Page 2712 - Week 09 - Thursday, 9 August 1990
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The second point is:
The pre-school is a small place where primary attention is given to children's rights -
it is a shame Mr Stevenson is not here -
and needs, where children are encouraged to take initiative in inventing activities.
The third point:
The pre-school is a small place where for children there are new people to get to know, living things to care for and understand, where feelings of all kinds are acceptable and are allowed to be shown.
This paper was presented to a group of parents by Mrs Anne Murray, who was in the Education Department in 1981, and I will be quoting from it more extensively. Its emphasis is the importance of the small preschool, the surrounds, the feeling of comfort that the children have.
If you were to take the other extreme of education in our compulsory education system, if you go to the high schools, you would expect the sorts of things that Mr Humphries is talking about, curriculum options and the range - - -
Mr Jensen: You mean non-compulsory.
MR MOORE: No, I said the high schools.
Mr Jensen: I thought you said college, sorry.
MR MOORE: This applies even more with the colleges. But look at the high schools where you expect people to be much more independent. You expect them to deal with a range of teachers and a range of subjects. That is fine. Somewhere in the middle goes the primary school. One of the great advantages in primary school education, especially for the younger children, is the smaller school, because it is that smaller school which provides the same sorts of things that Mrs Murray is talking about for the smaller children, so they are not overwhelmed by larger schools. This is something which I believe Mr Humphries has been unable to cope with and something that he has been unable to wrap his mind around.
Mrs Murray then went on to say:
Pre-school Consultants, and other professional staff are able to offer advice on the most suitable programs for children, through observation, and a background of experience and specialist knowledge.
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