TEACHERS' APPOINTMENTS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 568, 24 July 1909, Page 12

TEACHERS' APPOINTMENTS

CANVABSIMQ OF SCHOOL COMMITTEEB. SOME STRONG REMARKS. Some very strong remarks wore mado at tho annual meeting of tho Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute Inst evening, with reference to tho tactics which wero somotirncs resorted to under tho system adopted in certain instances by tho Wellington Education Board of allowing school committees to select from a list ot candidates tho appointees for vacant positions, Tho Education Act Amendment Act of 1908' gives education boarfis tlio option, of sending forward either a lint of four names ( or ono natno only. In tho latter alternative, tlio appointmont is practically made by the txwd. Mr. D. M. Yeats askod leave to tablu without previous notice, the following motion, '

"That this meeting is heartily in aocord with the resolution, notice of motion of which has boon given by Mr. A. H. .Vile ..for tho next board meeting, that ono name only bo sent in future to school' committees (when appointments are to be made." '

Loave was granted, and Mr. J. L. Fanning eoconded pro forma. Speaking to tho motion, Mr. Yeats •' ,«aid , that Mr. vile's' notice of motion should r®-. ooivo some endorsement from the teacher* before tho board mot. 'i'ljo present system of' giving tlio ooiumittces-the right, of. selectioi ,tronchcd vory seriously upon tbe question of promotion. When the;board gave up iU right of appointment, it ■ also gayo up its right of promotipn. The school oommittoos did not concern themselves with tho promotion of teachors. They did net care. (Hear, hoar.) ■ Appointments in certan cases wore given to those who had called upon tho members of tho school committees, in pro-, once to thoso who had- not. In a recont conversation with a member of the Wellington Education Board, that gentleman bad expressed tho opinion that the board was not carrying out tho spirit of the Act. Ho porBonally, was Hired of all this jtalk about tho .spirit of tho Act. The fact of the matter was that the Act oould be interpreted to suit: the spirit, of ,tho interpreter. The speaker then referred to certain statements which had boon jnado by tho Minister for Education .when opening tho now 'school at Pahiatua (a nrecis of tho Minister's speech appeared in The Dominion), and asserted that tho intention of tho Act was made perfectly oloar from;the. Minister's Temarks. Hie system adoptod by the board was a direct incentivo to teachers. to curry favour with the committees. Ho had recently received a letter from a friend asking for certain particulars concerning the , members of ; tho • school committee . which administered , the/ affaire of a .certain school in which ho.fthe writer): was inteiostcd.r His oorresponijent wanted to know the namos, the-local standing, and tho personal; influcnoe of the school committeemen; with a view to obtaining some support for his candidature., ,He hoped that members would • discuss tho matter inrnch' terms as 1 would materially strengthen M*V Vila's hand at'tho board's /meeting _ . Mr. Lyne ' ! (Lower .Hutt) i opposed , tho motion.. - Everything • that Mr. Yeats bad said. against; tho < school-. committees could be : | applied with equal force against tho . boawL It was very desirable, ho thought, that tho . power should bo-given ;to tho committees;.- : for tho reason that any errors of judgment on . the part of the' board might bo counter- • balanced by tho. oommitteo. ; :.j . Mr. Vovsey (Shannon) also spoke against,; tho motion. Tlioro was a great deal to be ,- said: for . tho statements auduocd by _ the mover, but tho question was in his opinion a vory. wide one. - It; was really a matter ' for the members of tho- Education, Board to decide among : themselves. vHo hinwoU' »■' garded with some; apprehension: any prppoeial which'would- givo the boards absolute jwwer . in; the matter of . appointments, 1 for this moant that the inspectors would have prac- ' tically , all in . tjiesc matters. Ho ■ know of ono; inapoctor who Jiad remarked, with reforonico tb'this-aisikct ; of I, t!h'e question; i that- could ruin a toaphor in oharee pf ; ! a- sohool- by the simple process of send- , ing poor nis staff." . •'{After..further-discussion, jit >asv;agreed that, in view of the imnortanee of tho quoa- ' tion,-. the 'motion should stand over ftp decision at the. next meeting of the institute. The following motion-was also held over;—

.'"That it: is in ■ tho ibost interests of

tflaohers' in the profession 1 that teachers, except " under < spccjal circumstances, should not- be promoted—©specially, by transfor—more than ono grade at a time, as otherwise," of necessity," a - smaller number of pronations will tako placc."