TEACHERS’ GRIEVANCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5285, 4 March 1878, Page 2

TEACHERS’ GRIEVANCES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —The Wellington teachers, though apparently very bold men, yet prove themselves to ;be but cowards after all. In the letter written by the secretary of the Wellington Teachers’ ! Association to the Board of Education, which, has already been published in your columns, .and which is postponed for consideration by ; the. Board till its meeting on . Wednesday next, : the., teachers practically say to’ the Board,- — ‘‘/Let us have a system of promotion, and let its terms be determined by ourselves.” And,, further- they say,, which shows their intense selfishness—“ This scheme is to be strictly drawn up to suit/ the interests of our own" little circle only, so that neither strangers nor ,even' comparative . strangers ; shall-.have any possible means of'disturb ng-our chances of promotion.” Here we. see but a handful of teachers, who in reality are only the servants of the public, striving to lay down the law by which, they are to be governed,; ,In ( this respect are they not indeed bold men? Let me remind them that the law is made, not by a small clique of interested, jealous, narrow-minded men, who are ready to devour one another for the sake of promotion, but by the highest tribunal of the country. , .

We’ have now an Education Act whichrightly provides that teachers shall be governed i-j-not by themselves—but by. the people whonx, they serve. : . ’ ~ i > These are the exact words'of the Act respecting : teachers: —“ No, appointment, isu-pen-siou,, or . dismissal shall ,take place, untp the; committee have been first consulted.” , , An<l,‘ iagain, which shows the power bestowed upon committees,, the Act says:—“Subject .to the ; general supervision and control of the. Board, ( land to. inspection by an inspector, as herein ’provided,, the..committee, shall.haye.the_.mauj;. agement of educational .matters within,..the ■school district.” ■ I( teachers . therefore"'want } promotion they will not.have to run to Boards' and beg for it, but henceforth they .will have. ;to satisfy the public that they deserve it; and. Ithey may depend .upon having to work for,it (too. The people can'safely be entrusted with i the power of selecting their own teachers., For. | their own and their children’s sake they will use ! every means to secure the iservices-of the-'best-i men they can get. Let teachers show by zeal land professional, ability . that they, merit • thejConfidenc'e of parents and school committees, .and they will have nothing to fear under the nevvAet; ■•' ••

Keferring again to the letter from the Wellington Teachers*' Association to the Board, In ■ find that at the same time the teachers ask the i Board to grant them tbs extraordinary privilege .already mentioned, they actually condemn :the ; actioh of the Board fur its conduct respect- 1 i ing 'cestain matters which are strictly the busiiuessof the Board,’ to wit, the appointment of !d-partmental officers. They ask a favor, dictate the terms, and at the same time plainly tell, the Board, in two resolntious, that thejr have no, confidence in it, , This is the way Teachers treat the Board, and think to gain ’their, own selfish ends,- , Surely I have said :quite ■ enough to show . that . the Wellington iteac'iers do not, lack boldness/

, la the second place, that they are but cowards after all, needs no demonstration, beioause' ’they s clearly! proved that themselves.' ’ [They are manifestly afraid of: competition, the very maiuspring of success and prosperity. 'Having got but little faith in their own. work/ ■and professional ability;,, they say they view o Iwith considerable apprehension the .appoint-'>-meat of strangers and of- comparative strangers , .(tried and competent men though they may be) to lucrative’posts under,the Board. They of course know that there is; a; possibility of new teachers, properly selected, proving themselves to have greater professional ability than some,., or even all the old tcacliers’under the’ Board,., and therefore they see a danger to themselves ! of such teachers obtain ug preferment, .though ’ justly their due. So, in all greed, they cry out against the appointment of strangers altogether. to lucrative posts, which, if,, carried out, .would practically keep all thoroughly effi neat ', teachers outside the present teaching stiff from seeking employment under the • Board, and the public would have to be the 'users. That which i? being wisely and bentficidiy done all through the colony to e icouraga new.; people of sterling : ability and usefulness ; to come and settle down amongst us, the teachers of Wellington desire to have set aside, as regards their profession; If we want , to make New Zealand truly a great and noble country, we must freely invite strangers to cast in their lot with us. And, men of ability are perhaps needed more in the teaching profession than l in any other vocation. If we close our schools against strangers, where are • we to get good teachers’from? We have 1 no public institutions whateve'r where teachers • ban be trained’in the art of teaching. We have not even a system for the training of apprentices. In all the schools 011(1,-r the - Board there is not a single apprentice—a most lamentable fact., The pupil-teacher system of. , the Board is a mere farce. The pupil teachers who; almost without exception, are girls, are;, hot apprenticed. .They may be in one .school., to-day, in another to-rnorrow, and the next day may he following a different occupation altogether to that of a teacher. I think I have now sufficiently shown that under the present system of the Board it is absolutely necessary, in order to keep up a proper teaching staff, to secure the services of strangers,of professional ability, if luckily they can be obtained. The Board, by improving teachers’. salaries, and advertising vacancies should offer every possible inducement to teachers, who have had thorough train ng and experience either "in the ■ Australian colonies or at Horae, to accept appointments under the Board. Under any circumstances, respecting the appointment of 'teachers, a system nf, open competition, of which the Wellington teachers are dreadfully afraid, is the very best means of promoting educational interests—not only of the people, which we must never lose sight of, but of the teachers too.

: That teachers have grievances lam bound, to admit; but these arise through a single departmental officer of the Board being permitted : to exercise the functions of Board Secretary, Inspector, school committees, and teachers themselves. But when the hew Board'.is elected, and the provisions of the new Act are enforced, many of these grievances will cease to exist. What I complain of is, the disrespectful way the Wellington teachers have of trying to gain their own ends, and the spirit of gross selfishness which they manifest, arising from a fear that new teachers may do better than themselves. In other words, though apparently very bold men, they show themselves to be but o iwards after all, which has now been clearly demonstrated.—l am, &c., Q, E, D. Wellington, March 2nd.