Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1918. GRADING OF SCHOOL TEACHERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1785, 5 February 1918, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1918. GRADING OF SCHOOL TEACHERS.

THE grading of school teachers is a fearful and wonderful process, staggering to the teachers themselves and some others directly and indirectly connected with educational affairs. Heaven alone knows how the grading process is worked, and grave injustice is being done to some of our best men and women in the profession. Perhaps a simpler method would be to dump the names of teachers in the various grades in the hat, and as the names are withdrawn place them in that order of preferment. It would come to about the same thing. Further, the inspectors visit the schools two or three times during the year, and upon those visits of inspection reports are submitted, aria the position of the school summed up. It is unnecessary for us to state that these reports in very inany'instaues do not represent the. correct state of affairs at the school. We remember, some time since, when a certain course of action was laid down

by the Board and held up by a committee, that a report was ruled to be not a report! Reports and grading of teachers fire.mysterious processes. Education, Boards, the administrative bodies, consist of members the majority of whom are about as inept as the rank and file of committee men. 'They are certainly capable of passing accounts and endorsing requests from committees of grants for necessary repairs. Anyhow, to get back to the grading. In the Foxton State School we have, as first assistant, a man with equal qualifications and who is as efficient as either the present head teacher or his successor. Yet his place on the list is 1,116, as against the present head teacher 120, and the re-cently-appointed head teacher 410. The three are all classified Cl, and the years of service are not very far apart. This is the sort of thing which is sickening good men in the service. Our first assistant would get the unanimous cqll of parents and committee as successor to the present head teacher, but the grading list sets up the barrier. This will serve to explain to numbers of parents who have asked the Committee to nominate thtr first assistant as head teacher in succession to Mr Jackson, We make no reflection upon the present head teacher, or the gentleman appointed to succeed him, but we do say the grading list is a delusion and a sham.