N.Z. Needs 1500 Mere School Teachers By 1952

Chronicle (Levin), 4 February 1948, Page 5

N.Z. Needs 1500 Mere School Teachers By 1952

WELLINGTON, Feb. 4. New Zealand will need at least 1500 more school teachers by 1952 in order to meet the anticipated' increased enrolments. This was stated today by Mr. T. H. McCoombs, commenting on a statement by Mr. E. Partridge, principal of Dunedin Teachers' Training College, that "a state of emergency" had been declared by the Education Department. This year, said the Minis.ter, it had been necessary to discontinue third-year coqrses " 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 the children who were born in recent years would be entering the schools and it was anticipated that New Zealand would require at least an additional 1500 teachers to meet the increased enrolments arising from the recent record number of births if classes were to be maintained at their present size. More teachers were still -required before the sizes of classes could be reduced, said Mr. McCoombs. Those additional teachers would have to be drawn from those born in the low birthrate years of the early 'thirties^ _ It was partly to meet' this anticipated need for teachers that the Government was this year opening a fifth training college at Ardmore aerodrome.