THE TEACHER'S PAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 136, 5 December 1907, Page 8

THE TEACHER'S PAY.

-*- RISNISTERIAL SCHEMES AND . OTHERS. ' IMPROVEMENTS PROMISED. The teacher is discontented. For a. long time he has felt that ho has not been sufficiently recompensed for his part in building up the nation. The nation has said : "We must, have sound citizens ; therefore we must have good teachers." The teacher has said: '*f -must-- have Bound pay." The sound pay has not come up "to the teacher's expectations, and consequently the profession has tended to become unpopulai among men. It 'has been' prophesied that by-and-bye woman ■will have the shaping of the manhood at' school here as she mainly has in the United States of .America. , Year by yeaT young m-3n have been more and more inclined to look to other professions for tho employment of their talent. THE MINISTERIAL ATTITUDE. Towards the end 'of the session the Hon. G. Fowlds,~Mtnister of Education, announced that during the recess he would study the whole question of teachers', salaries, with a view to- formulating a. comprehensive scheme. His'problem is to produce a plan which will be satisfactory to the taxpayers, who foot the bills, and the teacherswho consider that they are entitled toi better emolument. He' is well aware that tile teachers are | discontented with ' tHe system of paymenf'by average attendance. If he has , any. lingering doubts -ho has only to glance "at the order -paper ' arranged for the twenty-fifth 'annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute at Auckland, during January. The epithets applied 'to this system range from "iniquitous" to '"inequitable," In his' dilemma the Minister , has thought of a -scheme of gradual increments of salary. This, he considers, would ' involve provision for transfers 'in cases where the attendance was declining while the salary was increasing, in accordance ' Tnth "efficiency and length of 'service, and the sequel would be the assumption of authority by the depaitment'to control the transfers. LOCAL CONTROL v. CENTRALISA- • • TION. The Minister's statement revives the old topic of "centralisation,", about which the teachers of various provinces aTB divided. Westland', a district with only thirty-two ' schools, may be saitf to represent the views of similar areas in a, remit which it has drafted for the conference : — That 'this institute, realising that Lhe teachers of small education districts are barred from most of the larger education -, districts wherein promotion is made almost solely from among the teachers of, those districts to the exclusion of outsidsrs,'urges the Minister for Education to remedy this evil and to inaugurate a colonial system of appointments and 1 promotion whereby promotion shall be decided by efficiency, merit, and experience alone. To provide for this, this institute suggests that— (1) The teachers or" New. Zealand be graded, according to efficiency, experience, and literary qualifications, • this grading to be" annually revised by a council' of , experts,' to which chairmen of education boards may be eligible. ■ • ' . ■ , (2). Promotions, appointments, and i transfers -be made' by the central d-z- ' partment in accord with* the above . grading,' teachers ,to be .allowed,, subject to .the approval of the department, to exchange . positions. North Canterbury, liowever, considers "that, it is inexpedient to" interfere. with the measure of local control now enjoyed by education boards," and Wellington has- a -similar opinion. Yet Auckland a,nd Ota'go, which are olso large districts, do not look with a frown upon .the cen-tralising-idea. One critic, remarked that it.. might be possible in" the larger areas for each education board to have a system of' transfer, .but such' a project would not be 'practicable in such -regions-as Westland.,and Grey. , Smaller^dlstricts would need to be merged. '. This speaker, a man with wide experience in' tho educational world, also urged that part of tnu salary should depend- on average attendance, though tho main' portion should be independent- of the- roll. "It is. a good thing," he said, '.'that attention should be paid- to- the attendance. Some authorities hold that the. standard of the aHendance should be considered as part of the ■ general efficiency, of a teacher." ' - "It must come 'to taaf," said a prominent teacher here.- He was against the principle of payment on the average attendance, but 'admitted that this should be a factor in determining the reward. AN ADVISORY- COUNCILOtago 'is recommending that the institute should urge upon th-* Minister the desirability of establishing an Advisory Educational Council. This body, it is submitted, should have charge of tho transfers 'if a colonial system of promotions was adopted, and, would 1 thus. avoid the danger 01 "political pull" . which might attach to the vc-sting of the power in the Central Government department. This .suggestion- raises other questions. Is it possible to secure a council which would have the cocfidcnce of teachers throughout New Zealand? Would the members become sufficiently acquainted wjth the conditions of various localities. Would it be possible to pet education boards to submit to a council and kefp it posted with reports whtfh would put it in a position -to • make transfers with. % thorough fairness? It is stated that in Victoria, where the central council system is in vogue, there is' still much dissatisfaction among teache-rs. A CHAMPION OF LOCAL CONTROL. One headmaster mentioned, in couise of a conversation with a. Post representative, that he preferred to see i the control in the hands of school committees and «ducation boards, though he knew that his opinion was not shared by all tho teachers in Wellington. The Education Department, he said, could not be compared with other departments X which dealt with inanimate things. He was convinced. that in order to keep teaching on a proper basis a gTent measure of , local control was necessary. It was imperative to have the services of men oh school committees and boards who were thoroughly in sympathy with the needs of the district. He was sure that a good school committee was a benefit, and not the handicap alleged by some teachers. If the centralising idea was realised, the school committee's office j would be abolished, and what Mould be left for the education boards to do? About all that would remain for them would be tho apportioning of the money granted for building purposes.