In 1965 there were nine teachers' training colleges in New Zealand. Two of them (Dunedin and Christ-church) had been established just prior to the passing of the Education Act of 1877. By 1881 colleges had also been opened at Wellington and Auckland. Each of the four colleges had an attached normal school. For many years trainees had to pay their own expenses, and the main avenue of entrance to teaching was through the pupil-teacher system (in effect a form of apprenticeship).
The rapidly increasing school population and the consequent need for more teachers after the Second World War led to the opening of five more teachers' colleges: Ardmore (fully residential – 1948), Palmerston North (1956), Hamilton (1960), and North Shore (Auckland) (1963); and (in 1964) the post-primary department of the Auckland Teachers' College became an independent institution — the Auckland Post-primary Teachers' College. The rolls at all colleges have increased, and were in 1964:
| Men | Women | Total | |
| Auckland | 194 | 380 | 574 |
| Auckland post-primary | 150 | 323 | 473 |
| North Shore | 72 | 241 | 313 |
| Ardmore | 161 | 376 | 537 |
| Hamilton | 116 | 306 | 422 |
| Palmerston North | 106 | 337 | 443 |
| Wellington | 126 | 395 | 521 |
| Christchurch | 262 | 572 | 834 |
| Dunedin | 140 | 434 | 574 |
| Totals | 1,327 | 3,364 | 4,691 |
These figures include 3,970 primary teacher-trainees and 721 post-primary teacher-trainees. In addition, there were some 1,739 trainees attached to the teachers' colleges but attending university fulltime to complete degrees and diplomas preparatory to undertaking the one-year course for post-primary teaching conducted at Auckland and Christchurch teachers' colleges. Thus, in 1964 there were 6,430 students holding teaching bursaries or studentships, or in receipt of allowances, who were at one stage or another of their training as teachers. (The comparable figure was about 1,400 in 1948.)
A variety of schemes of training is available for students who wish to prepare themselves for entry to the teaching service. Primary teachers are trained in a two-year course at a teachers' training college, followed by a year in a school as a probationary assistant. The two-year course for primary teachers is to be extended to three years in two colleges a year, starting with the intakes of the Hamilton and Dunedin Teachers' Colleges in 1966. Teachers enter the post-primary service in one of three ways: first, three, four, or five years' full-time academic study at a university and (usually) one year at a teachers' college for professional training; secondly, one or two years at a teachers' college studying to become a teacher of such subjects as homecraft, commerce, mathematics and science, woodwork, or metalwork followed (except for the courses in the last two subjects) by a probationary year in a school; and, thirdly, by transfer from the primary service or from some other occupation, the qualifications for which are relevant to post-primary teaching.
Traditionally there was little, if any, special provision for the training of post-primary teachers. About 25 years ago small groups of graduates were admitted to the teachers' training colleges for a one-year course in post-primary teaching. In 1944 post-primary graduate teacher training was concentrated on a special post-primary department at the Auckland Teachers' College, and in 1954 a similar department was established at the Christchurch Teachers' College. In 1964 the post-primary department in Auckland was given the status of an independent teachers' college under its own principal.
A young person wishing to qualify as a graduate post-primary teacher normally completes two years in the sixth form at a post-primary school and attends university full-time on a post-primary teacher studentship. Under this scheme he has his fees paid and receives allowances which are generous enough to enable him to be economically independent. Post-primary teacher bursaries (of less value than studentships) are available to pupils who have had only one year in the sixth form and who wish to take a university diploma course in physical education, home science, or fine arts. Holders of post-primary studentships and bursaries are attached to the nearest teachers' college in a university centre, and receive guidance and supervision with their courses from specially appointed members of the college staff.
On completing his university course, the holder of a studentship or bursary enters the graduate post-primary course at Auckland Post-primary Teachers' College or Christchurch Teachers' College for a one-year course of teacher training (related to the subjects taken in the university course-e.g., arts, mathematics/science, home science, physical education, fine arts, or music). At the present time considerable numbers of students are permitted to enter the one-year post-primary course with incomplete degrees, and they continue their university studies concurrently with their college course. Graduates or near-graduates who have not been holders of a post-primary studentship or bursary are also accepted for the post-primary one-year course immediately following their university course or direct from some other occupation.
The teachers' college programme covers: general studies in education; principles and practice of teaching; practical and theoretical aspects of the teaching of the student's special subjects and related subjects; study of aims and teaching methods for other subjects of the post-primary curriculum; and study of subjects of general value to all post-primary teachers (e.g., music, art, physical education). The student also spends about one-third of his time in supervised observation and practice-teaching in post-primary schools.
On completing the post-primary teacher-training course, the young teacher is free to take up a permanent position in a post-primary school. He is paid on the teachers' salary scales immediately but is not certificated until the end of his first year of teaching.
Non-graduate training courses are run in a number of specialist subjects. Some of these are for pupils leaving post-primary school and some are for adults wishing to enter post-primary teaching from industry or commerce. Girls who have had at least one year in the sixth form may enter a two-year course for commercial teacher-training at Auckland, or a two-year course for mathematics and science teacher-training at Auckland and Christchurch. On completion of either of these courses, the trainee serves for a year as a probationary assistant in a post-primary school before being awarded a specialist-teacher certificate in the case of commercial teachers, and a trained teachers' certificate in the case of mathematics/science teachers. For girls who have been awarded University Entrance or Endorsed School Certificate or who wish to become homecraft teachers (preferably at the Form I-II level) a two-year teachers' college course, followed by a one-year probationary assistantship, is available at the Auckland Post-primary and Dunedin Teachers' Colleges. Those completing this course are given specialist-teachers' certificates.
For adults with practical or academic qualifications related to the post-primary curriculum, there are various teacher-training courses. Experienced craftsmen are trained as teachers of woodwork or metalwork at Auckland Teachers' College, and teachers of woodwork at Christchurch Teachers' College. For experienced office workers wishing to enter teaching, there is a one-year course in the teaching of shorthand, typing, book-keeping, and commercial practice at the Wellington Polytechnic.
Two emergency courses are at present in operation: one (of one year's duration) in homecraft subjects, for single women, at the Christchurch Teachers' College; and short one-term courses at selected post-primary schools for graduates over 25 years of age who are paid teachers' salaries from the time they start training.
In 1964 the numbers of trainees in the various post-primary teacher training courses (except the one-term emergency courses for older graduates) were:
| Homecraft trainees | 152 |
| Metalwork and woodwork trainees | 46 |
| Commercial trainees | 51 |
| Trainees in graduate post-primary teacher training courses | 382 |
| Holders of post-primary teacher studentships and bursaries | 1,739 |
| Total | 2,370 |
Candidates for entry to the two-year teachers' college course for primary teachers must possess the Endorsed School Certificate Examination or, preferably, possess some higher academic qualification. Of the 1965 entrants 55 per cent had University Entrance or a higher qualification. The minimum age for admission to training is usually 17 to 18 years, although numbers of candidates are older than this. The two-year training course is followed by a year's teaching as a probationary assistant in charge of a small class in a public primary school under the supervision of the head teacher and one of the district inspectors. The course can, however, be extended to a third year at a teachers' college for specialised study in music, speech therapy, or university work. From 1965 opportunities for full-time university work for primary trainees in particular were improved by the introduction of a new Teachers' University Studentship under which selected trainees may have a total of up to three years of full-time university study before, during, or after their professional studies at a teachers' college. The two-year college course for primary teachers covers the following compulsory studies: spoken and written English; education and the principles and practice of teaching, including studies and related practical training in child development, with special reference to either the five- to eight-year age group, or the eight- to 13–year age group; the organisation, social life, curriculum, and methods of the primary and intermediate school, with special reference to either the class range Primers to Standard 2, or the class range Standard 2 to Form II; physical education and health education; and music.
In addition, a student is required to pass in four optional studies (“credits”) selected from English literature, history, geography, science, mathematics, art and crafts, physical education, and music (the last two at a more advanced level than in the compulsory studies listed above). Other credit courses can, with the Director's approval, be offered. Passes in units for university degrees can be recognised as credits.
In their second year, students specialise in either junior or senior class teaching. It is in the “credit” studies, however, that the greatest flexibility is introduced into the course. Students with good academic qualifications and ability are encouraged to undertake university studies, lecture fees being paid by the Department of Education.
The student must satisfy the principal that he has reached a satisfactory minimum standard in those of the optional subjects — history, geography, science, art and crafts, and mathematics — that are not being taken as credit courses. There are at least 400 hours of practical training including child study, observation in schools, and practice in teaching. For this work each college has associated with it normal schools and “model” schools. Most of the model schools are organised on the lines of small country schools.
The normal schools and model schools are under the control of the principal. They are, in the main, demonstration schools. Students have their own practical teaching when they are posted to the classrooms of associate teachers in ordinary primary schools for periods of a month or six weeks.
Each college is staffed on the basis of one lecturer to about 16 students (the principal and vice-principal are excluded from the calculation). There are principal lecturers and senior lecturers. Appointments are recommended to the Education Board by a special appointments committee. The appointment of principals and vice-principals requires the approval of the Minister of Education.
On completion of the two-year college course, a student may, if his academic and professional work are of a good standard, be selected to spend a third year at a teachers' college, in lieu of the probationary year, in order to pursue specialised study in speech therapy or music. In 1965, 130 students have been selected under the new Teachers' University Studentship scheme for full-time university study before they begin their professional studies, after their first year at a teachers' college, or at the end of their college course. Until recently third-year specialist studies were also available in art and crafts, physical education and nature study as preparation for itinerant work in the schools, and in the education of the deaf as preparation for teaching in one of the schools for the deaf. Now, however, applications are invited from teachers with a few years' experience to undertake specialist courses of training lasting two terms in physical education, art and crafts, and education of the deaf. The traditional third-year courses of training in these subjects and in nature study have been discontinued.
After the teachers' college course has been completed, trainees not selected for third-year studentships serve a further year as probationary assistants. As such they are members of school staffs, and their positions are defined on the schedules that govern the staffing of schools and the provision of classrooms. Most of them have classes of 25 to 30. Responsibility for the continuance of their professional training passes to the district senior inspectors and the head teachers of the schools. Towards the end of the probationary year, the teaching efficiency of each probationary assistant is judged by an inspector of schools with a view to the issue, by the Director, of a Trained Teachers' Certificate (or a Diploma in Teaching if the trainee has obtained at least six units of which at least three must be university degree units). The probationary assistant is also brought into the primary teachers' appointments scheme by being given a personal report and general assessment. This enables him to apply for, and be appointed to, his first permanent position as a certificated teacher.
In 1963 the Government approved in principle that the present two-year course for primary teachers should be increased to three years for all trainees; a national Officer for Teaching Training was appointed by the Department of Education to be responsible for the supervision and development of primary and post-primary teacher training; and a National Advisory Council on Teacher Training was set up to advise the Minister and the Director on major policies, including the most suitable method of introducing three-year primary training and the size and location of teachers' colleges.
In March 1965 the Government approved the introduction of three-year training for primary teachers on the basis of two colleges a year, starting with Hamilton and Dunedin in 1966. A Teachers' College Buildings Committee was set up to prepare a five-year building programme that would provide the necessary places for the greatly increased enrolments of the next five years.
by Bryan Morgan Pinder, M.A., DIP.ED., Officer for Teacher Training, Department of Education, Wellington.