TEACHERS’ HOLIDAYS DEFENDED

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31449, 16 August 1967, Page 7

TEACHERS’ HOLIDAYS DEFENDED

A question whether the full school holidays were warranted for teachers drew spirited defence from different interests on the stage at a public meeting for teacher recruitment in Christchurch on Monday evening. Mr B. J. Wilson, district senior inspector of primary schools, said vacations were two weeks at the end of the first and second terms and five at Christmas, plus statutory holidays. Most primary teachers now spent a great deal of this time in preparation for next term and in attending courses. Mr Wilson said the relief with which parents greeted the end of the holidays after having daily responsibility for their families should be put beside the feelings of teachers who had cared for 30 or 40 children for a full term.

Mr F. N. Wylde, district senior inspector of secondary schools, described the effort required in teaching seven periods a day, attending to after-school activity, doing a minimum of two hours marking or preparation each night, and coping with the pressures growing annually. Teachers from both branches outlined how they occupied so-called “vacations.”

Mr E. R. Hounsell, university liaison officer, said

nobody had mentioned reading. A teacher should read very widely beyond the bread and butter material of bis class work. He must have time to read and think.