PREACHING N.Z ABROAD.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17611, 14 November 1922, Page 8

PREACHING N.Z ABROAD.

WORK IN CANADA. (FBOM OTO OWN CORRESPONDENT.) VANCOUVER, October 19. yew Zealand has sent romo excellent apostles abroad in tin© personages of scho-ostic representatives, and after the praiseworthy work effected in Vancouver by two lady teachers who came from New Zealand to exchange positions with two Caiad.au ladies iouo« ing similar vocations, the highly conimemhtbie endeavour of preaching the gospel of New Zealand in the big ISorth American British Dominion is being continued'"with beneacial effect by such men as Mr MoKenzie, one of the Kew Zealand inspectors who are supervising teachers in Toronto for twelve months. The oenial New Zealand educational official "has missed no opportunity to sine the praises of the 6ister Dominion of tl;e Southern Seas, and at the annua: fathering of the Toronto Pullio So, 00l Teachers' Association, Inspector Mc Kenzie told of tlae educational systems in his native country. Jfivery teacher in New Zealand, he s&id, bad the right to draw up his own course of study, line Government syHlabus merely ,is suggestive. Genera ly, teachers of resource will make out their own pro. gramme, and the only judge in the matter is the inspector. He mentioned that there are certain subjects that must be taught, but which parts of those subjects, and how they are to be tau.cht, are left to the teacher. As a rule 3 teachers followed each others' methods closely. When an innovation was worked out it was told to all, and came thus into wide use. "In that way," said Mr McKenaie, "our system is constantly undergoing changes, not at the hands of officials, but of teachers." He stated that teachers Btart training in high schools, where they spend two years, carefully instructed by the principal, and they are given practical experience. They then spend two years at a training college, receiving liberal allowances—they are paid by the State while in course of training. During this training college work they take university work, subsec[uently spending two years" teaching in country (schools before entering city sohools. "Teachers," be added, "work first in country schools, not to obtain experience, but in order that the best instructors shall preside in country districts. He considered their pay good 1 , and country' schools were better, than city schools. Inspectorates always included country schools; they were not exclusively urban. Mr MoKenzie told hia Toronto auditors that the lot of the New Zealand teacher Beemed to be a happy one. Pay waa good, and up to 65 years of age a teacher could not be removed from office without some real cause. In feet, Mr McKenzie likened a teacher's office to that of a High Court Judge. After 80 years' service a woman might retire at half-salary for the rest of her life. Inspector McKenzie then went on toTefer to Inspectors grading teachers according to ability, and! the names were gazetted, the highest teacher being given the tjest appointment. He amused ana delighted his teacher audience when he Ban) that in New Zealand teachers were protected by Act of Flarliament from interference by parents, adding: 'The irate parent has no legal right to go near the school." His complaint had to be put in to the proper authorities in writing. Some of the Ontario teaching profession members have previously" been intimated that their New Zealand confreres are paid on a much higher seal? than the remuneration meted out in the Canadian Provinces, for the teaching profession in Canada is one of the most wretched anywhere in the British Em- . pare. ■"■' • '-• ;•'■'' . ■•'•■. ."• '■':.■■■... The awful isolation of women teachers in lonely northern spots, scores of miles from any town, and the hardships endured during the searching Arctio climate, combine to demand a much higher pay than is now. in force in the Dominion, and many Canadian teachers lpok forward to a period of respite when arrangements can be made for an exchange of further educational posts "down under." As it is, the policy of exchanging teachers in! various parts of the British Empire is regarded in Canada as tending to further knit together the several branches of the British Commonwealth.