The Press MONDAY, JULY 1, 1963. Supply Of Primary Teachers

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30171, 1 July 1963, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, JULY 1, 1963. Supply Of Primary Teachers

For year* the New Zealand education services have been forced to admit to their ranks persons with lower academic qualifications than formerly would have gained entry to the teachers’ colleges. According to the Minister of Education (Mr Tennent) the intake of primary teacher trainees next year may be about 200 more than in 1963. However, progress towards giving the Dominion’s schools adequate staffs is proving so slow that the improvement of the quality of teacher trainees must still be approached carefully lest recruitment should be depressed. The Education Commission expressed dismay at the inadequacy of the academic background of many New Zealand teachers; and in an appendix to its report/it pointed out that “ there has “since 1938 been a steady “ decline in the permissible “ qualification for admis- “ sion ” to the ordinary twoyear training course for primary teachers. Last September the Christchurch .Teachers' College, for instance, reported that of 397 applicants for entry to the two-year course only five held the higher school certificate and only 26 had the university entrance qualification. Two hundred and fifty-seven had school certificate, 35 had the endorsed school certificate, and the 74 others were about to sit

the school certificate examination. “ Recruitment to “the teaching profession”, said the Education Commission, “is by no means a “matter solely of attract- “ ing young men and “ women in larger numbers. “The commission has be“come convinced that the “ imperative need for the “teaching profession is for “ a greater number of “ teachers with higher aca- “ demic and professional “ qualifications. The needs “of the primary service in “ this respect are mani"fest . .-. ”.

As a result of the commission’s findings, the minimum qualification for teacher trainees in 1964 has been raised from school certificate to endorsed school certificate. The results of recruiting will therefore be watched with special interest. Teaching is beginning to compete with professions whose recruits are drawn from the better-qualified pupils produced by the schools. In spite of more attractive salaries the shortage of permanent primary teachers is expected in government circles to continue till 1968. Temporary local surpluses such as occurred in Canterbury last year are not a good guide to the general supply. The shortage complicates even the most tentative endeavours to improve the academic quality of the teacher intake; yet this objective must never be forgotten.