PROMOTION OF TEACHERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14058, 16 November 1909, Page 3

PROMOTION OF TEACHERS.

THE MINISTER'S IDEAS

f„3 P lT ln£^. a l ue st'°n by Mr Wiln * * h ° Mlnister of Education said: Une ot tho most iniportaot means of securing a succession of good teacliers m tho aominion is to make a ladder ot promotion from the lower to the higher ranks of the profession. Ifc is 1 take- it, almost impossible to have such a ladder unless tho Boards, which have to do with considerable bodies of teachers, have in a laree number of cases the right to transfer those who merit promotion. Tho alternative suggested would practically leave the power in tho hands of committees, each of which has, generally speaking, to do only with a particular school. Promotion would be in such an event what it has often been in the past, largely a matter of chance. In any caso in which tho board proposes to transfer a teacher or sends to tho committee the name of one teacher only, tho committee still has an opportunity of expressing an opinion or making a recommendation with respect to the appointment, and the Hoard is bound to take such an opinion or recommendation, if duly received, into consideration before making the appointment. Not only would the Hoard's power of carrying out. a well-consider-ed system of £>roiuotion be seriously impaired by the projjoscU amendment, but in many cases it would bo highly improper for the Hoard to put more than one or two names on tho approved list, for it often happens that one or two of the applicants possess qualifications far better than any of the others. The solution of the longstanding difficulty afforded by the Act of last session is, no doubt, still on its trial, but on the whole tho method seems to be working well ,and there is no present intention, therefore, of changing it. In any caso the new system should have a fair trial.