TEACHING PROFESSION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VIII, Issue 214, 12 August 1918, Page 3

TEACHING PROFESSION.

HONEYCOMBED WITH DISCONTENT. CAMPAIGN FOR IMPROVED CONDITIONS. Auckland, Aug. 10. t The disabilities under which the work of the primary schools is being carried on were considered at a conference attended by members of the Auckland Headmasters, Vv omen Teachers’ and Country Teachers’ Associations. The chairman said the teaching profession at present was honeycombed with discontent and the service conditions were fast becoming intolerable. So unsatisfactory had they become that many parents able to afford the expense were sending children to private schools mostly denominational, where, through the use of money, an environment could exist that few public schools could have The environment sought by the wealthy for their children was just as necessary forthe children of the rest of the community, and it was that for which the teachers intended to fight. Though they disliked the necessity for political pressure, the Headmasters’ Association had concluded that it was the only remedy. It was proposed to ask the Educational Institute to promote a petition to Parliament similar to that which had been so successful in the case of the railway workers. In order to prepare for this by the moulding of public opinion they had prepared a plan of campaign, under which it was proposed to seek remedies for the following disabilities : — Inadequate staffing of schools, necessitating the placing of classes under young and untrained beginners. Ovrcrowded and unhygienic class rooms. ] Congested playground spaces. ] Lack of Government depots for the supply of school requisites. Inadequate grants to school committees. Lack of sufficient disinfection of schools, and want of proper sanitation. Insufficiency of shelter accommodation in school grounds. Lack of luncheon rooms for both children and teachers. The plan of campaign drawn up by the Headmasters’ Association was adopted with the following planks : — Press campaign. Efforts to obtain support and cooperation of the Auckland Branch of the National Council of Women Labour Unions, Workers’ Educational Institute, Farmers’ Inion, the Employers’ Federation. I Closer working arrangement with the School Committees’ Association. | It was resolved that the scheme | should be submitted to the manage; I merit committee of the Educational I Institute with a request for endorse-1 meat.