BACK-BLOCKS SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13858, 22 March 1907, Page 3

BACK-BLOCKS SCHOOLS.

SOME SERIOUS DISABILITIES. UNDERPAID HEAD MASTERS AND TEACHERS. EDUCATION IN COUNTRY AND IN CITY: A CONTRAST. "the Rev. P. 13. Frascr, in accordancc with notice, moved, at yesterday's meeting of the Education Board—"That tho board bring under tlio notice of tlio Minister of Education the clamant necessity of provision being made in llw Teachers' Salaries Act whereby 10 per CCllt. shall be added to the salary of teachers occupying certain schools in'such out-of-the-way places as havo hitherto failed to attract qualified teachers, provided teachers in such positions have certificates equal in grado to those in similar schools nearer tho centres of population." He iraintod out that whilst for the position ofijEole teacher at Broad "Bay at a. salary of £130 there wore 27 applicants, at Earnscliff, for Ihe position of head master at ' £165, there were, no applicants, thougli advertised three times. Instances of this hind could lie; multiplied at will. In many cases uncertificated teachers had to be. sent to fill the. vacancies. There were, a.? shown by the last report, of the department, 1806 schools in tho coloriv. with an nggregato average attendance of 120,812. It was worth while examining how there pupils were distributed among the different siws of schools, and what was tlio amount and quality of_ tho sfaff and education given to the various groups of children. It. was .surprising what a vast number of the total were taught in small schools. There were no loss lliau 662 echools with an iittendanoo of not more than 20 pupils, and with an aggregate aflemlaricc of no less than 7C62. The attendance of tho whole of the Dunedin and suburban schools was only 6401. Let. anyone think of the quality of the teachers and the education given to file 7062 country children, none of whose teachers were getting more than £110 of sala r.y, and whoso average salarv was probably not more 'than £80, and compare it with tho education given to the 6100 city children, whoso teachers had salaries up to £400. Ajrain, to take a larger groun. there were 1450 schools with not more than 50 of an attendance, and these bad au aggregate attendanco of almost 40,000 children. In this group the highest salary was £165, lind tho average probably not more than £130. Let it ho lxirno in mind, then, that 40,000 children of tho colony had such quality of tcachere as could be got. for an average of £130, and it would be clear what was the quality of the culture bestowed on I hem. "Take a larger group," continued Mr Eraser, " which includes grades 0 to 9 with not more than 120 average attendance, but, of a. total of 1806 schools in tlio colony, there are 1672 with less than 32'. pupils. This leaves only 134 schools over that grade. The number of pupils in these 1672 schools amounts to 64,610, out cf a total ot 120.812. considerably more than half tho whole children of the colony. Tho highest salary in thin group is £225. and there are onlv 77 Bchopls out of 1672 with a salary of from £215 to £225. Now, what is tlio quality of. many of tho teachers available for teaching these probably 70.000 children in tlicso 1672 schools? There arc 2473 tcacher3 in the colony. Now, of these, no less than 680 are uncertificated. Of these, 270 are holders of licenses to teacn, 30 are not qualified in nil subjects for a. certificate while 110 le.;s than 320—almost half of tlio total of uncertificated teachers-are stated iii the department's rej>ort laid before 1 arliamniit to bo ' teachers who havo no examination status.' Now, it is not difficult lo find cut where these 680 uncertificated teachers are cmploved; not in the city schools certainly. They are to ho found in tho schools of an average of not more ilian 50. These schools number 1450. Probably 90 per cenl. of them will be found in these schools with their 40,000 children. It is probable that the bulk of them are in the 981 echools of from 10 to 25 pupils, with their, aggregate of 12,178 pupils. It must be plain that- in the aggregate there arc thousands of children in'tlio colony who arc getting a very inferior education if tho payment and classification of teachers bear any rotation to tho quality of the education given. Thero is a still more surprising and serious handicap applied to our country schools. There are, wo have seen, 6SO teachers uncertificated. Probably thoir average salary does not exceed £100. Now, the deiwrtllient penalise*) tlie.se teachers at 410 of the echools by deducting no less than 10 per cent, from their pay becauso they aru uncertificated. Is not this a monstrous penalty to inflict on t.ho poorly paid teachers of these small schools, rendering it. sfill more difficult for hoards to get teachers ol any sort for these schools? 'Three months ago the position of these back-block teachers was brought by mo before the board, and tho board asked the Minister to make (ionic provision for helping these hackblock uncertificated touchers by giving them the lienefit of corrcspondrnco classes. Nothing, however, has been done, and the recommendation was practically refused. But havo not theso small t/Jgtois, with their 40,000 children, sotno <$Sb on t.ho Minister's attention, and couRT not. tho £3000 or £4000 ho deduets from these poorlypaid teachers in the back-blocks bo properly used, if it. is not returned to them in full, in .making some provision for helping by corrcepondenco olasscs or scholarships tllC-SO teachers 'SO heavily penalised for undertaking the work of our 'back-block schools? Tberc is elill another aspect of Ibis qucsfion of country education. Wo havo seen that, there aro 1672 echools out of 1806 which have an aggregate attendance ot 61,810 pupils. Now, of the enormous sums .paid for what is called technical education, how murli, it mav lie asked, falls lo Iheso smaller schools? Probably no great amount of it can be spent on the 6inallcr schools. From the nature of the case they canont get much, probably 40,000 of them none at. all. No less a sum than £34.775 was spent on what is called technical education in 1905, and probably tile amount is muvli greater now. In addition to this, £13,415 was paid to district high schools, while probably £70,000 is expended on tho high schools. Then, there the large sums spent, on university education. Let I ho" beggarly provision made for the children of the smaller schools numbering probably 70,000, lio compared with that made for those near the centre of pnnulation, awl the demand will bo justified and accentuated for an ample provision for the thousands of children in the lack-blocks and conntry districKs who have such inadequate provision made for their needs." Mr T. Mackenzie, in seconding, said the difficulty in getting teachers arises primarily from two caiKOs—(!) not sufficient pav to attract good lads to the profession, and (2) tlio fact that. a colonial scale of salaries would lie adopted ami that the strenuous teaching of Olago was not demanded in the north. T'"s caused many good teachers to go north, where thev obtained higher snlnri''s for kw work. Now this question had been persistently brought before Parliament, hv himself, as the records of Hansard would show, and had if not been for the perpetual pressure put on the department by himself

and other country representatives, country echools would havo had but few good teaohcrs available now. And it was amusing fo those who foußht for deccnfc treatment to read the smug expressions made by Ministers o[ the good work they had done, when every farthing for count rv schools had beet] forced from them by the friends of countrv education, and when reforms were again and again opposed by the men who were now claiming credit 'lor them. Mr Mitchell remarked that, another trouble was that, the increase in tho salaries of country teachers had coincided with an increase, though not in tlio fame proportion, ot Iho salaries of city teachers. Mr Israel:.lt should nerve as a warning against the continual building of small et'liools. The motion was supported" by other members and unanimously approved.