CANVASSING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1467, 15 June 1912, Page 7

CANVASSING.

FOR TEACHERS' POSITIONS. THE FACT ADMITTED. The recent protest by the'_ Wellington branch of tho Teachers' Institute against the practice of canvassing for school appointments under the Wellington Education Board, was referred to certain mem-' , bers of the board by u representative of The Domniox yesterday. It was admitted that canvassing was by no means infrernient. Applicants for positions, it was stated, frequently saw members of the board, and laid their credentials' before them, in an endeavour to impress members with their personality as much as possible.. Other applicants, instead of seeing board members personally, sent in their papera for perusal. It was very hard for.a member of the board to refuse to see aiiy of the applicants who personally come to see him. '

Sir. Wm. Allan stated that as a rule, when a candidate came to him in this way it certainly did not make him look with favour on that candidate—in fact, it generally had the opposite effect. But the fact remained that members of the board were canvassed in certain cases much against their will and waste of business time. ?Jr. Allan shared with Mr. J. G. W, Aitken and Mr. W. H. Field the conviction that it would be a great improvement on existing methods if this practice were stopped and a rule passed, forbidding it. But even then, it was considered, they would not be able to penalise tho breaking of tho rule, and, once broken, it would be continually broken. \ ' . :

A Classification Scheme. Asked if he agreed with a classification scheme such as was suggested nt tho Teachers' Institute meeting, Mr. Allan said that he was not in favour of it, as lio did not think that it was- practicable or feasible. .In measuring .a. teacher's qualifications so. many things:had to bo oonsidered that it was perfectly ludicrous to attempt to classify these. "For instance," said Mr. Allan, "how is one going to classify personal qualities—and they are of great importance in selecting a candidate who is to undertake the training of tho young. A man. may be a renowned scholar, of excellent character, and yet totally incapable of training a lot of impetuous schoolboys. And, on the other hand, a man without any marked scholastic abilities may, by his' personality, be a first-class schoolmaster.' Mr. Field looked upon the classification idea in the same way, and pointed out that tho board member's .had everyone's school record befora them when they discussed the appointments, and took into consideration the length of service, tho educational ability, personal character, and. other requirements needed for the position. The board must be aiiuived elasticity in the appointments, ho said. Mr. A'itken did not condemn the proposed classification scheme, and admitted that he was rather ; inclined to a system of the sort, though he thought that a central board for' the whole Dominion was advisable. This would, of course, entail heavy expenditure.

Canvassing the Committee. With regard to tho practice of canvassing school committees, it is pointed out that since only a few names are handed by the board to tho committees, and tho prbecedihgii are not open to the press, no candidate should be placed in a position to kiiow whether his name lias been handed to tho committee. . But, as a member of tho board admitted, it would be a comparatively easy matter tor any camlidato to ascertain if his name had been sent in or. not, either from ono of the board members or from a friendly member of the committee concerned. Of course, tho names should, strictly speaking, not bo divulged, but, it was stated, there was a certain amount of laxity about this. This laxity made tho canvassing of the committee possible.. As a member of the board had pointed out, the board always tried to do the "square thing" by those teachers who had worked hard in the country, and, had not held a position in the .towns. But if the names of a town teacher and a country teacher were submitted for the consideration of the school committee .of the locality where ono of the candidates lived, this naturally gave the resident oandidat an advantage. This, of-course, gave rise to the question of the actual advantage gained by having the names reconsidered by the committees after the boarcl had considered them. On this question both Jlr. Aitlcen and Mr. Field agreed Hint the board mi"Jit do better if the names were not reconsidered, but the actual appointment left entirely in their hands. But, Jlr. Aitken pointed out, this would take away the chief function of the committees anil leave them mere routine work to do— wliich I'.hey might not like.