POORLY PASD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1131, 19 May 1911, Page 2

POORLY PASD.

SECONDARY SCHOOL ASSISTANTS,

SOME COMPARISONS. From time to time the assistant teachers in tho secondary departments of (lie State district high schools have voiced (heir protests, at conferences and elsewhere, at the inadequacy of their fabrics as compared with the emoluments enjoyed by the senior assistants in the primary schools, and their claims have also been supported by the education boards. "With the secondary assistants in the high schools proper the case would appear to be one of equal' necessity, to judge from tho annual report of t!io Mew Zealand Secondary Schools Assistants' Association, read at tho annual meeting at Wellington College yeatenlav.

Since the last annual meeting, stated the Executive Committee, additional inquiries had been made into tho question of salaries and the status of teachers in foreign secondary schools. A brief summary of tho conditions of secondary education in France and in Germany went to show how much more highly the services of secondary teachers were valued in those countries than in New Zealand. It was difficult to compare tho conditions of secondary schools in France with those which obtained in New Zealand. In tho French "lycees" and colleges there wero three classes of masters:

(a) "Profes-.eurs," who taught in lycecß from 12 to 1G hours per week. They had no supervision, and little outside correction. Their salaries rose from .£2OO to .£350. If a man had to teach move than the legal number of hours (15 to 1G) he received from <£G to JCIO a year for every additional hour per week. (b) "Survcillants"—a special stall to maintain discipline outside tho classroom. .. (c) "Repetiteurs"-a second special staff whoso duties consisted chiefly in supervising and helping boys during hours of preparation. "While we- condemn the French system, which removes tho ossistants ("profosscurs") from contact with tho boys at the very time when they could most influence'their characters, we must, commented the Executive Committee, admit that their work is much less strenuous and (to-day tho cost of living into t consideration) theiv .falnries much higher than those paid, in New Zealand.

Some Telling Figures.' The fallowing scale of salaries in Germany show how much more liberally secondary assistants are paid m that country than in New Zealand: In Tlamburg, Hie salary on first ap; pointment was X 200; nfter three years sarvieo this was increased to £230; alter six years, to ,£260; after nine years, to ItesiO; after twelve years, to JC32O; after fifteen venrs, 'to JC3GO; after eighteen vciiTS to .€400; and alter twenty-one vears to JE4SO.' In Bremen, Iho salary "commenced at .£2OO and roso to £M, with two fivo-yoarlj' increment'! of .£SO, and two of .£45. in Prussia, the salary commenced nt ,£135, and rose !;y regular three-yearly increments to £SW, oiler il vears; in addition tlie assistants received house allowance, about JG4H per annum. In Snxe-Woimar, the salary commenced nt £150, and rose by regular three-yearly Increments to .£350 after 21 years. The pensions granted were also on a much more liberal scale. In Prussia a teacher could retire on a pension t>l <S per cent of his salary after JO years service ; in Siixc-Weimnr and Brunswick, on 80 per cent after 37 years' service. The pensions wero equally liberal in the other Slates.' The allowance to orphans anil widows wa? alw on a much, more liberal scnlo than in New Zealand, fho allowances to widows varied from 20 wr, cent of salary, in Bavaria and Sase-YVcjmar, h 40 per cent of the pension the masler wax receiving, or to which he was entitled at the time of his dcath-in PruWa. In the ease of orphans, the allowance in most States wa? 20 per cent of the amount to which the widow was entitled. The allowance to orphans continued until they were 18 years old, ..nnd wns .increased in the case of those «ho had lost both parents.

A Long Way to Travel. •When they considered that in '.the , States of Prussia, Saxony, Baden, Hess*. WWcimar, Oldenburg, Brunswick, sSse-MoS'cn, AnlioH, the . teachers Stated nothing to the pension lund and that the cost of living in Germany "as from 25 to 30 per cent l«s <[U an m New Zealand, they must admit'that they lnd a lone wav to travel before they could claim thai the conditions .0 their secondary service compared at all favourably with those which' obtained n the Gorman Empire. In .Austria tlm maximum pension was attained alter 30 . veers' service, when a secondary assis- , tant was able to retire on J1287. Ihe secondary school statistics for the S ato of Prussia were instructive, llii'y had been able to get the returns for 1805 01.lv, since when 'he salaries of teachers had been raised in that State In that year the cost of educating the 223,000 pupils attending the Prussian secondary . schools was .£3,609,000, a little over ilB P AVhcn they considered that tho cost of living in Prussia was at least 25' per ' cent lower than in New Zealand, it was evident (hat they must spend at least £°0 per head on secondary education if thVv wished to make the service as attractive as in Germany. At the present time the scone of a secondary teacher 111 New Zealand was very limited-he received no regular increase in salary, and liltlo value was attached to experience. \Vas it iHiv wonder, under those conditions, that the majority of tho best pupils pro ferred law, medicine, engineering, surveying etc., to a profession which was to badly paid, and in which tho prospects of rising even to .C 350 per annum worn so limited. As had bi-ou pointed out last year, the lady teachers in their secondary schools were even worse paid than the men. Indeed, whilo their work was more exacting, and demanded much, higher attainments, they were not uu literally paid its teachers in district high schools.

Low Salaries Admitted, In reply to a communication on tho subject of salaries, tho Department admitted that in many cases the secondary teachers were paid inadequate salaries, but laid the Wamo on tho governing bodies, which, it was claimed, were in a position to pay their teachers at a higher rale. The executive was of opinion that an improvement, might bo effected if the Department issued a regulation to the effect that n certain proportion—say, five-sixths—of the revenue from capitation, and of the net revenue from endowments, should be. devoted to payment of tho salaries of the staff. Subsequently it was resolved:—'.'That tho Executive Committee of tho association be urged to consider tho best methods of securing an increase in the salaries paid to secondary tchool assistants; and, in view of (he statement of Ihe Education Department that, the governing bodies of the secondary schools are not paying salaries proportionate lo tho grants received, liiat the association be urged lo collect information bearing upon tho point, and press the matter still further."