Teachers' Salaries
The motive that ran through the debate on teachers' salaries in the House of Commons last Tuesday was the attraction of men and women with good brains and education into the teaching profession. Before the last war teachers were scandalously paid, and the result was what might be expected. Between the wars there was some improvement, but the scale of pay was still utterly inadequate. Now there is to be a general levelling up, and under the scale submitted by the Burnham Committee the basic minimum for the next three years will be L3oo a year. Criticism centred not so much upon this minimum as upon the inducements to highly qualified graduates to enter the profession. It is proposed that there should be a considerable number of special posts which will carry with them special allowances, and there will also be allowances for graduates. These will not be added together as two allowances for graduates who hold special posts, but will be merged ; and it fell to Mr. Butler to maintain that even so the salaries would not be unattractive, and he pointed out that readjustments might be made by reference to the Burnham Committee before the expiration of three years. He took the opportunity of announcing that the Government intended to ease the position of the local authorities by immediately increasing the total Exchequer grant to the local education authorities from 49.36 per cent. to 55 per cent., and it would be related in each case to the number of children to be educated and the capacity of the autherity to pay. This means that the additional burden imposed by the Education Act, at any rate during the next four years, will be eased to the rate-payer. The concession should materially affect the attitude of local authorities to the reforms which it will fall to them to carry out.
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