STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19958, 29 May 1928, Page 10

STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

/ ———• CHANGES OF ASSISTANTS. MINISTER CALLS CONFERENCE. fBY TELEG RAI'H. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON, Monday. An important conference is to bo held to-morrow between the Minister of Education, the Hon. R. A. Wright, and the principal officers of his department and representatives of the educational authorities, in accordance with a promise given by the Minister about a month ago to a deputation which waited upon him on the subject of tho exchange of teachers, and also on the question of substitute assistants. The conference will bo attended by representatives from tho Education Boards, who will probably be represented by Mr. T. Forsyth, MP., chairman of tho Wellington Education Board, tho New Zealand Educational Institute (Mr. H. A. Parkinson), the Headmasters' Association (Mr. J. McKenzie), the Women Toachers' Association, and the Wellington School Committees' Association. The objecs of the conference is to discuss tho best means for overcoming the difficulty in staffing caused by frequent changes among substitute assistants. At present substitute assistant teachers are appointed for 12 months, but they have the right to leave whenever they like, to take up permanent appointments. In consequence, there have been two or three changes of staffs in quick succession, thus militating, it is said, against continuity and efficiency in the schools. The question t>f training teachers in tho Training College without a .reasonable prospect of their getting employment at' the close of their course will also be discussed.