WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

JTHE GRADING OP TEACHERS. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, September 11. The Dominion grading scheme for teachers, one of tlie most important of recent reforms in the education system of New Zealand, is the subject of a report which is being issued by the Education Department, The report is intended for the information of teachers and others interested in educational matters, and it explains and illustrates many points in connection with the grading list which was published in the Gazette last June. The compilation of a graded list of certificated teachers was authorised by the Education Act of 1914, but the scheme was not carried into effect until this year, when the necessary regulations were issued by the present Minister for Education (Hon. J. A. Hanan). The preparation of the list, on the basis of the inspectors' reports, was in the hands of the Assistant-Dir-ector of Education (Mr. J. Caughley). The grading scheme provided that all certificated teachers in the service of the various Education Boards, numbering some 3800 men and women, should bo divided provisionally into six groups, A, B, C, D, E and F, according to their salaries and status, which in turn were determined by the nature of their work and the size of their schools. Group A was the lowest and Group F the highest, and the teachers belonging to the various groups were to receive quotas of marks as follows: A 10 marks, B 20 marks, C 30 marks, D 40 marks, E 50 marks, and F GO marks. The teachers having been divided into these groups the inspectors 'were to allocate marks on the following basis:—Skill in teaching, maximum marks 40, personality and discipline 15, organisation and management 15, environment 5, academic attainments 15, service 10; total 100. The number oi marks received under these headings, plus the quota, determined the positions of the teachers on the grading list. Replying to some of. the objections raised against this scheme, the report points out that the formation of the groups was necessary in order that teajhers might be compared according to the class of work they were performing, and their length of service. The salaries indicate the grade of work in which individual teachers are engaged, and so provide a reasonable basis for the preliminary classification. There remains then a range of 100 marks in each group 'by which to distinguish the good teachers, the indifferent teachers and the bad teachers. The quotas have not had the effect of giving an advantage to the poor teachers. "If the quota principle were eliminated," says the report, "over 3800 certificated teachers would have to be graded ir. direct comparison from the top to the bottom, within a range of marks of probably 200. would be utterly impracticable. If, say, 80 marks were the maximum for teaching efficiency, it would be almost impossible to compare under this heading a head teacher of the highest , type with a junior assistant of one or two years' service Each teacher might receive 80 marks, but this apparent equality would be duo to a complete disregard of the difference between the six different types of work which form the basis of the quotas."

The report proceeds to quote illustrations to show that the quotas have riot prevented good teachers from rising higher in the grading list than some of the teachers in the groups above tlieni. Without taking extreme casea, 282 teachers in Group A, with a quote of only 10, are graded equal to or above 251 teachers with a quota of 20 marks and equal to or above 25 teachers with a quota of 30 marks. Even allowing for a margin of error, the good teaelier who is wrongly grouped will rise to the top of his group and so secure early promotion, while the poor teacher will fall to the bottom of his group and be overtaken by the better men and women below him.

The report defends the degree of importance attached to educational attainments in the grading scheme, arguing that of two teachers of equal natural ability the better man from an educational standpoint is the one with the highest education. It also states that mere length of service cannot be taken as a guarantee of efficiency. deferring to women teachers the report points out that the proportion of women of mature years in the profession is relatively small, and this fact has a bearing upon the failure of the women to secure what they regard ss a fair proportion of the higher positions in the grading list. Moreover 17 per cent, of the men, and only 4 per 'cent. of the women, hold A and B certificates (B.A. and M.A. degrees), while of those who hold certificates lower than 0, 490 are men and 1312 are women. The majority of tiie teachers at the bottom of the profession arc*women, and most of these will not be teaching ten years lienor., their places .being filled by others. The range of higher positions open to women teachers has been limited, and the women teachers have been graded on what they have done, not on what they might do if given the chance.