EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION.

Evening Star, Issue 12652, 4 November 1905, Page 2

EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION.

ISnf conditions necessary to wcure and fWfcWitjiin & high standard of efficiency in oonsDectioa with any system of primary may, we be summarised a* foßowa;

1. A constant and sufficient supply of material for the making of good teachers. By this we mean boys and girls of the highest type of character —mentally, morallv, and physically. 2. Proper provision for the education, training, and complete equipment of these young people for the efficient carrying out of the most important work undertaken by the State. 3. A method of appointing and promoting teachers according to merit. 4. A scale of salaries sufficiently liberal to induce our best boys to enter the teaching service, and to remain there. 5. A superannuation fund to provide for the retirement of aged and infirm teachers.

Now-, we ire inclined to believe that even the bitteraft of Mr Seddotfs political enemies will admit that, as Minister of Education, he has endeavored, and with no small decree of success, to introduce such reforms as would place our education system on a solid and satisfactory basis. When the full effect of the granting of free secondary education to all those children in the primary schools who pas* the Sixth Standard and obtain a proficiency certificate begins to make itself felt, we believe that the number of boys and jrirb qualified and willing to enter the education service will be so great that Education Boards, instead of as now, t-iVrng anyone who cares to offor himself, will be able to select the most suitable- and the most likely to do credit to the teaching profession. We confidently anticipate, therefore, that the jjranting of free secondary education will bring about the first condition necessary to the maintaining of our system of primary education at a high standard of efficiency. As to the education, training, and complete equipment of teachers for their work, this will be amply provided for when the four Training Colleges at Auckland, Wellington, Ohristchnrch, and Dunedin are fairly under way. In the past Bhe institutions at Dunedin and Christchorch, working under anything but the most favorable conditions, have done splendid wotk, as shown by the manner of ex-students of these colleges that are now occupying important positions all over the Colony in primary and secondary schools and as inspectors for several of our Education Boards. It is very pleasing and highly satisfactory to note that the recentlyappointed princiial of the Wellington Training College, Mr William Gray, is himself a product of the Dunedin institution. Here, then, we see that the second essential condition to a satisfactory education system is about to be fulfilled. The present Government certainly deserve credit for the way thev have set about remedying a grave educational defect in this Colony.

Perhaps the least satisfactory part of our system has always been, and still is, the method of appointing and promoting te:ichers. It is absolutely bad. In the larger districts, which contain a fair number of large and medium-sized schools, the desirable positions aro frequently secured by the man or woman who has studied the art of wire-pulling, log-rolling, and canvassing, and who can bring to bear on the local School Committee the greatest amount of influence. The teacher in an out-of-the-way place, who has no friends in the district, and who cannot personalty interview the Committee, seldom receives any consideration. Within the smaller districts there is little or no chance of promotion, and teachers there are practically shut out from other .parts of New Zealand, for, as often as not, if a man applies to get into another district, his name is passed over with flhe remark: "He is not one of our people." The proposals contained in the Fidi'*' Act Amendment Bill, passed last week, will certainly not remedy but rather tend to intensify the evil we complain of, and until a satisfactory scheme for the appointment and promotion of teachers is formulated, the Service will continue to be unpopular. The Education Service, just as any other branch of the Public Service, should be classified. The Dunedin and Suburban Schools' Association will be especially pleased to know that their agitation for jnster representation of fhe larger chief towns has borne same fruit, though not the full harvest they had anticipated. In future, not later than May 1, Education Boards have to partition their districts into three wards, each of which shall return three members to the Board, and these important provisions have application to the division: The Board shall cause the district to

be divided into three wards, on the basis of the yearly average attendance for the schools in such district, so that the number of children in yearly average attendance in each ward shall be as nearly as possible the same. Provided that for this purpose every school with more than 420 in yearly average attendance shall be regarded as having 430 children in average yearly attendance. In making such division, the Board shall have regard to the natural geogrv phical grouping of the schools, and (is particular) each city or borough or school district shall be wholly within one word. If Boards carry out these directions in the spirit in which they wane conceived, then the existing dissatisfaction with the mode of election to Boards wiD to a large extent be removed; but we are not pleased with the continuance of the individual vote to members of committees. Some fairer mode of election, more in keeping with the necessities of the "hour, will have to be devised* those interested in the wel-

fare of our large schools are content -with a levellirig-down process that places Kaikorai or George street School on the some mark as second class schools.

We congratulate the Minister of Education and the expiring Parliament upon the increase mada in the salaries of teachers; hut here, again, the root of a serious evil was left untouched. Payment on average attendance still continues. True, salaries will not, in future, rise and fall with every unit of increase or decrease in average attendance, nor will they fluctuate yearly, but at the end of two years from the Ist January, 1906, by the decrease of a unit, a school may fail into a lower grade, and a teacher will thus suffer a considerable reduction in salary. The cry will then be raised that a teacher, despite greater length of service and increased efficiency, finds his income reduced, while in every other branch of the Public Service, if he did not receive promotion, he would at least not suffer a reduction of salary. This is another cause for the unpopularity of the teaching profession in this Colony. There is, in our opinion, but one remedy for tfhis very undesirable state of things, and that is "the classification of schools and positions," and the payment of fixed salaries according to class of grade, the salaries to be fixed not for two years, but permanently. This should also carry with it a colonial scheme for the promotion of teachers. The placing of the Teachers' Superannuation Bill upon the Statute Book is certainly an achievement of which Mr Seddon may well feel proud. This was a matter surrounded by grave difficulties. As Minister of Education the Premier was extremely anxious to do justice to the teachers, and at the same time, as Colonial Treasurer, it was his duty to guard the finances of the Colony. If Pajliament had been guided by actuarial reports, the establishment of a superannuation fund would have been impossible. Bisks had therefore to be token. Wo feel sure, however, that, despite the pessimistic speeches of certain members during the third reading of the Bill, experience will prove that the scheme will work out satisfactorily. We regret that Mr Seddon | did not accept the recommendation nf the ! Executive of the New Zealand Educational j Institute, and grant allowances for back service on sixtieths, as is done under the Railway scheme and the Police Provident Fund, and as is proposed under Sir Joseph Ward's Civil Service srfieme. There is, however, every indication that in the near future an amalgamated scheme, embracing the whole of the Public Service, will take the place of the several st-hemen now in existence or proposed, and the teacltors will j do well to watch future developments. In [ conclusion, we would heartily congratulate all those who have worked ?o hard to secure : the passage of the two Bills dealing with j such important educational reforms. We ; trust that the country will now have a rest j from this kind of legiilation, and that time I wiU be given to our experts to formulate j satisfactory schemes for the classification of I the teaching service and for the appointment and promotion of teachers.