DISTINCTIONS?

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1924, Page 6

DISTINCTIONS?

;TECHNICAL AND SECONDARY * H TEACHERS 2 'A PROTEST BY A DIRECTOR. ,£ Differences that are stated to exist rjietween the conditions covering tech"iiical and secondary school teachers were ■placed before the Council of Education ;.:tu-day. ~~Z Mr- J- H. Howell (Wellington) moved: ■•"i'That it is unwise to attempt to co--ordinate the grading schemes lor teach~ers in secondary and technical schools." l"a\Jr. Howell also moved': "That the regulations for classification of teachers —in technical schools be amended in the -tliruction of rendering their conditions !3ot service.,llo less favourable than those teachers in secondary schools,- espec—ially in regard to. (a) staffing, (b) evening work, (c) salary of head teacher, . iuid (d) maximum teaching hours." J.The subject of the resolution, said Mr. was one that had greatly exer»_*ise9"'t"he" st'iii'fs "of'technical "schools for time.. They felt that they were \"jvorking under unfair conditions, and 'that although during the time of serious i.tUinancial difficulty to the country little ""■was said or done to call attention to the -.state of things, now that a return was -.being made to. normal conditions it was that the unfair conditons were Remedied. The staffing scale for sec-■-ondary schools of over 500 pupils was •-pore generous than in technical high ■-schools of the same size. In regard to "^evening work, if secondary teachers.were . _in. evening instruction at a - school such" time was paid for 2jn full.' In'the case of a'technical teach;"er ho extra payment was made unless ",;the teacher was teaching for more than *23 or 30 hours weekly. Heads of tceh<iiical schools were much less favourably placed in regard to salary than J^jlie' heads of secondary 'schools. j *i Un-"-E'J;;Mn&deh-..HAssistant Director *«f Education) expressed regret that Mr. -'.Urlowell had seen fit to draw such a har'.rowing picture of the comparative conditions of technical and secondary | 'jschools. The fact that technical teachers *;did not want; their grading placed in 1 •"khe same basis as that of secondary was indication of the satisfaction of' technical teachers -with their -He could . have some sympathy for head teachers, who, ho realised, put in many long hours, but gen-f-crally he thought Mr. Howell had over•^stated his case. '„:' The opinion was expressed by the "■chairman (Mr. J. Caughiey, Director of -Education) that pupils attending day .^courses should not bo engaging them- . "selves with some of the courses. For .^instance, it was-absurd to think of boys |lof thirteen ■ and fourteen taking up , Ckvliat. .was called an engineering course, risind working with machines which should be used by men after they had had s'caiisiderable experience. There should i'viio a course of manual instruction of a rliroad general character basic to almost «;uiy. handicraft. . How many boys takI'Sng the engineering courso became engineers? In a small town like Hamilton I'ihere- were 50. or ,60. boys., taking engineering. He .agreed that the headmaster *vof a technical college had an immense -ramouiit of work to do; but. he did not s*thhik that the headmaster should act as :,.secretavy ■of :the» Board of Governors. *i At thb stage the council adjourned -tutitil this afternoon. ' ■ ;; The Hen. T. D. Fleming, M.L.C. £(Dunedin) said that there was a lot. in •'"-what Mr. Howell had said, but.it was if it would'bo possible1 to ".;givo all branches of the service exactly 'what they wanted. "'Stc.'T. H. Bak'ewell (Dunedin) said he had much sympathy with the case or the . technical teachers, but did not feel ready to vote on the motions p"t forward. They wore not quite sure of the . jinsition., .....: - Mr. H. F. Penlington (Christchurch) said that the motions opened up a big question, and. he_ thought, that, without making comparisons, the whole matter should be placed before the Department iii order that adjustments might be made. The chairman suggested that the matter might be referred to a joint committoe appointed by the Technical • Schools' Association and the Secondary -Teachers' Association, and officers of the Department. ' . ... - , This was agreed to. ' \