The Atmore Report, 1930
Encyclopedia
The Atmore Report, 1930 was a parliamentary report into the New Zealand
Education System which became a landmark document and akin to progressive educationists' charter.
Parliamentary Committee, with a wide range of reference to sit during the recess-the so-called Parliamentary Recess Education Committee-and "consider all matters relating to education and public instruction generally".
The Recess Education Committee's Report was presented in August 1930. The committee recommended that both primary and secondary education should become more practical and less academic; less tethered to examinations. It also proposed that section 10 of the Education Amendment Act 1920 (which would make school attendance compulsory for every child from seven to fifteen) become operative.
, the New Zealand
Minister of Education, was anxious to realise the policy and ideas set out in the Recess Committee's Report.
Before it appeared in print Atmore had already sanctioned revision of the primary school syllabus in a manner designed to allow "teachers as much freedom as they are competent to take to organise their teaching in anyway that most appeals to them".
resigned. He was replaced as Minister of Education by Robert Masters
who cut expenses to the bone. In the next fifteen months teachers' salaries were reduced, the school admission age was raised from five to six, and many students left school to assist their parents in the economic crisis.
The Atmore Report was a very important document in the development of the New Zealand Education System and is recognised by many as a progressive educationists' charter.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Education System which became a landmark document and akin to progressive educationists' charter.
Parliamentary Recess Education Committee
In November 1929 saw the appointment of a New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Parliamentary Committee, with a wide range of reference to sit during the recess-the so-called Parliamentary Recess Education Committee-and "consider all matters relating to education and public instruction generally".
The Recess Education Committee's Report was presented in August 1930. The committee recommended that both primary and secondary education should become more practical and less academic; less tethered to examinations. It also proposed that section 10 of the Education Amendment Act 1920 (which would make school attendance compulsory for every child from seven to fifteen) become operative.
Harry Atmore and the Atmore Report
Harry AtmoreHarry Atmore
Harry Atmore was a New Zealand Independent Member of Parliament for Nelson in the South Island.Harry Atmore held the Nelson seat as an Independent for a total of thirty years from 1911 to 1914 and then from 1919 to his death in 1946...
, the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Minister of Education, was anxious to realise the policy and ideas set out in the Recess Committee's Report.
Before it appeared in print Atmore had already sanctioned revision of the primary school syllabus in a manner designed to allow "teachers as much freedom as they are competent to take to organise their teaching in anyway that most appeals to them".
The Depression
In September 1931, the progressive Harry AtmoreHarry Atmore
Harry Atmore was a New Zealand Independent Member of Parliament for Nelson in the South Island.Harry Atmore held the Nelson seat as an Independent for a total of thirty years from 1911 to 1914 and then from 1919 to his death in 1946...
resigned. He was replaced as Minister of Education by Robert Masters
Robert Masters
Robert Masters was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party, and a cabinet minister.He was Minister of Education in the Liberal-Reform coalition Government of New Zealand from 1931 to 1934 as a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council, after being a Minister without Portfolio from 1930...
who cut expenses to the bone. In the next fifteen months teachers' salaries were reduced, the school admission age was raised from five to six, and many students left school to assist their parents in the economic crisis.
Legacy
Atmore's plans for creating a new order in the schools had been swamped by the wave of retrenchment of the early 1930s. But Peter Fraser, as Labour's Minister of Education in the 1940s followed through with many of the measures, including making school attendance compulsory from seven to fifteen which occurred in 1944.The Atmore Report was a very important document in the development of the New Zealand Education System and is recognised by many as a progressive educationists' charter.
Further reading
- Grayland, Joseph The Atmore Report of 1930 BA (Hons), Massey University, 1995