How The Broadcast Lesson

[?]Samoa Shows

[?]E Way

How The Broadcast Lesson Overcomes Teacher Shortage

By R. F. Rankin

ie author, who has studied ational methods in New Zea- , Australia, England and Japan, spent the last 6 years with the nation Department in Western oa and is at the moment of n 9, acting Officer-in-Charge of •oZ Broadcasts. This article has approval of the Department of '.ation, Western Samoa, and Id he of considerable interest to ationahsts in other Pacific terri s, where lack of trained teachers ampenng the great work of ation.

N countries have as many visits rom overseas experts as Western amoa. United Nations Missions

countless educationalists,

Hnists, geographers, agriculists, doctors, entomologists, writers seem to make Samoa Mecca. Each has criticisms suggestions to make but one institution which invariably ves praise is the School Broadig Service. This is genuinely ie as it provides a model of

education by radio for backward countries and its progress is being watched from all corners of the world. j n the six years since its in ception it has proved astonishingly effective in raising the standard of education amongst Samoa’s 95,000 people. It is rarely that the effects of an experiment in education can be felt in so short a time or in such a decisive manner, but Samoa has proved beyond all doubt that the radio, with proper technique, can contribute more to develop mental education than any other medium.

It is based on the culmination of ideas from educationalists in timately aware of the educational needs of Samoa, and its form is not static, new methods and techniques being tried and tested frequently.

The teachers concerned with the preparation of lessons make in spections of village schools and watch and listen as a class takes a transcribed lesson. New methods and techniques are adopted or dis

carded according to the carefully evaluated reactions of the listening pupils.

The School Broadcasting system in Samoa is designed to meet a specific need; to make up for the great lack of sufficiently educated and trained teachers and a lack of text books in the schools. (Over)

Most of the teachers have had only a Std. 4 education before be ginning the three-years Training College course. With the rise in local educational standards, a number of district schools have been set up to take up to Forms I and 11.

Many of the lessons given these pupils contain subject matter foreign to the teacher and one aim of the school broadcasts is to fill this gap in the teacher’s knowledge.

Also, the curriculum of the whole school, from infants to forms, is built around the broadcasts and this gives a controlled unity to the work done in all schools throughout the islands. This unity and com pulsion to prepare work for the radio lessons gives a general corre lation to the educational system as a whole that would be almost im possible to attain with a teaching staff of such narrow background and experience.

Of the 25 school hours per week, generally only one hour for each group of Primers 1 and 2, 3 and 4, Standards 1 and 2, 3 and 4 and forms 1 and 2, is taken by the actual radio lesson.

The preparation of scripts and the presentation of lessons takes only a relatively small part of the radio teachers’ time because the subject matter of all lessons is pre pared according to the syllabus some months ahead of time. All village and mission schools taking radio lessons receive cyclostyled booklets

covering a six-weeks period of school work. The preparation of these booklets, generally of about 40 pages, involves considerable re search and some artistic skill, as an essential part of every lesson is the illustrations which, of course, are included in the booklet.

One booklet is produced every six

weeks for infants, one for the foe standards and one for forms I au 11. All booklets (except those ft the forms) are written in Samoas The only radio lessons in Englii. are those for the forms, or O actual English lessons for each cla;£ The radio hour (commencing 8.30 a.m.) is for a different clas

morning, and usually consists ur lessons, each of 15 minutes ;ion. Each lesson is inter ed with two or three minutes vely music when pupils stand give vent to natural Samoan dancing, following a leader in of the class. This break stimu the pupils’ minds and consider increases their assimilation itial. sons for forms 1 and 2 consist ealth, Social Studies, Natural ce and English. Standards 1 take Singing as well, while is for Infants are restricted to sh Speaking, English Reading, h, Story and Singing. 7 Education Department js to teachers are given at the )f the session. ;h the technical assistance of -adio Department which main the battery-receiving sets, all ? ork, including preparation and styling of booklets, prepara )f scripts and the presentation ily radio lessons to over 20,000 en, is carried out by a staff ve in the School Broadcasts ' staff consists of two New ad teachers, two Samoan srs and one Samoan typist, forms’ work is the respon y of one New Zealand er, while the New Zealand sr-in-charge of School Broad correlates the whole and > the Samoan teachers in pre l work for the infants and ards. All translation is done e two Samoan teachers, amber of factors enter into the ;s of School Broadcasting in a. Pupil participation is vital, ;eachers have to learn the ed technique; have to pre

pare their work thoroughly and have all illustrations and aids ready as forewarned in their radio booklet.

Pupils have to be made to feel a sense of achievement in accom plishing work neither too hard nor

too easy; lessons must be produced in a pleasant manner calculated to hold interest, and an attitude has to be built up among teachers and children that the radio lesson is a part of their school life and not

VE LEFT: Broadcasts relayed from the Broadcasts Office over local radio [?] 2AP reach 20,000 government and [?] village school children every week. we see Si'anaua Anae, Training College [?]t Semo Koro from the Tokelau Islands latia Patu broadcasting a Nature Study in Samoan. 2AP technician Alfred an is at the controls.

VE RIGHT: Samoan pupil takes part in sson by pointing to blackboard illustra as instructed by the radio and answering [?]ns. Notice the specimens on the table right ready for display by pupils during dio Nature Study lesson. All blackboard [?]tions are copied from the "Tomatau" [?]chers' radio guide which is prepared [?]clostyled by the Broadcasts Staff and [?]s notes and preparations for radio to be given each school term.

ne novelty providing a morning’s £ost lessons take the form of a logue between radio instructors 0 take the parts of teacher and fils. listening pupils take an active t by obeying radio commands 1 being selected by the class cher to point to various black ed illustrations as directed by radio. At the end of each on, questions on the lesson are ed and the classroom teacher cts children to stand and give answer. The answer is then sated over the radio. 0 be successful, the lesson re •es a classroom teacher familiar 1 the technique, who is a good dis inarian and who has thoroughly jared for the lesson. To the nary listener, the lessons, which full of pauses, giving children Drtunity to carry out commands answer questions, must seem dull, but to the listening child ' are alive, and a vital part of education. time, as more highly trained hers with broader backgrounds their places in the schools of oa, the character of school dcasts will, no doubt, change to he changing needs and circum ces. However, in their present i broadcasts are fulfilling a need outstanding success and the riment has produced a formula could be applied to help solve

educational problems of other peoples in underdeveloped countries.

Editorial Note

The above article fails perhaps to reveal the essential ingredient of successful school broadcasts —that is, the successful choice of the officer in charge. The specialised nature of this work calls for a rare measure of educational vision, personal force, imagination and organisational ability.

The success of School Broadcast ing in Western Samoa is in large measure due to the promoter’s en thusiasm and flair for this work, and his capacity to secure, and make the most of administrative backing.

Capital is made, for example, of the Samoan’s inherent love of music and dancing. In order to relax pupils between radio lessons, two minutes is devoted to Samoan dance records, during which both teacher and pupils stand up and dance to refresh their minds for the next lesson.

This is an .illustration of how basic commonsense and psychology can be combined to a nice degree with the Polynesian’s love of rhythm and self-expression.

Other Administrations are not un mindful of the advantages of broad casts. For example, in the Cook Islands, the machinery is organised for School Broadcasts and the scheme has the blessing of the Ad ministration, but the negative and desultory nature of the present

broadcasting set-up merely high lights the great need for the divine spark that only the right appoint ment can furnish. fl Mr. R. M. Major, who has been acting Financial Secretary, Fiji, has been seconded to British Honduras for two years as Development Com missioner.