STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14972, 20 April 1912, Page 8

STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE PLAN WHERE TEACHERS DIFFER. Tot teachers of Auckland, at the quarterly meeting of the Education Institute, condemned the present system of staffing schools and paying teachers on th© average attendance basis. _ • Mr. J. Caugbley, who is president of the New Zealand Institute this yew, on being asked for his views on the subject by a Christchurch Press representative, mudo the following statement ; " The basis of payment is that salaries shall be in relation to the ; size of the school. The chief therefore, is to have a method of reckoning the size of the school, bo that its grade will be free from fluctuations owing >to temporary causes. The present method of reckoning average attendance, with tne many safeguards provided by regulations, together with security for two years against a fall in salary, amply provide for stability of the relation between size of school and salary. , ' , ' " The present system of making average attendance the basis of reckoning for the grading of schools was framed first. Then the Minister and his advisers fixed the salaries they considered due to those grades of schools. In doing so they were well aware that there was a difference betweon the average attendance and tne number of children taught. ; If, for instance, & school had an average attendance of 560, the Minister knew that the probable roll number was about 400, and hied the salary accordingly.; "If the grade of tho school had been determined by its roll number, the salary would have been just the same as at present, for whether one thinks of 360 of average attendance or 400 On the roll, the same size of school is in mind. If salaries are too low otr staffs are insufficient, the best plan is to ask that these be increased. The plan urged by some is simply that of ■ keeping fixed the salary that was determined on one basis, and allotting that salary on a more favourable basis. This is much the same a# if a manager, whoso salary had been "fixed in relation to the net proceeds of a business, afterwards urged that it would be fairer to pay him on the gross proceeds.':' ' # '• * ' " All things considered, the present basis is as fair as any that could be devised. If the salaries or tails are insufficient, 1 the proposed indirect method of raising them docs not put the claim on a proper footing. A direct claim should be made on the plain issue. "