NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1920. EDUCATION REFORM.

Northern Advocate, 19 October 1920, Page 2

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1920. EDUCATION REFORM.

Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper.

That tho present Minister of Education has done -good work since he took office is frooly admitted, and he is especially to be congratulated on the efforts ho has put forth to improve the lot of the teachers employed under the Education Department. Under the new- scale of salaries which has been adopted the Government will distribute an additional quarter of a million sterling among some 6000 teachers/ This means an average increase of £40 per annum over the whole of the teaching service, mid under present living conditions £40 is not a very large sum of money. We can hardly suppose that it will satisfy all those who have been pleading for larger salaries; 'but even tho Arbitration Court seldom awards as ihigh wages as thcv workers think they should have. The teachers, of course, had a lot of leeway to make up, their profession having been grossly underpaid in the past; but it is no longer possible 1o say that the teachers in this country are receiving .very much lower salaries than those ruling in other departments of the Public Service. The Minister certainly has succeeded in making the profession a great deal more attractive than it has •ever been beforej He has shown wisdom in granting the largest increases to the teachers serving in the smallest schools, the amounts added to the salaries in the first three grades, which include schools of from 9 to 120 pupils, ranging from £70 to £120 per . annum. The increases in the remaining sections are. substantial, figures recently given by the Minister indicating that the new scale of salaries compares very favourably with those of many other countries. A good feature of the scheme is the provision for extra payments Jo married teachers.

The Minister has abandoned the principle of equal pny for erjunl work, but it seems to us that lie has acted rightly, inasmuch as the married man or woman is worth more to the State than the bachelor or spinster is. His next move should be in the direction | of a a improved staffing scale. It is desirable that the sm'allor country schools should be better equipped than they aiv now, not only for the sake of the teachers but also because the children living in rural areas are entitled to the best possible facilities. In schools of 25 or SO children the teachers are overburdened and cannot give nil the attention to the different classes that they should receive. The reorganisation that is necessary will be a matter of some difficulty, for it must concern the large town schools as well ns the smaller ones. Teachers in the larger schools have to handle classes containing anything from 70 to 100 pupils, and it stands to reason that a substantial proportion of the children in these vt;ry large classes are handicapped. The Education Department, certainly aims nt very praiseworthy ideals. For some years it has been talking of limiting the size of schools and the number of pupils under the care of one teacher, but it does not succeed in attaining these ideals* Perhaps Mr Parr will be : able to make his term of office memorI able as a period of reform. He has begun well.