Teachers Advised Against Agitation

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31764, 22 August 1968, Page 26

Teachers Advised Against Agitation

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 21.

Although teachers had rights undue emphasis or insistence on rights could be irritating to people outside the profession, the Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella) said to the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association at its conference today.

“The publicity given in the press to a new teachers’ organisation may well cause the public to wonder what the profession is up to, and who really expresses its views.

“I am well aware that your association is conscious of the need to project a good image of the profession for the sake of the profession itself and its standing and also to encourage the recruitment of the best possible young people. “But sometimes regional groups of the P.P.T.A. and.

local branches seem to speak out with a voice which is not that of the national body. I think this is something of which we have got to take due regard.” Mr Kinsella said that the public image of the profession had a profound effect on recruitment.

A favourable public view of teaching, he said, was essential if he were to exercise fully the responsibilities of his portfolio and gain from his Government colleagues the recognition teachers deserved.