EDUCATION BOARD,

Gisborne Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1486, 21 June 1905, Page 2

EDUCATION BOARD,

(Per* Press Association.) Wauganui, last night. At a meeting of the Education Board

last night it was unanimously resolved that it is tho opinion of this Board that the present system of payment of teachers upon the average attendance is unju.t and unsatisfactory ; that a teacher’s salary should not depend upon the rise or fall of attendance in his school, a matter over which he has to a coueidcrablo r-xtent no control; that all teachers shou’d” bo graded witii a minimum and maximum salary to each grade ; that the teachers of a certain

;rnde should bo eligible for nppoiutmen

to a certain grade of school ; that if a teacher is appointed to a school ho should receive the salary of his grade whether the attendance riss3 or falls, but should such an alteration occur in the attendance a 3 movos tho school into a different grade, the teacher shall bs removed into a school of bis proper grade as early as possible ; tho grading of teachers should ho upon length of service, ability to teach, and literary attainments. It was resolved to send copies of tho resolutions to the Minister of Education and ail Boards in tho colony.

Ohief-lospecior Gray, who recently relumed from a visit to American schools, said tha 1 ] no such payment on the average attendance existed there. Inspectors had power to shift teachers, and he thought the

same power should be given in New 2jealand, at least to Committees ana Boards of Education. The system in New Zealand was one of the most unbusinesslike things on the face of the earth, and should no loDger bo tolerated in its present state. The whole of the unrest in the teaching profession was due to the instability prevailing re salaries. He urged that every Board in the colony should get power to put the duffers at the bottom and merit at the top. The also passed, a resolution strongly protesting against the proposal of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce to alter the boundaries of the edu. cation district.