The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1919. SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 July 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1919. SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

I At the commencement of his address to the Council of Education last week, the Minister of Education remarked that the awakened .interest in education shown by the public would make for greater efficiency. We venture to think that it does not require keener interest on the part of the public to foster greater efficiency, for we hold too high an opinion of the members of the teaching profession as a whole to permit of a shadow of a doubt as to their being stimulated in that direction by public opinion, for they are animated by a conscientious and whole-hearted desire to arrive as nearly as possible to the highest point attainable in the science of education. • In the past they have worked under conditions that reflect discredit on the Dominion, but they have none the less given of their best so long as they remained in the service, and the wonder is that so few have resigned in order to reap the reward in other spheres by reason of their high intellectual gifts and training. The status and salaries of teachers, especially those in secondary sehools, urgently need serious and sympathetic attention. It must' be intensely galling to these teachers to see in every department of professional life men whp owe their success to the efforts of highly-trained school staffs which i have hitherto been denied by the State the pay and the status which would enable the teachers to take their position side by side with the foremost men of the day. It is the teachers who are the racebuilders, and according to their success or otherwise so will a nation become peopled with enlightened men and women or stagnate from inanition. A very instructive pamphlet has recently been compiled and issued by the hon. secretary of the N.Z. Secondary School Assistants' Association in which the status and pay of secondary school teachers ' is dealt

with thoroughly and temporately, and no one can read this contribution to the educational problems of the day without being impressed with the clear and logical statements whereby their case is presented. To those who give more than a passing thought to such matters it is .quite clear that the teacher is the greatest factor in, and the greatest asset of national life. There is no getting away from this fact, yet it is consistently ignored by the powers that be, otherwise . teachers of higher education would not suffer those grievances which have long been calling for remedy. It is the secondary school teachers to whom we look to supply the professions with a constant flow of recruits, by preparing pupils for a university career or fitting them to take a leading part in national activities, and it is work of the highest importance ' and value. How large is the debt the State owes to secondary teachers can only be judged by those who know and can fully realise the whole working of the system. They form the centre link of the educational chain by receiving children from the primary schools and passing on such as are fit to the university or the professions, so that it may be said that the future of the country in a very large measure depends on the work of these secondary teachers. As creators of the greatest national asset a country can possess these men and women who are building up the bodies and minds of those committed to their care should be regarded and treated as worthy of the highest status and the most liberal remuneration, yet six years ago when a scheme that would have revitalised the whole of secondary education was submitted to the Government it was rejected, i It is no mere theory, but an incontrovertible business fact that to attract the best brains to the teaching, or any other profession or avocation, the pay must be on a scale commensurate with the services rendered, and there must be satisfactory advancement. The best is only good enough for the work of nation building, and if we are., to secure and retain ; the best brains and energies for that purpose, then there must be a proper and practical recognition of this fact in the status and pay of our educationalists. The plums in the teaching profession are few and far between, especially in the secondary department, so that it necessitates a justly liberal scale of pay for all the teachers, and all bars to progress should be removed. One of the grievances that press hardly on secondary school teachers is the absence of a satisfactory grading scheme, carrying with it increments of pay for every year's service. It is the lack of advancement that is a potent factor in the increasing resignations of some of the brilliant and keen men and women particularly fitted for training the young. The present average salary of male assistants in secondary schools about equals the earnings of a fairly good carpenter, mason, or skilled workman, and when the present purchasing power of a sovereign is considered the position is such that the Government should not for a moment hesitate to place' the pay of these teaohers on a satisfactory basis, and not drive them to overwork by coaching or teaching after school hours in order to maintain themselves, fittingly. There has been and is far too much of the cheese-paring policy towards teachers. The country is quite willing to foot the bill for all the money required for education. The whole of the secondary school service requires setting in order and a Dominion scale of salaries brought into use. The demand is that men of the best training and ability shall rise to £7OO a year, and women to £560. Whether that is too high or not is matter for argument, but although pay is not everything that matters, its adequacy "will lift the burden of financial .worry from minds that should be kept free from that kind of thing, and it will keep alert and keen the brains of men and women who are forced to engage in extra work out ef sehool hours."