PROMOTION OF TEACHERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14688, 24 May 1911, Page 8

PROMOTION OF TEACHERS.

THE GRADING SYSTEM.

The system of grading teachers for purposes of promotion is . being gradually perfected by the Auckland Board of Education. At yesterday's meeting a motion by Mr. G. B. Wallace, of which notice had been given, was before the Board. Mr. Wallace proposed that the rule that only one name should be submitted to the committee of a school in which a vacancy occurred should not apply in the case of appointments to the secondary departments of district high schools. ' In reporting upon this proposal, the chief inspector, Mr. E. K. Mulgan, said that no provision had been made for such a position as the head of a large preparatory department. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a resolution controlling a matter of such complexity _ as the appointment of teachers, to provide for every case which might arise. All it could do was to safeguard the interests of the service and secure, as far as possible, that appointments should go to the most deserving. The system of forwarding to the committees only one name, that of the candidate standing highest on the graded list, might not in all circumstances be the best course to adopt in the interests of the applicants and of the service. Ho suggested that there should be added to the graded lists already prepared, a list giving the names, arranged m order of preference, of those who were likely to prove suitable assistants in the secondary department of district high schools, and a list giving the names in order of merit of those who were deemed suitable for the position of " teacher in charge of a large preparatory department." He also suggested that the following clause should be added to the resolution in question:—" The graded list here referred to means the special graded list prepared by the inspectors, having reference to the particular appointment being dealt with." Mr. Mulgan added that a weak spot in the system was that it made no provision for tethers in other districts applying for appointment under the Board. It was impossible to devise any grading of such outside teachers, and the only method possible was to make a careful examination of the credentials of any applicant from other educational districts. The inspector's proposals were adopted.