EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1888, 24 October 1913, Page 4

EDUCATION.

■ AM INSTAIiMENTfOF-REFORM. TEACHERS'SALARIES. Tho Hon. JAS. ALLEN moved the second reading of the Education Amendment Bill. Honourable members Would recollect, lift said, that this was an instalment. Next year he intended to bring down further legislation dealing witli. teachers' salaries and other questions of moment to teachers. This year, ho was. only making provision to guard against loss of Salary owing to ft fall in attendance during the current year. Tho main object of the Bill was to make some provision this yeal for increases in teachers' salaries, and honourable members would admit that thero was need for this being done, at tho earliest opportunity that tie present. Government had had.- The Bill did not do all that he could wish, but it was something. It provided annual increments from £o to £10, wliich would benefit 24.34 teachers out of 3212. Tho minimum salary was being raised from £90 to £100. _ Tho annual (Charge would be £12,000 in tho first year on account of tho increases. The Minister explained in detail the salary increases which tho Bill would confer upon secondary school teachers. _ Ho also explained the provision which temporarily protects teachors against loss of salary Owing to a fall in attendance, and other proposals in tho Bill. Tho total increased expenditure under the Bill and tho regulations woitid be £28,000. All the changes would vastly improve the position of teachers, but he readily admitted that, taking into consideration tho very valuable work done by teachers, the time was opportune for the revision of their salaries. , Boarding of Scholars* Tho Bill provided that some control should bo exorcised over the boarding establishments into which tho holders of national scholarships were received. This had boon delegated to the education hoards. Similar provision was made in giving the board power to control boarding arrangements of junior scholars. Ho thought _ honourable members would agree that it was right that the .education boards should have somo kind of control. It was not right that theso >;oung people should come into our cities to any kind of establishment. He thought all houses into which they were taken should be registered, and that tho board should at least have power to see that tho children did not go to residences where they could come to harm. Subsldlos to Schools. Section 4 limited the subsidies to district high schools to tho secondary departments of district high schools. No provision was mado in Jmo law for subsidising voluntary contributions to , primary schools, but whore thore was a , secondary department to a primary school thero was provision for subsi- i lies. Tha trouble was that moneys i had been collected for schools which I bad secondary departments, and subsi- 1 iies had beon paid on tho amounts for : both the primary and the secondary de- i partments. Either both primary and j secondary schools must be put in tho i same position, or the subsidy must bo \ imited to tile' amounts for tha second- < iry departments, The Government ] lad followed tha latter eoursa. Ths i •oason was that the allowance given to 1 irimary schools by tha Government was i imply sufficient, but with secondary c :ehools this waß not so. They did not c eceivo a- sufficient allowance, and they lad very properly had recourse to prira.t<> subscription. After tho dinner adjournment Mr. o Ulen continued his explanation of the t' Jill. He reminded hon. members that r ho Bill was only an' instalment, and s hat lie hopcl next year to bring down u Bill which would materially improve t he condition of the teachers. a Mr. T. K. SIDEY (Dunedin South) n numerated all the changes or improve- si lents in our education system during y lie time the Liberal party w-ere in t< (fice, and urged that tho effect of .tho ri revision debarring nominations cf ri fhopl committee at tiaq an-j p

I mini meetings- of householders, if ii ■, wore adopted, would be that tliero would • be no elections at all. t a Things In Prospcet. 0 Sir. G. M. THOMSON (Dunedii; :■ North) said Hint 'lie was quite ready U II admit that during Hie years in whict " tho Liberal party held office good and ) steady progress was made wiiii the iinnrovoment of t'ho educational system He considered) he saidj that it wouls Iw a good t'ving if the educatioi: 0 hoards were given priwer to exorcisi i- some slight supervision over yourn: e people who had to leave home and gc i- into boarding quarters, in order to tak( r up scholarships. on 6 result of then 1 being thirteen education boards in tin ii Dominion was that the . more abl< i- teachers in tlio Service of tho siiiallei e boards frequently found themselves it ■- a cul. de sac, Some provisiar r Was needed which _ Would cnabh t theso teachers to pass into tho scrvici 0 of large boards, wnero they would hav< t more scops, L A member: Abolish tho smallei , boards. Mr. Thomson: I think that will h( - done next year. Probably it will t'< cm> of the thinfes that tile IMu< ii cation Committee ' will recoiir mend. It should be recognisec . that education was going to cost inpn in the future. There shoxild .be, loi f one thing, more kindergarten work. A 1 1 present there was an abrupt changc 9 from the kindorgarteii to tho primary . school where everything was done by s rule,' but kindergarten methods might with advantage be imported into the j lower grades of tho primary schools and B this would entail increased expenditure. 0 At present New Zealand teachers in a the public sohools dealt with a largoi ] number of pupils than in almost any t other country in the world. In the 4 United States the average number of j pupils to a teacher was 25; in Wales it was 28.3; in England, 32.5; in ScotJ land, 38.1; in Switzerland, 42.7; aiid in Now Zealand, 48.3. If the system.of j kindergarten and similar work waß to j. be extended thera muot. ho no increase 5 in the number of teachers. Much was j. being heard also of tho Montossori bj'b- _ tem wliieh, applied to tho training of mental defectives, but also could bo ad- ' vantageoUßly applied bo .tho lower 1 grades of ordinary schools. These . things would lead up 6o manual and technical training, It was coming to be recognised more and moro that if thoy • wero to eopo with certain diseases, par- ' ticularly diseases contracted by children, they would havo to establish open* ; air schools. Another matter that called ' for attention was tlio decay in parental authority. There was a tendency to , glorify the child at tlio present dav which, to some extent,..was all right, but it was an old saying and a tnio one • that it was a good thing for a man to endure some Hardness in'his youth. [ Mr. Thomson stated 'that he regretted ' the abolition of home lessons for school children. i Payne: They should all be abolished. Mr- Thomson said that one result ■ had -been to fill tho picture-shows, a de- . velopment that was much to be re- ' gretted. In, conchision Mr. Thomson i declared that the statement that had been made to the effect that tho teach- ! ing profession was seething with disl- - contont was devoid of foundation. Mr. D. BIILIDO (Kaiapci) said that in his opinion the shortage of teachers .was largely due to tho fact that pupil teachers liad been done away with, so far as country schools' were concerned. At present, Mr. Buddo remarked, teachers were required to devote too much time to tho frills of education— to tlio little odds and ends that wore tacked oil to "the tlireo It's." Religious Instruction. Mr. „R. .M'GALLIJM -.CAYgiftwi) con- - .tended that'tlio odaieatioh.' system should be made uniform throughout New Zealand in the matter of religious instruction in schools. Ho did not believe that tho eleraos ivero as strongly supported as they claimed to bo. It was no part of the duty of the State to teach religion, but ho favourod moral teaching' la the schools. Tho system that obtained in Nelson, of shortening tho school week by half an hour and making that period available for Bible teaching, might be applied with advantage throughout New Zealand. No compulsion was brought to boar upon teachers or pupils. Mr. C. A. WILKINSON (Egmont) found fault with some of tho detail proposals ill the Bill, including that proposing to abolish the\ nomination of members of school committees at the meotings of householders. Mr. J. A. HANAN (Invercargill) said that in order to bring about educational reforms that wero urgently necessary tho number of education districts wduld have to bo reduced, and in ordbr to got tho proper class of people into tho teaching profession they would have to get better salaries, and • the country must be _ prepared. to pay them. Tlio rewards in the teaching profession (less in some cases than those of unskilled workers) wero by ii.o means eommenBurato with tho work that teachers had to do, and tho preparation they had to ■ undergo to fit thorn for it. He would support the Bill, The Bill a Forerunner. Mr. D. H. GL'THME (Oroua) said that he regretted that more members wero not in tho House to hear and to take part in tho discussion on the Bill. Ho was sorry that vory early -'in.tho debate party issues were raised by tho member for Dunedin South. It was incorrect to say, as Mr. Sidey had said, that the improvements in the status of teachers brought about while the late Administration held office were wholly duo to tho efforts of that party. Tlio question, of education had always been treated in a non-party spirit, and Ministers of Education had been supported by members on tho Opposition siao of the House. Ho urged that tho capitation allowed to school committees was not adequate, and ho hoped and believed that it would yet 100 increased, though not iA tho immediate present. He agreed that the Dominion's ' pursestrings would have to bo loosed, and that teachers would havo to get larger salaries than they new received. Ho was glad that the Bill provided for increased salaries to secondary school teachers. It . was remarkable that the pay of secondary school teachers had remained on such a low scale for so long. H© trusted that the Bill would bo only tho forerunner of a permanent improvement in tho status of our ~Mr' H. POLAND (Ohinemuri) said the Bill was a makeshift. Tho cause of the delay of justice to tho teachers for one year ho said, that the Minister of Education had too many duties, Silt JOSEPH WAItD (Awarua) said that unfortunately the financial proposals of the Government were, not yet before the House, and therefore no member knew whether funds would bo available for increasing tho payment of toachcra. It appeared to biin that tho present increases in teachers' salaries wcto inadequate. Something moro than was put forward in tho Bill should bo ' don» to improve the status of teachers. I It might yet b» necessary in order to J improve tlio position of teachers to allow Dominion promotions, and Dotnin- j ion transfers, out . without centralised j control. H« would not like to sea «du- ) cation boards, abolished. 1 t That Death-bed Repentance. ' Tho Hon. F. 51, B. FISHER (Minister J of Marine) said it was all very well for 1 tlio honourable gentleman to get up and < read (as he had) a statement in Han- * said that he had made in 1912 Saying what the Government would do. But this was a Ministerial death-bed repent- < ntico. The honourable gentleman * ad- « mitted his sins of commission and omis- * sion, and he asked to be given 21 moro 1 years to put them right.. Of course teachers' salaries would liavo to be put -i right, but everything could not be put j right at onco, and much had had to bo t gut right iu other Departments. .When v

it tho honourable gentleman's Adniiuistra* Id tion went out oi oilico there wero girls in the Printing Office with 26 years' .service receiving £1)0 a year. Their salaries had been increased. Also they in had llad to, increase the pensions expono diture. Tho Government liad done as ih much as they could with their limited d resources in tho time- at their disposal, i- He did not believe the teachers would n, thank the honourable gentleman for act* Id ing tho part of a carping cVitic. in M''; 0. WlTTl* (Hiecarton) accused 3 e the Government of ([claying tho increa6icr cd salaries-to teachers iu order to give ;o it in election year. to Mr. A. 12. GLOVER (Auckland Genre trnl) pleaded for more salaries for tho ia teachers. le 3r Minister In Reply, in n^ r " Coates (Kaipara), Mr. J. le and M. H, Atrnore (ftelBOli), carried on the debate until * J-12 a.m., when . I Hon. J, ALLEN rose to reply, , r -V, 16 Mull criticism lurolled against the Bill, ho said Was'that it did not go far )0 enough, but lie liad promised that next •<i i' ci ar a measure wiiieii would propose a great deal muro would he introduced. Som ® of tho other points raised had reference .to matters outside of tho •e 5,'i 0 '" 3 . e "ill. Tho niem.bor for ir P' nnL ' nu 'I'i1 'i rated the Govorniiieiit t for-not having brought down a Iliii to■c Hiake drastic increases in the salaries ' of teachers. He (Mr. Albn) could * bring clowji ix f>cor(? of suoli. Bills costinc upwards of £100,000 a year, but ho had: io to take account of what was practicable. Next year lie hoped the revenuo of the country would permit of eonsidorable increases being made. The ir ideal of several members, to allow the T best; tedchers to, get to the top of tlio ' 0 tree wherever tliey might bo placed by jf a Dominion schehio of promotion Avould jj entail centralisation of the inspectorate, . and it would be a vory important, chsiigo indeed. Ho did not care to undertakeit at present. Ho Would not refer 0 at length to the extension, in Now Zea- ! b land or tlio kindergarten system, but he 9 recognised that there were possibilities j, in it. - While lie was in Rome ho. had had an opportunity of seeing ';he Monl_ tessori system iii opDration, aiid he boj, liovod it might be passible to iiitroduco' 10 it iu New Zealand in. conjunction with ,j our kindergarten work. He emphaticto ally denied }!>'• Poland's stateinoiit that y men wern not entering the teaching 1 service, Hie fact as shown by statis- , [. tics prepared was that the number of s male teachers was mcreasmg. j .Tho second reading "was agreed to on j tlio voices. ' 0 The Houso roso at 1.24 a.m.