TEACHERS GRADING SYSTEM CONDEMNED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19070, 15 May 1930, Page 5

TEACHERS GRADING SYSTEM CONDEMNED.

HON J. A. HANAN MAKES REPLY TO PROFESSOR. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON. Mat' 14 Criticism of the teachers’ grading system uttered by Professor J. Shelley, in the course of an address at Victoria College, unexpected!'.* brought to his feet the Minister of the Crown who was responsible for the introduction of the scheme. Professor Shelley said he did not think the grading of teachers was ever likely to produce the best results. He laid stress on the influence of the teacher’s personality on the pupils, and asked who was to grade personality. It was not becoming to the dignity of the teaching profession that such a- mechanical measure should be applied to human beings. Grading involved changes in the teachers in charge of a class, and that was not beneficial to the children. He agreed that up to a certain point it was possible to make some sort of register which would be useful when it came to making appointments, but he condemned t> system which caused teachers to regard one another with suspicion. They had to challenge the grading of other teache:s in order to gain advancement. That was iniquitous.

“It is I -who was responsible for the establishment of the grading system,” said the Hon J. A. Ilanan, rising in the audience, when discussion was invitel. Those _ who were acquainted with the conditions under which the appointments were made previously, he sad. would admit they were not satisfactory. As Minister of Education, he received resolutions from various educational bodies urging him to establish a grading scheme, and he had done so. “I realised at the time,” said Mr Hanan, “that it was not possible to establish a perfect scheme. It had its weaknesses. It has been improved from time to time, and still has weaknesses, but, with all its faults, you now have a system that guides payment and represents a great improvement on the old promotion conditions. The aim and object of the scheme is to secure, as far as possible, recognition of merit and to provide a wider field of promotion.” It gave a young teacher of outstanding merit a good chance of obtaining a position anywhere in the country, he said, and in that respect it had done away with the old parochialism. Professor Shelley: It sets one teacher against another. It is ,not going to develop a better spirit amongst the teachers or trust within the profession. Mr Hanan: Do you urge that the grading system should be abolished

Professor Shelley said he would urge the abolition of anything that tended towards mechanisation in education.

Air Hanan: You have got to replace it with something else. What would you suggest? '

Professor Shelley: It is not my business in five minutes to suggest a scheme of organisation which would probably entail the reorganisation cf the whole of the department. “Why not think of something constructive before voir condemn the grading system?” Air Ilanan asked.

Professor Shelley, amidst applause. Paid he thought he had already put something constructive to the meeting. “I would like to reinstate the local interest in education,” he said, “and I am not sure that it could not be done by applying local taxation to local education.”

Air P. Fraser, ALP., said the grading system had all the defects of a mechanical system, but the point was how to get rid of its obvious shortcomings and yet improve it.