35

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Staffs of Secondary Schools. (Table K3.) The number of full-time teachers on the staffs of secondary schools at the end of 1922 was 442, as compared with 405 in the previous year. This number includes 21 male and 13 female principals and 214 male and 194 female assistants. In addition a number of part-time teachers were employed. The staffing of schools now being controlled by regulation, the average number of pupils to each assistant teacher in the various schools is fairly uniform, and, taking the highest roll during the year of all schools, works out at twenty-seven pupils per assistant teacher. Of the total number of assistants 19 per cent, are classified in the highest grade (Grade A), 23 per cent, in Grade B, 29 per cent, in Grade C, and 31 per cent. in Grade D. The difficulty of obtaining suitable teachers to fill positions in secondary schools has somewhat diminished so far as schools situated in the cities are concerned ; there still remains, however, an inclination on the part of the teachers to avoid the country schools, which are experiencing serious difficulties in obtaining sufficiently qualified teachers. It has not yet been possible to carry into effect the Department's plans for the training of secondary-school teachers. The establishment of a Chair of Education at each of the University colleges will, however, result in many prospective secondary-school teachers including this subject in their University course, and thus equipping themselves more effectively for their proposed vocation. Good work continues to be done among the junior teachers in many of the larger secondary schools, where the heads of departments assist them in arranging schemes of work and generally in improving their methods of teaching. The head teacher of a district high school controls the secondary department and takes some part in the instruction, receiving on that account an addition to his ordinary salary of from £30 to £50 according to the number of pupils in the secondary department. Special assistants are also employed for the secondary departments ; in 1922 there were 117 such assistants —47 men and 70 women. In these schools, especially the more remote ones, considerable difficulty is experienced in obtaining the services of fully qualified assistants. Even with the assistance in some cases of itinerant instructors the task of covering the wide curriculum of the district high school is no small one to be undertaken by one or two assistants. In addition, the prospects of promotion are not so good as in the ordinary secondary schools, so that, as at present constituted, district high schools do not offer positions of the most tempting nature to teachers qualified in secondary work. Salaries of Secondary-school Teachers. The Dominion scale of salaries of secondary-school teachers, which came into force in 1920 and was subsequently amended by the provisions of the Public Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1921-22, briefly is as follows : Principals—Men, £570 to £860 ; women, £415 to £645. Assistants—Men, £183 to £520 ; women, £158 to £390. In addition a married Principal receives house allowance of £60 if a residence is not provided, a head of a department may receive £30, and a married, assistant receives £40 per annum. The salaries of Principals are graded according to the size of the school, and the salaries of assistants according to the classification of the position held. The total rate of salaries, including those of part-time teachers, as payable in December, 1922, was £155,581, or £14 2s. per head of the highest roll number. In the individual schools the cost per head of salaries ranges as follows : Boys' schools, £14 6s. to £18 2s. ; mixed schools, £12 6s. to £16 10s. ; girls' schools, £11 Bs. to £14 16s. The following figures indicate the average rates of salary prevailing at threeyearly intervals since the year 1916 : — Average Salaries of Full-time Teachers in Secondary Schools. , 191(1 v , 1919. , , 1922. , Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. Total. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Principals .. ..593 431 539 647 509 596 703 529 636 Assistants .. ..266 186 228 332 252 290 359 267 315