WOMEN TEACHERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 97, 18 January 1919, Page 9

WOMEN TEACHERS

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER

A NUMBER OF REQUESTS

The Minister of Education 1 was' interviewed yesterday by a deputation from the Women Teachers' Association, which placed bofore him ; the resolution adopted at ? the ; conference held a few days ago. '■ ■ .-The first and the most important point raised was in a suggestion that in every largo school there should be in charge of one of the senior'standards a woman teacher, in order that the girls in.the,upper standards might Dot be deprived, altogether of the guid-; ance and general oversight of a .woman. It was explained that t'he-law allowed this to bo done at present, but not a single board in the country had directed that it" should be done. In some . schools the practice -of giving a senior class to a woman teacher obtained;'but the decision as to whether it should be done or not was left, to the headmaster. The Minister said that he was. quite 'in'sympa'thy with tho idea tha,t girls in the upper classes in a school ought to be under the surveillance of a, woman teacher, hut there were difficulties-in the way of bringing the arrangement into operation. 'lie headmasters had power to- make tho arrangement 'now, but apparently they found /a trouble--in making their staffing disposition in this way, for - comparatively few .of them seemed to be able to do 'it,,

The request was explained by ' the deputation in some detail. It' was urged that the need was greatest in the large city schools, where, owing to the fact that higher classes were' most - often takerthymen, women teaohers saw very little of the' ; girls in those.- : classes. What .was asked was that ono of . the classes should be given to a woman, and that she should be ' made responsible for : general supervision. of senior girls. It ivas not suggested that this woman teacher should have-the. right to leave her class to exercise • supervision of classes under the control .of other teachers, but that slio should have the opportunity of taking the .other classes on occasion, in certain classes for which it might lie considered desirable that boys and should be' separated. In this way the woman teacher would- he able to' keen touch with the girls,in; the upper school. It was pointed out that in . the largo schools the head of the school very sel-. dem took a-class regularly, and that the heacl;might' take'the. .wrimim's-class nt. the times when she; would liavo to give it up to take girls in other classes, per-' haps in'combined classes, for special teaching in certain' subjects. The: deputation did not urgo that boys and girls should be educated' separately. The Minister repeated that the idea was; a good one, but ho could .toot -at present seo how he was to give effect :tb it. He promised to' give the matter earnest consideration.' Ho* wished "to see women's influence. stronger in .these schools. If tho peoplo of this country would agree.'to :■-make the teaching service, a national service instead of a sectional service, some of the difficulties .in /the ! way of/reforms of this kind" .might be removed, But so long 'as it remained a sectional service all the, desired reforms could not be introduced. Miss Myers: Then 'our social- life must suffer. V .. .Another question raised had to do with teachers who have been holding war appointments during tho absence of men at' the front. The. grievance '"was that- whereas these women .had to pay superannuation pre;miums on the salaries which they received in the war appointment, in the event of any of them retiring while .in the war appointment, or soon after relinquishing it, their superannuation .was computed on the' last three years for which they had drawn their permanent, salary. . It was P urged,'that, some'of appointments had been held, for four years or longer,''and' that the rule which had been made at the beginning of the war was, not equitable in working when applied to such cases. • Had, theso teachers not taken war appointments they, could•have.'reasonably expected some increases in their regular salary. ' It: was not' suggested . that teachers should -have their superannuation computed on the .temporary salary, cr that they .should he allowed to keep these positions after the men who had . relinquished .them had returned, but it ■was urged either that .superannuation premiums should not ho demanded on the temporary salary, or that some other basis should be used in the; computation of superannuation to he paid on retirement.

The Minister, said thai, the question •could not be considered as applied to the teaching: service'alone. It, was a question in which air the 'Publio Service .would have- to be considered, and this made , it a 1 policy question which he would have to consult his colleaguos. He could not express an opinion offhand.'

One member of the deputation pointed to the case of HawkeV Bay district, where all the appointments to positions of a value of more than £140 per year were War appointments. The present rules penalised teachers employed nnder that board to an unjust extent, it was'argued. ' Miss Chapman introduced another question in these words: We aro very strong on the question of women inspectors. Wo see no !ogical reason why the inspectorate should bo confined to one sex. The Minister said that he hoped that a woman inspector would he appointed this year. . Miss Myers: We aro very anxious also that she' should be regarded as an ordinary inspector, and not as a sort of adjunct. Mr. Hanan: The best way is to make a beginning, and then let things develop. ; Let's make a beginning. On a lcindred topic, the Minister approved of the idea that, women should have-a riglit equally with men to be represented on all bodies having to do with, education. ■A radical proposal was made that married teachers with families should be given an allowance in respect of wife and child in addition ,to salary. The deputation did not recede firm the "round the association has always taken up that there should be equal pay for equal work, This extra allowance asked for was to be something quite apart from salary, and to lie payable alike to men and women in respect of children dependent en them. The Minister / point ■ out the farreaching- 'effect, the adoption of such a scheme would have. It could not be adopted in one section of the Public Service without also being introduced in other branches. . It might not he possible to introduce'■ the principle in the Public Service at all without also making it apply generally to the whole population. , He said that the question was one of policy on which he would have to consult his colleagues before committing the Government by a reply. . ■■ . .