The foundation of school inspection in the Wellington Province : a study of the work of Robert Lee

Abstract

Practically the latest of the provinces to develop any adequate system of education, and perhaps because of the consequent lack of school tradition, Wellington, on the formation of its Education Board in 1872, was quick to react to educational opinion and legislation in England and elsewhere. The survey which is presented herein contains evidence of reforms initiated into Wellington well before they became Departmental legislation. If the province fell victim to the error of imposing upon children in rural schools in education devised for the youth of English industrial towns, it was only reinforcing a trend all too common in British colonial administration - that of providing an antidote to the nostalgia felt by colonists at leaving behind all that was dear in the customs and institutions of the "Old Country." The education of an age is intimately related to the values of that age. Two trends, both utilitarian, stand out clearly in the period reviewed - 1855 to 1914. The first, in order of time, derived from the conviction that nothing more was necessary for the education of the working classes than training in the "three R's", to enable them to read the newspapers, vote intelligently, and occupy the lower positions in shop and office. The second was a devout faith in the potency of "hand and eye" training, introduced into the curriculum to recruit workers for the more skilled factory positions, and thus keep Britain in the van of industrial progress