SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 121, 22 May 1920, Page 6

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ASSISTANT TEACHERS .._ MEET ' AIMS OP THEIR ASSOCIATION The fourth annual meeting and;conference of the Secondary : Schools' Association of New 'Zealand was opened at the Wellington Boys' College this morning. Mr. J. Drummond, M.A., president of the association, occupied the chair, and there ■were, present delegates from the chief. North .and South, Island school centres. Mr. T. R. Cresswell, senior inspector of secoiidarjsschools, was aJso present. The report for the past year set out that, the total of . subscriptions received constitutes a record, viz., 304 for 1919 as.against 29 for 1916, 81 for 1917, 135 for'49lß; arid argues a very "much keener interest on the part of members in the affairs,of the association. The expenditure for 1919 surpasses that of all other years. This was to be expected, as the executive last year embarked on a 'oouTse' of propaganda work hitherto not attempted.. The balance for 1919 was only about £7. behind that for 1918. The balance for the year .1919' is £149 11s lid. The subject matter of the remainder of the report has already been published in The Post. Both the report and the balance-sheet were adopted. ' ■ PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

Addressing the delegates the President said,that in this Dominion secondary education had not hitherto received the consideration due to it as intermediate,. between -primary and university education. At present, generally speaking, : the primary schools offer greater advantages to teachers. Many university graduates now took up teaching as a stepping-stone to other profession's where ability and- industry were mtjre.; highly rewarded, e.g., medicine, 1aw,... ■ engineering, etc. . • The honors course in arts was much more popular with,..wjomen than with men, an.indication that teaching was becoming* less and less popular.with'Vmeh.

"A'"Dominion 'scheme of salaries was urgently needed in New Zealand. It was proposed to divide teachers ; into, three grades with a fixed maximum md' minimum in each grade, such maximum to be reached by fixed annual increments. It was not desirable of course,..that these increments;should be automatic, they should depend upon reasonable^ conditions as to efficiency. It was" purposed further, to set up an Appeal " Board on the lines of the Efcblic Service Appeal Board to consider the caliS"6t.'any "teacher dissatisfied as to his or her grading: and salary. ■ One of tie most pressing needs of secondary education was some system of' training' its teachers. As the art of ediication was independent to : a great extent of the particular subject taught, there :w»s, no fundamental difference in training for teaching secondary work and.^that for teaching primary. If higher salaries were ptiid assistants in secondary schools, experienced teachers in primary schools would be induced to geek'promotion in the former. Secondary school teachers were deeply interested in the proposals made at the recent conference between the teachers and inspectors and the Minister for Education, because the finished product olTtlie primary provided the material for the secondary schools. Time was often tart, in the first year at a secondary school because ife took a year to classily pupil*. Many who began on even terms »oon parted company because of neglect of norn« . work, 'an " important feature of secondary though not of primary work. . The performance ot homo work deepnded'as much upon p*renta as upon teachers, and hence the lack of uniformity. The establishment of<.» Central Promotion Board did not appeal. at. present to. secondary teachers. - Primary teachers of teaching secondary subjects were already welcomed in secondary schools on account of their previous training experience. Pew, however, made the change, and on the other hand secondary teachere could hardly look for promotion in the ; primary schools because they are not, and can hardly be graded in comparison with . the primary teachers. While he felt sure that secondary teachers were; willing to co-joperate with primary in the interests of education; the proposals for affiliation with tha New Zealand Educational Institute met with no favour among secondary assistants, because they involved submergence of the association. To offer the right of electing one member in twelve to the executive, appeared to indicate alack of appreciation of the importance of secondary education. It wouldi be a forward move in education if representatives of primary, secondary, and university education met .together on something like aii equal footing to discuss matters of common interest.' The present Council of Education, with a some•what altered construction, might serve such.a, purpose.

Mr. P. M. Renner, MiA., waa reappointed hon. secretary and treasurer. REMITS. The following remit, moved by Mr. Renner, was carried unanimously:—• "That^.if the present method of capitation payment be retained, the Government be again .strongly , urged to raise such .payment to £19 per head per free place pupil for salaries only in order to ensure: (1) 'An adequate professional remuneration' for all secondary teachers; (2) the 1 introduction of- a grading scheme such as is outlined in the association's pamphlet "The Status and Pay of the Secondary. Teacher in Now Zealand." The delegates, also supported arid carried a remit brought forward by Mr. R. M- Laing, M.A., B.Sc. (Christchurch) : "That as this association strongly disapproves of the proposal to initiate a grading scheme for promotions and transfers' on'the lilies of the primary schools Scheme 1; the schema for grades and salaries as outlined in. the association's ' pamphlet as subsequently amended be reaffirmed." . Mr. E. Caradus (Auckland), in moving i"That the staff of each school shall be initially classified into three grades by the Principal and Inspectors in .consultation, and the classification shall be based upon:—(1) Ability in teaching; (2) University degrees or diplomas; (3) Posi-tion.}n-,,the school.; (4) Length of service" ;>saidv.tiiat'. ■ the.proposal, if carried, would make for the grading of teachers upon a fairer basis by the inclusion of consideration ■of years of' service' and the position in the school, which,. factors vi-ere not provided for in the present scheme for grading and salaries. In answer to a question, Mr. Renner said that the inclusion of principals in j the scheme had not been considered. The. clause, together with machinejy clauses,'was carried. Other clauses car- j ried-iprovided. that:—"A first assistant shall, in virtue of his or her position, .receive a-larger salary than any other ''■senior assistant on the staff." • "An appeal Board, on. the lines of the Public Service Appeal Board, shall be set up to consider the. case of any teacherJwhV.is•.dissatisfied as, to his or her grading and salary." • „ "That if the association's proposal for the--classification/of: teachers ,into. tfii-.ee «rr ? de» be adopter! by the Department of Education, it shall be recommended that the maximum and minimum in fiapji

grade be fixed, the maximum to be reached by fixed annual increments." "That the following recommendation be brought under tho notice of the Minister of Education .-—That the present system of fixing secondary school teachers' salaries on the basis of capitation be abolished, and that salaries' be paid j through the governing boards by the Department at Wellingon." "That it be-recommended that teachers in charge of subjects or departments throughout a school shall receive ait additional payment dependent on the size of the school." COST OP LIVING. The remit, "That until an adequate scale of salaries for all Secondary School teachers is brought into operation, the capitation allowance for boys be increased in order that the governing bodies of Secondary Schools may be enabled to pay married assistants salaries commensurate with the increased cost of living," also brought forward by Mr. Caradu.s, gave rise to another discussion upon the question of equal pay, equal work. It was pointed out that under the Education Amendment Act women' teachers had been much, more generously treated than had men /in the matter of increases in salary. Mi3s E. Coad'opposed the remit as ie stood, on the ground that the carrying out of the proposal would have a detrimental effect upon the status of the women teachers. Sne held that there was still a great discrepancy between, the salaries of male. and female teachers. Many of the latter had other dependents on them. Mr. H. Robson said that the question ■was not one of women teachers, and men teachers, but married v. single. The remit was carried. (Proceeding.)