CRITICISM RESENTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 75, 28 March 1924, Page 8

CRITICISM RESENTED.

NEW SCHOOL REGULATIONS.

MR. PARR'S DEFENCE

■HEADMASTERS WHO FAIL.

HEED FOR DISCIPLINE

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) OHRISTCHURCH, Thursday.

Criticism of the attitude of the Minister of Education toward the teaching precession, contained in the statement l.v the Wellington- Headmasters Association published on Wednesday was answered this evening by the Hon. t. •>■ Parr. The association protested against the character and requirements of recent regulations, and expressed the opinion that the Minister '"has no desire to work iv a spirit of co-operation with the teachers."

"The Wellington Headmasters' Association has decided to enter the political arena over the recent regulation which requires headmasters to give half tneir time at least to actual teaching, said Mr. iParr. "In one of the manifestos with which they are now flooding the Press they say they requested mc to cancel the regulation and to agree to others being drafted with their co-opera-tion and assistance. My reply emphatically is that no such request has ever heen made to mc.

"The Wellington headmasters have misrepresented what took place at the interview which I granted them. The full shorthand notes amply prove the untrustworthiness of their version. They have never made any offer to assist mc or to co-operate with the Department in the drafting of a regulation to take the place of the one to which they object. If they had made such an offer, 1 would certainly have accepted it, as my iattitude has 'been one of friendliness and iconciliatoriness to the teacl ing profesfsion. "Even now, if the headmasters can draft mc a regulation in better language, I am prepared to meet them as I always do, in a perfectly reasonable spirit. At Wellington they demanded there should ibe no regulation at all, a very different matter. A Few Busybodies. "I Tesent their statement that the Minister of Education has no desire to work in a spirit of co-operation with the teachers. This may be the opinion of & few busybodies in Wellington, but 1 believe it is not.the opinion of the teaching profession as a whole. Teachers as a body know that no other Minister has tried to do more to raise the status and improve the conditions of the profession, and on very many occasions, I have received their thanks and appreciation. Half lime to Teaching. "All that the new regulation asks is that the headmasters should give half his time to teaching work," Mr. Parr continued. " The expression 'teaching , has been interpreted by the Department and myself in the broadest possible sense, as- including the examining of a class and the testing of its work, as well as actual lessons. With regard to the new rule, it may be observed that there is Teally. nothing new about it. There are similar provisions in other countries. In Great Britain, in New South Wales, and other Australian States, all lead teachers are expressly required to devote a large portion of their time to actual teaching. One naturally asks if it be right and practicable in other places for headmasters to give most of their time to teaching, why is it impossible in New Zealand? Or, again, why should headmasters here lie hurt at a regulation which in other countries is J>art of the ordinary administrative routine?

"It is only comparatively few headmasters who are affected toy the new rule. Already all headmasters in schools Tap to 400 in attendance are required to .teach, and do ..actually teach, practically all their time. Now, if a headmaster with 300 or 400 children can take charge of a class and thus teach practically all Shis time, why is it unreasonable and imposible for a headmaster with a school of 450, 500, or 600 pupils to give half his time to teaching •work? Yet this must be the contention of the objectors. But the strongest fact against them is that many headmasters of the largest schools are at present quite voluntarily doing teaching work—more than is required by the new rule. Mr. Poster, the most experienced headmaster in Wellington, and the spokesman for their deputation, admitted, ■when he was asked, that he gave four out of five hours a day to work with his pupils in the classrooms, leaving routine and clerical matters largely to a junior. He was doing considerably more than the new rule required of him. In other words, the deputation, out of its own mouth, proved that some headmasters were already doing teaching in schools in ■ excess of the requirements of the regulation. Issue of Impossibility.

"On the issue of impossibility the director offered to demonstrate in any school that the regulation was quite possible, hut the offer was not accepted. This toiler stands good. "The department is aware of headmasters -who fail to do scarcely any teaching at all in their schools. Education hoards complain strongly about these men who fail most lamentably in their duty. The headmaster is presumably the best and most experienced teacher on the staff, aild his pupils should not be denied the benefit of his skill as a class teacher. Now, this failure on the part of some of their brethren (and this type of man is to be found in most of the centres) was not denied by the deputation, but their reply is that it is the job of the inspectors to discipline these delinquents, and no regulation is necessary. To this remark the department rejoined that the new rule was framed because all senior inspectors asked for it. The inspectors state that a definite ruling from the department wall he helpful to them.henc2 the re°ula\tion. Further, there is this advantage, that every teacher knows specifically what is required of him. Moreover other countries, which have competent inspectors, have found such a reflation necessary. No Desire to Quarrel. 'It is -willingly admitted that many headmasters in the highest grade schools are competent and conscientious men. As 1 have stated, many of them are doin* voluntarily, more than the regulation r«° quires With aU respect § S^££ men, I am. quite unable to -,-,„* * \-why they should object tr a^f ers^ na «Jnot possibly hurt anyVn^tV^* ; Teachers in other narfa o * ™ ork « Uve certainly not* suffered T' • Work aonal eUtun or digniVhy^ l^^

of such a regulation. Why should headmasters in New Zealand fear any untoward result?

"In conclusion, I would say to the headmasters of Xew Zealand that I have no desire to have any quarrel whatever with them. I value their work highly. It is only because I have been personally attacked bj- the Wellington headmasters that I give this statement of the department's ease. Otherwise, I should not have troubled. If the headmasters of the Dominion, through the New Zealand Educational Institute, with which body 1 prefer to deal, will, to use their own expression, 'co-operate with nnd assist the Minister' to draft another regulation, which shall ensure a reasonable amount of actual teaching by headmasters, they will find ma prepared to meet them, and more than half-way."