SCOTTISH TEACHERS

Evening Star, Issue 21723, 18 May 1934, Page 11

SCOTTISH TEACHERS

GREETINGS TO OTAGO INSTITUTE QUESTIONS OF ORGANISATION AND SUPERANNUATION Aspects of education in Scotland wore dealt with by Dr ]’. Comrie, of Edinburgh, when* conveying greetings from the Educational Institute of Scotland to the Otago branch at the annual meeting of the Institute last evening. Dr Comrie conveyed greetings from 25,000 members of the Scottish Institute, and said that New Zealand was very much like Scotland in very many ways—in climate, temperature, winds, and rain. (Laughter.) In emphasising the need for teachers’ organisation, the visitor said that in Scotland they had one teachers’ federation which embraced primary, secondary, and university teachers. They were formed into one body, which had a powerful influence in educational affairs and the welfare of teachers. The body was going from strength to strength. He referred to the resistance which it was able to put forward in the case of wage cuts. Teachers in New Zealand had tlieir wages cut 20 per cent, to 25,per cent., while the Scottish teachers, in comparison, suffered at the rate of only Id in Is. When a crisis came they were not cut so drastically and dealt with as the Government had treated teachers in New Zealand. Even the moderate cut made upon Scottish teachers was to be restored by half in July.

Regarding superannuation, said Dr Conine, tlic basis of the scheme in Scotland was that the teacher paid 5 per cent, and the Government 5 per cent, into the fund, from which pensions were paid. That amounted to a Government subsidy of £ for £, which was usually sufficient. To qualify for the pension, the teacher had to serve for thirty years, and in the case of women was payable at the age of fifty-five and sixty in the case of men. Both sexes had to retire at the age of sixty-five. The pension consisted of two sums—one a lump sum at the time of retirement, and the - other an annua] pension of one-eightieth of the average salary received for each completed year of service for the last five years of service. If, for instance, a teacher had received £4OO a year for forty years, his superannuation would be £2OO. One thirtieth of the same average salary for every year of service was paid in a lump sum. “May I add, henc? my trip to New Zealand,” said Dr Comrie, amid laughter.

Continuing, Dr Comrie said that the standard of education in Scotland was high. The entrance to the university was just about the equivalent of the 31. A. degree when lie passed for it. The standard had been going up for years. Competitors for university training had to indulge in three hours’ home work each night if they hoped to be successful, he concluded.