Teachers’ meeting will delay classes

Press, 31 May 1978, Page 6

Teachers’ meeting will delay classes

Parents with children at Christchurch State secondary schools are being asked to send them to school later than usual tomorrow morning because of a stopwork meeting at 8.45 a.m. by Canterbury members of the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association.

The meeting is expectedto last for at least an hour. ■ The schools are expected to begin lessons between 10. a.m. and 11 a.m., depending; on the decisions of individ--. ual boards of governors. ) The principal of Cashmere High School (Mr R. A. Chapman) said that about 701 pupils who came by school bus from Governor’s Bay and Diamond Harbour would arrive at school as usual at 8.35 a.m. They would be supervised in the school lib-! rary, probably by school; board members. Lessons; would begin at 10.40 a.m. In several other schools, • board members and teachers! who do not belong to the l association will supervise any pupils who arrive at the, usual time. At Hornby, Avonside ■ Girls; Shirley Boys; and! Christchurch Girls’ high • schools lessons will begin at 10.30 a.m. At Aranui, Christ-; church Boys’, and Riccarton high schools they will begin at 11 a.m. They will begin at. Linwood High School at. 10.15 a.m., at Hillmorton' High School at 10.45 a.m.; and at Hagley High School! at 10.35 a.m. At Papanui High School,, pupils in Forms five, six and seven would attend at 10) a.m. for a band concert! which had been arranged! some time ago, said the, principal (Mr P. R. Hay).' Pupils in Forms three and

[four would report for lessons at 10.50 a.m. The principal of Bumside High School (Mr A. D. Hunter) said that no final decision had been made but he expected lessons to begin between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. In Auckland, many teachers who are members of the association have been told I that if they do not attend a I stop-work meeting at 2 p.m. today they must resign from the association or contribute to a strike fund the pay they would have lost by 'attending the meeting. There has been talk of intimidation at some schools, ; with calls for compulsory I membership of the P.P.T.A. and a refusal to teach alongside members who do not attend the meeting. Most secondary schools are expected to remain open during the meeting, reports ; the Press Association. A breakway group from 'the P.P.T.A., the Secondary i Assistant Teachers’ Association, has sent a telegram to the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) deploring the fact that many teachers are being ! forced into direct action to retain membership of the Public Service Investment Society and Education Benevolent Society. Nelson and Marlborough 1 : secondary teachers were told at four separate stop-work [meetings yesterday that direct action was the only path left open to them in their bid tor higher wages.

Schools in the two provinces did not lose teaching time because timetables were rearranged, with earlier starting times and shorter lunch intervals. Invercargill secondary teachers met yesterday and gave their full support to a call made last week for the Director-General of Education, (Mr W. L. Renwick,) to resign. Meanwhile, support for direct action is growing among technical-institute tutors, according to their national president (Mr D. McKenzie) after three stopwork meetings in Auckland yesterday. The Association of Teachers in Technical Institutes wants the Government to reduce the number of “tutorstudent contact hours." Teachers’ training-college lecturers have decided on a “go it alone” policy for their latest salary negotiations. The Teachers Colleges’ ! Association, which covers 'lecturers at New Zealand’s ■eight training colleges, norj mally works with the P.P.T.A. and the Educational Institute but it has taken its latest salary claims to the Education Services Committee independently of the two other bodies. The Opposition unsuccessfully tried to force a snap debate on the impasse in the teachers’ pay negotiations in Parliament yesterday.