SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 1 April 1919, Page 6

SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

INADEQUATE SALARIES

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

Some of the grievances. of assistant teachers in secondary schools were laid teforo tho ( Minister ot Education (the Hon. J. A. Hana:i) yesterday by a deputation from the Assistant Tcachcrs Association.

'Mr. V. M. Banner told the Minister of the requests the association wished him lu consider. His lirst point was in regard to superannuation, 'there were still a number of secondary school teachers, some of them, through no fault of their own. who had not joined the superannualion scheme, aud they wished to be <uforded another opportunity of joining. The second point was tlie custom ot the Department in demanding superannuation payments in respect of salary earned in the teaching of technical classes in the evenings/ by secondary school teaciieis. It was urged that as teachers would seldom continue tlie evening work until the end of their teaching careers, the} would not be entitled to superannuation on the basis of the turnings,they dre« from this extra work. In view of this h was claimed that no superanmiauon premiums should bo claimed in respect of those earnings. The most'important oucsiion was that of the urgent need ot increasing the . capitation payment m respect of free-place pupils m secondarj schools. rjie amount ivas at prasent £13 10s., ar.d it was laid doTWi that, tms monev was to.be expended in and incidentals. lac understanding was that XI2 10s. was tt: lie for salary, and not more than JJI for lncK-ontajs. If there could be no increase »: the capitation grant, at least thcro should bis an exact instruction given to boards that, this was to be the allocation of the moneys. He urged, however that in view of the increased cost oi living salaries would have to be increased, and t. us might not be possible unless the capitation was increased. As 1 a corollary lie contended that the maximum provided for . superannuation, iSOO,, would also have to be increased. The association asked for a Dominion scale of salaries for secondary teachers. Even at present the salaries paid to secondary teachers were quite inadequate. .School 1 teaching was o profession, but lie thought it would be found on examination of the current rates cf wages that a good bricklayer or a carpenter was able to cam just as much as o schoolmaster in a secondary school. If the pcopte ot New Zealand were going to treat the profession as a trade, the members of the profession would be driven to adopt trade union methods, which they would be very unwilling to do. He said that school teachers had to spend just as much time in preparing for their profession as lawyers or doctors, and they should havo a right to expect some better rewards for their work. He would suggest that a man entering the pro fession at a salary of .£2OO should have 1 riprhfc to oxpccfc aftar twenty years 01 service a salary of, say, a year. At present he was a fortunate man in secondary school service who was receiving .£4OO a year. He used the argument also that the depreciated value of money in support of 'he claim of teachers for increased salaries. It seemed that a Dominion scale ot' salaries was the only means by which a fair basis for the jwyment of salaries could be fixed. At present tho schools were controlled by about twenty boards, and every board had different ideas about how teachers should be paid.' The scale should provide for the payment of such salaries as would relieve, teachers of the annoyances of financial worries. Unless this were done, teachers could not give their best work for their schools. And in tho scale there should be provision made for a gradual, advance in salary taking info account academic distinctions and years of service.

Miss N. E. Coad said that secondary school teachers were not so well paid as primary school teachers. Secondary teachers in district high schools were better paid than simitar teachers in secondary schools. Mr. A. C. Gilford said that in_ order to pay even the present salaries it was necessary to have large classes ill schools, and this lie considered was not. conducive to good work. Ho urged that there should never l>e more than 25 in a secondary class, and if this were to lie the rule more teachers would have to be found.

The Minister said that in Tcgard to the first point 'it was but right that he should mention that teachers* had had many opportunities of joining the superannuation scheme, and if tlioy had failed to do so they were themselves to blame. He could not promise that the request would be granted without considering what would lie tho effect in other departments * where a similar request might be made.

The matter of the payment of superannuation in respect of technical school fees had been considered by him previously. One of the clauses in a Bill which he had prepared last year would, if it had been pnssed into law, have removed this grievance, but there had not been time even to submit the Bill to the Government, and it had never appeared before Parliament at all. As to all the salaries questions they were all embraced in the demand for a dominion 6cale. For a variety of reasons, some of which he mentioned, it was a difficult matter to prepare a dominion scale of salaries for secondary teachers, but he thought something might be done in this direction. Tho secondary schools were not all in the same position. Some of them were well endowed, and some had no endowments at all. Again, *in some of the larger schools, the equipment was good, and in the smaller schools not so good, so that expenditure under this head varied in different schools. He ktiew that the subject was full of difficulty, but he would give attention to the matter! and see if some scale of salaries could not be fixed. He was anxious that this should }hj done, because he 'believed that it would result in the Education Department obtaining some voice in the appointment of secondary teachers. He hoped.that the time was'not far distant when this country would have some form of unified control of primary, secondary, and technical education. He knew that increased salaries were being given in other walks of life on account of the higher cost of living, and increases had been given to prim/ry school teachers. He recognised that there was Eround for reconsidering the salaries paid to secondary, teachers. Tho Minister promised that the requests made would receive his careful consideration, but he said that thero was but little chance of the superannuation maximum of ,£3OO being increased.