PROMOTION OF TEACHERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27107, 1 August 1953, Page 3

PROMOTION OF TEACHERS

SEARCH FOR NEW SYSTEM PROFESSION URGED TO TAKE INITIATIVE (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 31. The next move to find an alternative to the present grading and promotion system for teachers should come from the teachers themselves, said the Minister of Education (Mr R. M. Algie) today. Commenting on the teachers* rejection of a system drawn up by the Education Department, Mr Algie said: “I suppose that we shall now have to start all over again.” No-one appeared to have much praise for the existing system, he said. “It would follow that, in the public interest as well as in the interests of the teachers, I must take some action to find an acceptable alternative. I feel that the next move should come—and come soon—from the teachers. “I think, too, that we should be told by some at least of the teachers what their main objections are to the; scheme that has just been rejected.’’ The country could not wait indefinitely for the production of a satisfactory solution, the Minister said. He gave the following seasons: (1) The existing scheme was widely regarded as being seriously defective. (2) Parents of schoolchildren were vitally interested in knowing that teachers were being fairly graded and that the best-qualified ones were being given adequate chances of promotion.