ALLEGED ANOMALIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10898, 12 May 1921, Page 7

ALLEGED ANOMALIES

GRADING OF TEACHERS DEPUTATION WAITS UPON MINISTER. r . BOARD’S HOSTILE CRITICISM. HON. C. J. PARR’S REPLY. Tile Minister for Education (the Hon. C. J. Parr) was waited upon yesterday morning by a large and representative deputation from the Technical School Teachers’ Association, which called liis attention to certain anomalies under the new grading regulations. Mr R, J. Thompson (Ashburton), presi- ] dent, said that they were quite aware that the Minister had had a fairly strenuous time during his visit to the South .Inland, and they' felt that to some extent there had been a misapprehension as to the position. Though. as representatives of the technical school teachers,, they were going to criticise some points that they considered not quite satisfactory, he wanted Mr Parr to understand that -they had confidence in him as Minister and in his department as administrators -of the educational system. Any matters they might differ on were subsidiary to that. The Minister : Do the teachers approve generally of the spirit of the reforms effected by the recent regulations? Mr Thompson : I think eo, sir. I think that if a vote was taken the teachers would approve of it by a large majority. We recognise tbe difficulties that the department has had to face in inaugurating the grading “IMPOSSIBILITY” ACHIEVED. In fact some teachers thought it would be an impossibility; and we recognise that when an impossibility becomes an. actuality there are hound to be some anomalies. Bui, speaking generally, tbe teachers are satisfied that the grading scheme is a move in the right direction. Jf some of the little anomalies were removed it would give every satisfaction. Their objections were not to the system but to the narrow way in which in some respects it was interpreted. For Division 1., for example. University qualifications, or equivalent qualifications, were required, and they considered that the. words "equivalent qualifications’’ were too rigidly interpreted. If they were more liberally interpreted, so as to allow old and experienced teachers already in good positions to retain those positions, for which they had fitted themselves by a |rreai deal of extra work, he thought that the new. scheme would bo much more satisfactory. Most of the difficulties wpnld be done away with. That -was the main trouble, though there were other little difficulties. Ho urged that nine out of every tein boys and girls who left the primary schools were more fitted to go into the technical schools than th© ordinary secondary' schools. He understood that the department was going to turn the district high schools into technical schools; so that the technical schools were going to be the secondary schools of the future'. They, therefore, urged that the new Assistant-Director of Education should be a man who had experience in and a knowledge of the internal workings of technical education. A MAGNIFICENT EFFORT. Miss M. B. • Roberteon (Wanganui, secretary) said that she considered that there was a crying need for the reforms carried out by the regulations; and that tbe grading scheme was a magnificent-. effort to meet the needs of the teachers She would not go back to the old system. Mr Parr: You are not like some of the reactionary boards, then? Miss Robertson and Mr Thompson: ; We would not go back to the old sys-' ! tem. ■ A member of the deputation: Those ] hoards must have evils to conserve, i (Laughter.) I Mr Parr: Very good. That is the best I hare heard. (Laughter.) i Miss Robertson urged that when a | teacher held both B.A. and B-Sc. the : additional degree should be held to be l an additional qualification, instead of the teacher being graded on the same level as one who held one degree only. The association felt, also, that when a teacher took an interest in and was specially adapted for giving instruction iii. the children’s sports and- games out of school hours, that should count in the grading. The association considerc l that .£-100 wa® not a sufficient maxinvum salary for Division 11., and that to nttract the type of teacher required it should be increased to .£450. HOURS OF DUTY. Mr H. A. Jones (Auckland) spoke as to the effect of the regulations on the tours of duty. Generally, he said, the : regulations were satisfactory. but in I gome colleges they were interpreted dif- [ ferentiy, and the hours were not satisfac- ! tory. They asked that the, teaching hours iin the technical schools should be ! limited to .25 per week, as had been ; conceded in practioe ip the primary and j secondary schools- The regulations said: I "Not less than 25 hours”; but, as a geni eral rule, that was taken as the maxi- | mum." It was a great disadvantage to the technical teachers that their time !on duty was not continuous. Some had ! very broken time, with the result that I they came on duty at 9.30 a.m. and i might often not finish till 9.30 p.m.. though only putting in tbe regulation number of teaching 'hours. The deputation wished the regulations so framed ' that this broken, time should be reduced, as had been don® by some principals. ' A little pressure from the' department might have the desired effect ’ with the other principals. In some oases the time worked by teachers in looking after and repairing machinery and equipment, or. in the case of cooking instructors, ami so on. preparing work for their classes, made' their hours considerably longer than;, the regulation maximum of twenty-eight. The association, therefore,' asked that the teaching hours, should not only be reduced-to twenty-five, but that the additional hours that the directors could ask teachers to work, repairing machinery and equipment, etc., should not make the total hours per week more than thirty. It asked, also, that when a teacher was called upon to supervise the children 'and instruct them in thedr sports during ordinary school-time, the time eo spent be counted as teaching time. This was asked, because, otherwise, if a teacher was called upon to supervise the children’s sports, say, on a Wednesday afternoon, he would have to take classes in the evening to make up his teaching time. The deputation desired that evening time (should be counted as time and a half, and that teachers should only be asked to work two evenings a week. Mr M. McWilliams (Wellington) stated that at Home, in spite of a heavy deficit, Britain had greatly increased her expenditure per head'. The most recent education estimates had been increased from eleven millions to nearly twenty millions.

Mr Barr: But have you oorapared the expenditure per head on education in the two countries? It is much greater here.

INSURANCE AGAINST BOLSHEVISM. Mr McWilliams admitted that; but said that that must be the case in smaller countries. He urged that expenditure on education was largely in the nature of insurance • against Bolshevism. and he thought it had got each a great hold in. Russia, as compared with Germany, mainly through lack of education. The association felt, therefore, that increased expenditure on education, and technical education was the future education for the people, was true economy. The teachers considered, too, that there should be more liberal use of motion pictures, not only in technical schools, but in the schools generally. Mr E. S. Close (Wanganui) urged that

there should he departmental examinations and higher leaving: certificates for full time technical school students, so as to enable students to get diplomas for their work and go straight from the technical schools to the university, aa from other secondary schools. At present a student put in his three year's at a technical school, and had no certificate, or diploma to show the work he had done. Mr K. Ilowe (Wellington) urged that a reform was needed in the grading of manual training teachers- He suggested that there should be three grades for these teachers, and that the best of them should be put in the professional division. MINISTER’S REPLY “HONEST COURAGEOUS EFFORT." ATTENDED BY SUCCESS. The Ministex- said that be was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the new regulations with the deputation in that informal manner. The department and he had made last year an honest, and, he ventured to submit, a very courageous nttempt7 v in view of the difficulties invoLved, to place . technical school teachers, some 300 of them, on the same footing and to give them as nearly as possible the same benefits as their brethren in the primary and secondary schools of the country enjoyed. That was the object of the regulations. The regulations effected—or attempted to effect—for the fii-st time the classification of technical school teachers according to -their ability, teaching experience, and academic attainments. For the first time, too, their salaries were put on a proper basis. They would agree with him that the’ old, cumbrous system of paying salaries out of capitation grants to the boards was an abominable one, and led to the boards in some canes exploiting teachers. . ‘ Members of the deputation: Quite true.

They, as teachers knew that, added the Minister, in spite of the claims of come boards that they had been the very models of excellent conduct in the past. (Hear, hear.) Further, the department had effected a very fair increase in the emoluments of the teachers. If he had had more money, he would have liked to have given them a little more. Frankly, their branch of the education work of the country was a most important one, and he had attempted to recognise that fact as well as he could with the funds at his disposal. (Hear, hear.) Fropa what had been said it was quite evident that he had not altogether failpd. (Hear,, 'hear.) New regulations had been laid down as to appointments and promotions; and, strangely enough the new principle applied had been in force for many, many years in the primary schools. That was the principle that a man should get promotion by his worth as shown by his classification and not by his persuasive influences with the boards (laughter)—who after -all were only, like himself, men of ordinary ■human nature. (Laughter.)

"PLEASED, VERY PLEASED.’’ He was pleased, very pleased, to'"* heal' from the deputation which represented, he believed, over 300 teachers for whom these regulations were framed, that the teachers as a body strongly favoured the principle and spirit of the regulations and the reforms thereby effected. Members of the deputation: Yes. There was, he took it, not one of them that would go back to the old system. He mentioned those facts because 'he had been attacked, and the department had been attacked by two boards —he would mention them, the Christchurch Board and the Dunedin Board—because of these very regulations. Not only had the boards attacked them, but they had received support from certain newspapers who did not understand the position. The charge was made, that these regulations were another evidence of a desire on his part to seize all powers and authorities educational in the country, and centre them in himself and the department in/ Wellington. But the members of th® deputation knew as well as he did that such talk was mere bunkum. There was no other way, than by these regulations, in which they could bring about an improvement in the conditions and status of the teachers, arid, what was more important, an improvement in the efficiency of their schools. Unless, therefore, the critics refused to .desire to go back to the old, unsatisfactory state of affairs, it seemed to him that they should observe silence with regard to the reforms which all admitted were absolutely necessary. He said so much with regard to matters generally, and he would be • ungrateful if he did not thank their president, who spoke for the association, for his confidence in himself personally as Minister to do the best he could for them and treat them as decently as the funds at his disposal would permit. (Hear, hear.) Naturally, they came to him about certain details in the schemes. Obviously, to introduce a classification scheme where they had to classify teachers of English, wood-work-teachers, cookery-teachers, commercial teachers, specialists in modern languages, and in yarious sciences, and teachers, in some schools, of a full secondary as well as technical course, was a very difficult matter. . He did uot wonder that some had said' that it was an impossible task. That the officers of the department had succeeded as well as they had, was to their credit. That they had not attained perfection was obvious; but he begged them to give him credit for dointr his best to give them a good classification scheme which would get as neat to justice as possible. (Hear, hear.) ANOMALIES TO BE CURED. Necessarily, there were anomalies, but it was sufficient for him to say that he desired, in regard to such matters as “•equivalent qualification” and so forth, that the department’s inspectors, in doing the work of grading, should —in view of the fact that they were beginning a new job, entering a new house, as it were, repealing a system twenty years old—as far as possible, adopt a benevolent attitude to the old teachers in the service. .He recognised that there might be a little inevitable hardship here and -there, and wherever they could mitigate that hardship he desired that it should be done. He was keen to raise the statue of the technical school teachers, and it was for their good that the department should be a little strief in j-egard to Division I.—and Division 11., for that matter. They must not open the door too wide even in beginning a new scheme. Certainly, with regard to the academic attainments of the teachers of technical schools, he was not in favour of pressing that aspect unduly for a start.

“BENEVOLENT INTERPRETATION.” As Miss Robertson had pointed out, in the case of a lady who had not eve® the matriculation standard, she- might still, be one of the best teachers in her subject in New Zealand; and in putting phto operation the new system it would bo well to have a benevolent interpretation of the scheme the inspectors had to carry out. It had been mentioned that .£4OO did not seem quite a sufficient salary for the top position in the .Second Division, and anothor suggestion had been made in regard to salaries; but he thought he ought to be quite candid with them and tell them quite plainly that with his inside knowledge of the financial position of the country, he was unable to hold out any great hopes of increasing their emoluments at this time; though ho would, of course, consider wliat they had said, and it might be possible to ’adjust matters here and there eons to give a little more satisfaction. It was fortunate that the department had tackled the improvements lost year. If it had been left till now. honestly he should despair of being able to do anything, even if their oonditione were unsatisfactory. The question of hours, of course, wae very important; and lie promised that he would go into it with his officers, who assured him that the present regulations had secured for the great majority of the teachers very J improved conditions ill tlmt respect. The j question of broken time certainly needled some reconsideration. He recognised, (also, that there should'bo some sort of

test of the work done bv each .pupil in the technical schools, and a certificate issued upon the test which would tell the world that that boy or girl had attained a certain standard through going to the school. There should be something equivalent to tbe matriculation certificate that obtained in the high schools. As a matter of fact, he had asked the department already to take np the question of providing a leaving certificate which a boy or girl could take to any employer and. which would be equivalent to ■ the matriculation certificate. He knew there were difficulties; but he was determined to get something done in that direction. (Hear, hear.)

. A SSISTANT-DTRECTORSHIP. He agreed , with the suggestion that the lie v Assistant-Director of Education should have special knowledge of technical school work. Indeed, he would consider it something of a calamity if thej failed to get as, Assistant-Director some gentleman who had 'bad experience in technical school work and post-primary education in this country. He wae in a position to know that that Was just where there might be a weakness, if there was one at all, in his department. As Minister, however, he had no say in reglard to such aippomtments. They rested with the Public Service Commissioner, who had. of course, to consult the permanent heads in the matter, and he was glad to see that in his advertisement tine Public Service Commissioner mentioned experience in post-primarj work as a necessary qualification. Me recognised the difficulties of inaugurating the new scheme'. He recognised that there might be a little heartburning, and that there must be anomalies-; but he assured them that it was the desire of himself and his officers to ease the heart-burning and cure the anomalies. (Hear, hear.) He was glad to have their support in the reforms, difficult as they were,-which he was attempting to bring about for bettering their conditions, and, what was even more important, for increasing the efficiency of technical education in this country. (Applause.) The president thanked the Minister .for his sympathetic hearing and reply.