THE EDUCATION YEAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 12

THE EDUCATION YEAR.

SEARCH FOR ECONOMIES.

NEW MINISTER APPOINTED. MANY IMPORTANT CHANGES. A series of continued economies, aimed nt reducing substantially New Zealand's annual education vote of £4,000,000, is revealed in an examination of the outstanding events in education circles during 1931. A spirited controversy has been waged in t-hc education arena—on one side the critics who claim that the vote can be reduced by upward of £1,000.000, and on "the other, those who claim that this can he.done only at. the expense of the child. As the year closes it would appear that the 'critics have won. In the light ot subsequent event's it seems that Mr. H. , -Atmore, who lost, the portfolio of Education during the year, did not see eye to eye with his colleagues in the Cabinet. It is evident that Mr. Afmoie could not se£ his wnv toward making a substantial reduction without lowering the standard *of education. Ihe new Minister of Education, Hon. Ft. Masters, is reputed to have stated thai "he could save £1.000.000 with a stroke of the pen." -At the beginning of this year the stage was set for the introduction of legislation on the lines of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, which travelled the country investigating the system. But the year slipped by without the promised legislation. The shelving of the proposals is duo probably to thp. lack of finance with which to carry them out, and to the outcry made against the' suggested changes in administration. / Imposition of "Cuts." The Government, must have felt an urgent need for economy and realised that no widespread changes could bo made which would involve a great deal of expenditure. -As far as the reception of the proposals was concerned, thero was little objection to the general changes in the slvstem, but- it was felt- that the administrative changes were a thin cloak for total centralisation. i Thus the cry for reform in education was changed to one oi economy in education. It is interesting to recall that the first matter on the agenda paper of the first meeting of the Auckland Education Board this year was a letter from the Education Department, stating that "the Government has found it necessary, owing to the present financial depression, to exercise most rigid economy in connection with public expenditure, and it has be°n obliged to direct that expenditure on education be reduced in some cases." The economies made by the department during the year have been many and ' varied. Teachers and officials have received the general "cut" in wages. Education boards have received a cut in their administrative grants. There has been a reduction of about 50 per cent, in the cost of manual and technical educa--tion, and all hand-work supplies for schools have been stopped. The department has also abolished the capitation allowance of 3d for supplementary readers in schools, and subsidies on voluntary collections at schools have been curtailed. Abolition of Scholarships. A further means of economy has been found in connection with relieving teachers, and the department is not now appointing additional assistants for classes of upward of 60 children. The national scholarships, junior and senior, were abolished this year. The upshot of the economy drive has been that education boards, school, committees and teacheis have all found it necessary to be particularly sparing in their expenditure. The new Otahuhu Junior High School was opened at the beginning of the year with eight classrooms, and the school j§ now being enlarged. The school supplied a very urgent need, as accommodation at the Auckland secondary schools was becoming somewhat restricted. Apart frdm this work, thero has been little school construction going on this year in the Auckland district. The grants which have come from the department were few and small, and the architect's branch of the board has been barely kept busy during the year. So stringent has been the watch on expenditure that a grant for the, re-erection of the Parnell school, which was condemned by the Health Department, could not be found. Unemployed Teachers. The problem of finding employment for teachers out of work has been a pressing one with the board. At the beginning of the year there were about 160 teachers under the board not in permanent positions. The number has since riseu to about 200, and there is a possibility of a further 150 being thrown on the market next year. _ , Some measure of relief will be achieved Jjy the pending dismissal of about 40 married women teachers, who will leave the service in February next. The agitation against married women teaching while their husbands were in employment was * long-continued one. Owing to faulty legislation, the department had to take two bites at. the cherry before the boards received discretionary power in refusing to continue to employ married women. The department has now under consideration proposals for employing more young teachers. Those were submitted to "the board for consideration at its last, meeting, but they have not yet been publicly announced. Restriction on Probationers. A drastic move made by the department toward the end of the year was the refusal to appoint any probationers to the teaching profession. This has caused hardship to secondary school pupils tvho have • studied particularly for teaching, but. it cannot be denied that, the teaching profession is now overcrowded. Ihe measure will not have any.great immediate effect, as the training of a teacher occupies four, years. A reduction in the number of probationer teachers entering Training College has been brought about, and only 106 of the 140 in Auckland will be admitted to the college in 1932. ' With a somewhat disconcerting sudden ness the department, at the end of the s year, substituted a synchronous proficiency examination for the usual accrediting system. Although the Director of Education claimed that the examination was no Jharder than in previous years, there has been a much higher percentage of failures. This will probably mean that fewer pupils will be entering the secondary schools in 3932. The decision of the department to conduct the examination no doubt followed the decline in the accrediting system oversoas.