Kindergarten trainees

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 12

Kindergarten trainees

Sir, — I am a first-year kindergarten teacher trainee at Christchurch Teachers’ College. The financial pressures that I and other trainees in my group are feeling are unbelievable. We knew when

we were accepted to train that we would only be receiving the Standard Tertiary Bursary of $27 a week, but did not know that outof this the Government wants us to pay half into the Superannuation Fund. Trying to pay for food, clothing, rent or board, textbooks, teaching materials and travelling costs out of $l4 a week for two years, or longer for primary and secondary trainees, means that we come out of training with a large bank overdraft. It seems that the Government Superannuation Board is only increasing the problems already faced by teacher trainees today. — Yours, etc., J.C. King (Miss). April 22, 1983

[Mr B. W. Jackson, for the Director-General of Education, replies: “The Government’s decision that teachers’ college students should continue to be members of the Government Superannuation Fund was made only after strong representations from the student and teacher organisations that this should be so. As the students are embarking on a teaching career, there are considerable long-term advantages in superannuation membership while at teachers’ college. As a result of the replacement of studentship allowances by the Tertiary Assistance Grant, it was necessary for the Government Superannuation Board to reconsider the basis for the calculation of contributions to the superannuation fund. The board decided on provisions closely comparable to those for bursars in other branches of the State Services. From this year, new students are required to contribute on the basis of a notional salary, being the step of the untrained teachers’ scale appropriate to the student’s qualifications, year of training, and branch of the teaching service for which the student is training. This will provide a comparable situation as generally applies to bursars. Students may defer payment of their contributions until they commence teaching, and may also spread the payment over a period of up to 10-years.”]