GRADING CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 19, 23 January 1929, Page 9

GRADING CRITICISED.

HARDSHIP ON TEACHERS.

SYSTEM «UPSIDE DOWN."

EDUCATION BOARD'S REGRET.

Criticisms of the teachers' grading system were voiced at the meeting of the Auckland Education Board this morning! Several members considered the system was making necessary the transfer of teachers in cases where circumstances showed such a transfer to be undesirable.

"We have made a rod for our own backs with this system," said Mr. H S W. King.

Continuing, Mr. King said numerous cases arose in which it was clear that the parents in the district wished a teacher to remain, though the strict conditions of grading made this impossible. It was a system of thinking of the teachers before the children, he considered, and therefore reversed the normal order of a sound educational system. A deputation from the Bay of Plenty asked the board to reconsider the proposed transfer of the head teacher at Awakeri school. With the growth of the district and the increase in the attendance the school had risen in grade and the head teacher now occupied a position on the grading list, which placed him considerably below other teachers who were available for appointment to the position. "In cases like this we should endeavour to follow the wishes of the community," Mr. King further commented.

Mr. A. Burns, chairman, explained that the rise in grade meant an increase in salary of £15, and that the only course open for the board was to appoint a teacher of the higher grade. Mr. R. Hoe suggested a departure from the strict detail of the regulations to meet the wishes of the parents, but this the chairman replied could not be done without affecting the interests of others and acting in an inconsistent manner.

Mr. Hoe: Of course it is the whole system that is wrong. A teacher should be allowed to remain in a school if he is found suitable, and he should be enabled to grow with it, instead of being subject to continual transfer to make way for someone else.

Mr. E. C. Banks: The arrangement is upside down at the present time, and it is unfortunate.

With this view the chairman agreed, hut added that a transfer might not be made until,twelve months or more after it was decided upon, because a teacher would have to be kept in his position until another of similar grade were available. Even then he had the right to submit considerations opposing his transfer.

It was decided to reply to the deputation that the board regretted, under the system, it had no alternative but to adhere to the grading list.