TEACHERS' CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 192, 3 January 1913, Page 6

TEACHERS' CONFERENCE.

YESTERDAY'S DELIBERATIONS. The New Zealand Educational Institute resumed its deliberations at New Plymouth yesterday morning. The president (Mr. J. Caughley, of Chris tehuroh) presided over the following attendance of representatives of district institutes:—Miss Hawkins, Messrs 11. G. Cousins, M.A., W. 0. Lamb, G. Lippiatt, M.A., J. 1). McXaughton. C. R. Munro, T. F. Warren, 8.A., T. U. Wells, M.A.,

Auckland; Messrs R. L. Mellroy, M.A., 11. A. Stratford, R. 0. Templer, Tararuiki: Messrs J. Aitken, 8.A., D. W. Low, T. Thomas, Wanganui; Messrs G. Harvey. J. C. Woodward. J. Hislop, Hawke's Bay; Miss Coad, Messrs E. 11. Bullaehey, 8.A.. A. N. Burnsi, M.A.. C. X. Uaslatn,

A. McKenzie, Wellington; Messrs H. R. Fisher, A. A. Wedde. Marlborough': Messrs T. ,J. Griffon, 8.A., W. A. Rumbold, Nelson; Mr. A. J. Wiekes, Grey; -Ml". .T. J. Henderson. Westland; Misses E. Chaplin. 8.A.. A. Spence, Messrs I. W. Ambrose, 8.A.. J. IS. Borthwick, F. T. Evans, North Canterbury; Messrs J. Menzies, G. T. Palmer, M.A., .J. A. Valentine, 8.A., South Canterbury; Miss J. D. Hooper. Messrs G. W. C. Macdonald. T. Patterson. M.A., W. Phillips, W. A. Service. Otago; Miss A .Gray, Messrs A. Greig. A. E. Featherstone, 11. P. Young. Southland. The non-official members of the Executive,present were: North Island': Mr. W. 11. Newton

(Thames). Mr. R. B. Holmes (Havelock North); Wellington Education District: M"ssrs A. Erskine and Geo. Flux South Island: Messrs J. 11. Harkuess, B.A. (Westport) and 0. D. Fkmank (Dunedin). 'The secretary. Mr. H. A. Parkinson, M.A.. of Wellington, and the treasurer, ilr. E. W. Just, of Lvl teltori, were also in attendance. LEGAL ASSISTANCE FUND. "

The proposed regulations for t'Jie administration of the Legal Assistance Fund tinder clause 14a were discussed at some length, and it was decided that, subject to the following conditions, the N.Z.E.I, will refund (in whole-op in part) the amount expended by a district Institute in providing legal assistance for a ■member—(l) That the teacher assisted has supplied the committee of manage-, ..merit of 'his district Institute with a complete statement (in. triplicate) of all the facts of the case within, .his knowledge, together with all documentary evidence to which witnesses ore prepared to testify in a court of law: (2) that the prima facie case furnished in accordance with Regulation I. has been approved bv the committee of management of the district Institute., and definitcr authority obtained therefrom to take the necessary legal action ■ (X.B.—Should time permit, every case shall be submitted to the Executive of the X.Z.E.I, for

;Mtproval before this authority is given).; (3) That the evidence adduced in court is in substantial -agreement with the information: supplied Tii accordance with Regulation I—-(-4) That the management of the wise has been pliiced unreservedly in; the "hands of the district Institute, .and thfit the; appellant has bqnnd him- ■ Sflf to be: guided by the instructions of the .D.1.; (5) That, in the of the ;Ciis.e having been one for the. Teachers' Court of • Appeal, -or for the Supreme Courty.no assistance .will be given .unless' (a) the case has been approved : by the {Executive.; (b) teacher seeking redress has lodged satisfactory security for the payment of the costs (or of such part of ■-them,as the, Executive shall determine), should,it, be proved that he has Withheld .essential information.', A-further-clause ' was addud that the Institute be empoSv-" ered io-pav all reasonable preliminary expenses of district Institutes.

ALTERATIONS. 10 CONSTITUTION. Various alterations were made to tlio constitution .ftf, the Institute. Provision was made for the election of a vice-pre-sidoaiti.a/idi a'!L iuc.r.TOae of.-sixpence in thb annual subscription, to be paid into tho -b'efiuv'olent fund.. ■ At.'.preauht* it', was pointed, :out,\ the .fund was entirely dc r pendent on voluntary ■subscriptions.' The niwiiu-of the fund' Mas also changed to "provident tod." '■ : A" remit from .Canterbury,. "Thrit in the, event of two candidates'for. election to any office of tiie Institute-,securing tlie same number of; votes, the president skill.-decide, between the two-'by lot," •vvaa: rejected/by a large'majority". At :preselit, the president lvas p. discretionary casting vote. .'. •. n,i , NWith.Tery slight the' con•fereiee lul'opted the draft of tiio'prbpos-. k'd .constitution of district inafcitutps of the X.Z.1.F.. as recommended: by' the Executive for branches of the Institute. One ekius-o provide that'no -'bi'ainch Insiibate- shall 'bring before 1 th 6 'o£ Education, Department of; Education, oi' Ediucatioh Board, aiiy Ing. the ■ teachers of the district as . a -whole, except through tho-committee of • management of the district Institute.! ■'•while 'another stipulates that a' branch Institute shall consist of no fewer than ten members.

SALARIES—VARIOUS POINTS OF VIEW. ' Fourteen remits liad to do witli the claim.) urged by various branches for better salarie.*. As an alternative '.'bo discussing them separately, Mr. A- Tlinnis (Wellington) moved —''That the Executive be instructed to draw up a .scheme of salaries, to submit the same to the district Institutes, and oil receipt of tiieir criticisms to lay the seller,u" before the Minister and the .fourteen remits bearing on the subject.'! ' Mr. 'itrinis remarked that the. Institute should confine itself to two. or three important matters. In this case there were fourteen remit* dealing witli salaries. They could not hope to get all the minor noints asked. Something Would have to go by the board. lie did not. think they could do better than leave the whoie matter to the Executive. who would carefully sift all the pointy and submit their scheme' tb the district Institutes, when an opportunity would be given of pointing out anything that: hud been omitted, and embodying any thing that had been left out.

In seconding the motion, Mr. Service? fOtngoi urged that what, was required v.'ii- unification. Mr. Mel) maid (Otago) regretted that the Executive had not managed to put their .linger on the blot of the whole sy.-tem. the payment on average attendance. Hie system was thoroughly inequitable. l T ntil they removed that blot, there would always be unrest in the rn iik-.. 'lhe Executive should be instructed to urge, that, payment on average attendance be not made, the basis. The cliiMrman said that no teacher in Xcw Zealand came up to the level of a third-grade clerk in the Post Oliice. The ides of the Executive was to draw up a scale, comparing the low rates of pay of teachers compared with persons ciiiploved in other branches of the Civil Service.

According to Mr. Cousins, the Executive gave the Conference no indication a> to what lin OS on which it was proposc.'fvi to proceed.

The secretary suggested Hmt they should abandon altogether any mention of attendance (computed on' the average attendance or the roll number I in arriving <it a basis. A teacher was worth a teacher's salary, just as a carpenter wa-i worth a carpenter's remuueiation.

Mr. Wella (Auckland) though the motion was a big mistake. It would lie better to appoint three or four men in anv one of Ui» centres where! tliev could iiiei-i without didicultv ami discuss the matter.

Mr. Templer (Taranaki) feared; that the motion would mean hanging the matter up for another year. The Institute ted not been getting to work like the other branches of the public service. Personally he thought that if they were going to do anything they v.ouid Hiave to recognise that the instivute was really a trades union. Last year ho noticed that there was "great tenderness" 011 the part of delegates in approaching the Government for increases. The Railway and Post and Telegraph Departments, however, had no scruples in agitating, and the result was that to-day they were extremely better off than teachers.

Mr. Rumbold (Nelson) said ho was inclined to think, with Mr. Templar, that the Institute had been too timid in approaching the Minister. They asked in this fashion: "Please give us a little more salary, but we don't care very much if you don't!" (Laughter). As things were, only one man in 47 had a chalice of getting the (maximum salary.

Mr. Evans (North Canterbury) hoped that the Executive would take into account the miserable pittance paid to students at training colleges. That had to do a great deal with the shortage of teachers. Young fellows of 18, 19 and •20 could not afford to attend the colleges without leaning 011 those at home. Miss Coad (Wellington) objected that the majority of teachers in the profession were women, and they had no representation on the Executive. What guarantee had they that they were going to get fair play ? It was no crime to be a woman! When a woman had been in the service 12 or 14 years she did not see ho\V it mattered that. she was not a mail. She was a teacher, and the question of sex should be ign-or- *

Mr. Anderson, of Wcstland, thought that some of the lower grade teachers should be represented on the Executive. Mr. Harkness (a member of the executive) said that the sum total of the various speakers' criticisms was that they wanted to be on the executive. As regards the ladies, the better plan would be for them to wait until the scheme was submitted to the district institutes, when they could give ample voice to their views.

Mr. Borthwick stressed the anomaly ■(if computing salaries on the.average attendance of pupils. It had never been suggested by the Government that P. 0. officials sliould be paid according toi the number of,letters or.money orders passing through their office/ It would, however, he quite as logical as paying teachers according to attendance. A point to be taken into .consideration was length of service. Teachprs with 10 or 15 years' service were worth more than when they joined the profession. This factor was taken into "consideration in other branches of- the Ciyil. .Serviee, and iwhy should an exception be made in the (case of teachers. ... • •,

" Mr. : Burns* motion was 1/lien catrie.d unanimously, with the addition : thatj tlje findings of the executive be submitted to the Minister before: the: next session of Parliament.

TIIE CURSE .OF THE EPIDEMIC. : ."Various,points in connection with, salaries were then' discussed, with a view to submitting recommendations—not necessarily; binflmg—to the executive.

Mr. Covins said that one of the drawbacks was the curse of the epidemic, not only, with regard to salaries, hut the staffing of schools. Auckland had an epidemic regularly each year, for : instance, and, when children come back after a period of illness there were not sufficient teachers. 1

In tlie course of-e,gsncriil 'discussion, various speakers condemned tlie number of grades, Jen in all, as being excessive, compared"~viffi other branches of! the Civil Service, and. there was a diversity of opinioM'trfs'..t'o! Whether it would be advisable to agitate for an altogehter new basis of-computation of salaries, or an alteration in the present basis from average attendance' to 'the; actual, roll number.

RECOMMENDATIONS'. On behalf of the .Auckland branch, Miv Cousins moved:—ln iaoill-i •tatc the working of .our schools, 'it is dethat the F4ucation. Act and the regulation's, should ■ be, so that o.f funds from the 'Department to the Education, Boards; (b), the payment of funds from the .Department to"> school committees:; (c) payment, oF .teachers' salaries;- (d) ptaffing of .schools., etc., at present based oiv thp average -daily attendance, shall thereafter. ,be based on the working i-olf 11 unibtej:.' eaeh quarter shall be the {otal number :°f .pupils on the roll who have attended not fewer than half the number of times the, school has baen open.. To the working toII . iiiipibei''for the year,, add the working' rolt iipmsdi;s '.for' the year, .'acid' four four). (2) Tlie present''capibititin system foi" manual work: 1 in,primary, schools shall be discontinued ill 'fa'Vonr l; of definite allowances lor stationery, etc. - An amendment moved by the secretary and seconded .by 'Mr. Valentine, that clause C be deleted', was defeated, and the remit was carried .in its .original form.. °

Without discussion, the Conference decided to recommend' the 'executive that for the purpose of computing salaries the number of grades of 'schools be reduced and that schools of]soo or over be iu the highest grade, and further' that, the minimum salary paid ; to certificated teachers in grade T. school be not less than £1 Hi.

A recommendation that the minimum salary in schools below grade I. be £BO was not «arried. it being thought that it would kill small household schools with only a handful of pupils; It was decided, however, to recommend tbat the capitation for these schools be raised from £0 to £lO per head.

Other recommendations carried were: rimt salaries of pupil teachers and probationers be placed on an equal footing with those paid to cadets in other Government departments—the Railways, the Post Office, and the like—that the yearly increment in salary be 'increased to £1(>; that the special allowance to. head teachers in district high schools be retamed. £3O being regarded as a 'minimmn, the allowance to be increased to the size of the school department- that the infant teachers in the higher'orade schools flhouhl receive a salarr not less than that of the second assistant as recommended by (lie Education Commission.

A special committee w,n set up to further consider the report of the douncil of Education.

PROMOTIONS. The question of promotion was broached bv Mr. AY. H. Newton, of Auckland, vho moTod: "That the institute a«ain repeats its request fur legislation providing for the promotion of teachers on a definite plan, embodying the principals (a) to (b) accepted by the institute m 1908. Speaking to his motion, Mr. said after an oxpm'ieiico of t'" t ' ,> . ■' " i,,s the Auckland district wn« practically unanimously in favour of the grading sclu aie, and' the local institute very emphatically declined to consider any proposal to revert to the system previously in vogue. The motion was carried. COUNCIL OF EDUCATION.

-in interestii g stage in the Conference was Mr. Parkinson moved and Mr. BoHhwiok seconded, that the iii.Htir.ute should Adopt as the objective of iu fwturf' efforts the establishing of a Couricil of Kdnnnf;™

with administrative, and not merely advisory powers. Mr. Parkinson explained that he favoured the minority report of the Education Commission, in favour of administrative power. If the proposal were adopted it would amount to a revolution in our education system. We were all used to the system of Government by Education Board, and yet he was going to run the risk and move that they take steps and make a complete departure from that. The system was not satisfactory in the I light of present-day education needs. University professors told them that pupils | when they left school were not properly equipped for the walks of higher education, while employers complained that boye left school unfitted to earn their own living. Obviously a remedy was required. The needs for education had 'outgrown the "boards" system. They were not now the bodies fully competent to undertake the work. Upsides, there was growing up an increasing demand for kindergarten and sound technical instruction. The university system was also in the melting pot and would some day be entirely recast. Who was to undertake the whole business and the multitudious changes, involved? The speaker then went on to'-'tfaborate the multitude of bodies—l 3 in all he believed —who had a finger in the educational pie. It was impossible for such a variety of authorities to work out a proper, harmonious, and, intelligent system. The Administrative Council, which he bad in mind, wjis the only hope of restoring order out of chaos. Stressing the benefits of the proposed Council of Education he touched upon the fact that there would be no more insurmountable barriers between district and district; no more arbitrary discrimination between man and man; no more appointments of inspectors at salaries of only £2OO and £IOO a year; teachers would 110 more depend upon personal patronage to persons oa committees and boards; and no longer would they have occasion to fear to talk to one another in a railway carriage, as was the case

in certan districts. Concluding, the speaker pointed to the fact that unlike those in other branches of the Civil Service, school teachers were put to heavy expense incurred in moving from one district to another when under transfer. At this stage the Conference adjourned until 9.30 o'clock this morning.