The Atmore Report, 1930 was a parliamentary report into the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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

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 Atmore Harry Atmore (14 December 1870 – 20 August 1946) 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 th ...

, the

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

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.

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 Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...

, as Labour's Minister of Education in the later 1930s supported many of the measures, including making school attendance compulsory from seven to fifteen which occurred in 1944.NZPD, 1945, E1 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.

Parliamentary Recess Education Committee

Harry Atmore and the Atmore Report

The Depression

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading