EDUCATION BILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2252, 25 July 1908, Page 1

EDUCATION BILL.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS. STAFFING AND SALARIES. [Special to “Times.”] WELLINGTON, July 23. Tho Education Act Amendment -pul which has been introduced by. tlio Ministor for Education provides ioi a now scheme of grading school aiu teachers’ salaries. Tho number o grades of public schools is reduced from 30 as at present to 10. Jho lowest grado contains schools with an average attendance of 9 to 15, so that touchers in such schools shall have tho benefits of regularly graded salaries and not as heretofore, dependent on a capitation allowance. Tho various grades and sub-grados of schools are as follows: (0) 1 to o, (1) 9 to 15, (2) 10 to 25, (3) 20 to Jo, 4 36 to 80, (5) 81 to 120, (6) 121 to 200, (Ga) 121 to 160, (0b) 101 to 200 (7) 201 to 300, (7a) 201 to 250, (7b) 251 to 300. (8) 301 to 450, (Sa) 301 to 350, (8b) 351 to 400, (8c) 401 to 450, (9) 450 to GOO, (9a) 451 to 500, :(9b) 501 to 550, (9c) 551 to 600, (10) over 600 (oho sub-grade for every fifty, pupils in average attendance in excess of 000.

SALARIES OF TEACHERS.

Teachers salaries are graded, as follows :—The annual increment in each easo being fixed at £5, (la) £9O to £lO5, (lb) £lO5 to £l2O, (2a) £l2O to £135, (2b) £135 to £l5O, (3a) £l5O to £165 (3b) £165 to £IBO, (4) £IBO to £2lO, (5) £2lO to £240, (G) £240 to £270, (7a) £270 to £290, (7b) £290 to £3lO, (8) £3lO to 340, (9) £340 to £370, (10) £370 to £4OO. Clauso 5 gives effect, to the second schedule which deals with staffs and salaries. Tho first column gives the grades and sub-grades of the schools, the intermediate sub-grades being introduced for the purpose of indicating where each additional assistant is added to tho school, tho second column fixes tlio salary of the head teacher as set out above. The third column gives the number of assistants that should ho provided in a school immediately the Act comes into force on January Ist. 1909, and in the fifth column the number of pupil teachers is shown. Theso numbers are practically the same as those at present in the schools, except that an assistant mistress is given when a school reaches 36 instead of waiting until 41. Column six" indicates how the strengthening of schools is to take place as it is given .the number of additional assistants to be gradually substituted for the pupil teachers provided in tho previous column. The rate at which they are to be substituted will depend upon the supply of teachers and will bo presented by regulation. Tlio grades of salaries and assistanst are also set- out in another column. AN EXAMPLE.

The effect of the above provisions may be illustrated by the example of a school of 360 children in average attendance. Part 1. of the first schedule shows that such a school is in grade 8 (301 to 450) and further, that it is in the sub-grade Bb. The second schedule shows that a head teacher appointed to that school from a lower grade is paid a salary of grade 8. Part 2. of the first schedule shows that the salary of gradb 8 begins at £3lO a year, and increases annually by £5 until it reaches £340 a year. The first assistant has the salary of grade 5, that is, rising from £2lO a year by £5 a year to £240 a year, and so on for tho other four assistants belonging to the school when the Act comes into force. There will also be three pupil teachers at that, time, but in course of time they will be replaced by threo adults (juniors), one with a salary of grado 1, £9O a year, rising by £5 a year to £l2O a year, and two of grade la, £9O a year, rising by £5 a year to £lO5 a year. In the course of timo, therefore, pupil teachers will disappear and their places will be taken by assistants, so that tho average number of children per teacher in tho large schools will be reduced to between 45 to 50. In order, however, to maintain a supply of suitablo teachers power is given by regulations to provide for employment of probationers, who differ from pupil teachers in that no probationer is to bo allowed to have solo charge of any class, or to be engaged in teaching for more than 15 hours in any week, or to become a contributor t 0 Hie Teachers’ Superannuation Fund . Salaries and other details relating to probationers will be determined by regulation. It is provided that a teacher employed in a public school when the Act comes into force, shall not so Jong as he remains in the same position” receive a salary lower than that to which he would have been entitled bad this measure not been passed. The clause also provides for an animal incroasement of salary of £5 until the maximum is reached and also that when a teacher is. transferred from one position to another in the same grade, the increments to his salary go on as if he had remained in the same school. The Bill aJeo provides for a gradual scale of special allowance to head teachers as follows:—Grade 1, £lO per 'annum:' grade 2, £ls; grade 3, £2O; grade 4, £25; grade 5, £3O; grade 6, £35, grade 7, £4O; grade 8, £45; grades 9 and 10 £SO. Salaries of pupil teachers are fixed as follows:. —First year £25 with allowance of £2O if obliged to live away from home; second year, £35 with allowance; third year, £45 with allowance £10; fourth or fifth year £55, with allowance of £5.

PAYMENT OF GRANTS

Provision is made for the payment of grants to secondary schools which provides free places under the main Act on the following scale: —When tho net annual income per head is over £l7 per annum. £1 per annum on each free pupil, over £9 hut not over £l7, £4 per annum, together with ono'.fourtli of the deficiency of the income below £l7, over £5 hut not over £9, £6 a year together with one-half of the deficiency of tho income below £9 per annum. When the income is not over £-5 a. year there will'be paid for each free pupil an annual'grant of £B, together with nine-tenths of the deficiency of the income below £5 per annum, hut in no case will the grants bo less than £6 -a year per free pupil in excess of tho number of scholarships provided by tho Education Act. APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS. The vexed question of tho respective powers of hoards and committees Sg also dealt with by the Bill. . It is proposed- that a committee, if it desires to express any opinion or make ally recommendation with respect to tho appointment, shall forward its opinion or recommendation to tlie board, so as to reach the hoard not later than two clear days beroie t-lio day on which the -appointment is pioposed to be made. ’ If any such recommendation. or opinion is received bv the board within that time the board must take it- into consideration before making the appointment, lu

making any appointment tho hoard must consider tho fitness for the vacant position .of all those teachers who have applied,, whether they aro resident and employed in tho district or not, and of all those toachors in tho employ of tho hoard who have signified their intention to the board their desiro for promotion or transfer. TECHNICAL EDUCATION. It is provided that- in addition to the capitation now payable on technical classes an additional payment, not exceeding twice Hie previous rate, may with the approval of tlio Minister, lie mado in respect of the attendance of pupils who comploto a course of technical instruction approved by the Minister. A LOCAL OPINION. On the telegram being shewn to .Air F. J. Rowley, headmaster of tho Gisborne School, Mr Rowley said ho would riot like to give any dofiuito opinion on tho Mill until ho had seen a comploto copy. From what was contained in the telegram he gathered that the proposed change . . 1 ho grading of schools and teachc.s would placo both headmasters and assistants in a hotter position, for it evidently meant an increase of salaries especially for those teachers at the bottom of each grade. The proposed annual increments also met a long felt need, and would tend to give toachers more encouragement in their w'6rk. The Bill, however, did not get any nearer solving tho difficulty of payment on tho average attendance, though it must be admitted conditions in that respect avoio hotter now than some years ago.