TEACHING PROFESSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27039, 25 March 1949, Page 3

TEACHING PROFESSION

LOWERING OF PRESTIGE BOARD CHAIRMAN SENSES DANGER PA WANGANUI, Mar. 24. Because school rolls are increasing and there is a heavier demand on teachers and a shortage of staff, there is a danger of the prestige of the profession being lowered. This view was expressed by the chairman of the Wanganui Education Board. Mr W. B. Tennent, of Palmerston North, at the annual conference in Wanganui yesterday of the Dominion Federation of School Committees. ‘‘There is a gr,eat danger that ir order to obtain the number of teachers we require because of growing demands, we may lower our standard,” Mr Tennent said. “Any lowering of these standards would be most detrimental to the children.” Two influences played a large part in the development of children —home and school. A teacher had considerable influence on the child, and rather than lower the standard of the teaching profession, he would prefer to see it raised, Mr Tennent continued. “We should come out as a body with a policy of increasing the salaries of teachers and at the same time raising the standard,” Mr Tennent added. “If we made it such that aspiring teachers had to strive to enter the profession and at the same time increased the emoluments to make teaching worthwhile as a career, I believe we would have the very best types of teachers offering.”