The Background of Guidance
New Zealand Council tor Educational Research. rp. izs. 6s.
This book gives an account of studies made by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. It describes the organization of education in New Zealand and the way this organization works out in practice and thus shows the general setting into which all educa- tional and vocational guidance in the country must be fitted.
After a short account of the types of school available and numbers to be found in each it describes the enquiries made by the investigators. A study was made, for example, of the causes which determine whether a child leaves school finally for work at the end of the primary school course or whether he passes on to technical, secondary or other form of post-primary education. Although in its official organization New Zealand would appear to give somewhat more ” equivalence of opportunity ” than this country in that free places are available for all reaching a certain standard of proficiency in primary school, it is not surprising to find that many of the same influences are at work in New Zealand as are found in the mother country in determining the choice of school or work. Among these influences are the level of intelli- gence of the pupil, success in primary school, and the socio-economic level of the parents.
Other enquiries concerned the average age at which children leave primary school (partly determined by their success or failure and their need to repeat a class); the distribution of good, average and poor reports from head teachers of primary school, occupational status of parents, etc. Further, a study was made of the occupa- tional intentions of the pupils in primary schools together with the reasons for their choice; the relation between this choice and the length of stay in school, the age of leaving primary school, parental occupation, etc.; also into the relation- ship between the occupation originally intended and the one actually entered. Research was also carried out into the types of occupation available and the various requirements for entering them- The investigators, in emphasizing the need for a thorough study of the individual as well as of the environmental influences and possibilities, conclude that much of the study should be done by trained teachers rather than by the professional psychologists. This is a conclusion which would be fully supported by workers in other countries, since it is obviously the teachers who have the greatest opportunity for making a thorough study of the child.
The book illustrates the necessity for a study of existing conditions by all those undertaking guidance work, but the actual results in the figures given are of value only for those working in New Zealand itself. M.B.S.
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