HEADMASTERS' DUTIES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 8

HEADMASTERS' DUTIES

•; THE NEW REGULATIONS.

"More than once,"'writes the Wellington Headmasters' Association, "the, Hon. tho Minister of Education has asserted that the ;new regulation- wherein the headmaster is required .'to devote the major portion of his time to the actual'1 work of; teaching' 4s iin operation- in' England and in New South: Wales and Victoria.'. The Wellington' Headmasters' Association has . not previously contra Picl.ed this statement, but it now /asserts positively that no such regulation is' hi force in any part of xhe Empire. . The English Board, of.-Education advises the head teacher that he should devote some cortidn - of.. his time xo teaching;, bu'i ■ >hould'. is very different from 'shall.' In New South Wales, and in-"Victoria, where teachers are working under a centralised system,, head teachers are required to devote a'portion of their tim* to the-actual-work of teaching— not the major portion 'of their time. ' ■ - "Tho Hon. the Minister' aiso suggested in his ; Chr'istchurch statement that eotoe.education.boards had welcomed the nsw 'regulations. '.If other hoards hold similar opinions to those •of the Wellington Education Board, then there can be little ground for the suggestion. The following is quoted from a letter received ; by the'association from Hie Welling-' ton i Education iioard underf" date 18th February, 1924:—'1 am directed . . .'. to 'inform',you that the board hap communicated.; to the Director of Educa-i tion its opinion' that great.benefit Would be secured to the'service as a whole by consultation with' the bodies or. individuals conceriied . before the adoption of regulations so: wide-reaching '■, in. . their sco^e as those iinder criticism. The board ' has in particular expressed its disapproval' of- the amended of-the duties of;the manager of such an institution as a large school, and it sup-' ports_ the. .views expressed .by the institute in relation to (a) the head teachers being required on a definite time-table to | devote more than hair the school day to class teaching; and (b) according to"'the i first assistant, ■in the way prescribed in i the new regulations, a definite share in the management of the school." • "The Hon.' the Prime Minister , hag courteously replied to the representations made to him by. the association, and has stilted that he will be glad to give them careful "consideration in conference with the Hohy the: Minister of Education. ' "

"The great amount of evidence adduced during the past1 fortnight 6hould five the Prime Minister and the Min-ister-of Education sufficient material tb arrive at.the conclusion that the amended regulations are both impracticable and undesirable, and that in the best interests of the profession they should be withdrawn. . It is for tlie . Department in conference with representatives of the interested parties to enumerate a principle on which to build such other regulations as may be deemed necessary."