E.—2

13

From the above table it will be seen that with the exception of pupil-teachers and sole teachers of small schools the proportion of males to females is not small. As a matter of fact the ratio of adult males to adult females in schools in the Auckland District was as high as 100 : 125. The figures relating to pupil-teachers indicate thatja very much larger percentage of females enter the service than males ; but it is to be borne in mind that a number of these female pupil-teachers leave before completing their period of training. The large proportion of female teachers to males in schools having 1 to 15 scholars in attendance is readily explained, the maximum salary in these schools, £120 per annum, being too small to attract male teachers. It may be fairly argued, perhaps, that in districts not too remote women are more suitable than men for small schools of this type ; there are at all events a sufficient number of other positions to absorb all the men in the profession at present. If we take into consideration the corresponding proportion for primary-school teachers, secondary teachers in district high schools, and secondary schools (exclusive of part-time teachers), and for students in training colleges respectively, we have— Number of Women Teachers or Students per Hundred Men Teachers or Students (omitting Teachers of Schools with 15 or less in Average Attendance). 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911. 1912. Adult primary teachers .. 125 124 126 140 141 142 151 Pupil-teachers .. ..339 277 296 319 302 295 293 Secondary teachers ..80 77 76 82 85 84 82 Training-college students .. 350 315 285 280 219 197 252 All teachers and students 148 142 144 158 156 155 161 In other words, out of a total of 5,028 persons engaged in the above-named branches of the teaching profession, there were, in 1912, 1,926 men and 3,102 women. It will be interesting to see how these figures compare with those from other parts of the world-—England, Scotland, and the United States, for instance. In comparing this Dominion with such old-established countries, it is necessary to bear in mind that in the latter, the population being comparatively dense and the facilities for transit more numerous, there are few schools corresponding to our Grade oor Grade I schools. Consequently such schools are omitted from the New Zealand figures. Number of Women Teachers per Hundred Men in Other Countries. England. Scotland. gjAdult primary teachers .. .. .. 303 245 426 151 Pupil-teachers .. .. .. ..341 449 * 293 Secondary teachers .. .. ... 97 * 121 82 Training-college students .. .. ..196 389 392 252 * Information not available. There is a tendency nearly all over the world for women to replace men in scholastic positions formerly occupied by the latter alone ; but the scarcity of male teachers is not nearly so marked in New Zealand as in most other countries. It does not necessarily follow that the tendency (in moderation at all events) is bad. Half the children in our public schools are under the age of ten, and women teachers are presumably most suitable for them ; nearly half the remainder, or nearly a quarter of the whole number, are girls over ten, and it is generally conceded that they should be taught by women. So far as class-teaching is concerned there would be nothing to fear, therefore, if the proportion of women teachers to men teachers were three to one. No doubt the difficulty in directing certain mixed schools renders it desirable that the proportion of men should be greater than this : in New-Zealand it is more than twice as great.