The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 41

Teachers

Teachers.

As the changes that any thorough scheme of State education involves in the position of teachers are extensive and important, I have thought it desirable to consider them separately.

The position of teachers throughout Victoria is at present most

No persons should be allowed to open schools till they have given proof of knowing what they propose to teach.

anomalous. Every other great profession is guarded against the competition of uneducated pretenders. No man can practice as a barrister, a solicitor, a doctor, or a chemist, without having given proof of his qualifications. But any person who is disposed may open a school, and undertake to teach what perhaps he has never learned. It cannot be doubted, I think, that this reacts injuriously on the whole status of teachers. The public is apt to suppose that any one who has failed in some other branch of life may fall back upon teaching, and yet, inconsistently, but not unnaturally, attaches an extreme value to certain recognised certificates. The truth, I believe, is that a test of some kind is indispensable. But we can only test knowledge, not teaching power; not because it is impossible to estimate a teacher's efficiency in class-work, but because an attempt to impose some particular system would commit the country to a very dangerous routine. We have a right, I think, to say that no one shall profess to teach English or Greek, arithmetic or algebra, without having given proof that they have studied the subject; just as we have a right to say that a man shall pass a certain examination before he is admitted to the bar. But the way in which he shall impart what he knows is as little matter of definition as the way he shall plead. The public service and the public may be trusted to discover under what teacher the pupil makes most progress; and every examination of a school will, in fact, be a testing and certifying of teachers.

Again, we cannot work the compulsory system without some check upon teachers not in the State service. The examinations I have proposed will detect now and again what children have been neglected, but will not save them from the results of that neglect; and the untrained child of nine relegated to a State school will be a nuisance from which the State teacher ought, if page 72

Teachers of primary schools should have passed the license examination.

possible, to be delivered. Considering, therefore, that our present license examination is so easy, it will not, I think, be much to demand that all persons who shall open primary schools after the passing of this Act shall be compelled to show that they have passed the license examination, or an equivalent to it, such

Head teachers of high schools should hold a B.A. degree.

as the matriculation examination. From head teachers of high schools we may, I think, demand a B.A. degree of some British University, with reservation of existing rights for all persons now engaged in teaching in the colony, and with some larger latitude in making the first appointments; and after 1879 assistants might be compelled to produce the University certificate of teaching.

The first step to raise the character of teachers will have been taken when this is done. Our next must be to secure that the State teacher gets a better education than any other, and reaps the reward of his education throughout his professional career.

The Training College.

I advocate the connection of the Training College with the University, not only because it will reduce the cost of education to the State, not only because the heads of the department and of the profession desire it, but because I think it of incalculable importance that the men and women who are to train our youth should themselves fall at the time when impressions are deepest under the influence of the most eminent teachers in the colony.

A special chair of Pædagoey not needed.

I have often been urged to recommend the establishment of a chair of Pædagogy. If Pædagogy means class-teaching, the Superintendent of the Training College is already such a professor. If it means a knowledge of the ways in which different subjects can be adequately taught, I am sure it will be better learned from many teachers than from one; however excellent. There is no single method of instruction: the lecturer, the class-teacher, and the private tutor are each different in their way; and an excellent teacher of language may be worthless in history. So long as the University fairly represents the highest intelligence that can be attracted into the department of teaching, so long will it be the best place in which teaching can be learned.

Comparison of the proposed curriculum for teachers with that at present enforced

It may be asked whether the two years' course I propose for future trainees, a year before matriculation and a year afterwards, is not longer than they require; whether the simple education to which I propose to confine primary schools cannot be taught without a knowledge of French or physical geography. In reply, I would say that the present course occupies two years, and embraces nominally more subjects than the University demands. But as our first-year students are now taught in different places on different systems, and come up with every variety of preparation to a badly officered^* Training College, their time is more or less wasted. Then I would ask what subject out of the University first-year course in Arts a student ought to dispense with? Not Euclid or algebra, for he may be required to teach these in an upper sixth. Not French or Latin, for without some knowledge of another language than his own the teacher cannot

^* This is no longer applicable. (11th February 1878.)

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explain English thoroughly. Scarcely even chemistry or botany, if we do not wish the possible head of a school of six hundred to be inferior in attainments to his own pupils after a year at a high school. Let it be borne in mind that we want the teacher of a primary school to be respected as a man of fair education throughout the colony. Above all, we wish him to keep the higher prizes of the profession steadily in sight, and to train, if he can spare the time and energy, for the University, so as to qualify himself for the mastership of a high school or an inspectorship.

To secure this last aim, it is indispensable that the prizes of

Promotion by fixed rules.

the profession be awarded by recognised rules. I do not mean that the heads of the department should be debarred from a certain liberty of selection among qualified men, but that only men with the highest qualifications should be capable of the highest preferment. By the highest qualifications I mean the possession of the highest certificate, and a certain percentage of results at inspector's examinations. When the profession is brought under fixed rules such as these, it will be possible, I think, to insist on stricter obedience to orders from the department than is enforced at present. All, of every qualification, ought to take their turn of country work without murmuring, when the fear that being out of sight they will be out of mind is removed by the knowledge that their certificates will always count in their favour.

Those who look at the large cost of our educational system, and

Question of salaries.

at the salaries paid to teachers in other countries, are apt to think that the incomes given in our State schools are excessive. I am not prepared to say that the system of giving extra payments for classes in special subjects, for drill, and for singing, has not sometimes led to results which may be called excessive, because they are disproportionate to what other members of the profession gain. But after the deduction of these anomalous incomes, which the changes I propose will make impossible for the future, the average income of our best paid head teachers is about £450, and the scheme appended to this report makes £500 a possible maximum, and £450 an income that will be often or nearly reached.^* At present the question is one of competition. New Zealand pays as much as £500 in exceptional cases. South Australia has lately advertised, guaranteeing a first year's income in four small towns at £450. When we bear in mind that the foreman of a large shop earns from £500 to £800 a year, that our teachers are forbidden to eke out their incomes by trade^† or speculation and are expected to maintain a certain position, I do not think this income can be called excessive. As a rule the State's worst bargains are not those who earn most, but those

The bad teacher is the dearest at any salary.

who, being only partially qualified, earn least, and I believe one of the best practical reforms will be to turn a good many schools

^* See Appendix A.

^† A portion of the press has attacked teachers for taking up land. I confess I do not understand why. Land may often be worked profitably without the incessant attention which a shop demands, and is not as likely as a shop to involve the teacher in quarrels or jealousies. No doubt the possession of laud will make the teacher unwilling to move, but so will the possession of a house; and, as the department never builds if it can avoid it, the teacher is often obliged to build for himself.

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into half-time schools, with one good and well-paid teacher to two, instead of a bad and cheap teacher to each.

A change in the present system of payment by results desirable.

One great and just source of teachers' dissatisfaction with their present status is undoubtedly to be found in the way in which their income by results is assessed. When the disturbing elements of average age and attendance cease to enter into the calculation of these, as I propose they should, the just causes of complaint will have been removed. I do not think it possible to remove all. Unless we assume that it is as easy to manage a large as a small school, we must classify schools by the numbers of their pupils, and graduate our salaries in proportion; and thus the teacher with an attendance of 500 will be better paid than the teacher with an attendance of 499. As, however, every child who satisfies the law will count as an attendance, and as the State will do all it can to run up the numbers at the school, the teacher will certainly gain by the changes I propose, and several schools on the boundary line will be moved up into a higher class. In determining the results of the teacher's work, the inspector will no doubt retain very great power, even though the proportion of salary dependent upon results has already been reduced from a third to a sixth. This I regard as unavoidable; inspection is the pivot on which our whole system turns. But such changes as I have proposed will, I think, have the effect of making the issue for the teacher simpler and broader. I propose that more weight should be attached to intelligent teaching; that the test of class-work should be the good training of the greater number, without deductions for a few backward individuals; that the examination should be rather longer than at present; and that the paper-work corrected by the teacher and marked by an examiner should be forwarded in a sealed envelope to the department, should the teacher desire to lodge an appeal with the inspector-general.

How far this system may work well I cannot of course forecast. My own impression is that the differences under it will be more decided than they now are, and that they ought to be; that a good teacher will constantly get his maximum, and a bad teacher his minimum. One of my chief charges against the present system is that an indifferent teacher may often secure a good percentage, and a conscientious one fall below 80.

Trying character of a schoolmaster's work.

It is not, I hope, out of place to protest here against the imperfect estimate which I have often heard expressed of a schoolmaster's work. Men look at the time-table, and assess it at five hours a day, which they contrast with their own long hours behind the counter or the plough. But no teacher who hopes to make his mark works as little as five hours. Many head teachers compute the work they do in school alone at eight hours in the day; and an examination of their books has convinced me that they do not overstate their case. Hitherto they have had to train separately pupil-teachers, students of the Training College, and students preparing for the civil service or for matriculation, and though we shall relieve them of some of this and simplify what remains, it will scarcely be possible to reduce the time they employ. page 75

They have, in addition, to watch their assistants at their work, and train them where they are deficient; to keep registers and time-tables; and above all to keep up their reading at home; to be better instructed than the young teachers whom the department sends out to them. The profession which demands all this from them demands also that they should maintain a buoyant vitality and an equable temper; should never be listless or harassed; impatient with slow pupils or harsh to the vivacious.

The question of punishments in schools has, I hope, been settled

Punishments in schools.

by the late circular, which restricts the right of the cane to the head master or to a deputy nominated by him and approved by the department. So little has this circular tied the hands of willing schoolmasters, that I have found a school where ten boys have been caned in a day, and another not very large one where twenty-two suffered in a week. There is, however, a difficulty in some cases which the mere license to cane does not remove. A female head teacher in a country school cannot always deal with the sturdy elder boys who are her worst pupils—boys of 13 and 14. I believe almost all trouble from this cause will be removed, when the Act is enforced, so that only studious children need to be kept at school after 12. Meantime, I think the teacher should be empowered to call in the truant-officer of the district or the head of police, and hand over culprits to him for corporal punishment. Practically the mere knowledge that the teacher can do this will preclude the necessity for the application in almost every case.

The last and most vital question touching the position of

The promotion of teachers should depend only on published reports.

teachers is their claim to know exactly how they stand in the service. At present, the district inspector enters his opinion of the school in an inspector's book, and writes up a private report, which may differ considerably in wording and even in general effect, to the department. The department keeps and refers to the private, not the public reports; and thus it occasionally happens that a teacher is moved or censured or refused the preferment he would naturally have, while he has always, as he believes, been well reported on. I do not know that it is possible or desirable altogether to do away with private reports. An inspector, suspecting delinquency of some kind (such as inaccurate entries), is bound to communicate his suspicions, that they may be kept on record for his successor's information, or their accuracy tested without delay by the department. So again, there is a certain general impression of character, favourable or unfavourable, which an inspector carries away from every school; and which he may fairly reserve for the information of his superiors. But it is of far higher importance that the whole service should think itself fairly dealt with, than that a perfect system of surveillance should be maintained. I think, therefore, that in the three cases I have instanced—where a man is suddenly transferred without explanation to a less desirable appointment, or where he is not allowed to retain his own school, which has become more valuable, or where he is censured—he should be allowed to demand a court of enquiry, composed of two inspectors

Courts of enquiry.

and two head teachers, and presided over by some person named page 76

for that purpose, together with the other four members, by the Minister. Such a court should sit in Melbourne, and should not hear counsel, and its decision should be final.

Complaints should be promptly dealt with.

Having examined at length several cases of alleged ill-treatment by the department, I can testify that in general the complaints made have been preposterous or grotesque. But I cannot say that there have not been some cases of real grievance; and these, it must be remembered, will commonly happen with good teachers whose professional chances are so valuable that they submit to wrong rather than complain. Be the complaints urgent or trivial, however, it is far better they should be disposed of at once than allowed to rankle and become stock for political agitation. I have met one man at least whose brain had evidently been impaired by brooding over a grievance which a court of enquiry would have disposed of in a day's sitting.

The Education Department should promote an esprit de corps among its teachers.

In treating of the Training College I have spoken of some means by which the department may encourage a healthy esprit de corps among the teachers of the colony. But administration, however excellent, can do little until the principle of promotion by merit, and by merit only, is thoroughly established. Only when the teacher knows that he can rise by honest work to the bâton de maréchal will he feel proud of his service, and proud of the comrades with whom he is working, and against whom he is contending in fair rivalry.

Rules affecting the Position, Promotion, and Rights of Teachers.

1. After 1880, five classes shall be established for teachers: (1.) Those who have passed the second year examination in arts at the University of Melbourne with first or second honours. (2.) Those who have passed simply or with third-class honours. (3.) Those who have passed the first year examination in first or second class honours. (4.) Those who have passed simply or with third-class honours. (5.) Those who have passed the matriculation with credit in English and arithmetic or the license examination as amended. The values of these classes shall be as 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively.

2. Actual teachers shall rank as follows:—

Those certificated with first honours, or those who are actually in charge of schools above 700, or those who are first assistants in schools above 700, as 5.
The certificated with second honours, or those in charge of schools above 500, or first assistants in schools between 500 and 700, or second assistants in schools above 700, as 4.
The simply certificated, being head teachers of schools above 250 and first assistants in such schools, and second assistants in schools above 500, as 3.
Other head teachers or assistant teachers, being simply certificated, as 2.
The simply licensed as 1.

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3. The department may substitute the University certificate of teaching with honours and a simple certificate for the third and fourth classes as above constituted, or may take them as of equal value.

4. Teachers may rise from a lower into a higher class by passing the requisite examination, and may rise a step a year from the lowest into the highest class if they prove themselves capable.

5. After 1882, the headships of high schools and school inspectorships shall be confined to B.A.s of the University with a preference to those who have been not less than five years teachers in State schools.

6. To facilitate rising from the different grades, teachers shall be allowed to count two years' work as pupil-teachers in a high school as two years of service, and forty sets of rooms shall be reserved at the Training College for teachers anxious to attend lectures at the University. These shall be charged £30 to cover the cost of their board. The department shall decide in what order the rooms are to be assigned, if there are more applicants than can be accommodated at once.

7. Holders of a certificate with honours (classes 1 and 3) must serve at least two years in a country school before they can rise to a head-mastership in either of the two highest classes, or to a first-assistantship.

8. Holders of a pass-certificate (classes 2 and 4) must serve at least four years in a country school before they can get a head-teachership in schools of the third and fourth class.

9. The inspector shall determine the efficiency of every school once a year, giving marks to a head teacher on the following principle:—

Organization	20	or any lower multiple of two to express very good (v.g. = 20 or 10); good (g. = 16 or 8); fair (f. = 12 or 6); moderate (m. = 8 or 4); or indifferent (i. = 4 or 2).
Discipline	10
Intelligent teaching	20
Six classes at 7½ each	45
Allowance	5
	100

In payment of results these numbers shall be taken as they are, so that a maximum of £140 shall be divided by such proportion of 100 as has been obtained. But, in estimating the efficiency of the teacher—

Above 80 shall count as	5
Above 60 shall count as	4
Above 40 shall count as	3
Above 20 shall count as	2
Below 20 shall count as	1

This will form nine classes of teachers every year, their rank being determined by the certificate of appointment and the certificate of results. Thus—

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10. Head teachers of the largest schools (Class A) (above 700) shall be those whose value is 65 in the last seven years. Head teachers of the second class (B) (500-700) shall be those whose value is 60 in the same period. Head teachers of schools between 250 and 500 shall have a qualification of 55. First assistants in schools above 700 shall have a qualification of 65. Promotion shall be determined by the qualification; and when the qualification is equal, seniority shall count so far that no one shall have juniors promoted over his head for three years.

11. A head teacher falling below the value of his school shall be removed, and put in a school of a lower grade; but shall not be reduced more than one grade at a time or except at intervals of three years. But a head teacher taking charge of a disorganized school may be allowed half a year to bring it into order, during which his results may tell for and shall not tell against him.

12. Teachers whose value does not exceed 28 in seven years shall not be capable of taking a head-teachership, except in Class I. or F, or an assistant-teachership above the sixth class.

13. For assistant teachers the scale shall be thus calculated—

Efficient teaching	1½, 3, or 4½
Intelligent teaching	½, 1, or 1½
Discipline	½, 1, or 1½

And in calculating results for assistant teachers their maximum shall be divided by 15, or any smaller number that they have obtained.

14. In case two examinations for results are held during the year, these values shall be raised proportionately.

15. No teacher who does not average at least 2 for teaching ability can be head teacher above Class F or first assistant teacher in a school above Class D; and any teacher making 5 for efficiency during seven years shall have 1 added to his certificate of qualification.

16. The term organization shall include a proper arrangement of the time-table, an efficient distribution of classes, and a satisfactory classification of the pupils.

17. The term discipline shall include the behaviour of the pupils out of school as well as in school, for the head master; the attention of the children, as well as their silence during work, for the class teachers; and a proper keeping of the rolls for both.

18. Head teachers of schools in classes A and B and first and second assistant teachers shall have a right to appeal to the inspector-general, and demand a fresh examination of their schools or classes; but in such cases the paper-work of the examination appealed against must be forwarded to the head office, and the inspector-general may base his decision upon these, unless the appeal is only or chiefly for vivâ voce work.

19. No teacher shall suffer loss in future by being changed to a worse position than he or she holds, or by being transferred when his [her] school is about to be enlarged, unless the public reports of the district inspector justify such a punishment.

20. The Minister shall appoint a court of appeal at the beginning of each year, which shall have the power to hear appeals by page 79 any teacher or other officer in the department who may consider himself aggrieved; and shall also have the power to refuse to hear them if the complainant cannot make out a good primâ facie case in writing. Counsel shall not be heard on either side, and a decision of the court once given shall be final.

Powers and Duties of the Head Teachers.

1. Every head teacher or sole teacher shall keep a roll, in which parents may enter the names and ages of their children; and shall be bound to receive such names in school, between school times, or in any other hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on week days, at his private residence. The head teacher may demand proof of age from the parent, as provided by the Statute.

2. The head teacher shall fix the school hours, with reservation of the right of the board of advice to define the period of recess. He shall draw up the time-tables for the school, and see that a time-table for each class is posted in every room. If the morning hours exceed two, he may allow children to leave after the second muster-roll has been taken.

3. He may require the attendance of the assistant teachers a quarter of an hour before school-time, and may keep them in for an hour after afternoon school, to maintain order among children who are kept in. But he must observe rotation in imposing this duty, except that in schools of Class A the first assistant shall be exempted.

4. The head teacher shall keep a book in which the time when the teachers come and leave shall be entered by themselves. Members of the board of advice may enter the room where this book is kept to see that the entries are made regularly.

5. The head teacher has entire charge of the school-buildings during school-time and in midday recess, but the board of advice has charge of them out of school hours, and on Saturdays and Sundays. If the board, having used them, neglect to clean them and put them in order before school begins again, the head master shall report their conduct to the department.

6. The head teacher shall cause a bell to be rung before each roll-call, and members of the board of advice may attend at such times to check the rolls.

7. The head teacher may require pupil-teachers, or children over 9, and living within half a mile of the house, to deliver the summons to show cause on the parents of truant children.

8. The head teacher shall send in the school rolls for every month on the first Monday of the succeeding month to the board of advice for his district, addressing them to the correspondent if no other person is named by the board. He shall also furnish separate truant lists, showing the names of the children who have fallen short of the legal number of attendances. He shall also furnish returns to the department according to forms supplied for the purpose.

9. The head teacher in schools of Classes A and B is not bound to take any class. His work is to organize; and it must be left to page 80 his discretion, which will be severely tested by the result system, whether he can do more by teaching himself or by supervising the teaching of his assistants. But he shall be bound to give instruction himself for an hour a day at least to the pupil-teachers.

10. It shall be one duty of the head teacher to send in on the 20th of the month a statement of the sums due to the assistant teachers and to himself, calculating to the end of the month; and he shall be authorized to keep back any sums that have not been earned during the remainder of the month. On the second of every month he shall forward receipts for all payments to the department.

11. The head teacher is alone competent to inflict corporal chastisement, but he may delegate this duty, with permission of the department, to a first or second assistant in all cases, except those that occur in the assistant teacher's own class. In no case shall more than 12 strokes be inflicted, nor shall any offences except bad language, indecent conduct, disobedience or flagrant disorder, be punished corporally; and a record of all punishments shall be kept and forwarded to the department. The head teacher shall not allow the use of any pointers, with which a blow can be given.

12. A head teacher shall have the right to demand that any assistant whose percentage for practical work has fallen below 2 two years running, or has not made the sum of 10 in five years, shall be removed from his school.

Assistant Teachers.

1. Assistant teachers will be allowed to serve two years in a high school as pupil-teachers, qualifying themselves for University examinations in Arts, and receiving such salaries as they may agree for with the head teacher without detriment to their position in State schools—that is, at the end of the two years they shall be entitled to such appointments as they would have held by remaining in State schools, and the two years at the high school shall count as two years of service on their average classification for the last three years. Always provided that, if they are dismissed from the high school for misconduct, it shall count as dismissal from a State school. In such a case, they shall have an appeal to the department, which may cancel the dismissal without restoring them to the high school, and which shall then place them as soon as may be in a State school.

2. Assistant teachers having served ten years shall have the right to claim that they may be placed as head teachers in the following ratio:—The percentage of 7½ shall be valued thus—Above 6 = 5; above = 4½; above 3 = 3; above 1½ = 2; and under 1½ = 1. The certificates then counting as with head teachers, there will be nine classes; and those whose value has been 65 in the last seven years shall be entitled to head-teacherships in Class B; those whose value is 60 in Class C; 55 in Class D; and 50 in Class E.

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Extra Subjects.

1. Every teacher shall in future be trained to give instruction in Latin, algebra, and geometry, and either in class-singing or in geometric drawing. Latin, algebra, and geometry will henceforth form part of the subjects of instruction in every upper sixth class.

2. Male teachers will henceforth be required to give instruction in drill and gymnastics.

3. Teachers will be allowed to charge for instruction in the following subjects at the weekly rates subjoined:—

French	1s. or less.
Trigonometry	1s. or less.
Mensuration	1s. or less.
Book-keeping	1s. or less.
Elements of agriculture	1s. or less.
Elements of natural science	1s. or less.

And similarly for any approved subject not included in the above list.

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