MARRIED WOMEN AS TEACHERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18332, 23 February 1923, Page 3

MARRIED WOMEN AS TEACHERS.

Sir,—The correspondence recently opened on the subject of married women as teachers should not only prove very interesting, but should also show the ! general public opinion on this matter, | Under the London Council, according to the news cables," 26 per ■ cent, of the ! teachers are married women. Under the i New Zealand Education Department, I though there cannot be such a high per- ! centage as this, the increase during the i last few years has been very marked. | These married women teachers are everyj where, in large schools, in small schools, in schools with their husbands as headmaster, or in schools near to those in which their husbands arc engaged during the day. : I think the Education Department is doing a grave injustice to other teachers by retaining the services of married women. They are not only keeping > single people out of positions, but they, with their years of service, are a positive bar to the progress of the younger and more enthusiastic teachers who could so ably fill their places. If as some of your ! correspondents suggested, these married ladies should retire to their homes and i domesticity, would the efficiency of the ! schools suffer ? No, a thousand times no. ! Let younger teachers whose interest I would be wholly in school instead of be- ! ing divided between home and school fill I these positions and the efficiency of the : school would ' improve by leaps and I bounds. Onlooker.