SCHOOL TEACHERS' APPOINTMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4312, 22 March 1901, Page 4

SCHOOL TEACHERS' APPOINTMENTS.

rhe httemphnbiv being-made by. 'the Education Department through' the-Educa-tipri '-Beards to rais e'-the status; of public school teachers by increasing .their sala<at. ;the same time a?step towards establishing a' .national iteaching staff as distinguished . from varying provincial This mqvemcnt-'mnst'.haye the .approval And. support of ail teachers, for it is undoubted that in “the'. pMt,' through thd laxity of Boards and the indifference of the Department, the law as it applies to the appointment of teachers’ has .been disregarded."' As a “cbnseqnenc'e these pnhlio. servants havd - not obtained the treatment due to length pf service and teaching" qnSificalionsV “ Naturally dissatisfaction spread among! teachers, and many capable men and I women, feeling that they were unjustly/'

treated, left the profession. Those who remained took steps to have their griov- . anoes redressed. The amalgamation of inert local institute!* of teachers into a combination representative'of the whole colony, with power to speak in. the interests of the profession, was an effective method of suggesting reforms and commanding attention; from inspectors, frcm Boards and from'the Education Department itself. In the matter of salaries alone the unity of, teachers has already home good fruit; and those who have scrutinised the salaries paid by the Wellington Education Board to the teachers within, its district and observed what increases are now proposed must realise that in almost every case the remuneration was far too small to mein and women who to a large extent have the moulding of the characteirs of the rising generation, and therefore' the. future well-being of the State, in their ; keeping. i The alterations proposed by the Wei- ' lington Board are not above criticism. 1 The Board has, however, made an. honest j attempt to justly apportion the money! allocated tq it, even if it has perpetuated | many 1 anomalies and injustices. Further reform is necelssary. While out of the ( chaos that prevails through the want of' a uniform system in the payment of teachers good will ultimately coma,, no reform will be adequate to the needs the case; save the establishment of a colonial scale of pay. That will also involve the institution •of a' reform in the j methods of appointment; ..and tho adoption of a system’ whereby'the promotion of . teachers shall not be,longer, reitarded by tho. caprioe of. Boards or effected by tho personal influence of members.’Promotion iby merit is the"onl'y remedy for tho ' evils’ that now prevail and for the grievances teachers hare.so long endured. I its ieome education districts. tho plan' marked out. by the-Act for the making of appointments is ignored; ' Teachers of high rank and scholarship have in the matter of .promotion been, frequently at the mercy of, chance or favouritism. • Dr Samuel Hodgkinson, an - educationist of some note in tho 'colony, formerly a. member of Parliament,, and how a member, of, the .Education Board of Southland, .has made an elaborate investigation into themethod of teachers’ appointments, and ho finds that, except in Auckland and Wellington; where the practice : has inot been so prevalent, Boards; in 1 submitting names of teachers to - school committees, have withheld, those of several candidates of the highest rank. “Thus the Board not only gavel ..the ;sohoolvcommittee a clispensation or indulgence 1 to do wrong by selecting a candidate of low rank, but actually■ prevented tl le committed from doing right ■by-selecting the one highest hi' rank/’, - The .comp'laint , of teachers against such practices is just. 1 The .indictment by Dr Hodgkinson against .the Southland Board, which he states is, with - slight variation , typioal-.of others, is. a strong one, and emphasises the injustice 'to' which teach-. 01*3 'are' frequently .subjected."; In, two years in the .case of twenty-nine Vacancies, for which there were 397 candidates,, tho one Of-highest rank, or equal in rank to any other,: was neither nominated 1 nor appointed* by the Board, - but - teachers of-inferior, rank were chosen.. The numbbr.of teachairs thus .disranked. Dr Hodgkinson says; r varied in - each case from one to seven, so that over one hundred tdaohers have been unjustly treated. This is the ■ record of'one Board. Who cap-tell tho number oh teachers similarly treated under other Education Boards? How many; teachers have been superseded; unkppwu to them? Is it any wonder that the profession is dissatisfied, and its best, members eager to quit a service,in which they have been baulked in their efforts to obtain, promotion? A teacher’s certificates are the evidence of scholarship,..merit and character,-and if ho is unjustly disrated* his reputation j

■ and mdans'of living are given a lowervalue—literally, ho is robbed'. Ho may not know it, but in course of time, whoa promotion is repeatedly denied him, he becomes dissatisfied, and as -Mr John Gammell, a former school inspector, has 'observed, “the teacher’s profession is degraded, - and .we cannot degrade the teacher without degrading the scholars also.” A reform'in the payment of salaries, is in a fair way to accomplishment, but a new method of appointment is necessary, if. the condition, of . teachers is to be improved; and it should be recognised' that during good behaviour a teachdr’s status, as measured by -his certificates, should "ibe* as irrevocable as a University degree. It is fast.coming to. bo the conviction of educationists that; a national system of 3 education,. maintained: by national funds; ought to be administered in ■ a national spirit and frded from local feelings,, prejudices and partialities.' .