TEACHERS' SALARIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9178, 6 October 1888, Page 6

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

PROPOSAL TO REDUCE EXPENDITURE. At the ordinary meeting of the Board of Education, held yesterday afternoon, Mr, Theo. Cooper, in accordance with notice, moved the following series of resolutions, of which he had given notice : — That in the opinion of this Board the staff and salaries of teachers of the public sohools in the colony ought to be based upon a scale uniform throughout the colony. That the following scale is suitable to the requirements of the schools and the colony : — Head Teachers. —Schools with an average attendance not more than 15, £60 per annum , over 15 and under 20, £&); over 20 and under 25, £100; over 25 and under 50, £1~>; over 50 and under 100, £150; over 100 and under 150, £175; over 150 and under 300, £200 ; over 300 and under 400, £250; over 400 and under 500, £300 ; over 500 and upwards, £350. The maximum salary attainable to be £350. Assistant Teachers. — Schools over 50 and under 100, £70 per annum; Ist assistants, over 100 and under 150, £100 ; over 150 and under 300, £125: over 300 and under 400, £150; over 400 and upwards, £200. The maximum salary attainable to be £200. Second assistants in schools where more than one assistant is required (this would be in sohools with an average attendance of over 200), £75 per annum; all other assistants. £50; pupil teachers of the first year, £20; pupil teachers of the second year, £25; pupil teachers of the third year, £30. If employed in the country schools, and at a distance from their homes, an extra allowance of £10. Sewing teachers (these only to be employed in schools without a female teacher), £5 per annum. That the staff be regulated as under: — Schools under 50 to be officered by 1 teacher only ; from 50 to 100, 1 head teacher, 1 assistant ; 100 to 150, 1 head teacher, 1 assistant, 1 pupil teacher ; 150 to '300, 1 head teacher, 1 assistant, 2 pupil teachers ; 200 to 300, 1 head teacher, 2 assistants, 2 pupil teachers ; from 300 to 400, 1 head teacher, 3 assistants, 4 pupil teachers ; 400 to 500, 1 head teacher, 4 assistants, 6 pupil teachers; 500 to 600, 1 head teacher, 6 assistants, 0 pupil teachers ; 600 to 700, 1 head teacher, 6 assistants, 8 pupil teachers ; 700 to 800, 1 head teacher, 6 assistants, 10 pupil teachers ; 800 to 900, i head teacher, 7 assistants, 10 pupil teachers ; 900 to 1000, 1 head teacher, 8 assistants, 12 pupil teachers, and an additional pupil teacher for every 50 children. That no child who has passed the sixth standard ought to be allowed to attend the public schools. That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the Minister for Education with an intimation that, in the opinion of this Board, if these suggestions are adopted the cost of primary education can- be lessened by at least £75,000 per annum.

In moving the resolutions, Mr. Cooper said he did not want to take up the time of the Board, as the matter had been fully discussed on a previous occasion, but he would like shortly to place the matter before the Board, as some misapprehension as to the scope of the motion had apparently occurred, as shown by a remark made by the chairman that its tendency would be to close all schools at which the attendance was under 20. It did not contemplate closing a single school in the province, but on the contrary, it contemplated keeping open every one of them. Now there were three features in this scheme which might be adopted with benefit to the colony at large. The first was one which met the appro 7al of the Minister of Education, namely : that of placing teachers' salaries on a fixed basis, to have a similar scale throughout the colony, a scale different to that now in operation, which was very unsatisfactory, alike to the public, to the teachers, and to the system, for the present system offered a temptation to teachers to increase their averages so as to increase their salaries. In fact, he had noticed in the Herald that morning a suggestion from an Educational Institute in the South that the fact that teachers were paid on the average attendances operated in the way' of placing a grievous temptation before them to improperly state their average attendances, and they advocated going back to the old system of the working average in place of the strict average, so as to put it. out of the power of teachers to manipulate the returns. The first feature of his resolution was the payment of teachers by dividing them into classes, and paying them according to those classes, and the scale which he suggested was one which he believed should be approved by the whole colony. Under existing circumstances they had power to pay assistant teachers larger salaries than were received by the inspectors. The Minister of Education, in his report of 1887, deplored the present system as a blot. The next item was the scale of payment, and he would not enter largely into that, further than to say that in his opinion no hardship would be created by its adoption, as such a scale would place the teaching staff on a proper basis, and remove the difficulty which now existed in some schools of having an assistant teacher instead of two pupil teachers, and if the staff and scale were regulated, they would have no difficulty in manning their Schools. As to the actual rate of payment proposed, it was not unfair in the present circumstances of the colony. The salary had to be proportioned to the work. He then went through the scale of payments in the motion, and proceeded to object to the flagrant abuse of admitting a seventh standard. They had a flagrant case of this in Tuakau. The class had been reported on as unsatisfactory by the inspector. It was c ear that the headmaster had to devote a great deal of his time to this class, to the detriment of others. Their public teaching, he considered should stop at the sixth standard, and the existence of a seventh standard created a great abuse. For his own part he should like to see the standards remodelled. It was only a question of reconstituting the syllabus. He Could never see the good of discussing the by-gone periods of English history, or teaching children how many wives Henry the Eighth had, as such teaching was of no benefit to them as colon Their syllabus wanted reconstruction They wanted to teach their children, so that they should become useful men and women, and he would like to see technical education introduced ; hut in the meantime they should not allow any child past the sixth standard in their schools to the exclusion or detriment of others. As to the last paragraph he wanted to make it clear that they, as a Board, could not adopt these suggestions, but he believed they were suitable, and would save money, and if they were sent to the Minister with the authority of the Board, the Government might be induced to propose some such scheme, as it would tend to reduce the present enormous expense of education. Mr. Cooper then proceeded to show, as on a former occasion, how the saving of £75,000 would be effected without shutting up a single school. He asked the Board to adopt the motion simply for the purpose of forwarding it to the Minister of Education, and he regretted that it had not been forwarded two months ago. Mr. Luke reminded Mr. Cooper that the motion was then lost, but owing to the absence of Messrs. Goldie, Moat, and Monk, leave was granted to him to bring it on again. He (Mr. Luke) moved that the discussion be adjourned for a week, as Mr. Monk had to go, and Mr. Lennox had left. Mr. Udv pointed out that there was no hurry to deal with the resolutions at present. Mr. Cooper said he had no objection to the postponement, and the debate was then adjourned for a week.