SURPLUS OF TEACHERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 598, 26 February 1929, Page 13

SURPLUS OF TEACHERS

NEEDED TO FILL VACANCIES “NORMAL AND INEVITABLE” '(From Our Resident Reporter) WELLINGTON, To-day. “It would be a poor outlook for the Dominion if we had all our teachers employed at this time of the year.” said the Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, to-day in reply to complaints that there were many graduate teachers from training colleges now seeking work. “The position is the normal and inevitable one—at the beginning of the school year. Teachers do not get married or vacate their positions at the beginning of the year, and if we did not possess a surplus of teachers at this moment, how should we fiill all the vacancies which are certain to be created in the next twelve months? “Some time ago, it is true, we had a surplus of teachers whom we could not place in jobs. When Sir James Parr was Minister of Education he desired to reduce the size of classes in primary schools, and the department received instructions from him to draft in an increased number of Training College students. It was overlooked at that time by increasing the number of students on one year the supply of teachers is not raised for some time. Consequently, by the time that these students finished their courses things had changed. But to-day we know just how many teachers are needed, and the’supply is calculated to fit the demand.”