CHANGES IN SCHOOL STAFFS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21188, 10 August 1940, Page 6

CHANGES IN SCHOOL STAFFS

Frankton householders’ complaints concerning the frequency with which school teachers come and go are shared by parents throughout New Zealand. This constant changing is, and has been for some years, one of the most serious handicaps of the primary education system, and it demands prompt action by the Government. It would be undesirable to repress the natural desire of teachers to progress in their profession, but in present circumstances the system is farcical. Teachers should be given reasonable opportunities to advance without the necessity of moving from school to school to the serious detriment of their pupils who are, after all, the primary concern of the education system. The difficulties have been recognised for years and attempts to find a remedy have so far fallen sh'ort of requirements. The teacher is required to remain in a position for “two Decembers,” but that term is not always as long as it seems. And in addition there are numerous relieving and other appointments which have the effect of breaking the continuity of the pupils’ training and involve the constant changing of methods. Grading and other regulations, designed to place the teaching profession on a sound and businesslike basis, have in fact resulted in chaos in many schools, of which Frankton is a good example. Similar conditions prevail throughout the country, and in many cases school committees are driven almost to distraction. Only a slight decrease or increase in the school roll often results in a change in teachers because the regulations prescribe a certain grade of teacher for a given school grade. The result is that the whole routine of the school is upset and the educational standard of the pupils suffers. Examinations have frequently proved how undesirable the results may be. No one would wish teachers to be anchored permanently to their schools. That would indeed be detrimental to both teachers and pupils and would not be conducive to uniformity of standard or freshness of outlook. But efficiency demands that changes should be made only at reasonable intervals and then only at the end of a school year as far as that practice is possible. Why should the system remain a slave to regulations which have failed to produce the results for which they were designed ?