In Parliament.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 September 1913, Page 4

In Parliament.

Questions by Members

SCHOOL TEACHERS

Mr Brown, to ask the Minister of Education, "Whether,-when the question of school-teachers' salaries is under consideration, he will take into account the following proposals: (1) That, with u view to inducing a more efficient class of teacher to accept employment in country schools, salaries be based on the number of pupils on the roll; (2) that in schools of Grades J and 2 the minimum salary payable be £KIO per.annum; (l>) that the salaries of pupilteachers and probationers be brought into line with those paid in other branches of the Public Service; (4) that, owing to the limited accommodation which generally exists in settlers' homes and the difficulty consequently experienced by teachers in obtaining board and lodging, a residence be provided in connection with each school? (Note. —In most cases the interest on the cost of such residence would not exceed the amount now paid as house allowance, and teachers would then be in a position to take better of the school property. It is evident that owing to the difficulty of obtaining the services of suitable teachers for small country schools, which difficulty is largely due to the small salaries based on the average attendance, which is small and generally irregular owing to bad roads, the children of these schools arc not receiving as efficient instruction as those in or near the centres of population).

The Hon. Mr Allen replied,— (1) In every known scheme of staffs and salaries the salaries actually paid in any given school are based on iho size of the school

—thai is, the schools are graded according to their size, and the salaries vary according to the grade of the school. At the same time, to avoid injustice to the teachers, various methods arc used to provide for the transfer of touchers whenever the change of μ-rade and other circumstances require it. In fact, with reasonable safeguards, it is Ihe question of transfer, not the basis of tiu , tfradintf of schools, which, is the crux of the matter. If roll and average attendance were equally steady it would make no difference which was taken as a basis of μ-radhig-. A school niitfht be classed as of Grade 4, with a roll between forty-one and ninety, say, or as now, willi an average attendance between thirty-six and eighty: there would not bo on this account any difference in the salary; but as the roll is not nearly so sate or so steady as the average aiU-ndance, the result would probably bo tor the worscrather than the better. (2) A school of Grade I has an average, ol' nine to fifteen children, and carries a salary rising by £0 a year from A'IK) to £120, log-other with a house <r a house allowance of <£1O per annum. The Education Amendment .Hill, now before .Parliament, proposes to substitute £1.00 for A , 90 as the minimum salary, and to make the annual increments £10. To raise the minimum from .£9O ici i'l-'il), or 44 per centum, would involve raising the minima of all the other grades of salaries more or less in proportion. The total cost would lie so enormous that no .Minister, liOAvover much he desired to improve the remuneration of teachers, could possibly think of doing it in one stop. Moreover, most of (ho teachers in these schools of Gi-ade 1 arc uncertificalod teachers single women -and this will to a large extent always be the case. (,"]) The allowances to probationers, as 1 have already announced, will bo raised shortly by regulations in accordance with the Act. Probationers are not part of the stall' of the school in which they are placed -they arc (here for their own benefit, to see whether I hey arc fitted for the profession of leaehers. To a certain extent the last statement is true of pupil-teachers also; moreover, most of those now appointed enter as third-year pupil-teachers, with salary of .£45 the first year and i'so the second year, with an addition of £10 and .£5 respectively if living away from home. Until lately a cadet in the Public Service received £'40 the first year and t'so the second year, and was giving ihe whole of his time (thirty-tight or three-nine hours a week) to his office-work. However, L am prepared to consider all Ihrc.o matters--(1), {2} and (8)-— duriug the recess, with a view to further legislation next .session. (4) So far as the funds at the disposal of the Government permit, grants for teachers' residences are given whenever circumstances show that it is necessary, and that the residences will be occupied when provided.