PAYMENT OF TEACHERS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28573, 30 April 1958, Page 12

PAYMENT OF TEACHERS

Systems Under Study A punch card system, operated from Wellington, would be the most satisfactory method of paying teachers fortnightly instead of monthly, the secretary (Mr P. JHalligan) told the Christchurch Post-primary Schols’ Council last evening. Mr Halligan was informing the board of developments of recent proposals to alter the pay period of teachers. The Director of Education (Mr C. E. Beeby) informed the council by circular that in co-operation with the Education Boards’ Association, the department had set up an investigating team of two officers whose task it was to investigate and report on a suitable system for the payment of teachers’ salaries each fortnight. Within the next six weeks a number of post-pripiary school boards would be visited by the investigators, who would give notice to individual boards of their visits. “We are very concerned with this from the administrative point of view in regard to the extra work and so on,” said the chairman (Mr W. J. Cartwright).

Mr Halligan said the work would double at the very least since there would be 26 pays instead of only 12. He knew what was in the back of the minds of investigating officers, but it was not official. One suggestion was that “straightout” fortnightly pays be instituted and a second that there should be 13 28-day pay periods in a year, with teachers getting half the pay period cheque each two weeks. Central Lists “The second one would be a saving, but it would still be extra work,” he said. Mr Halligan said he thought the method that found most favour was a punch card system operated from Wellington on cen-trally-prepared pay lists. “I have spoken to a member of another board who has had some experience of this with a firm with which he was employed in the United Kingdom, and apparently it works very satisfactorily,” he said. “This firm had approximately 7000 employees on a staff scattered over the British Isles, and they paid them weekly by punch card equipment. “The machine they have in mind will do about 100 entries a minute. Once it was set up it could do Christchurch in about five minutes. “That seems to be the answer. It is still in the discussion stage, but it is the one I would recommend, because it would relieve the pressure of work here rather than increase it,” Mr Halligan said. “The Public Service has fortnightly payments, and it must come for the teachers,” Mrs L. J. Broomfield commented.

The board agreed with a motion by Professor G. Jobberns that it would make no official comment on the subject