WOMEN TEACHERS

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1924, Page 5

WOMEN TEACHERS

QUESTION OF SALARIES. MINISTER’S STATEMENTS QUESTIONED. Certain statements made by the Minister for Education (the Hon. C- J. Parr) regarding the salaries paid to women teachers in New Zealand have been the subject of some comment by the executive of the New Zealand Educational Institute, and the secretary of the institute, Mr. H. A. Parkinson, has been instructed to forward the following letter to the Minister: — I have the honour, by direction cf the executive of the New Zealand Educational Institute, to inform you that i the attention of the executive has been directed to some statements regarding the salaries of teachers reported to have been made by you in the House of Representatives when introducing the Education Estimates. The executive believes that the statements referred to are likely to produce an incorrect impression on the public mind with regard to this subject, and has directed me to make the following comments by way of correction. COMPARISON WITH OTHER COUNTRIES. As reported in the daily press, you are quoted as “venturing to say there was no other country in the world in which the women teachers were as well paid as in New Zealand,” and, later, “Nowhere else in the British Empire was there a better scale of salaries for women teachers,” In opposition to this opinion I am to point out that in many, if not most, of the British Dominions, women assistant teachers receive higher salaries than in New Zealand. England, Wales. Ireland, Queensland, New South Wales, and a good many parts of Canada, may be quoted ias examples.

With regard to the reported statement that “the salary of the first assistant master is about £450,” I have to point out that the possible maximum under the old scale was £393—for those onlv of highest grading—with £4O additional if married. Under the present scale the maximum is £384, phis £4O if married, and there are only 125 positions giving that salary. No ordinary first assistant receives, or can receive. £450, the maximum even under the old scale being £433, and under the scale recently introduced this has been “cut” to £424, and even that is for those only who are married and of highest efficiency. PAY FOR POSITION—NOT TEACHER The other statement to which I have to refer is: “ThcYv were 2600 women teachers in the service, and nearly half of them draw salaries of from £5 to £9 per week.” It is to be presumed that the 2600 women teachers referred to are assistants, since in actual fact there are 3791 women teachers in the service, of whom 2669 are assistants. It has to be borne in mind that in New Zealand it is the position that is paid and not the teacher. Taking the figures from the 1924 report —of the 2669 women assistants occupying those positions, 2484 receive less than £'s a week, except that 138 of them in grade 3b schools, if they receive the highest possible grading addition, may just reach the £5 a week standard with possibly, a very few of those in schools of grade 3a. Of the women assistants only 485 draw over £5 a weekless than one-fifth of them—and none of them as much as £7 a week. Of the infant mistresses in the 101 large schools, so far is it from the fact that “quite a number draw over £4OO a year,” as stated, only three receive as much as £405 a year, and they are engaged in the Normal schools. Of the others, only 10 receive more than £353 —the prevailing salary—and 37 receive less than that The maximum is now £360. MOST FAVOURABLE VIEW TAKEN. If the head and sole teachers are taken into account, it w’ill be found that 465 receive slightly over £5 a week, 310 others under £7, 148 under £B, one other under £9, and onlv four over £9, and one of these is head mistress of a normal school. It will thus 'be seen that only one woman teacher in a thousand reaches the £9 a week mark, and far less than half of them receive £5 a week. Tn the compilation of these figures house allowance and highest grading addition have been included, so that they present (he most favourable view of the position. ' As the statements that gave rise to | these comments have been published, it is the intention nf the executive to I hand copies of this letter to the press.