1.—13 a.

96

[a. erskine.

SUGGESTED STAFFS AND SALARIES FOR NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TRAINING COLLEGES. (a.) Principal of the training college, £600 a year, or £700 if he be also Professor or Lecturer on Education at the University college. (b.) Headmaster of the normal "school, salary of £450 to £500, together with house allowance as for head teacher of a public school of Grade 7. (c.) First assistant, head teacher of model school, first secondary assistant, kindergarten mistress, science master, each with a salary of Grade 5 head teacher (£320-£360). (d.) Other assistants, lecturers, and instructors appointed by the Minister as follows : One with salary of Grade 6 (£260-£280); two with salary of Grade 5 (£230-£250) ; one with salary of Grade 4 (£I9O-£220) ; two with salary of Grade 3 (£l5O-£180). (c.) If there be a second model school, the maximum staff named above may, with the approval of the Minister, be increased as follows :— (i.) For school of type 3 (c) (i), one teacher of Grade 5 (£320-£360), and one assistant, Grade 3 (£l5O-180). (ii.) For school of type 3 (c) (ii), one assistant, Grade 4 (£l9O-£220). (iii.) For school of type 3 (c) (iii), one teacher, Grade 5 (£320-£360). (/.) If there be a junior kindergarten class or classes, one assistant with a salary of Grade 4 (£l9O-£220). 3. Mr. Hanan (Acting-Chairman).] Will you proceed now with your comments on the resolutions, mentioning at the time the paragraph on which you comment ? —The first paragraph I wish to deal with is that relating to staffs and salaries. The Institute regrets that the Minister has not fully realized the inadequacy of the present scale. I will not say anything further about that at present; it will come out as I proceed to put the various points. With regard to the present basis of the computation of salaries, we have to express our keen regret that the Minister has not been able to formulate a scheme for the grading of teachers. The Institute desires that teachers should be graded, and that a minimum and a maximum salary should be attached to each grade. It feels that in a salary scheme based on average attendance there must always be anomalies. Even in the proposed scale, which is a vast improvement on previous scales, and has given great relief to various sections of teachers— even there there are still some anomalies, which I will endeavour to point out as I go along. With regard to staffing, we are pleased to note that an improvement has been made in the staffing of schools, especially in schools between 321 and 350 in attendance and between 451 and 480. We also are pleased that whereas the Act provides a teacher for every forty up to 200 children, and thereafter one for every fifty, the Bill provides one for every forty up to 400, and thereafter one for every fifty. The Institute regrets that that has not been carried right through so as to apply to all the schools in the country. I have to urge strongly that the staffing should not be reduced for schools over 600. A reference to the scale will show that there will be one assistant less for schools of over 600. Mr. Hogben: That is a misprint. . Witness : We were hoping it was. Mr. Hogben: There is one added. Witness: Then I need not say any more about that. We should also like to point out that with the improvements noted the scale of staffing is still inferior to the scales of other countries, as is shown in the above table of our statement. This statement is really taken from the Education Report, and is put in our statement to show that the staffing is not quite so good yet as in other countries. The 47-6 shown is the number per teacher for schools of over 200 according to the Education Report for 1912. We have not the latest report. Then, the Institute recommends that when a school has had for any four successive quarters an attendance above the maximum of its grade, the additional staff should be provided without further delay. At present the addition to the staff is made at the beginning of the year, though a school may for four successive quarters —ending, say, in March or June —have had an attendance big enough to warrant an addition to the staff. The Institute thinks that the addition should be made at the end of the four successive quarters, instead of at the end of the year. Now I come to the, matter of salaries proper. " The Institute strongly urges upon Parliament that the minimum salary for a trained and certificated teacher should be £130 a year." At present the minimum salary under the Bill is £100, and under the Act of last session £100. We offer various reasons in our recommendations for our contention that the minimum salary should be £130. First of all, it is admitted that there is a scarcity of teachers at the present salary. lam speaking of men now, rather than of women. The supply of women is equal to the demand, I think, but in the case of men it is not so. I have only to refer to the returns for the training colleges to show that. In the case of the Wellington Training College for 1910 there were twenty-seven men in training and seventythree women ;or of the whole of the teachers in training the men were 27 per cent. In 1911 there were thirty-one men and sixty-six women, or 31 per cent, were men. In 1912 there were only twentyfive men, while there were seventy-nine women, or 24 per cent, of men. In 1913 there were twentytwo men and eighty-six women, or only 20 per cent, of men. These figures show that there has been a gradual decrease in men at the Wellington Training College in those years. In the training colleges for the Dominion there were in 1911 131 men and 258 women, of the whole number the men being 34 per cent. In 1912 there were 113 men and 285 women, or only 28 per cent, of men. So that the experience of the Wellington Training College is really the experience of all the training colleges of the Dominion. 4. Mr. Sidey.] Have you got the figures for 1913 ? —No; the report for 1913 is not out yet. These figures tend to show that there are fewer men offering for the profession year by year; and we must regard this as caused in great measure by the conditions offering in the service, especially with regard to salary. Then, again, we are competing with the Civil Service all along the line. Since the Civil