SALARIES OF TEACHERS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 38, 8 November 1919, Page 8

SALARIES OF TEACHERS

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THE INCREASES ANNOUNCED

DETAILS OF THE GRANT

The following statement us to the effect of the new regulations by which increases to school teachers' salaries will he paid was made by the Prime Minister yesterday.

Tho proposals of the Education Department for increases to teachers' .salaries have now been approved by the. Government. Uncertificated and licensed teachers will receive tlio- former scale salaries, without the deductions previously imposed for tho absence of a certificate, together with an addition of ,£lO in the case of licensed teachers. Other increases are provided in particular instances, the main ono beini! the payment of an additional ,£lO per annum to all teachers in schools of Grade 1 to Illh.

Pupil-teachers will ho paid as follows :■— Third grade, i'fio per annum; second grade, .£75 per annum; first grade, JESS; per annum. Probationers will be paid ,1:65 per annum for the first year, and .£75 per '■■ annum for the second year. Training college students receive annual increases of £20. Pupil teachers, probationers, and 'training college students, will receive in, addition to the above rates ,£25 per annum, if obliged to live away from home. \

Tho increases, which amount in (he aggregate to ,£200,000 per annum, are to date from April 1 last. The arrears will be paid as soon as possible, .but as a large amount of clerical work is involved, payment will not be made probably until the first week in December. An important provision is one relating to relieving teachers, who will be paid fixed salaries ■when employed in the future, and will receive other benefits to which they were not previously entitled. New regulations for leave of absence will be issued providing a more liberal scale of sick pay. Organising teachers will bo paid house allowances of <£50 per annum.

The increases above referred to. together with the increases received on January 1 last, aggregate in the majority of cases amounts varying from JJ4O to ,£6O, and in many cases from ,£65 to -£80. . .

Provision is also made for slightly increased staffing of the larger schools, and for the appointment of a larger number of probationers. The regulations authorising the payments will be gazetted in about ten days or a fortnight's time, and will then be distributed to those interested. The Increases Reviewed. The following statement un the subject of the new salaries regulations is furnished by the executive of the New Zealand Educational Institute:— Tho regulations authorised bj thcEdueation Amendment Act recently passed have now been announced. As tho measure was confessedly only a temporary one, not much new ground has been broken, attention being chiefly devoted to the removing of, defects that have long been in evidence in tho working machinery. One important new feature is an attempt to solve the difficult problem of the temporary and relieving teacher. A .system of grading has been devised which will assure to these a definite status and salary, and will also secure equality of treatment in tlw different oducatioii districts. Sick leave and sick pay have also been put on a definite- basis. Minor

alterations are made in the regulations relating to tho grading and stalling of schools', and in icgard tu training colleges. Tilts payment oi removal expenses of teachers when such removal is ordered by the board is also provided for; hut m this respect teachers have trill to complain that, they are not treated in anything like so fair a way as the Public Sen-ice. Why lliis difference is maintained is hard to understand, for it surely cannot ho contended that because teachers aro not under the Public Service Commissioner they are not therefore serving the public. _ Parliament voted a sum of .£200,000 for increases to salaries in addition to tho -£HS,0l)O given last year, and tho outstanding feature of the new regulations is in the section dealing with Hie disposal of this increment. Occasion has been taken lo give acknowledgment to the principle of payment according to merit. The present schedule of salaries remains, except that the minimum salary for the lowest grade of assistant teacher is raised to ,£l3O. Tho additions are lo be distributed in accordance with a schedule which". assigns increases varying in amount from .£lO to .£is to teachers in certain salary groups, according to their grading within their respective groups. Every teacher will receive au-increment of not less than ,£lO, and as much more as is warranted by his grading marks viewed in relation to those of other teachers of similar standing. . In effect it will probably appear that the general average of increment will ho lrom ,£25 to ,£lO ayear. It is not too much to suppose that the application of this principle to payment will be followed by its application to appointments and promotions Thus the trail has been blazed for Hie opening up of a path of promotion and payment in accordance with the quality of the service rendered, as nearly ,as that can be estimated by inspectors and registered in a graded list. Teachers may. now look forward with confidence to the coming of the time when- the district barriers maintained by some of the education boards will be things of tho past, and when the caprices and injustices that still mar the relations between boards and teachers in some districts will be finally consigned ro their dishonoured graves. The allowance to married assistants remains, and allowances of .£lO to the holder of a license to teach 'and of ,£2O to a teacher who has been a member of the N.Z.E.F., are provided. An important item, also, is what may be called a country allowance of ,£lO to all teachers in all schools up to and including Grado 111 B. while the capitation per pupil in schools of Grade 0 is raised to ..£l2. This is a concession to the educational needs of the children in country districts that will be very bcnelicial'in its effects, as it will certainly tend to raise the standard of teaching in the rural areas.

A forward eye has been east, too, on the needs of the future in regard to a supply of trained teachers, and something has been done to lessen the discrepancy between tho emoluments of entrants to the teaching service and thoso of tho otlici! public services. Pupil teachers receive from .£OS to XSS a year, and Training College students .£BS a year, with an allowance of <£25 a year to those who have to live away, from home.

Substantial assistance is given to school committees, and something has been attempted to improve the conditions of secondary and technical schools. Taken together with the Act the regulations may be welcomed as giving relief where it. was most needed, and indicating the direction in which reform may bo looked lor in tho future.

' HOW THE INCREASES ARE ALLOTTED. Tho scale of salaries previously in force lies not been altered, but provision is made whereby each certificated teacher will receive an increase based on his position in the Dominion grading list in accordance with the following table:— SCHEDULE V.-ADDITIONS TO SALARIES 'PAYABLE TO PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR POSITIONS ON THE DOMINION GRADED LIST OF TEACHERS. , \ Additional Amount Payable According to Grading of Teachers, Grade of Salary of Teacher £45 ,£4O ,£35 ,£3O ,£25 .£2O .£ls JGIO Grading Grading Grading Grading Grading Grading Grading Grading Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers 130-1G0) Above . Under 130-1401 ... - SI 81-05 — 90-104 - - 101' ■ 140-160) 160-220) Above Under 160-220)... - 70 - "0-81 - 85-91 > - 94 220-270) ■ 230-290) Above . Under 210-240)... 47 ■ 47-59 60-75 - 70-84 -84 - 250-270) 270-2301 Above ' Under 300-320)... 36 36-50 51-60 - • 01-71 - 71 — 280-330) 330-370) Above Under 340-380)... 22 22-31 - 32-11 - 42-51 - 51 380-410) Above Under 420-450)... 12 12-21 - 21-20 - 27-37 - 37 Note—"Grading numbers above 81" mean grading numbers 80, 79. 78, and so on, and "grading numbers under 104" mean grading numbers 105, 100, 107, and so on. Other references to grading numbers "above" or "under" a certain figure are to bo similarly construed.