SCHOOL INSPECTORS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1923, Page 13

SCHOOL INSPECTORS

DEPARTMENT AND BOARDS

REMARKS OF MINISTER OF

EDUCATION.

Li the course of an address delivered at- a conference of senior school inspectors yesterday, the Minister of Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr,, made some interesting remarks in regard to the policy of the Department as to primary education and the system of school inspection.

"I regard this conference as important," said the Minister. "I meet here the nine senior inspectors of the Dominion. The. office of senior inspector is a most responsible one. For instance, in the Education Act of 1921, the senior inspector may, in. co-operation with the education board, in special circumstances, even disreagard the grading list in making appointments. To! guard against possible unjust rigidity Jn making all oppointments .by' grading, ' the Legislature ha£ given power to the board and' tho senionr inspector in certain circumstances to appoint an applicant who may not be the highest graded. A reasonable exercise of this power is necessary. For instance, weherever the Benior inspector, bringing his best judgment to bear on the matter, is satisfied that the highest applicant for special reasons may not be the best_ suited for the vacant position. I believe that this important discretion given to the senior inspector has not been abused, but on the whole has been exercised reasonably, and in the interests of the school and the child, which is, after all, the vital test. The Teachers' Institute in this respect made complaint to hie about one district only, but in this case I think there will be no further cause for grumbling.

"SUPERVISOR OF THE SCHOOL."

"Generally speaking, the office of inspector had been exalted of recent years. A broader view of his duties y is taken than formerly. He has been relieved from the drudgery of individual examination of every pupil in the school. He is not merely an examiner. He is rather the supervisor of the school, the friend and the. partner of the teacher. This is as it should be, and is in accordance with the best modern practice. But I must sound a note of warning. The inspector is also a trnsted-officer of the Education Department; he is no longer a servant of the boards. In a sense,' he should be the watch-dog of the Education Department. It is his business, not only to befriend the teacher, but to see that the slack ones and the inefficient do their job. ■ Wherever inefficiency be noted, it is the duty of the inspector, after fair'warning; to see that inefficiency is reflected in lower grading marks. A complaint made by more than one education board at the conference last week was that any weakness in the gradinc system would be found in the fact that the falling off in individual efficiency was not noted by inspectors in-some districts as it ought to be. There was not—so some boards 'tell me—a marking down of , the inefficient, teacher (even be he sometimes a headmaster), when a teacher became slack or inexpert. I desire senior inspectors to "riote'-complaihtir of some of the boards and their officers on' this score. The chairman of two of the education boards said pointedly that in some schools the school had grown above the capacity of the headmaster, but the headmaster was still kept in his job, to the loss of the child and the discontent of the parents. I believe there are such cases; indeed I am sure bf it. But such anomalies I hope are few and far between. They should not exist at all. The inspector must not be afraid to do his .duty'where.' all is not well in a school. He must not forget that it is the children who suffer through continued inefficiency. .'I do not, of course, suggest hard treatment; anything but that. My point is that where a school is suffering from continued inefficiency on the part of an instructor it is in the inspector's hands,! and his alone, to put things right, and he should do his duty. The teacher is always protected by having the right of appeal against unjust' dismissal or transfer.

"There can be no doubt that the inspector of to-day is an officer of great power and influence. Indeed, it is no exaggeration, to say that, as is the inspector, so largely will be the standard of education in a district. The appointment of the inspectors as grading officers has added greatly to their status and responsibilities."