COMMISSION ON TEACHERS SALARIES.

Southland Times, Issue 15017, 10 August 1901, Page 2

COMMISSION ON TEACHERS SALARIES.

Thk Teachers Commission ha>> sent in its report. It proposes uo fundamental changes, or such as would afl'ect the general character of our present educational system, its scope being limited to the consideration of the status and training of teachers, th" relative position of female teachers, the proportion of pupil teachers to qualified assistants, <fee. A moderate measure of increase in the present pay is re commended—nothing, however, on which the teacher is likely to wax fat. The method is not the addition of a percentage on present pay through out, which would give the lion's share to the already better paid. It would seem but justice indeed if the whole of the proposed addition should be di.s tributed among the far more numerous and lower grades whose pay is so slender, until such time as we can afford to be more liberal. Instead of each Board arranging its own scale of pay, a general scheme applicable to the whole colony will be adopted, so that teachers on one side of a district boundary will be paid the same as if employed on the other side of it. Teachers of both sexes are put on equality in schools of under thirty pupils. In schools between that and forty a distinction begins, and becomes more pronounced after the latter figure is readied. At this point also a qualified mistress instead of a pupil teacher will be appointed. Fewer pupil teachers and a greater number of qualified assistants is recommended. The scheme seems an improvement on the present order of things, though it may not probably give universal satisfaction. Those that are poorly paid now will think themselves poorly paid still ; while female teachers will grumble that they are not in all positions placed on a footing of equality with the males, forgetting that as soon as the male teacher marries, his pecuniary troubles will come along in arithmetical progression, while the magic ceremony at the altar for ever annihilates theirs. How far the report may be adopted, or what further modifications or additions may be made, remains to be seen.