The Daily News FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1902. THE STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 26, 31 January 1902, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1902. THE STAFFING OF SCHOOLS.

It was hardly to be expected that the changes, necessary to give full effestto 1 the Public School Teachers Salaries! Act passed last session, would be made without some inconvenience, and pas-1 eibly friction. The subjact of teachers salaries may not ba considered one which largely concerns the general public beyond the desire, which no doubt exists, to see that deserving hard working public servants shall be fairly and sufficiently remunerated. The payment of teachers, however, is based on the staffing, and no scale of teachers salaries is complete without a scale regulating the staffing, The sufficient and efficient staffing of our public schools is a matter of very great interest to the public, because upon -it depends the elucation of our children. The first schedule of tha Act passed last session contains a combination scale providing for both the sfcaffibg of schools and payment of teachers. On the whole there is not much fault to be found with either of the scales, but there are one or two features which are of interest and have an important bearing on the question of education. One important feature is the abolition of sewing teache-s. This means that unless Boards insist on appointing female teachers in all schools with an average attendance of under 40, no sewing will be taught. It is argued that this would be a great injustice to young male teachers who desire to get a footing after completing their pupil teacher course. On the other hand it would be a great injustice to the children attending the country schools to deprive them of the privilege of learning se.wing. In tha case of schools between 40 and 90, Boards have power to appoint an assistant, or two pupil teachers. Considering that the salaries are the same, it is hardly fair to saddle one teacher with the work of teaching two pupil teachers, and give another and assistant, so that the matter is not so easy of adjustment as it seems. The.chief blot in the new system, however, appears to be the want of greater freedom in/ ad/usting tbe staffing as schools, increase and decrease, and the scale appears to be all in favour of the declining school*, while in tbe growing schools both teachers and pupils suffer J Instead of adjusting salaries and the/staffing each quarter, as the Boards iiave been in the habit of doing, the department proposes paying teachers,/ and staffing schools for this March quarter, on the average attendance for the twelve months ending 30th September, 1901. In April next, salaries/and staffing will be adjusted on the basis of the twelve months ending 31st December, 1901, and this adjustment will, we understand, hold good till December 31st, 1902. Where salaries have been overpaid reductions, and where underpaid additions will be made in the April cheques. If the patter ended there, no great harm woiild be done, but the serious part of the/matter is that growing schools will' have been largely under-staffed during all this time, and no increase in tlhe staff in April will make up to this children what they have lost through the lack of teaching power. A glaince at the table to ba found in another part ot this issue will show how unfairly it will work in the case of both Stratford and New Plymouth. In the case of these schools, the former will be staffed as for a school of 330 to 390, and the latter as for 420 to 480. As the average for the December quarter at Stratford was 406, and a,t the Central 535, the hardship to the teachers, and injustice to the children will be at once apparent. In the case of Stratford, the staff will be nine instead of 11, and in the case of the Central 11, when it should be 13. Ho adjustment will recover to the children the loss of teaching power this entails, or compensate the teachers for the mental and physical strain of try-) ing to /overtake the work of teaching fully 1(00 children more than tha school is stalled for. We hope the Minister for Education will see that thesa are cases* where he should exercise the power of modification given him by the ActM Fortunately only two schools ! aroMffected in Taranaki, but the impoMince of these schools is justification f<W a very strong representation to be made to the Minister on the subject.