Late quota upsets board member

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 6

Late quota upsets board member

The teaching profession could lose some of its best people because of the lateness in announcing next year’s teaching quotas, said a Canterbury Education Board member yesterday. Mrs N. J. Johnson told a meeting of the board that many applicants for teaching positions might take up other job offers instead of waiting to hear if they had been accepted for teaching. "There are people who have not heard a single thing from the board. I cannot express strongly enough my concern for them. ' ■ “In today’s economic conditions, , you cannot blame them for having more than one iron in the fire,” said Mrs Johnson: Teaching quotas were known by October 30 last

year. Many other professional bodies had already notified people this year that they had been accepted for positions. The national teacher quota was already known, but district quotas had not been announced. Mrs Johnson had suggested to the Education Department that at least the top 50 per cent of applicants be told they had been accepted. The department told her that noone could be notified until the quotas had been announced arid education boards had been given permission to fill appointments. ..’■’/ The board’s general manager, Mr Dave Wilson, said the allocations had been ? fixed and should be an- ; nounced next week.

The district senior inspector, Mr H. C. A. Forsman, said that if the 1982 quota was based on that of 1981, 900 extra teachers would have been taken on. “The announcement is kept as late as possible so that it can be as accurate as. possible,” he said. The board was told that an average of 80 teachers applied for each basic teaching position vacant in Canterbury last month. One position attracted 190 applicants. Mr N. W. Pickard said that the applications came from throughout New Zealand and were not restricted to Canterbury. Many teachers applied for more than one position and applications came from teachers already in permanent positions, but seeking a change: The figures did not give a clear indication of the number of teachers out of work. The board received 2096 applications for 29 basic scale positions. The large number of applications caused some administrative problems and presented the district appointments committee with a formidable task. Mrs Johnson said she was concerned that some teachers, would get 50. to 60 rejection slips/ ■, “When you are rejected once it is devastating. Five rejections would change your attitude. You would think that it was not worth applying for any job. ./ 'a : "We are not talking about immobile teachers. Some are applying for jobs all over New Zealand,” she said.