EDUCATION BILL (EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM ON THE).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1914 Session I, E-13

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1914 NEW ZEAL A N D.

EDUCATION BILL (EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM ON THE).

Laid on the Table by Leave.

NOTES ON THE BILL BY THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF SCHOOLS. Tun Bill recasts the whole of the law relating to public schools, secondary schools, technical schools, and special schools, which in the course of time, in consequence of the number of amending Acts that have been passed, has become unduly complicated. Certain matters relating to University education are dealt with in a separate Bill —the NewZealand University Bill -to which provisions for University Scholarships which were formerly contained in the Education Act have been transferred. In the Education Bill the subject-matter is arranged in due order under twelve heads, as follows■:--Part I. Department of Education. (Sections 3to 7.) Part 11. Council of Education. (Sections Bto 12.) Part 111. Education Boards. (Sections 13 to 37.) Part IV. School Committees. (Sections 38 to 50.) Part V. Public Schools. (Sections 51 to 66a.) Part VI. Teachers in Public Schools. (Sections 67 to 81.) Part VII. Secondary Education. (Sections 82 to 103.) Part VIII. Technical Education. (Sections 104 to 122.) Part IX. Special. Schools. (Sections 123 to 1.26.) Part X. Inspection of Schools. (Sections 127 to 132.) Part XL Teachers Incorporation and Court of Appeal. (Sections 133 to 152.) Part XII. General. (Sections 153 to 159.) The principal changes proposed to be introduced by the Bill are as follows: — A. —Reorganization of the Department. The Inspector-General of Schools becomes Director of Education, and the Assistant InspectorGeneral of Schools becomes Assistant Director. The position of Secretary for Education is abolished. As indicated below, the Inspectors of Schools who are now officers of the Education Boards are transferred to the Department. (The Department now has Inspectors of Secondaiy Schools, Special Schools, Native Schools, and Manual and Technical Instruction. The Boards' Inspectors deal only with public schools.) The transfer will make it possible to carry on all the work the Boards' Inspectors are now doing, and. to obviate what would otherwise be absolutely necessary- the appointment of two or three additional departmental Inspectors -as well as to save a considerable portion of the fees now paid to outside examiners for setting and marking papers for the Department's annual examinations, and to save all the fees now paid for the inspection of private schools. B.—Reduction of the Number of Education Districts, and therefore of Education Boards, from Thirteen to Nine. The Education Committee of the House recommended eight or nine. The Bill makes the number nine, which are as follows: — _. 4 , t North Island. Population District. (Census, 191]). Auckland .. .. .. .. .. .. 171,419 Waikato .. .. .. .. .. 71,744 Egmont .. .. .. .. .. ..121,484 Wellington .. .. .. .. .. .. 126,140 Ilawke'sßay .. .. .. .. .. .. 68,486 South Island. Nelson .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 54,858 Canterbury .. .. .. .. .. .. 189,008 Otago .. .. .. .. .. 130,472 Southland .. .. .. .. . .. 68,482

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0. —The Establishment of an Advisory National Council op Education, whose Functions would be to report to the minister— (a.) Upon methods or developments in national education which in its opinion it is desirable to introduce into New Zealand : (6.) Upon any matters concerning the provision of facilities for education in the Dominion or in any district thereof, and upon the co-ordination of the work carried on by the various bodies controlling education: (c.) Upon any other matters in connexion with education referred to it by the Minister. The Council would meet annually in June, and at such other times as the Minister may direct. To obviate the necessity for frequent meetings of the General Council the Minister is given power to constitute from time to time District Councils for assistance and advice with regard to matters concerning one district only. These District Councils would, consist chiefly of the members of the General Council belonging to the district concerned. D.—Election of Boards. The Education Commission recommended the election of Boards for three years from four wards of each, district on adult suffrage. The present Act divides each education district into three wards, and the members for each ward are elected by the members of the School Committees in that ward. The Act proposes to adopt another method. Members of Education Boards are to hold office for four years, half of them being elected every two years. Every education district is divided into urban areas and a rural area. An urban area- consists of a borough or a group of boroughs having more than 8,000 inhabitants. (According to the last Census the following would be the urban areas at present existing in New Zealand : Auckland, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill.) Where a majority of the School Committees in an urban area make application to the Board to be constituted an urban school district the members of the Board for that urban area are to be elected on the municipal franchise on the same day as the ebction of Borough Councillors— that is, the last Wednesday in April in every other year. The rural area is divided into three wards. The members for each ward of the rural area and all urban areas other than urban-school districts are, as now, to be elected by the members of the School Committees. The number of members for the rural area is six—two for each ward. The number of members for each urban area is two for each sixty thousand or part of sixty thousand inhabitants. E. —Election of School Committees. Members of School Committees now hold office for one.year; they are elected at the meetings of householders held in April. It is proposed in the Bill that the members of the Committee for each urban-school district shall also be elected on the municipal franchise on the day for the election of Borough Councillors, and shall hold office for two years. (Note. —Municipal elections are held every two years.) In all other cases the School Committees are to be elected, as now, by the meeting of householders, and are to hold office for one year. One change is introduced in regard to nominations. All nominations must be made previous to the date of election. No nominations are to be received at the publicmeeting of householders. F. —Inspectors of Schools : Inspection and Registration. As already indicated under the heading " A," it is proposed to transfer Inspectors of the Education Boards to the Education Department, and, as the finances of the Boards will be relieved by about £20,000 (the amount of the salaries and allowances of the Inspectors), to modify to some extent the general grants to the Boards out of which the salaries and allowances of Inspectors, inter alia, are paid. The present Act gives each Board, as a general grant, £250, together with a capitation of 12s. The Bill proposes to give lis. per head without any lump sum of £250 that is, the total of the general grants for all Boards is about £10,400 less under the Bill than under the present Act. Also, the Bill directs the Boards to'give the School Committees an average capitation of 6s. instead of ss. 6d. as at present; this would amount to an increase of the Board's expenditure of about £3,600 in the total. The Boards would thus have nearly £6,000 more for their office and incidental expenses than they have now. Against this it is proposed to put upon the Boards the following liabilities:— (I.) That they should subsidize voluntary contributions for school libraries up to 3d. per head. They may do this now, but the Bill makes it compulsory. (2.) That the Board should meet all costs of the changes in the sanitary systems of schools rendered necessary by the introduction of municipal sewage and drainage—making the best arrangements they can with the local authorities. (There is no express provision for this last item in the Bill. It would become a matter of departmental practice.) These two items would probably absorb €4,000 or £5,000 out of the surplus of £6,000. It is proposed that there shall be one Senior Inspector in each education district. It will be his duty, as now, in conjunction with other Inspectors, to inspect the public schools and registered private primary schools in the district, to give assistance and guidance to the teachers, and to advise the Board in regard to schools and teachers, and in regard to other matters that may arise. The reports will go to the Board and to the Minister. The Bill provides a scale of salaries for Inspectors in four grades, somewhat higher than they are getting now. Provision is made for the appointment of women as Inspectors. Some Inspectors should deal specially with agricultural education. Inspection of schools is made more systematic. All schools will be subject to inspection if attended by more than eight children (public and private schools- primary, secondary, technical,

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and endowed schools, special schools, industrial schools, and orphanages). Schools found on inspection to be efficient will be " registered," and no school attendance will count if not at a registered school. No charge will be made for inspection and registration. G. —New Schools : Appointment of Teachers. The powers of the Boards to establish new schools are slightly limited. The Minister is given a voice, on the advice of the Council, in deciding the question whether a new school should be established. In regard to the appointment of teachers Committees are still to be consulted, but no choice is to be given them except in the case of equality of merit among the teachers who are candidates. Provision is made in clauses 156 and 157 for the grading of teachers : with the centralization of the Inspectors a Dominion scheme of grading will become possible. Provision is made for rules as to sick-leave on pay. H.—Staffs and Salaries in Public Schools. The scale of salaries is increased. It may be said that there is a general increase of over £10 to each teacher, and in some cases a great deal more. (See table at end.) The number of grades of salary is reduced -that is, for head-teachers and for assistants from ten to seven in each case— the grades being larger; hence the range of salaries within each grade is greater. The salaries of all grades are increased except for schools with sixteen to twenty pupils. (It is considered that these schools should be staffed by women or by single men looking for early promotion, and in such a case the salaries would be sufficient. None of the present holders would suffer.) Most male teachers would reach Grade 111 at least, and so would be assured of reaching £250 a year with a house or house-allowance. If a school falls in grade the teacher's salary is not to be affected so long as he remains in that position ; but the Department is given the power to send on his name as a candidate for transfer to the Board in any district where there is a suitable vacancy. (It may be pointed out that this presupposes that the Inspectors are under the Department and in a position to give it information on such points.) If, however, the teacher refuses transfer to any position the salary attached to which is equal to or greater than his original salary, his salary will be kept up for two years only. Not only does the Bill provide for a liberal increase of salaries, but it provides for a small immediate improvement of the staff, and ultimately for a considerable improvement. The Act of .1908 provided for the substitution of adult teachers for pupil-teachers, the provisions being brought into force gradually by Order.in Council; the process is not yet complete. (The Act of 1913 did not make any alteration in the scale of staffing, although Order in Council of December, 1913, additional assistants in lieu of pupil-teachers were provided in schools of Grades Vlb to VIIIa.) The scale of staffing under the present Act (1908 and 1913) is one teacher for each forty or part of forty children up to 200 in average attendance ; then one additional teacher for each fifty or part of fifty. The scale in the Bill would give one teacher for each forty or part of forty up to 400 in average attendance, and then one additional teacher for each fifty or part of fifty. A table attached shows the cost of the improvement in salaries and staff. I.—Secondary Education. The provisions relating to secondary education are rearranged in a more or less logical order. Grants are increased to the secondary schools having little or no endowments, so as to enable considerably better salaries to be paid to the assistants in those schools; conditions ensuring certain minimum, salaries, better far than the present average, are attached to the payment of the increased grants. All public secondary schools except one now give free places under the Act; the Bill makes it compulsory for all to give such free places. The cost of the increased capitation is, on the present numbers, £6,677 ; but, with better inspection under the centralized inspectorate, pupils not qualified for secondary education would nearly all be excluded, and probably at least two-thirds of this amount would be saved. Provision is made for the representation of Education Boards and of urban school districts on the governing bodies of secondary schools, and further safeguards are set up to prevent the use of the secondary endowments or Government grants for the maintenance of lower departments of secondary schools. With regard to scholarships tenable at secondary schools by pupils who have come from primary schools (public or private) the two chief changes afte as follows: — First, there are two systems of school scholarships now in existence- namely, the Junior National Scholarships and the Education Board Scholarships. The Junior National Scholarships are tenable for three years and may be extended to a fourth year, and are fixed in value. The Education Board Scholarships are divided into Junior and Senior, each series being generally for two years; they vary considerably in value in the different education districts. It is proposed to reduce these two systems to one system of scholarships, to be called Junior and Senior National Scholarships, each tenable for two or three years, but for not more than five years in all. The second point is the removal of the competitive element from the award of scholarships. Under the proposal any candidate who proved his fitness for a scholarship would gain a scholarship irrespective of whether he was beaten (perhaps by a few marks) by other candidates or not. The cost of the proposed system, if the maximum number of scholarships provided in the Bill were granted, would be about the same as at present, but the number of scholarships may be (and should be) somewhat increased so as to give a fair chance to a larger number of country children; this would increase the cost, but not to any considerable extent. (Note. The present Senior National Scholarships are not School Scholarships, but University Scholarships. Tt is proposed to call them University National Scholarships, and to remove the provision for them to the University Bill.)

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X.—Manual Instruction and Technical Education. All the provisions relating to manual instruction or handwork in public or secondary schools are taken out of the part of the Act relating to technical education, and provision is made for the necessary grants for these purposes in the appropriate parts of the Bill. That part, it is now proposed, is to deal only with technical education proper- -that is, with technical schools and classes and continuation classes. Moreover, the clauses of the Bill dealing with the latter are very much simplified, involving much less formal routine. Technical schools are all to have managers, so that all kinds of schools have specific bodies immediately in control of them —primary, secondary, technical. The scale of capitation for technical schools and classes in country districts is increased. Provision is made for representatives of parents and of urban school districts on Technical School Boards. L.—Minor Points. (i.) The rules for the election of Education Boards and School Committees formerly included in the Act itself have now been removed to the Schedule. (ii.) Board Fund. -There is a better definition of the Board Fund, especially with regard to the special funds such as the two building funds (that for maintenance and rebuilding, and that for new schools). (iii.) Teachers Incorporation and Court of Appeal.- The provisions are made to apply to technicalschool teachers who are engaged for at least twenty hours a week. In cases of forced transfer the compensation granted by the Court may include the expenses of removal. (iv.) Subsidies on Voluntary Contributions. —Subsidies are now payable for voluntary contributions from local authorities, associations, or private persons- namely, £1 for £1 on all contributions except bequests, and 10s. for each bequest up to £500 ; this is the law in regard to secondary schools, technical schools, and district high schools, but not in regard to public schools other than district high schools or to University Colleges. Nevertheless subsidies are given from time to time on special application on money contributed for certain purposes chiefly for building. The operation of the law in practice is now somewhat uneven, and it is proposed to give subsidies on voluntary contributions to all schools if the money is given for purposes prescribed by regulations, subject to certain conditions and limitations. n u„,.t>t^18th July, 1914. & - HOGBEN '

Table showing the Estimated Effect of Improvements in Salaries and Staffing introduced 1st January, 1914, and proposed to be introduced 1st January, 1915, and afterwards, by this Bill, with Notes thereon.

The difference between £827,000 and £677,000, or £150,000, represents the total prospective increase of cost of salaries and staff if the Bill is passed : of this, £47,000 is due to the effect of the Act of 1908, £41,000 is due to the further effect of the Act of 1913. and £62,000 is due to the effect of this Bill if passed by Parliament. Again, of the total increase of £150,000, £92,000 is on account of the improvement of teachers' salaries, and £58,000 on account of improvement of the staffs of the schools. Once more, out of the amount of £92,000 (the ultimate cost of the increases of salaries), £2,000 is due to the effect of the Act of 1908, £36,000 to the Act of 1913, and the remaining £54,000 to the estimated effect of the Bill before the House. Omitting any increases of staff due to this Bill or to increase of population, and omitting schools of Grade 0, the ultimate effect of the improvements in the scale of salaries under the Act of 1913 and this Bill taken together will be to raise the average salaries of teachers by £26 —namely, head teachers. £23 9s. ; assistants, £29 ss. Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given; printing (650 copies), £3 ss.

Ay Authority : John Mackay, Government Printer, Wellington.- 1914

Price 3d.]

Year. (i) 1914 I Under Aofc of 1908 j Under Act of 1913 l> , and and Under this Bill, tiy Improvements in -. , . ., ,. -, ■ n n lnl , J ' i Orders in Council, Orders in Council, 1914. | December, 1913. December, 1913. £ £ £ Salaries .. .. 677,000 699,000 Staff .. - .. .. I 6,000 7,000 " i _ ~ m i £ 699,000 7,000 Total .. .. 683,000 706,000 683,000 706,000 (li) 1915 I I Salaries .. .. | 679,000 703,000 746,000 Staff .. .. .. j 7,000 7,000 8,000 679,000 7,000 703,000 7,000 i Total .'. .. ! 686,000 710,000 754,000 Ultimate Limit with Present Staff. (hi) (hi) .. Salaries .. .. 679,000 715,000 769,000 Staff .. .. .. 7,000 8,000 9,000 Total .. .. 686,000 723,000 778,000 Ultimate Limit with Full Staff allowed by the Act or Bill. (iv) .. Salaries .. .. ' 679,000 715,000 769,000 Staff .. .. .. | 45,000 50,000 58,000 Total .. .. £724,000 £765,000 £827,000