The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 59, 12 May 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1877.

The suggestion, thrown out by the public school teachers themselves, that they should be recognised as members of the Civil Service, is, m our opinion, a suicidal one. They are already too much hampered by rules and regulations which are not of their awn devising, and the effect of thisis to disgust teachers of high professional ability, and to render their connection with the system a mere temporary make-shift — a thing not to be thought of if any other suitable employment can be found. But to render the teacher a member of the Civil Service would be to sacrifice the last vestige of independence which redeems his profession from contempt, and thus to degrade it into a mere last resource — a temporary refuge for capable teachers, and a permauent one for those only who are incapable. "We suggested m a former article that the teachers should be appointed and dismissed by a Cabinet Minister — a Minister of Education— and that there should

be no intermediate authority, such as Education Boards or County Councils, between this official and the local School Committees ; the functions of the latter to be limited to the making of arrangements for religious instruction, and the levying of school fees to be appropriated to building, repairs, and other purposes. We would not give the School Committee more than a veto m the appointment of the teacher, because local prejudices and predilections would be very likely to stultify their choice. Considerations of private friendship and favouritism would often overrule the higher ones of ability and experience m the appointment of a teacher, and the candidate who happened to be a stranger would have no chance m competition with a local man, though the former might be more eligible than the latter. Even when restricted to a veto on the appointment made by "the Minister of Education, the School Committee would of course have the power of creating unpleasantness, and offering a factious opposition to any appointment which did not coincide with its own predilections. But we must risk this for the sake of correcting the tendency to favouritism on- the part of the Minister. It would never do to allow the appointment of a teacher to be made subservient to political purposes and the interests of a political party, and therefore the School Committee ought to have a veto on that appointment. And, to diminish the chances of a dead lock between these authorities, the University — since we have one — might be rendered useful for another purpose besides that of educating the children of the rich. It mightAe made indispensable m a candids^Bfor the office of a teacher that lie^Buld be the possessor either of a degree or of a cez'tificateJ^Bcompetency from our own "^Krersity. This would surely be mor^^cnified, to say the least of it, th^Ha Civil Service examination, or t^Bsystem of classifying teachers thaHpists at present ; and the more independent and respectable we render the position of the teacher, the more likely we are to secure the services of really able men m that capacity. As regards training, there isnone so effective m our opinion as that which is voluntarily sought and given m the shape of advice from experienced teachers to those who are only tyros m the profession. We look Upon the formation of Teachers' Associations and that proposed confederation of those associations which we hope to see m due time an accomplished fact, — we regar.d these things as constituting the very best system of traiuing that could be instituted. The Cxovernment would act wisely, we think, by asking the Legislature to sanction a grant of money for the purpose of establishing a weekly or monthly periodical, to be devoted to the interests of education, and to be the organ of the profession. This would give an impetus to that confederation movement to which we have alluded, and a well organised system of spontaneous action on the part of the teachers would be better than all the compulsory training m so-called model schools that could be procured for money. We have advocated payment of teachers according to results, but it will be necessary here to explain what we mean by this. In every school it should be essential for the pupils to learn to write their mother tongue intelligibly and grammatically, and to understand the elements of arithmetic, book-keeping, and English, history ; but it should be optional with the teacher whether there is anything more to be taught, or not. For every additional subject taught, however, he should have an increase of salary proportioned to the number of pupils engaged m that particular study ; and the payment by results which, we advocate implies no more than this. We do not believe m making a teacher's salary depend on the number of marks which his pupils receive at the periodical examinations — a system which would be more likely to foster " cramming " than to promote sound education — but we do most firmly believe m rendering his position one of dignified independence, at the same time that we make it his interest as well as his duty, morally, to advance his pupils as much as possible.