the Bishop of St. Asaph had left the meeting, but he hoped that he and others from whom they had a right to expect help would assist in making the system of edu- cation in Wales a proper and thorough one—as perfect as it was possible, and which would command the unanimous con- sent and co-operation of all. DIFFtCULTlESIN DENBIGHSHIRE. I MR J. E. POWELL (Denbighshire Edu- cation Authority) said he felt that*they would all realise that Denbighshire was the moat difficult county in North Wales to deal with educationally, as they had two sections—the agricultural and the indus- trial. The great majority of their chil- dren had derived great benefit from the system of secondary education, and pro- vision had to be made in the future for the various sections: In the future they were faced with diffie-uit. problems, and they would have to provide for something like 9000 children of the new school tp, and they could calculate that at least from 10 to 20 per cent woulS pass to the secon- dairy schools. In the past they had given a number, of free places in the schools after an examination held by one of the Govern- ment inspectors, and he saw no other way of dealing with them. With regard to central sohools they projiosed to provide these on the basis of {population, but they would have to be prepared to provide very good headmasters. What that meant. in East Denbighshire could be better real- ised when he reminded them that many boys of 18 to-day received wages as high as their fathers received years ago. Such boys would require something more than mere book instruction; they would have to be made to feel the dignity of the position they held and the tuition they were re- ceiving. He believed in differentiation as regards the schools, and already they were pro- posing to establish an agricultural school. They must, however, be prepared with a system by which they could transfer chil- dren from one sect-ion of the county to the other. They must not lose the character of the secondary schools, and -they must not forgetthat the classics should play on important part in education, and due re- gard should be paid to technical educa- tion. As the County Authority would no doubt have to provide most of the money, he felt that th,y Should have more repre- sentation on the local governing bodies. He advocated purely ocal work being left in local hands, as everyone realised that ther County Authority had all its work cut out to deal with administration. There must also be one authority for inspection and examination. Until they had a Welsh National Ed ucational Council, let them hold on to the Welsh Central Board. I TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN FLINT. I SMHR. DR. HUMPHREY WILLIAMS (Flint) contended that they must take an interest in education right from the start He hoped in the future that the best possible education would be given to children be- tween 12 and 14 years of age, no matter whether they were passing to the secon- dary schools or not. Then they would have to round off the children from 14 to 16, and each school would* have to adapt itself to the particular needs of the local- ity. As to the age when children should learve school, he thought tihey should leave when they were fit, and they must fit the children to be real men and women. As regards technical education they must not in Flintshire shut their eyes to the fact, that large works were springing up, and there should bb provision made for pre- paring the children to enter those indus- tries. Local people should be encouraged to continue to take an interest in the schools, as in the past they had tendered excellent service. Although a Welshman, he would not carry his Welsh sympathies too far. They must give theif "chiidfen the same advantages as English children had, and he would do all he could to oppose the placing of the "Welsh mark" on their children (hear, hear). Let the same certi- ficates be open to the Welsh and English boy. As to the difference between the Board of Education and the Central Welsh Board, he was concerned but little, as ha feit .it was nothing more than a 4uarrel between two departments. In any oase he hoped the Central Welsh Board-would have its share in the work of education in Wales, and that it would work on the same level as any English authority. ] FREE PLACES AND BURSARIES. ] MR S. J. EVANS tuangoini) said the I teachers of North Wales, at the Oolwyn Bay Oonfeiejice, expressed the opinion that secondary education should be free to all boys and girls capable of profiting by I i' trcm which it followed there should be • some kind of examination for free places —a qualifying, not a competitive examina- i tion. The head teachers' should be re- ) quired to prepare a list of pupils of the, approximate age of 12 on the 1st of August  whose attainments were up to the standard reagonably to be expected at that age t Some outsidBrs-say the H.M.I, and the headmaster of the oounty school of the dis- trict—should act as assessors to see that a I normal standard was attained, having regard to the rural or urban character of the school. Younger pupils of equal at- tainmflt." were also entitled to similar pri- vi loges. All who qualified should have free places in the secondary .schools. They sho uld oaso be awarded aubst-antial bur- saries if the means of their parents Wore adjudged inadequate for the maintenance of the pupils. There should also be a merit teat and scholarships awarded on that basis. It was clear that about 30 per 1000 of the population were capable of pro fiting by secondary ed ucation, and that showed present facilities for secondary edu- cation were inadequate. Hostels were also essential in connection with secondary schools, serving scattered areas, and there should be a system of transferring chil- dren from one area to another without the I sacrificing of free places, bursaries, or scholarships. After dealing with the suggestions made by tho Anglesey Authority, the speaker said that as to the differentiation of secon- dary schools in a county, the balance of considerations in Wales seemed to be against it. The case -i n large centres of population was somewhat ditlerent. There a boy with a mathematical bent might I from the start enter a school with a spe- I cial mathematical top, another with a gift for languages might exercise a similar j choice early. In a oounty like Anglesey, however, this oould not be carried out as tho pupil might be transferred to another school, which was neither good for the pupil or school with limited numbers. The solution was fairly simple Let them not over-multiply their secondary schools, and see that the average numbe- was not under 300 and the sixth form big enough to have l at any rate two sides. A COSTLY FAILURE." Continuation schools in sparsely popu lated districts would he believed be a cost- ly failure, and -very inducement should be made for children to attend secondary schools until they were If). But as some- thing would have to be done to carry out the 1918 Act, he suggested that the staffs of the da;, ehoois should be strengthened at sc-lecte; ?ntres, and employed for oon- tipuation iool instruction, from which a practical iliome oould be evolved in the Light of experience and knowledge of looal conditions. The beøt way of utilising museums, etc., would be to-bring them under the control of one authority. With tho object of stimulating local interest he suggested that the Local Education Auth- ority should appomt a consultative com- mittee, composed of representatives of the i oounty governing body, the heads of tho secondary sch ools and elementary .schools, to advise on the OMTeta-tioa &ad co-ordina- tion of whools elementary and secon- dary. In conclusion, he urged that there was a real iieces-Aiy for establishing ooUeges to provide special teachers in physical train- ing and other essential and technical sub- jects for ensuring that the cost to the student should not exceed the present and future cost in a training oollege for ele- mentary sohool teachers. HOSTELS FOR SCHOOLS. I MR EVANS (Holyhead) urged that hos- tels should be provided for schools serving a scattered district, and said it was not right that children from the county should be oompelto take lodgings in towns where they were not under oontroi, and where they oould not work with the same comfort as children who returned home each evening. He also complained that there was far too inuoh importance at- tached to the materialistic side, and too little to the humanities. They had ad- vanced course grants for science, but they oould get nothing for Greek, and it seemed that I Jõ. d. settled the whole thing as to which side the child took, whereas it was an undisputed fact that the Welsh child had a tendency for Greek if he ooutd get the necessary tuition. He considered the advance oourse grant should be given to all schools prepared to take it. and that would help the school to devetop on its own particular lines MISS PRICE (Pwllheli) supported the last speaker in a plea for hoeAeU, and also urged recognition of the assistant teacher on the bodiesoontrolling secondary educa- tion. MR LESLIE SCOTT oontended that the secondary schools should -be froo if the cen- tral schools were, and the question of ex- amination should come to an end. Lot them have more inspection and less ex- amination. MR FOSTER (Llanboris) urged there should be one Board of Education for Eng- land and Wales, a Welsh National Counail to control finance, examination, and in- spection. There should be one local go- verning body to oontrol all the schools, with representatives from each section. AH school fees should be abolished, and maintenance grants made to parents re- quiring same. He was of opinion that the success of the Welsh educational system was due to the policy of the Central Welsh Board, and there should be no violent change in that polioy. Aa regards rural districts he contended that travelling faci- lioes should, be provided, and as to the scale of salaries he urged there should be a national one, allowing teachers to move from one school to another without loss of salary or status. MR WILLIAMS (Llanrwst) considered that it was desirable there should be one authority only for examination and inspec- tion, which must be a representative body, otherwise the work would be left in the hands of the officials. What they wanted to-day were the men of vision who formu- lated the intermediate scheme for Wales years ago (applause). THE ADVANCE COURSE GRANT. j PRINCIPAL SIR HARRY REICHEL I pointed out that there had been criticism aa to the time occupied by the meetings of the controlling bodies, but he reminded them that those bodies really met to pass the work done at many meetings by the duly appointed and responsible commit- tees. He agreed that there was a serious objectign to the atmosphere under which the advance course grants were made, and he pointed out that one school at Bangor, which was compelled to teach Greek, and had done remarkably well, could not under present regulations secure the advance course grant. He felt the grant should be given to schools doing the work irrespec- ti ve of size. MR J- C. DAVIES said the Board of Education would only give the grant where the work was serious, and not elementary in chsavwter. It waa the fault of the schools themselves. PROFESSOR R. W. PHILLIPS (Ban- gor) said they had applied for the recog- nition of the Friars School, Bangor. for the advance oourse g-rant, but were told that the school was too small. He oon- tended that they could not get quality at the top of tho school unless they started their work at the bottom (hear, hear). He hoped they would not do anything to des- troy looal interest in schools, as it was a valuable asset. MR BEVAN EV ANB oalled attention to the question of salaries of teachers in secondary schools, and suggested that the matter should receive consideration on the lines of a national scale The CHAIRMAN agreed, and hoped that no time would be lost in dealing with the matter, but he also hoped that the Go- vernment would provide some of the money. 'In proposing a vote of thanks to the Chairman, MR BRUCE paid a high tri- bute to the pioneers of secondary educa- tion in Denbighshire, and said he was de- lighted to see that Mr Dodd and Mr J. E. Powell were still in harness. The confer- ence had had an extraordinary success, and there had been a wonderful display of interest and enthusiasm, and many valu- able suggestions had been made.

IWOOLWICH TO BECOME A RAILWAY…

BUTTER RATION TO BE REDUCED.

IA FREE GIFT.

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- - - - - - - WELSH DUCK DECOYS.…

- .1 HUNT FOR DUBLIN • I.-…

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LLAN A JT* ^ "HAN URBANI COUNCIL.

CARNARVONSHIRE WAR f ENSIOiNS.

FORTHCOMING INVESTITURES.

INORTH WAIFES ADVERT- ; ISING…

COLWYN BAY MAN AND HISI --…

ISIR ROBT. THOMAS' DEFENCE…

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- - - -_.- - -c ->-CHRISTMAS…

TRAGIC DEATH OF A WELSH !…

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IMPORTANT CONFERENCE . AT…