DOMINION SCALE OF PAY,

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1927, 9 December 1913, Page 7

DOMINION SCALE OF PAY,

FOR, SECONDARY SCHOOLS. M ANIFESTO BY TEACHERS; 'A manifesto lias been drafted an i circulated by the Executive Committee of tho New Zealand Secondary Schools Assistants' Association, deuling with the movement, in propm for professional betterment of its members. Tho executive of the association is nbont to approach the Minister for Education oil the matter of improving their status anil salaries, mid lias drafted a sehonw which has, U> a ureal extent, met with the approval of tlw» members of tho association, and embodies as its cardinal principle a Dominion scale of. salaries. Such a scale is, in the opinion of the executive, tho best and ofily way of_ removing the present -"sift riii.tr anomalies'' in. the remuneration of secondary school teachers and tho "rank and obvious injustice done to far 100 many of tlic-m."

"At present," it is stated "no ot» (rovernmjt body pays t-n its teachers tho same salaries as another covens in 3 bod? docs. There are two reasons for this: cither the governing body lacks tho necessary funds to pay its teachers an adeqtlato reimmoraiioH, or one governino; body holds ideas differiiiK from those of another governing hod,v as to what is a fit remuneration for -services Tendered. Ths executive is inclined to the opinion that, tho forme" reason is, generally speaking, the correct one; for nearly every hoard in the Dominion has sent letters -exprcssint: sympathy with the attempts of the executive to gain better salaries for secondary toiidiers, Many headmasters and fieadiiiisticsses liavo expresscil approval of the sdiemo submitted to tliem. In one or two easts it has been urged that tho salaries yvo demand are too high. Tho opinion of the executive is briefly: The salaries demanded by us are, if anything, ntvfc ln'uh enough for professional men and women, but they are extraordinarily low if education is regarded as tlio cru. ner-stdinj in nation buiidinn. "Tiie executive has wade a careful analysis of tlio facts and figures forwarded by the groat majority of .schools of the Dominion, and it has been able to arrive at a fairly accurate estimate of what this cost- would be if tho association's scheme wore introduced, Tho cost of the Treasury is ('M.I. returns) .ClO.ft'i per freo pupil. The number at pupils receiving frep secoii'lary c.l'ncrttion is approximately 4200, Taking an outside estimate, the iutrodmijon of tho association's sc-hemo would pledgo the Government to find £.17,000 pt-r aiimnn. This si\m could bo found by increasing tiie cavitation from £10.83 j to £14.85 per head Jf tlio taxpayer were asked to shoulder the burden (and it is perhaps right- that he should) tho cost would work out to under 4d. per head of the population. The nbovo sum (£17,000) is a very liberal estimate, the truo estimate is perhaps nearer £1/5,000. In any ease, it is tho opinion of tho executive that these sums might- bo reduced by several t'hfuisrtiid pounds if the Government wore to insist till the present capitation grants ')*■'.}] spent purely on school management of administration find ioachcrs' salaries.

__ "That thin is not being done, is evidenced by tlio i'oJlmriiig facts, One of the largest secondary schools in Now Zealand receives ft capitstion allowance of £12,6 por pupil; £'!) of tWs is sjient oil school management ami salaries. The governing body of that school is setting aside » stim of ifiOOO'per.attmnn towards n fund for rebuilding purposes. Tliiii sum of money would mors than cover t.h<i increases which our scheme demands for that- school. 11l fact tliis sum would cover within £200 tlio increases so demanded for both the boys' and the girls' schools controlled by that governing body. Thft question obviously is: 'How many other schools are there that arc spending only three-tpiartcrs of their capitation grant on salaries and school administration;" 'Mow many other schools arc there, lilso tlio particular one mentioned, that forbid their teachers supjjleiiient'mg their present meagre salaries by taking outside work after school hours?' "