PROBATIONERS IN SCHOOLS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 17 February 1928, Page 5

PROBATIONERS IN SCHOOLS.

QUESTION OF BOARDING ALLOWANCE. MB. A. LEES’ PROTEST. “I wish to protest against the present lottery .system of appointing probationers',’’ said Mr. A. Lees at the meeting of the Taranaki Education hoard on Wednesday. Unless a school had an applicant in its own district it could not have a probationer appointed, owing to the desire to save boarding lllowaine. Okaiawa was in this position. He did not think the system was right or in the best interests of country children, and every school should be on a parity. If an appointment was justified it should be made independent of boarding allowances. ,ther schools were in the same position as Okaiawa. He instanced the fact that the lb ham a school, with 80 pupils and two teachers, was able to seem e a probationer because one was residing in the district, whereas Okaiawa, with 165 pupils and four teachers, was unable to do so because there was no suitable applicant resident in the district. . , . In reply to a question the duel mpector (Mr. McKenzie) said that probationers had to be appointed to the schools nearest their homes. Mr. Lees drew attention to a parairaph in the board’s report of the Hon. d A. Wright’s visit, stating that the Minister had said that probationers should be! placed in the schools where they would receive the best instruction. He was satisfied this was not considered at all. Referring to a -peciai case, iM’r. Lees said probationci s had alwavs done well at Okaiawa. He considered it was often penalising the -mailer schools at the expense of the larger centres. The chairman (Mr. S. G. Smith) agreed that too much, stress was laid in the saving of boarding allowance, ivhidi often might result in a loss ot efficiency. The three essentials for a orobationer were academic qualifications. medical fitness and personality, but ii\ say, there was a probationer at Hawera with much better qualifications than one at New Plymouth, and the vacancy was at the latter town, the \ew Plymouth one would be appointed While the board had the responsijility Ox appointing probationers, they shomd be allowed to get the best, and the question of boarding allowance ought not to be the deciding factor.