SCHOOL COMMITTEES & PUPIL TEACHERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1502, 6 October 1883, Page 2

SCHOOL COMMITTEES & PUPIL TEACHERS.

[From the New Zealand Schoolmaster] The status of School Committees must sooner or later como up for revision, Their relation to Boards, to teachers, and to Inspectors seem alike ilLdefined and unsatisfactory. The matter has cropped up quite recently in various parts qf tlie 4.Qf'tl} Island. Complications are constantly arising, and (Jead-locks are not infrequent. It is difficult fco s.ee what useful purpose a great many committor servo. They arc often only thorns in the side of the teacher, perpetually interfering in. matters they are often most incompetent to deal with, and the more ignorant the members the more tyrannical they seem to be. They attempt toteaclflnspectors their duties, and to dictate to Boards, .demanding the dismissal of this teacher, the instalment of that one, on the most trivial pretexts. I am glad to see that both the Taranaki and Wellington Boards evincp ji disposition to stand ly the teachers so long as thay efficiently discharge their duties, The former Board ; dealt very firmly with the unfounded i complaints of the Stratford Committee i recently j and tho Wellington Board 1 refused to be dictated to by the 1 Peatherston Committee, under someI what similai circumstances, But Boards are placed in very awkward ' positions in such cases. With overy desire to do justice to the teacher, they yet feel that a positive verdict in his favor would often increase rather than diminish the discomforts of his position as the servant of an antagonistic and embittered Committee, They are therefore led to adopt a policy of expediency, and promote tlje i'.itoresjs of education in the locality by removing the teacher, seeing that they have no power of remo'leJljng Committees, The subject of P,T, training has receivec considerable attention of late in severe' districts. The department refused tc sanction the regulations of the New Plymouth authorities. It seems desirable that there should be uniformity of legislation on this matter, At present there is no comparison between P.T.'s from different parts of this country. It is a defect in our scheme; tlju't wluje we have standards for our pupils, and we may say standards for teachers, there is no provision of tho kind made for those who occupy the intermediate position of pupil teachers, and who ought to be conducted by fairly uniform stages from the requirements of the YI Standard to the requirements of the E, Certificate. It would be absurd to adopt the syllabus of favored districts like Canterbury and Otago for the whole country. Wy in the North Island smile at tho proposals of our Southern friends on this 'matter, made a few months ago-. Their programme would be simply impossible here for some years yet; No, the Central Department would have in this as in other things to strike an average, and prescribe a fair minimum, which would give the backward districts something to work up to, without repressing unduly the educational activities of the others. In Wellington the plan of Pupil Teacher classes prevails. Four teachers are appointed by the Board, as paid instructors of the whole. The plan has been in operation some years. Opinions vary as to its efficiency. The head teachers like it because it saves them the trouble and responsibility of tuition j but the P.T.'s would probably benefit by being taught in smaller classes, and by their own head teachers, who, if not specialists, would have greater controlling power than the present instructors pan possibly have, would know the needs of .individuals more completely and be; able to give them greater attention, and school work would be done more satisfactory, through the head teacher's; more minute knowledge of the strong and the weak points of his subordinates. There is a very general dearjbli of

suitable male candidates for pupil teacherships. Indeed, in some dis trictsthepre.puite'uriobtainable. ; It can scarcely lie' ; 'wondered' at. The. present emoluments of. the offioe are too..small, and,the futuro prospects neither sufficiently brilliant nor certain to attract young men of promise. The problem will have to be faced one of these days, As things are, teaching is a good profession for females, but not for males. It is a monetary question of course. If real talent is to be enlisted, even in the noblest of all services, it will have to be paid'for. And in education especially, liberality is the truest economy.