Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation

Call Number
Nef 331.8809944 EDU
Created/Published
Sydney : The Federation, 1919-2021
Issue
Vol. 39 No. 11 (10 Sep 1958)
Images
16
View Catalogue

Contents

Education PAST PRESENT FUTURE Journal of the N.S.W. Teachers’ Federation 1
Federation’s 40th Annual Conference Sees Damage To Education By "Down-Grading” of Teachers’ Salaries APPEALS TO GOVERNMENT FOR WAGE JUSTICE 1
Why? 1
P.S. BOARD REFUSES TO REOPEN AGREEMENT 1
FEDERATION PLANS ACTION 1
COMMENTS WITHOUT COMMENT 1
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 2
Education JOURNAL OF THE N.S.W. TEACHERS* FEDERATION 2
Advertising 2
MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 3
FEDERATION ACTION ASSISTS LAY STAFF 3
Advertising 3
Federal Budget: Lengthy and Important Debate on Education 4
Official Opening of Conference Extracts of Speeches By Minister, Federation President and Director-General MR. HEFFRON Minister of Education 5
MR. D. A. TAYLOR Federation President 5
DR. H. S. WYNDHAM, Director-General of Education 5
1958 Conference SALARIES (ms) AGREEMENT RESOLUTION 6
1958 Conference REFRESHER COURSES The Resolution 7
EMPIRE BUILDING 7
1958 Conference-Motion For Adoption of ANNUAL REPORT 8
THE RESULT OF A SURVEY 8
1958 Conference-Amendments To Annual Report and Matters of General Interest Overwhelming Support For World Peace Through Negotiation and Banning of Nuclear Tests 9
Accommodation of Teachers 9
Sizes of Classes 9
Abolition of Aborigines’ Schools 9
Professor Connell’s Speech To Conference 9
TECHNICAL EDUCATION Current Problems and Progress 9
Greetings From Parent-Teacher Federations 9
REFERENCES TO COUNCIL FROM ANNUAL CONFERENCE 9
MISS BEATRICE TAYLOR ELECTED TO LIFE MEMBERSHIP 9
1958 Conference Ist Topic Working Conditions of Teachers 10
1958 Conference – 2nd Topic EDUCATION COMMISSION 11
Attention Mr. Cahill: Please Copy! 11
1958 Conference – 3rd Topic SECONDARY SURVEY 12
SUMMARY 12
Inside Indonesia THE REBELLION AND US 13
VOLUNTEER GRADUATE ASSOCIATION 13
EDUCATION IN INDONESIA 13
SUBPOENA TO APPEAR AT COURT 14
Cleaning of Fireplaces in Schools 14
Farewell to Miss Wallace 14
The Teachers’ Club NOTICE 14
HEALTH SOCIETY 14
RETIREMENT OF 14
Federation In The U.S.A. 14
Advertising 14
BOOK REVIEWS 15
THE AUSTRALIAN ENCYCLOPAEDIA 15
"YOU AND THE LAW” 15
Advertising 15
THE CANBERRA GRAMMAR SCHOOL Appointment of HEADMASTER 16
TERRITORIES DEPARTMENT Northern Territory Administration 16
Advertising 16
INFANTS MISTRESSES’ ASSOCIATION DOROTHY BULL MEMORIAL LECTURE 16
DEPUTY HEADMASTERS 16
FEDERATION ASSOCIATE 16
THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE 16
NOT PHOTOGENIC? 16
TEMPORARY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION 16
Advertising 16

Text

Education  

PAST PRESENT FUTURE  

Journal of the N.S.W. Teachers’ Federation  

 

Registered at the General Post Office, Sydney, for transmission by post as newspaper.  

Vol. 39 No. 11  

SEPTEMBER 10, 1958  

Price: Threepence  

Federation’s  

40th Annual Conference  

Sees Damage To Education  

By "Down-Grading” of  

Teachers’ Salaries  

APPEALS TO GOVERNMENT  

FOR WAGE JUSTICE  

MR. NORINGTON SAID  

THIS TO CONFERENCE  

make reference to Paragraphs  

and of the Board’s letter. These  

paragraphs are the most significant.  

They say in Paragraph 3: “However,  

this opinion has not restricted the  

Board in its consideration of the case  

presented by the Federation and full  

weight has been given to all the evi-  

dence placed before the Board.”  

Now you have the evidence in your  

hands in the last issue of “Education,”  

and in the opinion of every teacher  

that have met and every outsider  

that has looked at it, they are unani-  

mously of the opinion that there is  

an unanswerable and water-tight case.  

The Board goes on to say, “It is point-  

ed out that the salaries fixed for other  

classes of officers and employees in  

the Public Service were determined  

in the light of the salaries fixed for  

teachers by the current Agreement  

and were made after full examina-  

tion of the validity of past salary re-  

lationships, which in some cases were  

altered.”  

It says that the Board has come to  

the conclusion that teachers’ salaries  

which were previously greater than  

their counterparts in other sections of  

the service, we now consider that they  

are not as valuable and that other  

graduates should get more than  

teachers because the work value is  

greater.  

That is judgment and conscious  

decision as they themselves admit.  

This is an extremely serious position  

and it appears that this Board, of its  

own volition, is not going to do any-  

thing about it at all. Particularly if  

we leave it at the stage of argument  

and placid resignation. What better  

reasoning has been advanced than  

the case put to the Board, and on this  

occasion we played strictly in accord-  

ance with Hoyle. The Board casti-  

gated us on the previous occasion in  

round terms for campaigning first  

and then asking them to negotiate  

afterwards. They said it was wrong  

and that we were the only organisa-  

tion that does it. This time we played  

strictly in accordance with the Board’s  

own ideas of the proper procedure to  

adopt. We approached them cour-  

teously in moderate language with an  

unanswerable case. What did we get?  

We got exactly the same as we got  

in July, 1957, precisely nothing. “We  

consider that teachers’ salaries are  

adequate,” they said last year. They  

say the same thing today. In the  

meantime they have put up everyone  

else’s salary in the Public Service. All  

comparable peope in the Pubic Ser-  

vice have had their salaries increased.  

Now pose the question: What are  

we to do about it? The Executive and  

Council has considered this and it  

makes these recommendations. am  

merely moving that this Conference  

endorse the programme of action.  

Some of the action has already  

been taken by the Executive. The  

deputation saw the Minister for Edu-  

cation last week and he was very sym-  

pathetic. This is important. We said  

to the Minister that it is the duty of  

the Government to solve this prob-  

lem. It has gone past the Public Ser-  

vice Board and no authority can solve  

it except the Government itself.  

submit that unless the Government is  

prepared to take immediate and effec-  

tive action, and Parliament is in ses-  

sion and it could get Bill through  

in week to rectify this position-  

other Bills have been put through  

in 24 hours—teachers will take posi-  

tive action.  

leaflet is proposed; this will  

get the help of the public. There  

is no better time to take this action  

than the present. Before March, 1959,  

State election is mandatory and  

every member of Parliament will be  

seeking your votes and the votes of  

thousands of people whom you can  

influence and unless this problem is  

solved it is serious business for the  

Government and they know it; it is  

our job to make sure that every mem-  

ber of Parliament knows it, and feel  

confident that the Government will  

take effective action if we take effec-  

tive action without delay.  

MRS. PRESTON-STANLEY  

have much pleasure in seconding  

the motion. Now the whole matter  

rests on this, in my opinion. That it  

The Public Service Board refuses to grant  

Teachers’ College Lecturers and Supervisors  

salary parity with other professional officers  

in the Public Service. Negotiations on agree-  

ments for these officers are deadlocked.  

The Board granted £1,410 per annum to  

graduate in his fourth year in the Public  

Service, but despite protracted argument it is  

not prepared to offer Lecturer on appoint-  

ment as such, i.e., after three years’ service  

as teacher, more than £1,280.  

Similar down-grading occurs at all levels  

for both Lecturers and Supervisors in the  

Board’s offers.  

These cases are not matter of reopening  

agreements, but of applying the newly-created  

professional salary standard to new agree-  

ments.  

Why?  

was settled in the light of teachers;  

you and know very well that if we  

want support the best we can get is  

public support. Now, how can we get  

this? The best way is, to quote Mr.  

Nicholls, “in the interests of the child-  

ren themselves.” Now once upon  

time we had relieving staff. Now we  

have overcrowded classes. Why have  

we not relief staff? Is it that the  

teaching profession is not sufficiently  

attractive? There is some reason.  

think we should put that to the pub-  

lic and ask why we teachers are com-  

pelled to do another person’s work  

without any extra pay at the expense  

of their children. No other unionist  

is asked to do what you and are  

asked to do. But it is the children  

who suffer. You will gain pubic sup-  

port if you stress the whole matter  

in the light of the value of the teach-  

er to the community, which means do  

the parents want inferior teachers, do  

they want their children given the  

proper training. If so, then see that  

the teacher gets fair deal not only  

in salaries but in the conditions.  

There is no other profession that  

know of where unionists are expected  

to work under such conditions.  

P.S. BOARD  

REFUSES TO  

REOPEN  

AGREEMENT  

"I am directed to advise you that the  

Public Service Board has considered the  

representations made by the Federation at  

the recent conference with the Board re-  

garding the re-opening of the current  

Section 148 Agreement, but cannot agree  

that circumstances have arisen which war-  

rant the re-opening of such Agreement.  

"The Board considers that the term  

'authoritative industrial tribunal' cannot  

properly be constructed to include nor was  

it intended to include the Board which was  

party to the Agreement.  

"However, this opinion has not restricted  

the Board in its consideration of the case  

presented by the Federation and full weight  

has been given to all the evidence placed  

before the Board.  

"It is pointed out that the salaries fixed  

for other classes of officers and employees  

in the Public Service were determined in  

the light of the salaries fixed for Teachers  

by the current Agreement and were made  

after full examination of the validity of past  

salary relationships which in some cases  

were altered. (Our emphasis.)  

"This, as the 'Federation is aware, oc-  

curred also in the case of certain salary  

relationships existing under former Agree-  

ments covering Teachers and Technical  

Teachers.  

"The Board has had regard to salaries  

paid to Teachers in other States, and whilst  

these at certain points differ with salaries  

payable to Teachers in this State, the Board  

is unable to hold that overall the standard  

at present existing for the latter is not  

adequate and proper.  

"For the foregoing reasons the Board  

does not see its way to agree to any altera-  

tion of the existing salaries."  

FEDERATION  

PLANS ACTION  

"Thai full scale campaign be organised,  

directed towards:—  

(a) informing teachers of the position and  

rousing them to display their indigna-  

tion against the injustice of the Board's  

action.  

(b) securing the support of the people on  

the basis of the damage to education  

caused by the Board's action and  

(c) securing the co-operation of the Govern-  

ment in taking positive steps to solve  

the problem.  

COMMENTS WITHOUT COMMENT  

"The efficiency of any system  

of education, new or old, depends  

on the efficiency of our teachers,  

and as have said so many times,  

every school is just as good as its  

teachers, and we are proud of the  

fact that we may claim for them  

first class job wherever they  

work, whether it is in Sydney or  

Bourke."  

"I want to thank you for year  

of hard, faithful and very valu-  

able work in the interests of  

education in this State."  

The Hon. R. J. Heffron,  

Deputy Premier and  

Minister for Education.  

Annual Conference,  

August, 1958.  

"Since last met you have  

quartered the State. have met  

thousands of teachers. have  

visited hundreds of schools. And  

come back from first-hand  

contact with teachers up and  

down this State, proud of the  

record they are creating and  

proud of the work they are doing  

... I, for one, could bear testi-  

mony of the work that is being  

done under difficult conditions,  

with the whole of our resources  

stretched to the limit, by teachers  

of all kind."  

Dr. H. S. Wyndham,  

Director-General of Education.  

Annual Conference,  

August, 1958.  

"An analysis was made of the  

results of the Leaving Certificate  

for every tenth year from 1926  

and for each of the years since  

1946. Over the thirty-year period,  

the percentage of passes at the  

examination has risen from 71.7  

to 76. closer examination of  

the results in representative sub-  

jects showed no decline in either  

the standard of marking or in  

the marks gained by candidates;  

on the contrary there has been  

rather moderate but definite  

improvement."  

Secondary Survey Report,  

1957.  

"In brief, the aim of the  

course (In-Service training) is to  

maintain and develop profession-  

al growth, and in particular assist  

those teachers who, since the  

completion of their student days,  

may have undertaken no orga-  

nised study and who, accordingly,  

might be regarded as profession-  

ally backward, although meeting  

the minimum standards of teach-  

ing efficiency."  

(Signed) H. H. Dickinson,  

Secretary.  

Public Service Board Letter,  

10th July, 1958.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-646955353

APA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (1919). Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Retrieved June 2, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-646955353

MLA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation and New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Sydney: The Federation, 1919. Web. 2 June 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-646955353>

Harvard/Australian citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. 1919, Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation The Federation, Sydney viewed 2 June 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-646955353

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=N.S.W. Teachers' Federation.
  | author2=New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation.
  | title=Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation.
  | year=1919
  | section=volumes.
  | issn=0013-1156
  | issue=Vol. 39 No. 11 (10 Sep 1958)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-646955353
  | id=nla.obj-646955353
  | access-date=2 June 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

Citations are automatically generated and may require some modification to conform to exact standards.

Download

Select the images you want to download, or the whole document.

Available formats
TIF high resolution
Include
All
Current

Or select a range of images:

Selected: 1 - 16 (16 Images)

Order

You can order a copy of this work from Copies Direct.

Copies Direct supplies reproductions of collection material for a fee. This service is offered by the National Library of Australia

Include

Or select a range of images:

1 - 16 (16 Images)

Share

Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook

What can I do with this?

Copyright varies by issue and article

Reason for copyright status
Serials have an open range of dates.

Copyright varies with each issue and article. You may have full rights to copy, or may be able to copy only under some circumstances, for example a portion for research or study. Order a copy where circumstances allow or Contact us for further information.

Copyright status was determined using the following information:

Material type
Literary, dramatic or musical work

Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply.

For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Share Close

Copy and paste one of these options to share this book elsewhere.

NOTE: We've tested EMBED on blogspot.com blogs as well as self-hosted Wordpress blogs. This feature will NOT work on wordpress.com blogs.

About this book Close