THE PRESS THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1979. Teachers’ search for respect

Press, 30 August 1979, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1979. Teachers’ search for respect

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association has withdrawn its ban on this year’s School Certificate examination, at least for the time being. Pupils preparing for the examination need not worry about who will mark their examination or who will assess their performance. That worry was an extra burden to which the pupils should not have been subjected. The community must applaud the teachers’ sense in turning back to negotiation to settle their dispute about payment for examination marking and assessment, but the whole unsavoury affair should not have happened.

The teachers behaved in a thoroughly unprofessional manner, the latest example of such behaviour from a group who, when it suits them, are eager to lay much emphasis on their professionalism. A great number of teachers would probably prefer to be left to get on with their profession—teaching pupils and helping to measure the success or-failure of their teaching. Some of the post-primary teachers’ most outspoken leaders, however, have given the impression that they are more eager to make political capital from Questions of pay, conditions, and extra duties

Yet to the rest of the community, teachers still appear to be reasonably well paid for work which, in more than a few instances, requires surprisingly few hours a day for surprisingly

Pas de deux

In the drama at Kennedy Airport, New York, the United States blocked a Soviet airliner from taking off until American officials were satisfied that a Soviet ballerina, Lyudmila Vlasova, was leaving the United States of her own free will. The incident had enormous propaganda implications. A dancer’s defection, like that of Miss Vlasova’s husband, the Bolshoi star, Alexander Godunov, reflects badly on the Soviet Union To be less than completely satisfied that Miss Vlasova w>as leaving because she wanted to leave would have made a mockery of everything the United States has been saying about human rights over the years of the Carter Administration If Miss Vlasova was being forced to return, a crime was being committed on the territory of the United States.

No-one need take too much notice of the statements later made by the Soviet news agency, Tass. Mr Godunov, it said, had disappeared in circumstances that were not yet clear. It turned the human rights argument round to say that the United States should not have prevented Miss Vlasova and the more

few weeks a year. One spokesman for the teachers asked earlier this month what confidence the public or employers would have in a School Certificate examination marked by people who were not teachers? Unfortunately, the answer might be that, for many employers and parents, such a system of marking would enjoy more respect than that in use at present, in which teachers appear sometimes to be the only judges of their own abilities

Teachers are going to earn, or maintain, the real respect of the community, and adequate returns for their work, when they can satisfy that community—the consumer of their work—that they deserve the professional status they claim. The education of young New Zealanders, not the disruption of that education for selfish ends, is the real assurance of the professional respect which teachers maintain they deserve.

Teachers should not be exploited or underpaid because of a loyalty or devotion to the job they undertake. Unfortunately, the teachers’ organisations have been creating the impression that their members are a persistently grizzling group, unable to cope with their jobs, greatly overworked, and universally discontented with their lot. This is a mistaken impression and the P.P.T.A. is doing its members, and the schools, a great disservice in allowing this view to be constantly reinforced.

than 50 other Soviet passengers from leaving the United States. These are mere propaganda flourishes. If Mr Godunov decided to stay in the United States it would be a choice that only he could make. The complication came because Mr Godunov was not just leaving his country, but also his wife. Between the countries the drama was propaganda; between the two people it was one of intimate personal relationships.

The incident took on greater proportions than it deserved. In the end Miss Vlasova’s intention to return home was made clear enough. Why it all took so long is hard to say, though it may be asked why she had to leave the touring ballet company at all unless it was at her own request. That would be understandable. Having made that decision, and having been escorted aboard the airliner by Soviet diplomats, American doubts were aroused. A prompt response to the American inquiry would have been well advised and much better evidence of Soviet regard for human rights. The Soviet opposition merely added to doubts about that.