GRADING OF SCHOOLS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1935, Page 7

GRADING OF SCHOOLS

INTERVALS OF TWO YEARS

SUGGESTION TO DEPARTMENT.

OBVIATING MANY STAFF CHANGES

TARANAKI BOARD’S EXPERIENCE.

In forwarding a protest made at the last meeting of th' Taranaki Education Board against the necessity under the regulations of having to i ake frequent staffing changes in schools, the secretary, Mr. W. H. Insull,' made the suggestion that biennial or triennial grading of schools should be adopted. At yesterday’s meeting of the board Mr. Insull read the letter of protest he had forwarded to the board and, in complimenting him upon it, members expressed agreement with his suggestions. It has been a matter of concern to the board for some time that the changes in staffs of schools, owing to the frequenf i oil alterations, have to be so frequent. Such a frequency of alteration, it is considered, has not been in the best interests either of the teachers themselves or of the children. For at reason the board at the last meeting decided to urge upon the department its view of the necessity of some alteration in the methods.

Points from Mr. Insull’s letter are that during the past year 46 per cent, of the total staffs of Taranaki schols have been moved, and eight of the headmasters of grade IV schools and upwards, of which there are 18 in the district, have been transferred. Other instances where headmasters had been transferred because of a decline in grade only for the school a few months later to return to its original grade were cited. A reply has yet to be made by the department. EMPLOYMENT FIGURES.

There were 174 schools nt which were employed about 381 teachers, the letter of protest stated. Between October, 1934, and September, 1935, ordinary appointments totalled 65, probationary assistant appointments 24 and rationed teachers 31. Transfers considered were 83 and actually effected 58, while seven transfers were pending. There had been approximately 178 changes, or 46.7 per cent, of the total staff. Eight headmasters of the 18 schools of grade IV upwards had been changed during the year. "The system of appointing teachers according to grading has broken down,” the letter stated, “and many positions are now occupied by teachers who could not have procured them in open competition. Protests from school committees have to be evaded, the board having a merely nominal power of appointment.” If schools were graded biennially or even triennially and the staffing adjustments were made on a wider margin, both above and below the medium, changes of teaching staff would be reduced, the letter continued. The regulations were originally an honest endeavour to create uniform and -orderly administration. Then growth had been a succession of efforts to regulate every, combination of circumstances, even though they affected only particular eases, A slight departure, out of the ordinary resulted in rulings governing the case for all time. Thus the main object Was to bring every operation under the control of the central government. As a result the board *elt that it was so restricted that it could not carry out it- constitutional function and was hampered in every effort it made to give reasonable effect to the wishes of school committees and parents of children. INTERESTS OF PUPILS AFFECTED.

Members felt that during the last few years the interests of the pupils had become subservient to grading and staffing legulations which were mainly concerned with the interests of the teachers. The regulations were now so inimitable that any suggestion made to administer education in the province with a salting of personal judgment was met by the bogey of surcharge, which damped any inclination to make use of. commonsense.

In a discussion which followed the leading of the letter, Dr. W. M. Thomson i eported that at the Hawera Main school 35 children had left and 43 joined since the beginning of the term. As a result the roll had risen to 518. Owing to the average attendance, however, the school was likely to drop from 7a to 6c in grade, a ridiculous position that would lead to larger classes. The rooms at the school, with one or two exceptions, were incapable of holding the 50 pupils or more required with the drop in grade. “It is Very important that letters Should be to the right quarters,” said Mr. W. H. Jones. “When consideration of the problems was being given our concrete experience should be useful in giving a lead." The chairman, Mr. J. A. Valentine: The fact that we have on the board members of committeees immediately affected by the changes is, I think, important.

Mr. T. J. Griffin said that other boards were inclined to leave things as they were.

Taranaki was considerably affected by fluctuations in population, said the senior inspector, Mr. C. N. Haslam. Families’ of five or six which left a district during the winter considerably affected the attendances at schools. \