THE UNCERTIFICATED TEACHERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 286, 27 August 1908, Page 11

THE UNCERTIFICATED TEACHERS.

' \ A LARCE PERCENTAGE. \ / 'WHAT IS THE CAUSE? Iti. the."' aniiilal report of tho Minister fpr. Educaiiou (Hon. G. Fowlds), just presented to '■Parliament, it is stated that no less than 26.2 per'cent, of tho teachers in'our State -1907,; oither possess no oxamina-' \ tion. status, or had failed to complete-the necessary qualification—a comparatively large porcentage, observes the Minister. No Crfltind for Pessimism. v-"-* .-■■■'■ ror some years past, runs the report, it has been a matter of common rohiark that tho j proportion; of uncertificated teachers . has ' shown' a- decided tendency to increase, and . upon the . statistics disclosed in this connec- ; tioii have not uncommonly been based conclusions unfavourable to tho conditions and proi spects'i.-of tho teaching profession. It has beeivcsaid,that.the;schools are noiv riot so well served as in the past, that the conditions are not sufficiently good to retain the best teachers;' that many\in conscquenco have left the seryjeo for different occupations, and their .placed ,'hav6«,bocn taken by others loss fitted to/fill' their positions. Tho statistics caririot.be disputed,'but, d'View of their., bearing omits to Vtako account of some sklient; facts;- in the light of. which it ma.v'filirly bii maintained that'far from.'justifying; the conclusions drawn,' What appears • *° poi'it to a process of deterioration is really in large measure incidental to successive stops of .educational progress, 'and is tho direct outcomb. partly of " more, liberal' coridi-., tions, .partly .of a better.conception of- tho Btandard : of . education which should bo expected in tho. Dominion, from those entrusted with the. wort of the schools: ' V'

. The Reason Why. ) ..TO ty-tiie'year. 1902 tho number of fully certificated, teachers employed in the primary public schools showed year by year a-steady increase'in. line-with'.lthe increased attendance. > >The number then returned was 2516,\ , or ;84 per cent, of the total. ■ Thereafter" , the:, increase of uncertificated teachers, both | . relatively, and absolutely, comes profriinoritly-' ■ into'notice. In the annual reports regret, lias on . several occasions been, expressed at the tendency observed,' and the explanation has been offered that , the*' Teachers'. Salaries Act . of-1901 created sii'ch a large number ' 'of jjew' : adult positions , that .thie supply of oertifijated teachers/in . the Dominion was inadequate... to fill ;them. v „„ As .undte-ihe-Schedule 'to, that, /Act, on- the school, attendance, then 'existing, and \Vithout regard . natural ipcreaso, some 548 additional adiilt, teachers were required, partly to take the . place ; of pupil-teachers then materially reduce*!in; number, it-is manifest that this explanation is ,;a sound one. Under tlio circumstances'-it was - unavoidable that for' years .thereafter a number of uncertificated teachers'.should be to 'occupy tho. vacant}'.'positions: This is ' not,: hbwever, by .means the'whole explanation that may,--properly''be given. At least two other important causes of wide-reaching ef- • feet ,have,.to: be noted, in both of which the steps taken, qs in the case of the Teachers' .Salaries Act of .1901, .'have been without;, question steps of'educational advance; yet both havo had an obvious and immediate ; effect in swelling the ranks of thd uncertificated. '.. .

j : Increase In Small Schools. Thete is, ,-in the first place, to be considered, th"6- large increase in small schools characteristic of recent years, the direct outcoriio of ; the much more liberal provisions now made for capitation payments in such casds. Many remote localities that under earlier :conditions would Karo" gone without any educational advantages whatever are now; served-by household or other schools of the . smallest size; There has thus been brought into the service a considerable num-ber-of, person's who,'while 'ranked" as teatfojng. indubitably',useful work, in their position,' do not 'arid cannot.fie expectedl to possess any recognised teaching status.;; ;In such positions ■ certificated teachers, are in most cases out of the question; as a matter of necessity those to whom the benefits :are extended must content themselves with something less, and within the limits .of any possible scheme of payments it must : ever be so.

A- Higher Standard Required. ' A . still, more'important. and persistent cause,. however, of the increased number and proportion of uncertificated teachers • lies in the character of the certificate itself. For somo yeai'j.tkst the old Class E certificate, which price. formed the ordinary qualification of a- large of teachers, has been dropped.. . Examinations are no longer held for. ceriificateS of, this class, • arid fresh certificates j.of tho kind are not issued, except in: certain very exceptional circumstances. The : result'is that a large body of persons who, -under tho Older, regime,, would have bean - returned as certificated, having just managed to secure a Class E qualification', now - fall short of the requirements,, and either; obtain no recognised status at all, or atleast receive only , a license to teach. Some indication of this fact- may, _readily bo found in the very largo increase during the last two or three years of the licenses is-sued,-though the-notable increase in this respect is subject also to other explanations which need not here be given.

i .v ; . .. other Matters. In the same connection attention may also be drawn to ono or tiro other matters which have a . bearing on this, point in question. It should not be forgotten, than tho superannuationv'schome, brought into being by the Act of 1905, has now the effect of withdrawing ;from active service at an earlier age a number of holders, of certificates. |The scheme camo. into operation on January 1, 1906j; aiitl undor it up to the close of 1907 certificate-holders to the number of eightyfour have received retiring-allowances, relieving 'them of the necessity of struggling on in Jheir declining years, as in the absence of any, provision they would probably in most cases nave been obliged to do. Further, .'it has also to bo noted that the training, colleges .thomielves, to which the country now looks for an adequate supply of fully qualified teachers, temporarily accentuated' tjie- shortago by retaining, under thenimproved; organisation' a very large proportion of their students for a two-years' courso of study.

On the whole, seen in the light of the explanations given, the figures tinder review bear.a very.different meaning from that sugcritical inquiry. Through iecont.changes more teachers have been joquired, and, to a great extent, teaull<?rs of better attainment; and, if tho facts obBervablo are_ not yet all, they should be. the outlook, is in reality very far-from unpromising. -Never before have so fnany teachers bepn foulid nlaking earnest efforts to jinproVt. 'their status. During the past two ycnrs''the .holders of Class C certificates in active service hnvo more than doubled in number,' anil increased proportion of thoso iriio liflvo already obtained their "C are looking towards a still higher class..'

If Mr. W. H. Taft should be elected to thn Presidency, of the United States ho will be one of the many Presidents who have not, ss is so commonly supposed, made their way from a "log-cabin to tho White House." As a- pintter of fact, there havo been only three President:* who have actually been craplk'd in poverty—Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Garfield. Of. tho remainder, eleven havo been sons of distinctly well-to-do parents, while the others have been born in comfortable homes. Washington was a man of long pedigree; John Adams was a. Harvard graduate, and father of Johli Quihey Adams, one of his successors at tho White House; Jefferson's father was a rich planter; Madison's a large landowner; at nineteen James Monroe was an army captain, and at tho samo ago Harrison was an ensign; was son of a Judge and Governor; I'illmorc of a justice; and Pierco of a major-general; and so 1 on .through.'tho long list, all, with the three exceptions mentioned, having had, at least a fair start in life. ■ Fo( Bronchial Coughs tako Wood's Great Peppoiinint Cure, Is. 6d and 25." Bd. CBl

%