SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1922, Page 5

SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

CONFERENCE OF TEACHERS. VALUE OF GOOD SYSTEM. By Telegrai>h.—Pres* Association. Wellington, Last Night. The annual meeting of the Secondary Schools Assistant®’ Association of New Zealand commenced to-day. The president (Mr. R. M. Laing, M.A.) occupied the chair. The president said there could be no more reproductive expenditure than that upon education, which always bore result*. New Zealand deserved a system ofleduca-* tion equal at least to any other system in the world, and there was no reason why it should not strive for something better. Mr. F. Martyn Renner (of Wellington) was unanimously re-elected secretary and treasurer for 1922. . The conference proceeded to discuss a series of remits respecting the grading of teachers and the staffing of the richoob. It was decided to draw the attention (8f the Minister to the congestion in vanoOi grades in secondary schools to the dift-< culty which, non-university centre ary schools found in getting suitable teaehers ; also to urge him to amend the regulations so as to enable reasonable expenses to be paid to teachers moving from one school to another. The chief inspector of secondary schools (Mr. James Drummond) thought the remit would have little hope of success at the present time, on the score of to the department. A resolution was passed urging thet ths} regulations for secondary arhonh be amended: (a) So as to render it possible to have accelerated promotion within a grade, but especially in grade D, in cases where, in the opinion of secondary school inspectors, such promotion was warranted (2) so that a teacher graded higher th tn the grade of the position held shotdd receive the maximum salary of the lower grade.

A Gisborne remit, that a year of war service should count as two years for grading and superannuation, was approved. It was agreed to recommend that teachera who have appealed successfully againet their grading should be allowed tnveUii< expenses to and from the place of appeal, as already allowed in the public service. Other remits were passed declaring tha* each secondary school should be governed by a board of its own; and that all new; secondary schools may be mixed schools. The conference substantially approved of the proposals of the departmental conference, with the exception that the suggested constitution of a temporary hn-w* of managers of junior high schools durhq; the experimental stage was criticised as undemocratic and of too centralising a tewnflency. ‘

The following officers were elected: President, Mr. E. C. Caradus; vice-presi-dent, Miss Gresson; executive, Messrs. Gifford, Lockel, Ryder, Campbell, Laing md Miss Coad; auditor, Mr. Alexander; vicepresident N.Z. Secondary School Association, Miss Coad; members of tbs council, Messrs. Laing, Lockel and Carackxs,