SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 152, 27 June 1917, Page 11

SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS

IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS

ESSENTIAL FOR EDUCATION. t ...

,The necessity for obtaining an adequate supply of highly qualified teachers is emphasised in the New Zealand Educational Journal, which points out how essential this is if the education provided by the State is to be of the standard which will assure a state of preparedness for the.; coming period of keen international competition. Every couaitry iv the British Empire is at present facing this problem. "In London," the . Journal' states, /'where at least 20,000 teachers are employed in council schools, we are told that last year not more thaji a dozen boys sought entrance to the teaching service; while in Manchester, the great manufacturing city of the north, ' the number was still smaller. The same unsatisfactory state ■ of affairs seems to exist the Empire. But.let us look at the condition of affairs in our own' Dominion! ' The number of teachers having no recognised examination status, and employed in public schools during the 'last five years, was as follows:—1910, 730; 1911, 705; 1912, 763 ; 1913, 792; 1914, ,770 ; 1916, 1076. The number- only partially qualified at the end of 1915 was 294. .The total of uncertificated teachers at that date was therefore 1370, or 27 per cent, of the total; 4668; The large increase in the number of - uncertificated teachers during the past, two years is mainly due to the fact that some five hundred men have gone to the front, and there,have not been, certificated teachers to fill their place; but, apart altogether from this circumstance, the 1 position is serious, and the problem of how best ift secure an adequate supply of qualified teachers will have to be attacked and solved.

"In the first .place, there should be instituted and kept .up a .'systematic search for boys physically, mentally, and morally fit to enter and remain in the service. After,' say, two years,, at -a secondary, technical, or district high school, suitable boys should be granted teacher student scholarships, and their studies should be directed specially to the requirements for »\teacher's certificate. ; At. the ■ end of the fourth year of secondary work these teacher students should enter the Training College, nvhere they would get special tuition in the art and practice of teaching, and yin such subjects- as elementary agriculture. While in' the. Training College, these students must be treated, as far as remuneration is concerned, at-least as . liberally as entrants to any branch of the Public Service. At the end of. their Training College course, at, say, twenty years rof. age, they should be , guaranteed. appointments as temporary assistants . in the -best managed of our large schools, where they would have the guidance and example of -experienced teachers.- On making good in these • positions, they should be drafted to country schools, where the children of settlers. would have the advantage of being by teachers of some experience, instead of, as at present) by -raw'and inexperienced men and-women.- i ■ "In addition to this there must be sure and-reasonably rapid promotion for the conspicuously, successful. If tho State could secure the services of five hundred 'young, capable, enthusiastic men whoadopted teaching purely for the love of thowork, and were determined to devote their lives to promoting the.welfare of the children of New/ Zealand, it would pay handsomely to give., such.^ men a I starting salary of £.250 a year,' and an : annual increment of £10 until they ! reached £500 a year/ ,'.'■ ; ; "The simple statement of the case is: We must, have more and better education; The- teaching service must be made the 'most attractive in the State. The community must be educated 'to the idea that more" money must be spent on education, and that any money profitably spent on education is money wisely spent.' 1.