Private teachers exempt

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34103, 16 March 1976, Page 16

Private teachers exempt

Teachers who have had permanent positions in private schools for the preceding three years will not have to attend retraining courses before they can obtain permanent jobs in State schools.

A notice in yesterday's “Education Gazette” replaces a notice in the February 16 Gazette restricting the exemption from retraining to teachers who have been working in State schools. The February notice required all teachers seeking permanent positions in State schools to take a retraining course if they had been out of the State education service for more than three years. An amendment to the Education Act last year gave the Director-General of Education discretion to require the retraining of teachers; but he is not enabled to require training for State teachers if they have been in the service for three years before they apply for new permanent jobs.

The Director-General (Mr W. L. Renwick) has exercised this discretion, but he is no longer applying the retraining rule to teachers in private schools, as long as they have teaching certificates and have had three years permanent service before seeking a State school post.

Yesterday’s Gazette also outlined the three-month retraining course which other applicants must take at their own expense. Teachers who want to enrol for the first course must apply before March 30.