Problems for teaching seen by N.Z.E.L

Press, 27 September 1986, Page 25

Problems for teaching seen by N.Z.E.L

PA Wellington The primary teaching service will have big problems unless the 1:20 teacher-pupil ratio and other staffing improvements are introduced, the New Zealand Educational Institute says. The institute president, Mrs Joan Paske, said there could be special difficulties in 1989 when the first "big batch” of trainees left teachers’ colleges and entered the job market.

There might not be sufficient positions for those trainees unless the 1:20 ratio was brought in and improvements were made in staffing at forms 1 and 2 level, she said. Mrs Paske was responding to an Education Department report which predicted primary school rolls would drop further until 1990, then increase slowly. The report said secondary rolls would drop sharply until 1991, then

drop more slowly. She said if the 1:20 ratio was to meet the scheduled date of 1991, 300 new positions would need to have been allocated in this year’s Budget. However, only 100 were appointed, which Mrs Paske said was distressing for both teachers and pupils. On a recent trip to Wairarapa there were 38 children in one class. A class of 25 was considered small, she said. The president of the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, Mr Peter Allen, said he would continue to press for money saved from falling rolls to be used to implement the secondary staffing report.

Mr Allen said the P.P.T.A. would campaign to ensure the Government stuck to a 1984 promise to implement the report, which recommends improvements to secondary staffing.