THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1908. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13845, 3 September 1908, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1908. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

The report upon the Education Act Amendment Bill submitted yesterday to the Auckland Education Board by the special committee set up to consider it will be very generally approved by those who take an active interest in educational matters. For the Bill unquestionably improves the position of teachers and strengthens the authority of boards—both . eminently desirable qualities— it is unsatisfactory in retaining the computation of salaries upon the basis of average attendance, a method which must inevitably be abandoned if we are to draw into the service capable-and ambitious; young men. • It is true, that' this most unsatisfactory method is now modified by such.increase in the powers of. boards, that .they will be able to transfer teachers from time to time according to the v official sense of their' claims for promotion. But there is still no absolute assurance of advancement hi; the Educational service, as there is in most of the other publio departments, and we are afraid that th)s must operate against its popularity. Not only was this expressed very strongly by the new chairman, Mr. Parr, and the old chairman, Mr. Bagnall, but Mr. Purdie, an epc-inspectbr, pointed out that it was the great cause of unrest in the profession. The Minister for Education contends, with some reason, that it would be easy to have a perfect system were ample funds available, but that the Department must do .the best it can with the funds at its command; From one point of view this is quite true, but we firmly believe that the public would prefer to pay a little more for; a sound system,-which would ensure a supply of good and efficient teachers, rather than depreciate the whole educational system by evading the real issue. The committee's report urgee that "teaching skill, academical attainments, and length of service should be made factors in the remuneration of every teacher," and with this we entirely agree. It is reasonable enough that attendances should also count as a factor, for we all know that within certain limits it is possible for an efficient teacher to raise, and for an inefficient teacher to lower the average—making full allowance, it need hardly be said, for the effect of epi■:demics or ■ other.': extraordinary ;disturbing influences. But to make attendances the basis of computation is as utterly unreasonable as it would be to make the number of tickets sold the basis,of remuneration for a stationiriaster, or the number of passengers carried the basis of remuneration for engine-drivers. ' The ; Board of Education very rightly keeps most clearly in view the position of those many loyal and hardworking members of its staff to. whom it is unable to do justice, because it cannot recognise their "teaching skill, academical attainments, and length of service," as it feels they ought to be recognised. The fight which the Auckland Board has made, and is making, for its teaching staff in ,the matter of salaries—a much more serious question to many struggling back-country teachers than our urban populations generally. conceive it to be— one which cannot, fail to be appreciated by the teachers themselves, and ought to" have the more intelligent, support of our Parliamentary members. For apart from those who are already teachers is the f even more far-reaching problem of the future supply. 1 Avenues for capable and intellectual young men are openingout on every hand. Not only have the old callings begun to assume a technical character, which promises good reward to those who qualify themselves by study and application for responsible positions, but new callings and occupations of an even more technical character are constantly arising as our industrial j organisation becomes more and more complex. The teaching profession must, therefore, offer to the studious youth, of our Dominion much better inducements than it has done in the past if it would secure their services.! Unless it does this, instead of obtaining the best type of teacher, as! we ought to do, we shall have a constantly deteriorating class of teachers coming forward. Mr. Fowlds must make up his mind to this either to maintain and raise the standard of this most important of professions by giving to teachers reasonable assurance of promotion, and of steadily increasing pay for merit, or to allow that standard to drift lower and lower as rival callings secure the attention and enlist the services of the very men the k Department would desire to have.

Another matter, of special importance to Auckland, was discussed at yesterday's Board of Education meeting. This was the habit of the Department of greatly delaying decision upon new school buildings, aDd then of invariably granting less than the buildings cost, leaving the Board to make up the deficit. The Board has been able to adjust this by thriftily saving on the maintenance account and transferring from one account to the other. The Department is now disputing this transference, into - the details of

which dispute we need not enter, for I the situation is much more unsatisi factory to the Board and the Auckland public • than it can possibly be to the Wellington officials. « There ought to be no such transfer, because the heed for it ought never to be forced upon our Board. Southern boards of education— we shall be accused of being parochia.-are almost universally dealing with' settied and established ; districts, and with school attendances which increase but slowly where they do not remain stationary or even recede. They are never in a great hurry, and cannot lose much on new buildings. But our Auckland Board has to perpetually confront the difficulty of providing scho&l accommodation for a province which is developing at top-speed,, and from end to end of which there is a ceaseless clamour for new. schools and for increased accommodation. Not only should there be no unnecessary; delay .as there now usually is, but Auckland simply cannot carry on if the > Department is to always provide "less money than a new school or a school enlargement costs,;,;-. nor is it right that the maintenance should have to be pinched and pared to. provide for the perpetually recurring deficits, which obviously do : not arise ■.in Southern districts. The Board yesterday decided to apply for the full amount required for the new Edendale school, in place of the lower amount offered by the Department, and ought to stand henceI forward on this sound principle.