CIRCULAR
21127/2,47
SIR,
COLONIAL
OFFIC
DOWNING STREET,
LONDON, S.W.1.
21st August, 1947.
I have had under consideration the question of the starting pay of teachers selected by me for appointment to the Colonial Education Service who have had previous experience in teaching or educational posts by reason of which the value of their services to Government may be said to have been enhanced.
2. Hitherto while it has been the practice to take such experience into consideration in a number of special cases no settled practice has been laid down partly because of the difficulty in determining which of, and in what measure, the varying types of experience should be taken into account, and partly because the number of cases arising was small. Recent recruitment has resulted in some increase in these special cases, and in the absence of uniform practice the effect has been to create anomalies in some Colonies, and these have led to some dissatisfaction among officers already serving in the grades concerned. At the same time the principle that previous approved experience should be taken into account in determining the correct position of a teacher in the appropriate salary scale in this country has recently received prominence in the Report of the Burnham Committee on scales of salaries for teachers in Primary and Secondary schools in England and Wales. The type of service which is recognised in this country for this purpose is laid down in Appendix 1 of that Report. A copy of this Appendix is attached as an enclosure to this despatch for convenience of reference. In general, I consider that the present and prospective recruitment from this country for appointments in the Colonial Education Service calls for recognition of previous approved experience in assessing the point of entry into the salary scale, and that there will be considerable advantage if a uniform basis of application could be adopted. I hope that the basis suggested later in this despatch will be generally acceptable to Colonial Governments.
3. A set formula to determine the award of increments for previous professional experience has of course been applied in a number of Colonies to certain other professions than teaching. One was in use for Legal Officers before the war and, latterly, a similar one has been adopted for Engineers. Experience in the Colonies in which they have been applied has shown that they are a satisfactory measure. The general basis of these awards has been to allow the period of previous approved experience to count in full towards increments in the scale subject to a maximum of four such increments. There are, however, certain special considerations as regards the teaching profession which appear to call for a somewhat different basis.
4. In the first place, unlike Legal Officers and Engineers, teachers from this country have usually acquired their previous professional experience while employed as State Servants. In that they are in a sense transferred from one public service to another on appointment to the Colonial Service there is less case for restricting the number of increments to so low a limit as 4. On the other hand, the wide variety in the types of experience which would be acceptable as approved experience, and the need to avoid any tendency to discount the value of the local experience acquired in the Colonial Service makes it not unreasonable to regard previous experience as counting somewhat less year for year than actual service in the Colonial appointment.
5. This question has recently been under consideration by me in consultation with one Colonial Government where there is substantial recruitment of teachers from this country. The arrangement decided upon in that instance was that two-thirds of the period of approved previous experience acquired after attaining the age of 22 (the average age of entry into the Colonial Education Service) should be allowed to count towards increments in the Colonial Scale subject to a maximum of 12 increments in all. That arrangement appears to me to afford a suitable basis for general adoption. In order to facilitate consideration by Colonial Governments the following precise formula is suggested:
6.
'A candidate selected for the first Colonial appointment to posts in the junior cadres of the Colonial Education Service who has previous approved service in a teaching or educational post may be granted one increment in the salary scale of the Colonial appointment for each completed one and a half years of such service performed after reaching the age of 22 provided that the number of such increments together with war service credit increments shall in no case exceed 12."
Approved service means service in a post carrying duties and responsibilities of a similar nature to those attached to the Colonial appointment and the types of service set out in Appendix 1 to the Burnham Report referred to in paragraph 2 above will be taken as a guide in assessing such service. Although this formula refers to experience in the United Kingdom there would of course be no objection to extending the arrangements to cover other service in suitable cases.
7. In some Colonies or for some posts it may be that the initial salary of the scale is already fixed in relation to some higher average age than 22 and if that is so a modification of the age in the formula would of course be appropriate.
8. I should be glad to be informed as soon as possible
(a) whether you agree that the above arrangements may be applied to future appointments
to the Education Department in the Territory under your administration and
(b) if so whether there are any posts that should be excluded
(c) any posts not in the Colonial Education Service which should be included, and
(d) any posts for which a modified formula would be appropriate as suggested in the preceding
paragraph.
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