OUR SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 123, 26 May 1932, Page 10

OUR SCHOOLS.

EFFECTS OF LEGISLATION EDUCATION BOARD CONTROL , SHOW COSTS HAVE GROWN. (GENERAL CONDITIONS PRIOR TO \ 19! 1. (By HAUTURU.) No. 2. "When the present century commence'! ©m- education system was national i'.i ; only a restricted sense. Political circumstances hud defined the boundaries of the board districts far more than ihey now do. The total number of children in the Westland district, for instance, was no greater than tho roll of one primary school in Christchurch. The smaller boards were in sore financial straits. Some were only saved from bankruptcy by extra Government grants. Tho standard of education t: :ied also. It was much higher in Ot:;go than in Marl borough, Taranaki and other arras where the board inspectors did not make so high a demand ■upon children. Jn practice, many jiiirentd rode roughshod over the conipwsory attendance provisions of the Act, for in those days child labour was eagerly sought. The Attendance Question. Not till 1910 did tho Legislature make compulsory the attendance of pupils upon every school day. The original Act had made education permissive at Iho age of live, and obligatory, with certain reservations, between the ages of 7 and 13, but it required little more than half-time attendance, and some boards neglected to enforce even lliis. In the earlier days attendance -was little more than 50 per cent of ■fcho roll number. Truancy, as older people remember, was a flourishing institution. So was home detention to assist in household duties.' Even to-day tho attendance provisions are not as ■widely known.as they should be. Generally speaking, pupile arc (or were, urntil recent legislation) allowed enrolment on or after the fifth birthday. 3?rom tho seventh till the fourteenth Mrthday full attendance is compulsory -under certain limitations. A pupil who 2ias already secured a proficiency certificate is allowed to leave school on 13 years. Prior to 1900 State interest in and support of education was confined ■almost entirely to primary schools, instruction of tho native race, and maintenance of industrial institutions. Less than £13,000 a year went to the upkeep of secondary schools and such -technical classes as then existed. How this jumped to over half a million within 30 years will be shown later, for, since the new century brought three distinct types of State schools into being—primary, secondary and' tech3iical —it will bo simpler to follow the of each in turn. . . The Primary System. The history of primary education .during its last thirty years is one marked by two special features—the .distinct changes within the schoolroom, .and tho progressive departmental campaign towards centralised control. .Parents realise the revolution that has taken plaeo in teaching methods since -their days as children, but most of *hem know little of the methods or <cost by which these changes were fichievcd. Eichard Scddon was proudest over two of his many legislative fichievements, the granting of old age j>cnsions, and. the open door from the infant school to the University. Yet it was the master brain of George Hogfcen, Inspector-General of Schools, that contrived most diplomatically the achievement of the latter. Hogben'a goal during his 16 years as the administrative head of the Department of was evident long before, his retirement in 1915. Very tactfully and gradually he wormed away from the Iboards many rights and, privileges possessed since 1877. Skilfully he utilised, to further his plans, the influence of the New Zealand Educational institute, the union of primary teachers iwhich has clone so much in its time ■to sway public opinion regarding its schools. Two progressive: initial steps of the isentury wore the introduction and the bringing into force of a national scheme for payment of primary teachers. The rfirst presaged the passing of the old jtype of dominie, and an increase in Reaching staff; the latter brought increased financial burdens to the State, and much joy to the poorly-paid teachers in the smaller districts. The boards became the mere distributors of teachers' salaries, and, incidentally, jfchcre thus arose that duplication of clerical work in payment which has persisted uneconomicaUy to this day. (This very necessary uniformity in ealaries showed its effect upon the primary education vote. It jumped from £588,5G0 in 1903 to £714,071 in 1904, a big increase, for those times; yet a very small one compared with the phenomenal jumps of ten years ago. Since its birth in 1001 the national scale of salaries for teachers has under gone many changes, growing each year more complex, and, with each change, involving greater clerical cost. It is Btill based upon average attendance, though not as tyrannically so as in earlier times. Many hold it little to ■tho credit of a well-staffed central om>e •tliat it has not yet evolved and put into operation a scheme less cumbrous and costly.

Payment of Teachers,

Salaries paid taring the old board flays were far from erring on the generous side. A little over 30 years ago there wcro 3310 teachers receiving a total State payment of £370,000 for the instruction of 134,000 children. Salaries meant less than three pounds per pupil in those times, To the adult primary teacher the average annual payment in the 'nineties ■was £120. In 1922 it readied a peak of £292 per teacher. Xo-day the net average may "be taken as 25 per cent lower, through ■deductions for, superannuation, wages tax and salaries cuts. Though figures are not available since the latter reductions operated, it is safe to state that the average primary school teacher's salary now is very little in excess of £200. It is approximately one and two-thirds of what it was 35 years ago. Here is sufficient eviidenco- that no over-generosity to primary •teachers can now be heid responsible £or an education cost frequently regarded as too heavy for the community ito carry. General wages show at least tho same proportionate increase in. 35 . years.

■"-•■ Administration Costs. More striking figures regarding administrative expenditure are provided by Mr. Butchers, Thirty-four yearsago there were 134,000 children attending State schools, the total cost of maintenance, inspection and administration being given as £110,000, almost 17/G per child. Four years ago this cost had risen to nearly three-quarters of a million (£713,000), yet the schools' population had barely doubled. Approximately it cost £3 per child for school maintenance and administration, about the same sum as was paid for the actual teaching of a pupil 30 years previously. Before too hasty conclusions are drawn from those figures, it must be remembered that in 1898 maintenance expenditure was concerned almost entirely With primary education, and averaged 2/10 per head of population. In 102S, when the incidence was very much wider, covering primary, secondary, technical and special branches, it reached 9/9 per head. How much of this vast increase was inevitable, and how much can be accounted for by an unwieldy system it ie impossible to ascertain, but the figures seem to speak for themselves.