BETTER PAY AND STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS URGED

Wanganui Chronicle, 24 March 1949, Page 4

BETTER PAY AND STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS URGED

Because of school .rolls increasing, a heavier demand on teachers and a shortage of stall, there was a danger of the prestige of the profession being lowered,, said the chairman of the Wanganui Education Board, Mr. W. B. Tennent (Palmerston North), at the annual conference in Wanganui yesterday of the Daminion Federation of School Committees. “There is a great danger that in order to obtain the number of teachers, v.e require, because of these growing demands, we may lower our Stannards,” Mr. Tennent added. “Any lowering of these standards would be most detrimental to the children.” Two influences played a large part in the development of childrein—the home and the school. A teacher had considerable influence on a child ana rather than lower the standard of the teaching profession he would prefer to sec it raised, said Mr. Tennent. In certain instances the standard required of teachers was not appreciated by the public. “We should come out as a body with a policy of increasing the salaries of teachers and at t he same time raising the standard,” Mr. Tennent added. “If we made it such that aspiring teachers had to strive to enter the profession, and at the same time increased the emoluments so as to make teaching worth while as a career, 1 believe that we would have the best type of teachers offering,” said Mr. Tennent.