CENTRALISATION

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 41, 17 August 1921, Page 9

CENTRALISATION

A REPLY TO THE DIRECTOR OF

EDUCATION

.VIEWS OF CHAIRMAN OF WELLINGTON BOARD.

The chairman of the Wellington Education Board, Mr. T. Forsyth, has made the following reply to the criticisms of the Director of Education:—

"In educational matters, 'centralisation' has become a fetish of the present Director of Education, and it was only to be expected that the suggestion of decentralisation contained in the annual report of the board would be attacked by him. It was hoped; however that the Director's recent visit to Australia to investigate 'the working of the centralised system of Australia would have convinced him that his pet theory, when put into actual practice, was not altogether an unqualified success. It is to be regretted that in attempting to defend, his Department against the suggestion of some ' weaknesses in administration, he first of all accuses me of 'serious misrepresentation,' and in the ' next sentence quotes from the Department's regulations—but, in part only, carefully omitting front' his quotation the clause which was referred to. • The trick of quoting part of the regulations only so far as it went to prove his assertion, is surely the worst form of misrepresentation. "The two statements in the board's report, which are criticised by the Director, arc as follow:— For instance, under existing regulations the Senior Inspector cannot direct the organising teacher to any school for necessary organising service without the previous sanction of the Department. Similarly, the board cannot appoint a temporary teacher to the staff of the Training College or Normal School without the previous sanction of the Department. "These statements are undoubtedly correct, and are confirmed absolutely by the Department's regulations. No; one knows this better than Mr. Caugh- - 46 y" '"A SMOKE SCREEN." "It is unnecessary for me to reply to I his statement of the board's dilatoriness,' as the Director has simply used },his as a smoke screen, and in this connection it is not unfair to point out that the Department, is sometimes very unreasonable in its demands for returns, and in this particular instance, practically all the essential information had been supplied to the Department month Iby month in another form. Actually, the regulations ; do not require the board to send in the return which the Director of Education has referred to as being five months' late in reaching him, and it is 'necessary to emphasise the fact that no action of the board was undertaken without the precedent approval of one of the senior officers of Mr. Caughley's Department. : i "Mr. Caugh.ley states: — Recently delay has, been caused through • the action of the board in endeavouring 1 to make appointments under a system of its own which makes it very difficult for a teacher' from another district to apply for a position in the Wellington district. This is a direct contravention to the

intention of recent legislation.

VIEWS. OF THE TEACHERS. ' "Is Mr: Caughley aware of the fact that on ,19th May the executive of the N. Z.E.I, waited on the Hon. C. J. Parr, Minister of Education, when it was stated that:— „

We have reason to congratulate the Wellington Education Board upon the holiest attempt it has made to administer this portion of the Act. I don't know whether you have seen this form of application sent out by the board to its own teachers and any

others Who may wish to apply for ! positions in the Wellington district. 1 It amount* to this. General applica-' tions have been called for from all the teachers in the employ ,of the, board for any position for which the teacher is eligible.: Every applicant is graded in a card index system,, and by this means the board hopes, without any delay to be able to offer any vacancy to the teacher highest on the list. That is the position we are anxious to bring about. We want to see measures taken to ensure a uniform system being adopted throughout the Dominion, so that teachers everywhere will have equal opportunities for applying for positions in any district to which they may desire to transfer. Wo don't think it will take long for the Wellington system to permeate the Dominion as a whole. We certainly think tho Wellington Board is deserving, of the thanks of tho teach-' ers for the straightforward and honest attempts it has made to bring into force the new system, and thereby

promote the well-being of the teachers. "As the executive of tho N.Z.E.I, speaks for the whole of tho certificated teachers in tho Dominion, their opinion as above expressed is the most effective reply that could be given to the Director's allegation that the Wellington Board is in any way seeking ,to contravene the intention of recent legislation. "EVERY POSITION THROWN OPEN.

"At the beginning of June the board inserted hi National Education, the official organ, of the N.Z.E.1., an advertisement inviting applications from all qualified teachers throughout New' Zealand who desire an appointment in the Wellington district. A full explanation of the scheme was given in the June and July issues of the same Journal.

"From the foregoing it will be seen that the beard's system, instead of confining appointments to Wellington teachers, has actually thrown every position open to the whole profession. One instance of the benefit to be derived by teachers located in isolated parts is the fact that a New Zealand teacher engaged in Rarotonga was at the last meeting selected for a responsible position. Had the position been .advertised in the ordinary way there would have been no possibility of his even seeing the advertisement before the filling of the vacancy.

"Tlie' board's application form enables a candidate to indicate either specifically or generally the towns or localities in which he is prepared to accept appointment, and one of the mam virtues of the scheme is that a teacher who has filled in one of the forms knows that he has no need to watoh the newspaper for vacancies.

"If it were permissible to publish the list of some of the extraordinary actions of the Education Department, I feel sure the public, who have to pay the piper, would feel surprised and 'rather uneasy.

'DEPARTMENTAL METHODS.

"Let me quote a recent example of the Department's methods. A vacancy occurred on the staff of the Normal School requiring special qualifications, and, in such cases, under recent legislation,' a certain discretion is allowed the board with the approval of the senior inspector, who is an officer of the Department, to make such appointment by transfer. In this case the Senior Inspector selected tho most suitable and best qualified teacher, for Hie position, and the board, in accordance

with its usual custom, unanimously approved of the Senior Inspector's selection. The Departmejit, however, now stepped in and refused to confirm the appointment,-and insisted that the position should he advertised. It was then found that the Senior Inspector's original selection was still the best! qualified of all 'the applicants for the position, and the board must submit to the Department its original recommendation. liKe action of the Department undoubtedly caused delay and unnecessary expense. 1 "It wonld he an easy matter to quote other cases of a similar, nature, but the above typical example, I think, fully justifies the following suggestion contained in the board's annual report, viz. :—'The removal of many of the present limitations on administrative action of boards would result in an ap-i preciaMe saving' of time and money and involve; no sacrifice of efficiency.' "If the Department finds any "board acting in contravention to the . spirit of the Education Act, or of any of the regulations, it should adjust the matter with that particular board, rather than kinder the. administration of education generally by framing regulations requiring all hoards -to refer to the Department trivial matters that any -public body can -well be trusted to manage satisfactorily."