Page 99
costs, unless they can bring off a one in four to one in six chance of
(There is on p.63 para. 19 getting a responsibility allowance or better.
a suggestion that perhaps no one ought to have his salary cut, but merely
to wait until entitled to a rise on the new scale.
However the wording.
is highly ambiguous, and it is by no means a strong recommendation.) Apart from our mention of the rising cost of living, the above statements
As civil servants say, one
are taken entirely from the present report.
notes this; one does not need to comment.
The effect on entrants is also likely to be harmful, to the Education Department in this case. Thus at p.62, para.13 competition with other professions for the recruitment of university graduates is tacitly admitted, and at p.ll, para. 25 it is stated that since teachers' training and overheads are the greatest part of education costs, adequate teacher training is of paramount importance. Why then discourage teacher training by reducing the salary which rewards it
on completion?
Another aspect of the proposed responsibility allowance is the wangle-angle, something obvious to us local people but possibly overlook by our innocent English experts: who is going to decide who gets the allowance in the Government-aided schools? Obviously as a rule the
man on the spot, the Head. Among fairly equal claims, or even somewhat unequal ones, the men who agrees to a kick back may sometimes get the coveteal allowance. In more elegant language, the system is asking
for corruption and nepotism. The Head has only to say virtuously to any grumbler, "I am sorry, Mr. X, but I had to make a choice, and the
choice just didn't fall on you".
salaries whether
Our own constructive proposals as to teachers' Erimary or secondary, are that these should be related to the cost of living and to salaries in professions of similar training costs and therefore indirectly competitive with the teaching profession. report relates them to neither. For this purpose an official Cost of Page 99 Dfv344 Index to be reviewed quarterly, and with adaptation Cπ3 44e
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The