SCHOOL TEACHERS' PETITION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 5 October 1907, Page 2

SCHOOL TEACHERS' PETITION.

r FIRST ASSISTANTS' GEIEVANi- CES. (From Our Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Thursday. Mr Arnold has presented a petition ' I from first assistants of public schools ' I asking for legislation providing an i I equitable allocation of salaries for first i assistants. The salaries paid are considered inadequate upon the following grounds : — That the most onerous and responsible class of work of the schools i is undertaken by them ; that in the absence of the headmaster the first assistant is frequently called upon to take control of the schcol ; that he is frequently called upon to undertake the I work cf preparing children for a schol- | arship, civil service, and matriculation examinations and also to instruct pupil teachers; that the class taught by the fust assistant, i.e., standard IV., is the only one the individual pupils of which have to pass the test of an inspector's examination, and that consequently the strain of preparing the children for this examination is greater than that felt by other assistants; that a teachers' superannuation bi'l was passed last year to enable teachers to pay the heavy premiums required, an increase of salalics at the rate of Ci per cent, was provided by the Education Act, 1905 ; that while first assistants were practically excluded frcm the benefits of that Act, they have been cempe'led to pay premiums amounting en the average to at least 6 per cent, of their salaries, whereas all other classes of teachers have received increases sufficient to pay tha whole or almost the \vhole of their_ premiums ; that first assistants under the Act of 1906 were practically excluded from the benefits of the Act, while headmasters and other assistants received increases of salary ; that owing to the increased cost of "living the purchasing power of salaries is much less than it was some years ago.