The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1932. SUGGESTED REFORM.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 October 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1932. SUGGESTED REFORM.

Twe control of school teachers under a new system is opo of many recommendation h made by the National Expenditure Commission in its findings, which says that the present system of regrading -teachers annually does not appear to be necessary, it being pointed out that in the public service this i« only carried out every five years. The report says the present system is most complidated, and the true position insofar as teachers’ emoluments art concerned is . difficult to ascertr'n. We refer specially to the system of grading allowances, country allr.vances, house allowances, over-sealo allowances, etc. Teachers’ emoluments should...be on an all-in-

elusive basis, land’ the system of granting allowances of various kinds should cease. The granting of house allowances or free houses in- addition .to salary is undesirable, and, apart from appointments in remote localities, we see. no reason why houses should bo supplied free for any special section of the Public Service. Except in localities where, there is a housing short-

age, it would, possibly, be more economical for the bouses to he disposed of and an. increased* salary paid to the teachers who at present have the use of them. Where it is considered desirable to retain the residence, it should he- a condition of appointment that the teacher he required to reside in it and bay an adequate rental based on the. capital value of the lionise and grounds. In any case, we recommend that the system .be abolished as far as practicable. Regarding the appointment and grading of teiachprs, the methods are unnecessarily complicated, and contribute toward the high cost of education. We recommend that the teaching service be subject to the same control ns the Public Service—namely, by the Public Service Commissioner—and also tillst , the Public Service Act be extended to embrace the teaching service. This/ 1 would automatically give the Public Service Commissioner control of the grading and classification of teachers. There a more liberal scale of staffing in the secondary and technical schools • than obtains in the junior and district high schools- or in the primary schools, and -some savings in salaries should be oossible by a, readjustment of the staffing scale. We suggest that the possibilities of effecting economy in this way he fully explored. The reduction in the number of pupils at secondary schools which would automatically follow our recommendations under the heading of ‘Free PostPrimary Education’ in our interim report would provide an opportunity for a review c-f the no-sition. and a reduction in the staffing scales could then be considered. A reduction in the number of pupils must necessarily result in a reduction in the number of teachers, and ta uniform scale should be adopted for all comparable schools ’ Dealing with School inspection the report says that at present there is a clear line of demarcation hetween the inspectorial staffs of the department. There is a staff of forty inspectors of primary schools, under a chief inspector stationed in Wellington. Th e inspectors are distributed among the nine education board districts in proportion to .the, number of, schools in each district. There is a .senior inspector in each district, who also acts in an advisory capacity to- education board’s. There are four secondary school inspectors, whose headquarters are in Wellington, and these- aUo are under a chief inspector, There are three inspectors of technical education, also located in Wellington, and working under the direction of the Superintendent of Technical Education. The maintenance of three- staffs • occasions a certain amount of overlapping, gnd unification of control would tend to- economy, We therefore recommend the reorganisation of the inspectorial staffs and the establishment of one corps of inspectors under the control of one chief inspector responsible to the Director of Education.