HOUSES FOR TEACHERS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1935, Page 4

HOUSES FOR TEACHERS

A complaint made by a married, teacher of the house accommodation provided at a country school induced an interesting discussion by the Taranaki Education Board this week. It was made evident that the house to which the complaint referred was not the only instance of unsatisfactory accommodation for teachers in the board’s district, but if, as ope member stated, the deductions from the teacher’s salary for house' rent would actually pay in two years the whole cost of the building complained of the circumstances were all the more glaring. Probably every education authority would argue in favour of married teachers being stationed at the more isolated schools. The work often presents peculiar difficulties, and some of them are lessened if the teacher has his home and family in the district. But there is everything in favour of the teacher’s residence and its surroundings being such as will not depreciate the standing of his position or the value of the teacher’s work. Admitting that in new districts conditions must be watched until it is seen how far the education requirements are likely to go, and that all public expenditure must be made with prudence, there still seems room for considerable improvement in the P law of residence provided for teachers. According to one member of the board, Mr. T. J. Griffin, who as a former inspector of schools was speaking fl’°m firsthand knowledge, the need for improvement is not confined to the school houses in the hinterlands. In some of the older centres the accommodation was not in keeping with the position it was desirable a teacher should hold, he said, and there will be general agreement that the influence of a school and a teacher must extend beyond the school hours if the best results are to be attained. Suitability and comfort for manual workers at work and in their homes is recognised by all progressive minds as not only best for the community but “sound business as well. The profession engaged in the most important occupation in the Dominion should certainly receive similar aids to good results.