In New Zealand the State system of education has a broad base: nearly 90 per cent of children between the ages of five and 13 are enrolled at the public primary schools. In the years since primary education on a national scale was instituted in 1877, the schools have reflected with growing strength certain characteristics of our community. It was natural enough in the early years of settlement that the schools should become colonial copies of the common day schools of England and the parish schools of Scotland; but on to them have been grafted a democratic outlook and egalitarian convictions. Thus they have become institutions in which the ideal that everyone is entitled to be educated to the fullest extent of his powers, is put into practice. One marked result is the evenness in the kind and quality of primary schooling available throughout the country.

Pre-school education is not part of the State system of education; it is provided by voluntary organisations - associations - formed for the purpose of establishing and controlling the centres. Government financial assistance is, however, available to these associations and the work is under the general supervision of the Department of Education.

Typical pre-school education is given by the free kindergarten and the play centre. Both institutions provide only a half-day programme for the children attending, because it is believed that half-day attendance is best suited to present needs in New Zealand. The half-day provides a stabilising routine in the lives of the children, and is both socially and emotionally a preparation for the wider experience of the infant school. Further, the half-day attendance acknowledges fully the role of the home and parents as the all-important factor in the sound development of the child.

Free kindergartens cater for two groups of children, one group attending morning sessions on five days of the week, and the other attending afternoon sessions on two afternoons of the week. The play centres, on the other hand, offer a number of sessions ranging from one to four each week, depending on the needs of the district, but attendance for any child is limited to three sessions. In both free kindergartens and in play centres, the programmes are planned to provide long periods of indoor and outdoor play with a minimum of routine periods. It is usually possible to ensure that the children spend a great deal of time out of doors when the weather is favourable.

Government financial assistance is available for free kindergartens which are established and maintained by properly constituted associations and which are recognised for the purpose by the Minister of Education. Even with this assistance, however, considerable financial responsibility falls on the local community. The association must raise locally one-third of the cost of a suitable quarter-acre site, and one-third of the cost of a standard-type building, of furnishing and equipping it, and of developing the outdoor play area. In addition, approximately £400 per annum must be found locally for running and maintenance costs. Government financial assistance is as follows:

• A subsidy of £2 for £1 is paid on approved expenditure on sites, buildings and equipment.

• The Department of Education meets the cost of the salaries of the teachers at approved scale rates and in relation to an approved staffing schedule.

Free kindergartens are “free” in the sense that no fee may be charged, but parents usually make a contribution in the form of weekly donations. The remainder of the funds necessary for running costs is obtained from a variety of fund-raising activities.

Kindergarten teachers are trained at kindergarten training colleges administered by the four largest associations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The course is a two-year one, at the end of which successful candidates gain the New Zealand Kindergarten Diploma awarded by the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union. These teachers are available for the national service. The syllabus of training is drawn up by the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union and approved by the Director of Education. Students in training receive a Government allowance at an annual rate, and a boarding allowance is paid to those who are obliged to live away from home in order to undertake the course. The Government accepts full responsibility for the cost of sites and buildings for kindergarten training colleges and pays a subsidy on the cost of approved furniture and equipment.

Financial assistance is available also for Play Centre Associations on the following basis:

• An “establishment” grant of £50 to help with the cost of equipping the centre to the standard required.

• An annual “maintenance” grant in respect of each recognised centre calculated at the rate of £40 per annum for each session held in the week, with a limit of three sessions in any week.

The costs of running the centres, over and above the Government grant, are met by the parent groups. Charges are made for attendance, usually in the form of an enrolment fee for mothers and attendance fees for each attendance, though in some centres a fee is arranged on a term basis. Additional funds are raised by way of donations and of local effort of various kinds. The great majority of play centres use buildings that are not their own. The movement itself has always strongly supported the principle of better-planned community buildings designed to meet more satisfactorily the needs of many and varied community activities, rather than that of embarking on a policy of providing permanent buildings for its special purpose. In some cases, however, where adequate community buildings have not been available, the play centre group has secured a suitable building of its own. Play centres are run by trained supervisors with the assistance of regular mother helpers on a rota basis. The Play Centres Associations have developed their own supervisor training courses which are conducted under the regional councils of Adult Education. The supervisors, who are recruited from among the ranks of the parents in the centre, undertake practical assignments also, and at the end of the training course are awarded a Supervisor's Certificate. The associations have developed also well planned programmes in the field of parent education, thus making an important contribution to family life.

Free Kindergarten Associations, of which there are 63 administering about 250 recognised kindergartens, are usually affiliated to the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union, the national body concerned with policy making. It is the union which holds the priority list for the development of new kindergarten projects, and it is the union which makes representation to the Minister on the changing needs of the associations. The union speaks for the associations on all policy matters. The Federation of Play Centres Associations is the national body to which all the associations belong, and it is this body that speaks for the movement on matters affecting the welfare of the centres.

by Moira Frances Gallagher, formerly Supervisor of Pre-school Services, Department of Education, Wellington.

Thirty-four post-primary schools, principally single-sex schools, have boarding departments ranging in size from 73 to over 300. Extension of boarding accommodation at schools has not kept pace with the demand for places, despite the fact that the provision of very much improved post-primary facilities in country districts has reduced the proportion of children who must leave their homes to obtain education beyond the primary stage. Many of the boarding establishments have a considerable waiting list of intending boarders, and priorities have to be established. In general, the highest priority is given to pupils in a school's area who cannot travel each day to a school from their homes because of the remoteness of the district in which they live. Form VI pupils who have completed a School Certificate course at a local school, often a district high school which has no adequate facilities for Form VI work, are also given a high priority. Those country pupils who cannot attend a local school and who cannot or who do not wish to go to a boarding school or to board privately in a centre with a post-primary school, may be placed on the roll of the Department of Education's Correspondence School. This school gives instruction in a wide range of post-primary subjects from Form III to Form VI. In addition to providing full-time post-primary education for some children in remote areas and for some others who cannot attend school because of a disability, the Correspondence School supplements the work of the normal schools by giving instruction in individual subjects which the schools cannot offer. This is a very large undertaking at any time; but when staff shortages occur a much greater reliance is placed on the services of the Correspondence School. Without this school, substantial numbers of pupils would be denied education at the post-primary level, or at least an important part of it. The Correspondence School is similar to a district high school in that it has one principal in charge of a primary and a post-primary department. The post-primary section is, however, very much larger than the primary, for most primary school pupils can reach even a small local school. Teachers in the post-primary department are paid on the same scale as teachers in the normal post-primary schools and they are inspected and classified as are all other post-primary teachers.

A very important feature of post-primary education in New Zealand is the wide range of extra-curricular activities which play a significant part in the life of each school. In these activities members of staff take an active interest and spend a great deal of time. Almost every pupil belongs to some school sports team or plays some game organised within the school, and the schools themselves have extensive playing areas which are maintained in good order. There is also a strongly growing interest in non-sporting activities, including music and drama, and in clubs of almost every kind. An account of the extra-curricular work of any school can be read in any school magazine, a publication for which pupils assume the major responsibility. Many schools, too, have a cadet company in which boys are given some basic military training.

Along with the standards of endeavour insisted on in the classroom, the scope and effectiveness of a school's extra-curricular activities contribute to its general spirit and tone. By overseas standards no New Zealand post-primary school is old, but many have already established distinctive traditions.

by Joseph Langmuir Hunter, M.A., B.SC., Chief Inspector of Post-primary Schools, Department of Education, Wellington.

Pupils who have completed the work in Forms III, IV, and V and who have passed the School Certificate Examination enter Form VI, if they wish to return to school. Entry to Form VI is not officially dependent on the passing of School Certificate, but schools generally find this to be a convenient prerequisite. It is, indeed, very rare to find any pupil who deliberately by-passes School Certificate. In the first year in Form VI (commonly known as Lower VI or VIB) almost all pupils are preparing for the University Entrance Examination or, in a very few cases, for the Fine Arts Preliminary Examination. A limited number of pupils may be taking a specialised course which does not lead to either examination, but which will entitle them to an Endorsed School Certificate. This certificate, which may be awarded to any pupil who satisfactorily completes an approved one-year course in Form VI, is an accepted educational qualification. The Universities Entrance Board conducts the University Entrance Examination and permits a number of schools to accredit candidates for the examination. Pupils who have gained the University Entrance qualification either by accrediting or by examination and who return to school for a further year are placed in Upper VI or VIA, from which they may compete for a scholarship for University study at the Board's Entrance Scholarship Examination. They may also qualify for the award of Higher School Certificate which, under certain conditions, permits the holder to obtain a bursary for University study. Pupils may proceed direct to the University on obtaining University Entrance, provided they are old enough; but for most University courses a year at school beyond University Entrance is not only desirable but really necessary, except perhaps for the most mature students.

For a pupil who has an uninterrupted course through a post-primary school there are, therefore, five years of study provided — Forms III, IV, V, Lower and Upper VI. Many pupils remain only up to the point of sitting the School Certificate Examination in Form V; many others complete shorter periods, either the two-year period required for entry into a number of trade apprenticeships or until reaching the age of 15 years. The schools are organised to cater for the requirements of all these types of pupils and are commonly said to be of a multi-course type. Only a few specifically academic schools or a few large technical schools do not offer all the normal post-primary courses. These two kinds of schools place particular emphasis on courses which they are specially designed to offer: the academic schools on professional courses leading to University study and the technical schools on trade courses. Even in these schools, however, subjects may be taken which are not specifically academic on the one hand or technical on the other. Other schools are truly multi-course, though single-sex schools will have only those courses which are suitable either for boys or girls. The advantage of this type of organisation is that boys and girls may obtain the type of post-primary education they desire or for which they have particular aptitude in their local area, the one restriction being that in areas which can support only a small school some of the more specialised courses cannot be provided. Agriculture courses are offered provided there is sufficient demand. A disadvantage of the multi-course school system on a national basis is that some of the courses in certain schools cannot attract large enough numbers of pupils to form efficient classes. This is expensive of staff and equipment, and poses very difficult problems of internal school organisation.

The two fundamental elements of the structure of post-primary education as laid down by the regulations are:

• A “common core” of subjects to be taken by all pupils in all types of school and in all courses.

• A School Certificate Examination conducted annually by the Department of Education in a wide range of subjects.

The “common core” of subjects consists of English language and literature, social studies, general science, elementary mathematics, music, a craft or one of the fine arts, and physical education. These “core” subjects are not subject to external examination, but completion of satisfactory work in them is required of all candidates for the School Certificate Examination. Though basic syllabuses of instruction in these subjects are laid down in the regulations, very great latitude is allowed to schools and individual teachers both in content and method of presentation. These subjects may provide a satisfactory general course for the many pupils who do not intend to remain at post-primary school until they reach the stage of attempting the School Certificate Examination. At the same time they can be included within courses leading to this examination and, where they do not lead to an actual examination subject, they ensure a broadening of the course and an achieving of the aim of general education. The minimum number of hours each week to be allotted to the compulsory “core” subjects is specified; but “core” subjects overlap so extensively with the subjects taken normally in any course that schools have little difficulty in allocating the minimum times. In fact most schools give much more time than the prescribed minimum in the majority of “core” subjects. In a normal “academic” course, as an example, only music, art and craft and physical education do not lead to examination, and the time required for this section of the “core” is only about four hours per week in Forms III and IV and less in Form V, where pupils are prepared for the School Certificate Examination.

The School Certificate Examination was originally intended for most candidates at the completion of four years' post-primary study, and prescriptions were drawn up on this basis. Only the most able pupils, it was thought, would be able to cover the course in three years. Now very few pupils wait until their fourth year to make their first attempt at the examination. Many who fail at the first attempt enter again for the examination in the following year, and almost 70 per cent of those who take the examination obtain a pass either at the first attempt or subsequently. The examination subjects are English (compulsory) and 31 optional subjects from which the candidates are required to select a minimum of three. Most candidates elect to sit in English and four optional subjects; but for a pass each candidate is required only to obtain 30 per cent in English and a total of 200 marks in four subjects including English, scores of under 30 in any subject not being counted. The list of School Certificate subjects includes the languages, mathematics and the sciences, history and geography, art, music, commercial subjects, homecraft and clothing, agriculture subjects, practical workshop subjects, and technical drawing. The examination is therefore open to all pupils, whatever course they may be following in a post-primary school. The number of candidates for the examination has increased from about 8,000 at its inception in 1946 to over 35,800 in 1964.

Subject prescriptions for the School Certificate Examination are kept under constant review by a Revision Committee representative of the Department of Education and the teachers. When this committee is convinced that a particular prescription requires revision, it sets up a small working committee of experts to make a detailed study of the prescription and to recommend changes. The Revision Committee is concerned not only with the revision of prescriptions but also with additions to and deletions from the list of subjects.

The first post-primary or secondary schools in New Zealand were of the English Grammar School type with courses of a predominantly academic character. Then in 1905 came the first Technical High School offering courses in practical subjects. In the years following, a number of these schools were established throughout the country. They catered not only for those wishing to prepare themselves for future trade occupations but also for the many pupils for whom the academic courses of the secondary schools were quite unsuitable. At the same time the newer secondary schools, particularly in the smaller centres, widened the range of subjects and courses offered, and became in part secondary and in part technical schools. Since 1945 all the schools beyond the primary or intermediate school level have been known as post-primary schools. A few of the older secondary schools, particularly in large centres of population, have retained their strongly academic character while the older technical schools have a similar bias towards technical subjects. But all the schools, whatever their bias, are classified as post-primary schools, are operated under the same regulations, given the same types of grants, and staffed by teachers paid on the same salary scales. They prepare pupils for the same examinations and are inspected by the same Department of Education inspectors. The older schools have retained the names by which they were first known — grammar schools, high schools, colleges, technical high schools, and technical colleges — while the newer ones have adopted whichever of these names they wish, usually high schools or colleges. By 1964 there were 183 post-primary schools in New Zealand. In addition, there were 81 district high schools in the smaller country districts. These schools are primary schools with an attached secondary department, staffed by post-primary teachers one of whom, known as the senior secondary assistant, has responsibility under the headmaster for the running of the post-primary classes in the school. The smallest of these departments have only about 20 pupils and one teacher; the largest have rolls of over 200 pupils, with nine or 10 teachers. When a secondary department reaches this size and when there is evidence of further steady growth in roll, the translation of the department to a full post-primary school with its own principal may be considered. The post-primary schools themselves range in size from this mark up to about 1,300 pupils. A new post-primary school in an urban area will, however, start with a Form III (first year post-primary) entry only. In the following year the new school will have classes in Form III and Form IV, and will grow by the addition of one form each year until it has reached its maximum size. The Department of Education has for some years been working on an optimum roll of approximately 850 for co-educational schools and 600–700 for single-sex schools. Co-educational schools in country districts may not reach a roll of 850; urban schools generally reach the optimum roll numbers or exceed them.

The general pattern of development of post-primary schools in New Zealand has been the establishment first of a co-educational school in a centre, though this is so far back in history in the case of the main cities that it is almost forgotten. Smaller centres still have only the one school for boys and girls, but in all larger towns the one school has been split at some time into separate boys' and girls' schools. In recent years almost all the new schools established, including those in the suburban districts of cities and large towns, have been coeducational. Attention is paid, however, to local opinion when a choice between types of school is practicable.

The permissible staffing of post-primary schools is calculated by means of a formula. This gives some weighting to schools with smaller rolls and lays down certain staffing allowances which may be claimed by each school for heads of department duties and careers teachers' duties. Apart from the principal of the school, the formula allows one teacher to approximately 22 pupils in the smaller schools, and one teacher to approximately 25 pupils in the larger ones. Some classes are, however, much smaller than this in the upper school (Form VI) and in certain specialised subjects. It is therefore not unusual for first- and second-year classes to be as large as 36. In addition to the regular teaching staff, including part-time staff, schools may appoint part-time teachers to instruct in instrumental music outside school hours and also may appoint library assistants. The teachers in the schools are, in the main, specialists in particular subjects or groups of subjects. The normal preparation for those engaged in teaching the academic subjects is a university degree followed by a one year's professional training course. Teachers in trade subjects will generally have had a period of trade experience followed by a year's teacher training course. While every encouragement is given to teachers to undertake professional training, suitably qualified men and women may be accepted as post-primary teachers without this training. Promotion for all post-primary teachers depends in the first place on their classification or “grading”. This is assessed each year by inspectors of post-primary schools. Salaries are paid on a national scale, though all teachers are appointed by local controlling authorities of schools, usually boards of governors in the case of post-primary schools.

The present curriculum of all post-primary schools in New Zealand, whether “state” or “private”, is based on the provisions of the Education (Post-primary Instruction) Regulations of 1945. These regulations themselves are the outcome of the recommendations by a committee of 14 persons (commonly known as the Thomas Committee from the name of its chairman) which was set up by the then Minister of Education in 1942 to review post-primary education in New Zealand. The committee's work was carried out at a time when far-reaching changes were already taking place in the general nature of post-primary education in the country. The Proficiency Examination at the conclusion of the primary school course had been abandoned a few years previously and a changed system of promotion through primary classes had been introduced. A greatly increased number of pupils was now entering post-primary schools, and for many of these the courses provided by post-primary schools were inadequate. Steps had already been taken to introduce a School Certificate Examination of much wider scope than the existing Matriculation or University Entrance Examination, to suit the needs of the great mass of pupils. Furthermore, a raising of the school “leaving age” to 15 was contemplated. The Thomas Committee was charged with the duty of recommending changes in the whole structure of post-primary education which would ensure a well balanced education for all types of pupils who would enter the schools. The Committee's report contained not only recommendations on the structure of post-primary education but also detailed syllabuses of instruction and prescriptions for the subjects in the new School Certificate Examination.

Post-primary education in New Zealand includes that section of education provided in schools beyond the primary and intermediate school stage and before that given in universities or in senior technical institutions. The average age of entry of pupils to post-primary schools is 13 plus and, while all must stay at school until attaining the age of 15, many carry on until the completion of a full course of study at the age of 17 and even later. Post-primary education is free for any pupil who has completed a primary school course or who is 14 years of age, and the free place is generally tenable up to the end of the year in which the pupil reaches the age of 19.

There are two agricultural colleges — Lincoln College (formerly known as Canterbury Agricultural College) situated at Lincoln about 13 miles south-west of Christchurch, and Massey University of Manawatu (formerly known as Massey Agricultural College) at Palmerston North. Lincoln has residential accommodation for 300 students, a modern library (George Forbes Memorial), a variety of buildings for teaching, research, and social purposes, a new block of laboratories in course of construction, and ample playing fields. Surrounding the college are farm lands aggregating 1,342 acres on which arable, dairy, and sheep farming are practised, while 6 miles away, on light land, is “Ashley Dene”, a sheep farm of 878 acres. Massey University has residential accommodation for over 300 men and 30 women students, ample lecture rooms and laboratories, a library, a building specially for wool-classing instruction, and well-equipped buildings for the Faculties of Veterinary Science and Food Technology, besides other amenities for the social and physical well-being of students. New buildings for arts and general studies and for biological sciences are in course of construction as well as buildings for the Veterinary Science Faculty. The farms include three properties: an area of 1,250 acres of heavy clay upland and light loam river flats surrounding the college; a hill farm, “Tuapaka”, of 1,050 acres eight miles distant on the lower slopes of the ranges; and an area of 1,900 acres of hard high country, 64 miles distant in Southern Hawke's Bay.

At both agricultural colleges the farm livestock include the principal breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry characteristic of their respective districts. But because in the Manawatu area and in the North Island generally dairy farming is extensively practised, Massey University has more specialised equipment in that field, including a modern dairy factory and a herd of about 160 dairy cows. Massey University, therefore, provides the option dairy technology (now food technology) in its degree courses, as well as diploma courses in dairying and in dairy manufactures. It offers also a diploma in sheep farming, courses for certificates in wool-classing and in poultry, and some short courses.

Both institutions have university status, and both were recognised as professional schools of the University of New Zealand until the dissolution of that body at the end of 1961. Their matriculated students could pursue courses for degrees of that University: a three-year course for the degree of B.Ag. or B.Ag. (Hort.), and thereafter, if they so elected, to continue for a fourth year to the degree of B.Ag.Sc. or B.Ag.Sc. (Hort.), or at Massey Agricultural College to the degree of B.Ag.Sc. (Food Tech). The first part of the course for each of these degrees comprises the fundamental sciences — physics, chemistry, botany, zoology. Students who have taken any one of the four-year degrees may then proceed to the corresponding degree of M.Ag.Sc., while those with the necessary qualifications may further pursue research in appropriate topics for the degree of Ph.D.

Lincoln College is now, academically, an integral part of the University of Canterbury, and its students read for degrees of that University. Massey Agricultural College, for academic purposes, was affiliated with the Victoria University of Wellington, but in 1963 was raised to the status of a University College and in 1964 to that of an autonomous university. Students therefore read for degrees of one or other of these universities. Both, as university institutions, rely for financial support mainly on Government grants received through the University Grants Committee. Each has an academic head or principal — vice-chancellor in the case of Massey University of Manawatu — and an adequate range of professors and lecturers as well as ancillary technical staff.

Lincoln College

Lincoln College is the older institution: it is, in fact, the oldest agricultural college in the Southern Hemisphere and yields priority in the Commonwealth only to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester in England and to the college in Ontario. Founded with an endowment of 100,000 acres of pastoral land set aside in 1873 by the Provincial Council of Canterbury, and under W. E. Ivey who had been appointed as first director in 1878, the “Lincoln School of Agriculture” was opened in 1880 with the declared object of “providing a practical education in colonial farming at moderate cost and of affording facilities for the study of related sciences.” After a good start and an increase of accommodation to provide for 30 students in addition to the original 20, the school lost prestige, partly owing to the economic depression of the 1880s, partly because of maladministration of its endowment funds by the governing body, the Board of Canterbury College (now University), and partly because of the weak organisation (though he was a good lecturer) of John Bayne who became director on the death of W. E. Ivey in 1893. In 1896 the school was placed under its own board of governors and has so continued, for, notwithstanding the academic link with the University of Canterbury, renewed and strengthened by the Act of 1961, the board has retained control of its staff and buildings and of its considerable area of farming land.

Bayne had been succeeded in 1901 by William Lowrie, and he in turn by R. E. Alexander (1909–35). Lowrie was a very strong and capable administrator who fully restored the prestige of the school or college, as it came to be recognised, and broadened its educational objectives. At first it had offered only a Diploma in Agriculture, but as more advanced instruction came to be provided, the college was recognised by the University of New Zealand and, in 1913, for the first time a student qualified for a degree in agriculture. The middle and later parts of the long reign of Alexander, overshadowed to an extent by the war and its aftermath, became again a period of stagnation. The college failed to respond to the increasing demand for more varied courses and for the greater number of the graduates needed to lead the way in agricultural teaching, research, and extension; and, mainly as a result of Lincoln's unimaginative policy, Massey College came into being. The advent of Professor E. R. Hudson (1936–52) brought new life and vigour, a great expansion of activities, and progress in every direction. In more recent years, under Dr M. M. Burns, and in part because of statutes that permit the whole course of study to be done in the college, the proportion of students reading for university degrees has greatly increased and study at university level, as well as research, has come to be of first importance. The college, however, still offers some courses of sub-university status for diplomas in agriculture, in horticulture, in valuation and farm management, and in agricultural engineering. It also gives an intensive course of eight months, open to young men with approved farming experience, and various shorter courses. College teachers and instructors also participate in a great variety of extension work among farming communities in various parts of the South Island. Farmers' field days and conferences, the publication of bulletins, broadcasting, and the writing of articles for the press are other activities of the staff.

Research is always in progress covering a range of fields that includes animal and plant nutrition, the breeding of improved crops, pasture, plants, and stock, wool production, soil science, agricultural economics, the control of plant and animal diseases, and horticultural problems. Research is supported both from college funds, and by sums provided by Departments of State, and by producer boards. Particular mention may be made of the introduction of subterranean clover by E. R. Hudson, of the demonstration of the value of lime on the light lands of Canterbury by M. M. Burns, of the trials of rams of various breeds as fat-lamb sires by I. E. Coop and others, of the cross-breeding experiments, especially Romney × Corriedale, of I. E. Coop, and the researches into some aspects of animal reproduction by D. S. Hart. But it should not be forgotten that the first director, W. E. Ivey, demonstrated the use of artificial fertilisers, especially superphosphate, while the second, J. Bayne, first demonstrated the Southdown ram as a sire of fat-lambs. The work of F. W. Hilgendorf in type selection and early cross-breeding among wheats has been widely acclaimed.

Located on, or on land adjacent to, Lincoln properties are the Crop Research Division and the Botany Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the headquarters of the Tussock Grassland and Mountain Land Institute.

Massey University of Manawatu

Massey Agricultural College was founded in 1926. It has already been said that in those days there was an insistent demand for something better than the training Lincoln College was offering, a demand which found expression in agitation for a college in the North Island. With a subsidised bequest from Sir Walter Buchanan, Victoria University College had in 1924 established a Chair and appointed G. S. Peren as professor, and next year Auckland University College, with a bequest from Sir John Logan Campbell, had followed suit, appointing Professor W. Riddet. Peren and Riddet, each with a Chair and a few students but without farm or equipment, got together and persuaded their respective councils to combine their resources to promote one college at a central site. The Government of the day supported the scheme and, after thorough investigation, purchased the necessary land, and the College was established in fine new buildings in beautiful grounds across the Manawatu river from Palmerston North. Professor Peren (now Sir Geoffrey Peren) was appointed principal, and Professor Riddet vice-principal, dean of dairying, and director of the independent Dairy Research Institute which was founded about the same time under the auspices of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and supported by funds contributed by Government and by the dairy industry. From small beginnings the college grew rapidly. A laboratory for food technology is built and also buildings for the Faculty of Veterinary Science were opened in March 1964. Besides this the Arts Faculty, formerly organised by the Victoria University of Wellington, in Palmerston North, has been absorbed in the new University as a Faculty of General Studies.

Massey University teachers in the Faculty of Agriculture are also continually engaged in research. In earlier days F. W. Dry's investigations into the inheritance of wool characteristics attracted wide attention. More recently J. H. Tetley's work on animal parasites, C. R. Barnicoat's investigations on the structure of teeth of the sheep and the milk yield of ewes, W. M. Webster's work on Leptospira, R. A. Barton's on meat carcasses, the crossbreeding trials (Cheviot × Romney) of A. L. Rae and others, and I. L. Campbell's work on the feeding of dairying cattle, have contributed to fundamental knowledge on these matters, and in many cases to practical applications.

Separated only by a road from Massey University are the buildings and trial grounds of the Grasslands Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. As is the case at Lincoln, there is close cooperation between the State Departments and the College, and several distinguished scientists employed in the Departments have appointments as honorary lecturers in the colleges.

Both colleges receive many students from other parts of the British Commonwealth, and both take a large and important part in training students from South-East Asia under the Colombo Plan.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.

• Education in New Zealand, Butchers, A. G. (1930)
• The Administration of Education in New Zealand, Parkyn, G. W. (ed), (1954)
• Educating New Zealand, Campbell, A. E. (1941)
• Compulsory Education in New Zealand, UNESCO (1952)
• Origins of the Primary School Curriculum, 1840–78, Ewing, J. L. (1960)
• The District High Schools of New Zealand, Thom, A. H. (1950)
• The Intermediate Schools of New Zealand — a survey, Beeby, C. E. (1938)
• The High Schools of New Zealand — a critical survey, Murdoch, J. H. (1943)
• Entrance to the University, Thomas, W., Beeby, C. E., Oram, M. H. (1939)
• The University of New Zealand — an historical survey, Beaglehole, J. C. (1937)
• Success and failure at the University, Parkyn, G. W. (1959)
• The Technical Schools in New Zealand — an historical survey, Nicol, J. (1940)
• Vocational Guidance in New Zealand, McQueen, H. C. (1940)
• Educating backward children in New Zealand, Winterbourne, R. (1944)
• Children of High Intelligence — a New Zealand Study, Parkyn, G. W. (1948)
• Adult Education in New Zealand — a critical and historical survey, Thompson, A. B. (1945)
• Impressions of Education in New Zealand and inverted snobbery and the problem of secondary education, Kandel, I. L. (1937).

The work of the two agricultural colleges, their courses leading to degrees, and those of sub-university level are described in the following section.

There are other educational agencies catering for prospective young farmers, some of them formally organised, others of an informal nature. Among the latter are the Auckland Youths' Farm Settlement Scheme and the Canterbury Farm Training Scheme. Both of these take care of boys after an adequate school education, place them on selected farms where they will get a variety of experience, and enter into an arrangement with the boys that will encourage saving.

Organised centres of training are the Salvation Army Training Farm, the Maori Boys' Training Farm at Te Whaiti, both run for special purposes, the Smedley Training Farm in Hawke's Bay, the Wairarapa Training Farm, and Flock House near Bulls. Smedley and the Wairarapa Farm are mainly under local control, and district applicants get preference for the eight or ten places available each year. Flock House is under the Department of Agriculture. It can take 50 students for the course of one year. In each of these centres trainees learn by doing — there is little theoretical instruction. A new centre — the Telford Farm Training Institute — was opened in 1965 at Balclutha. It was established by an enabling Act of Parliament, and on a farm given by the trustees of the Telford Estate. It will provide a one-year course for about 80 students.

Among other informal agencies that contribute to the education of the young farmer are Young Farmers' Clubs, the National Council of Adult Education, the Broadcasting Service, and the extension services of the Department of Agriculture, and the Dairy Board. The role of the press is also significant. Most of the newspapers carry pages of instruction as well as of news. The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, a Government publication, carries many instructional articles, as also do Straight Furrow, the New Zealand Farmer, and Meat and Wool. Each of the three major parts of the farming industry — dairying, meat production, and wool production — has its own special paper, named respectively the New Zealand Dairy Exporter, the New Zealand Meat Producer, and the Wool Digest.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.

Up till the turn of the century most post-primary schools were under the control of independent boards, and they were steeped in the grammar school tradition. The advent of George Hogben as Inspector-General of Schools in 1899 brought about some important changes. He gradually forced the schools to open their doors to more free-place pupils, and he encouraged them to add practical subjects to their rather bookish curriculum. He also encouraged the establishment of district high schools in the hope that they would develop courses of direct interest to the farming community round them. Yet Hogben's valiant efforts achieved surprisingly little; some secondary schools started agricultural courses; some education boards appointed itinerant agricultural instructors; but the new district high schools tended to follow the academic pattern, which offered the definite objective of success in the public examinations, and — what many country people wanted for their children — the chance of a job in the city. Hogben had, in theory at least, the backing of the representatives of the farmers. The chief handicap to the extension of his ideas was the lack of trained teachers; the only place capable of giving higher education in agriculture — Lincoln College — was interested only in its original objective — training practical farmers. Most agricultural instructors, whether for schools or for the then limited requirements of the Department of Agriculture, had to be imported.

In the 1920s, developments that affected agricultural teaching both in the schools and on the farms took place in many directions. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was established; Massey Agricultural College was founded; Lincoln College was revitalised and its objectives enlarged; the college courses for university degrees were revised; the extension service of the Department of Agriculture was enlarged; and two post-primary schools — Rangiora and Feilding — with economic farm units under their own control, were developed. From that decade forward, progress in the postprimary schools has been steady, but except in a few places never spectacular, and that mainly, but not entirely, for the reason that the supply of competent teachers has never been adequate. In earlier years agriculture was included in the optional subjects for the University Entrance examination; it has for long been excluded, a condition that makes it a less attractive subject to teachers who look for a share of work in the upper school as a means of proving their worth.

Some schools merely offer one or more phases of agricultural instruction as subjects, a line of action that is simplified by the fact that the syllabus for the School Certificate examination includes four such subjects — namely, general agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, and horticulture. Such schools usually have a suitably equipped laboratory, and some of them a small area of land for demonstration plots, though others rely on visits to neighbouring farms. A few schools, such as Feilding and Northland College have large and efficiently managed farms and make a feature of their integrated agricultural courses.

The situation in 1964 may be summarised. The table below shows the number of schools offering one or more of the agricultural subjects as at 1 July 1964. The number in brackets gives the total number of all schools in each category in the Dominion.

The next table shows the number of boys who are taking one or more agricultural subjects, and, in brackets, the total enrolment of boys as at 1 July 1964.

The relatively small proportion of pupils taking an agricultural subject is due mainly to the following considerations: many farmers prefer their sons who intend to be farmers to take a general course at school, and a more specialised course later, after experience on the farm; few parents not engaged in farming wish their sons to take an agricultural course because of the restricted opportunities for boys without financial resources to become farmers; boys wishing to qualify themselves for teaching or research in agriculture must later take a degree course for which the best school preparation is basic training in the pure sciences; agricultural courses in schools vary greatly in efficiency, and some still tend to attract the “weaker brethren”, thus weakening the course; school courses in agriculture yield no credits towards employment as is the case with those whose school course is followed by apprenticeship to a trade.