THE POSITION OF THE MALE ELEMENTARY TEACHER. [To the Editor
of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As the matter of a further reduction of 5 per cent. in
the salaries of Elementary Teachers is now under considera- tion, and as the National Union of Teachers is improperly accepted and regarded as the negotiating body for the teachers, may I be permitted to point out in your columns the iniquity of the position so far as some thousands of men teachers are concerned? When the Burnham Committee was established it was decided as a matter of expediency that all sectional organizations of teachers should be excluded, and that member- .ship of the Teachers' Panel should be confined to the National Union of Teachers.
Unfortunately, the great fact was overlooked, or ignored, that the National Union was the greatest sectional organiza- tion of teachers in existence. Its membership consists of something like 70 per cent. of women, and just before the formation of the Burnham Committee this preponderating majority of women had forced upon the National Union the feminist policy of " equal pay," contrary to the interests of men teachers and opposed to the educational welfare of the boys under their care. The National Union Teachers' Panel was compelled, therefore, to pursue a policy that favoured women teachers to the detriment of the men ; in other words, it was pledged to act in the interests of women teachers only. On the evidence of the Union's AssiStant Secretary it forced an approximation to " equal pay " upon the Burnhain Committee, and through the consequent inequitable alloca- tion to men and women teachers, respectively, of the money available for education it is directly responsible for much of the recent outcry against educational expenditure and the present grave unrest amongst teachers.
It need only be pointed out that in London alone, where women teachers outnumber men by more than two to one, the women received increases ranging from 108 per cent. to 144 per cent., while those for men ranged only from 87 per cent. to 112 per cent. Indeed, some of the older men teachers never reached a higher percentage increase than 70, and through the recent superannuation levy this is now reduced to 61, and if a further levy be made, as contemplated, the increase will fall as low as 53 per cent. As the Board of Trade index figure for the c,.1st of living for a working class family is now 80, it will obviously be little short of disastrous to many men teachers if their salaries are to be further reduced, voluntarily or otherwise. This is a very serious matter. .Educational progress and communal good arc vitally concerned. Action should be taken at once by all who may be able to influence a just re-arrangement of the present inequitable ratios in the Burnham Salary Scales for men and women teachers. Thereupon hangs justice to the community, justice to the teachers, the efficiency of the work of the schools, and
true national progress.—I am, Sir, &c., G. M. GRAVES. 80 The Mall, Southgate, N. 14.
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