N.Z. WILL NEED 1500 MORE TEACHERS BY 1952

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 February 1948, Page 7

N.Z. WILL NEED 1500 MORE TEACHERS BY 1952

(P.A.) Wellington, Feb. 4. New Zealand will need at least 1500 more schoolteachers by 1952 in orier to meet the anticipated increased enrolments, This was stated today, by the Minister of Education, the Hon. T. H. McCombs, commenting on a statement by Mr. E. Partridge, principal of the Dunedin Teachers’ Training College that "a state of emergency" had been declared by the Education Department. This year, said the Minister, it had been necessary to discontinue thirdyear courses for training college students in certain subjects in order to ensure sufficient teachers for classroom work, but the real problem was not the present shortage! By 1952, childen who were born in recent years would be entering schools and it was anticipated ;hat New Zealand would require at least a.i additional 1500 teachers to meet the increased enrolments arising from the recent record number of births if classes were to be maintained at the present size.

More teachers still would be required before the sizes of the classes could be reduced. Those additional teachers would have to be drawn from those born in the low birtKrate years of the early ’3o’s. It was partly to meet this anticipated need for teachers that the Government this year was opening its fifth training college at Ardmore 'aerodrome, the Minister concluded.