Teachers annoyed about cuts

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 8

Teachers annoyed about cuts

PA Wellington Secondary school principals have condemned delays in staffing increases, and want the 170 to 200 teaching jobs being cut at the end of the year through falling rolls to be retained. The Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, said yesterday that promised increases for 1987, the next step in implementing the secondary School

staffing report, had been put on hold because of economic restraints.

While replacing the jobs lost through falling rolls with new positions had a “compelling logic,” it was not possible because most of the money saved was not available for education spending. However the principals at their annual conference yesterday passed a resolution saying that was

unacceptable. They want a deputation to talk to Mr Marshall as soon as-pos-sible in a bid to have the terminated positions retained, in line with the Government’s commitment to the secondary staffing report. The resolution, passed unanimously by the 240 principals says the move will create long term difficulties for the quality of education in schools.

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association says the teachers who will lose their jobs will have priority rights for new appointments.

A spokesman, Mr Chris Edmonds, said yesterday the exact number of terminations would not be known until later in the year, but it would be the largest loss caused by falling rolls for several years. Primary schools bad al-

ready been hit by the impact of falling rolls, but it had taken longer than expected to affect secondary schools, largely because more pupils have stayed in the senior school than expected.

Mr Edmonds said the jobs losses would cause a lot of upheaval, but that could have been minimised if the promised staffing increases had been implemented.