Читать книгу Women Workers in Seven Professions - Various - Страница 15

Progressive women to-day resent the social system which requires them to be economically dependent upon others. They realise that social service needs labour of a highly skilled variety, and they therefore demand, on the one hand, training for their work as a guarantee of their efficiency in its performance, and, on the other hand, monetary payment and security of tenure as guarantees to them of economic independence. As a natural corollary to woman's lack of political power, there are no spheres of professional work in which prevailing conditions are in these respects completely satisfactory. Perhaps the teaching service in the State schools comes nearest to complying with progressive demands: at any rate Government recognises the need for training, and, to a large extent, meets its cost; a salary, more or less adequate, is paid in return for the teaching given, and security of tenure is, with few exceptions, assured. Again, the work done in the State schools is now generally and rightly regarded as of first-rate importance to the community, and therefore as meriting national gratitude in the form of Government superannuation. Popular prejudice against compulsory education, once so strong, may now be said to have disappeared, and the work of the pioneers who endeavoured to create a public opinion in its favour, has borne fruit. To-day the parents' attitude towards the teacher is normally one of friendly co-operation and respect, with the result that the latter is fast becoming a powerful factor in shaping and influencing the democracy. The school is extending its influence in every sphere which touches on the social, physical, intellectual, and spiritual well-being of the people. Activities which, until recently,[1] were associated only with institutions distinctly religious in character, are now regularly connected with the work of primary schools. Thus the teacher has every opportunity for the exercise of public spirit, within school and without. He is daily confronted with the problem of evolving and developing an educated democracy, which will demand and obtain proper conditions of life.

The nature of the work asked of the teachers in primary schools, has led to insistence by the State on the necessity for their professional training, as well as for their academic proficiency. These requirements have met with the counter-demand on the part of the teachers in State schools, for State registration. When this Register,[2] now in process of creation, has become an accomplished fact, one of the chief remaining obstacles to the progress of the teaching service will be removed.

It is now time to turn to the conditions of training, service, and remuneration prevailing in English and Welsh elementary schools. The Scotch service differs in some respects, while the state of primary education and the position of elementary teachers in Ireland[3] are altogether worse than in Great Britain.

The Board of Education recognises the following grades of men and women teachers in public elementary schools: pupil teachers, bursars and student teachers, uncertificated teachers, and certificated teachers. Women, over eighteen years of age, who have been vaccinated, may, without any other qualifications, be engaged as supplementary teachers, although the Board cannot entertain any application for the recognition of men in this capacity. A supplementary teacher may teach (I) infants' classes, that is to say, classes in which the majority of the scholars are under eight years of age, or (2) the lowest class of older scholars in a school or department in a rural parish, if the average attendance in the school does not exceed 100.

The number of supplementary teachers employed in the schools of

England and Wales in the year 1910–11 was 14,454.

If we turn to uncertificated teachers, we find that during the year 1909–10 there were 45,549 employed in the schools of England and Wales, and that this number was increased by 182 during the year 1910–11. Of the uncertificated teachers of England in the year 1910–11, 5,106 were men and 35,222 were women.

The vast majority of rural schools have only one certificated teacher on the staff, and in hundreds of rural schools the head teacher is not certificated.

The following statistics with regard to certificated teachers have

been taken from the published return of the Board of Education,

1910–11:[4]—

England. Wales.

Men. Women. Men. Women.

Trained 22,134 30,410 2,260 1810

Untrained 9,060 33,121 539 1598

These figures show that of men teachers, 70 per cent. in England and 81 per cent. in Wales are trained, while of women teachers only 46 per cent. in England and 51 per cent. in Wales are trained.

These statistics are indicative of the urgent need for total abolition of uncertificated and supplementary teachers, since the recognition of these grades offers a direct incentive to girls just to bridge over the period between leaving school and getting married, without qualifying even for what ought to be regarded as the lowest ranks of the profession. This fact is at once realised, when one contrasts the percentage of women teachers who are untrained, viz., 54 per cent, in England, 49 per cent, in Wales, with the corresponding figures for men teachers, viz., 30 per cent, in England and 29 per cent, in Wales.

Every candidate for teachership, who has passed through a Training College, is required by the Board of Education to serve in a recognised school—a woman for five out of the first eight years after leaving College; a man for seven out of the first ten years after leaving College—or pay the whole or part of the Government grant in respect of College training. But, notwithstanding this agreement, enforceable under Act of Parliament,[5] the Board of Education neither takes steps to find employment for such candidates in the State schools of the country, nor admits any responsibility on its part for the conditions under which teachers are employed. By the Education Act of 1902, local authorities, of which there are 318, were made chiefly responsible for the work of education, and it is these local authorities who lay down the conditions of appointment.

This refusal by the Board of Education of responsibility for appointments and conditions of appointment to teaching posts, leaves it for local authorities to fix scales of salaries, and to decide such questions as, for example, whether married women teachers shall be employed. The grave effect of this state of things on the economic interests of the teachers of the country cannot be too much emphasised, having regard to the fact that local authorities are bodies composed mainly of men elected on a rate-saving principle.

The salaries paid to bursars and student teachers are insufficient to cover charges for maintenance, clothes, books, etc. Speaking generally, a quite substantial sum must also be found during each year of the collegiate course, for college expenses and for board and lodging during vacations, so that a candidate's parents must hold themselves financially responsible for her during the various stages of her training, except in so far as the cost is covered by scholarship and maintenance grants. Women candidates are in this respect far worse off than their male colleagues, as, at every stage of their training, they receive a smaller maintenance grant. At a residential college, while men receive £40, women receive £20; at a non-residential college the grant for men is £25, for women £20. As the whole supply of teachers for each year leaves the Training Colleges in July,[6] it follows that many of these must wait for varying periods before finding employment: during these periods the burden of maintenance must again be borne by the parents. The need for legislation in the economic interests of teachers is borne out by the fact that highly trained students of good character are unable to find employment, even at low salaries. Of 4,384 teachers who left the training colleges in July 1908, at least 1,226 were, three months later, without employment, and 259 were known to be without employment even twelve months later; whilst of the 4,386 students who left the Training Colleges in July 1909, 1,528 were still without employment in October 1909. These figures are for both sexes, but by far the larger number of teachers are women.

These facts explain why it is that local authorities, bent on keeping down the rates, have been enabled to obtain the services of certificated teachers at the scale of salaries which they advertise for uncertificated teachers: in fact many fully qualified certificated teachers have been forced to work for a rate of payment lower than that received by an unskilled labourer; a natural corollary to this condition of things is that many would-be teachers refuse to expend time and money on training.

This state of affairs has had one other effect which is of vital importance when the economic position of women teachers is being considered, namely, that local authorities, in order to appease the popular outcry against this apparently overstocked market, have been led to sanction regulations for the compulsory retirement of women teachers on marriage. Happily the London County Council has not succumbed to this temptation, and there are other equally enlightened authorities. But constant watchfulness is needed in order to prevent retrogression in this matter. Young teachers, anxiously awaiting promotion, sometimes foolishly resist the appointment or retention of married women. This is a suicidal policy, to be resisted at all costs, both in the interests of the teachers and of the children. Salaries are bound to remain low, while women are forced to consider their profession in the light of a stop-gap until marriage, and not as a life-work. Moreover, there are real dangers in entrusting girls' education entirely to unmarried women. The salaries of assistant teachers vary very considerably. In no single instance is a woman teacher paid the same rate of salary as a man of the same professional status. This is true even when the work is identical in character, as is the case in mixed schools and pupil teachers' centres. One of the results of this inequality of payment is that women teachers are often employed to teach the lower classes in boys' schools, and some rural schools are staffed entirely by women, not because the woman teacher is deemed more suitable for the work, but because her labour is cheaper; hence the need, in the teaching profession, for recognition of the principle of "equal pay for equal work." Without it, the status of the woman becomes lower than that of the man, inferior or unqualified women are appointed, and men are driven from the profession. Only when there is equality of pay can there be security that the best candidate will be appointed, irrespective of sex.

The following table taken from the latest returns of the Board of Education contrasts the number of women and men employed in the elementary schools of England, and the number of women and men employed in the better paid higher elementary schools of the country, for the year 1910–11.

Higher

Elementary Elementary

Schools Schools.

No. of Head Teachers (certificated) Men : 12,477 : 36

" " " " Women : 16,648 : 4

" Assistant " " Men : 18,659 : 161

" " " Women : 46,881 : 117

" " (uncertificated) Men : 5,091 : 4

" " " Women : 34,910 : 2

An examination of statistics with regard to the salaries of teachers in England, taken from the same returns, year 1910–11, shows that—

I. Average salaries (Elementary Schools) were:—

£ s. d.

Head Teachers (Certificated) Men 176 3 11

" " " Women 122 18 1

" " (uncertificated) Men 94 8 0

" " " Women 68 3 5

Assistant Teachers (certificated) Men 127 9 11

" " " Women 92 8 6

" " (uncertificated) Men 65 2 11

" " " Women 54 14 1

II. (1) 67.93 per cent. of the certificated head masters receive less than £200 per annum.

(2) 93.9 per cent. of the certificated head mistresses receive less than £200 per annum.

(3) 93.38 per cent. of the certificated assistant masters receive less than £200 per annum.

(4) 97.73 per cent. of the certificated assistant mistresses receive less than £150 per annum.

III. The salaries of certificated teachers (England) were:—

Head Teachers. Assistant Teachers.

Men. Women. Men. Women.

Under £50 1 2 2 352

Totals £50 and under £100 394 4,967 3,838 29,915

" 100 " " 150 4,506 8,032 9,933 15,548

" 150 " " 200 3,575 2,631 3,651 1,065

" 200 " " 250 2,395 742 1,235 1

" 250 " " 300 963 209————

" 300 " " 350 422 65————

" 350 " " 400 125——————

" 400 " " 450 93——————

" 450 " " 500 2——————

" 560 1——————

IV. The salaries of uncertificated teachers are usually lower than the wage of a skilled artisan—the average for men head teachers being below £100, and for women head teachers below £70, whilst 7,855 assistant teachers receive less than £50.

V. Supplementary teachers usually receive, of course without board or lodging, a salary equal to the money-wage of an average domestic servant. They are commonly less well qualified than is she, for the work undertaken.

The chances of promotion to a headship are obviously so few, that the certificated teacher will probably remain an assistant all her life. Chances of head-teacherships are being still further reduced by the amalgamation of departments under a head master.

In the schools of many large urban education authorities, less than 1 per cent. of the assistant teachers obtain promotion in twelve months. The total number applying for the 163 places to be filled in the last promotion list that was formed by the London Education Authority, was 2,337, so that, as a direct result of the publication of that list, 2,174 teachers resumed their work after the summer vacation of 1911 with feelings of less hopefulness with regard to their future prospects. The issue of a promotion list is in itself a fact to be deplored, seeing that it acts as a check to mental alertness. For the 2,174 unsuccessful candidates for inclusion, their application has now either destroyed hope, or suspended any chances of its realisation for at least two years. There is a consciousness in the unsuccessful applicant of somehow being worth less than she was before, since she is now an assistant mistress without potentiality for head teachership. This feeling does not promote good work. The issue of a promotion list is from every point of view bad policy, and although its direct action is confined to London, its sphere of indirect influence is very far-reaching, since London County Council applicants for country posts are often asked whether they have been included in it.

The essential qualification in a mistress of an elementary school is ability to teach a great variety of subjects: she must be qualified for and prepared to teach all the subjects which make up the curriculum of her school. The diversity of these will be seen from the subjects taught in an average typical elementary school:—

Girls' Department.—Reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, literature, history, geography, nature study, hygiene, physical training, drawing (including brush-work), needlework (including cutting-out), knitting, scripture.

Infants' Department.—Reading, writing, number, kindergarten and other varied occupations, physical exercises (dancing and games), needlework and knitting, singing, drawing, painting, modelling, recitation, oral composition, dramatising stories, scripture.

The ordinary day is divided into two sessions: the morning session lasting from 9 A.m. to 12 noon, and the afternoon session from 2 P.m. to 4 P.m. (infants), 4.30 P.m. (girls).

The strain of a teacher's life in an elementary school, and the deadening influence of routine work will be realised when it is stated that, besides teaching all the subjects above-mentioned, she is in front of her class of sixty pupils during the whole of the two sessions each day, from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.

In addition to the purely teaching work the mistress has to take her share in the various activities which are now centring in the school—Care Committees, After-Care Committees, the feeding of necessitous children, the cleansing of children, medical inspection, and so forth. There are also such social activities as old girls' clubs, school journeys and school parties, in which she has to co-operate; finally, the strain is not lessened by the fact that she has to satisfy two sets of inspectors, viz., those of the Board of Education and those of the local authority who require her to keep special report books, varying in character and in the amount of detail required, according to the idiosyncrasies of the particular inspectors who may happen to be allocated to her district.

In spite of the building regulations of the Board of Education, many school premises are far from satisfactory with regard to lighting, ventilation, construction, and often even cleanliness; these defects naturally have their effect on the health of the teachers, so that notwithstanding medical inspection during training and the rejection of the unfit, an alarming number of cases of consumption has been reported to the Benevolent Fund of the National Union of Teachers. In addition to this, the strain (already referred to) under which teachers in the Metropolitan and larger urban districts work, is resulting in an increasing number of nervous breaksdown.

The conditions under which a teacher works in a school in a rural district are so unsatisfactory that they deserve special mention. There are 245 schools in Wales and 2,199 in England with an average attendance of less than 40; such schools are staffed by a head teacher, assisted, in all probability, only by a supplementary teacher. Education suffers in these circumstances as a result of the number and the manysidedness of the responsibilities which devolve upon the head teacher; while the consciousness of her inability to realise her ideals will re-act unfavourably upon her health. Another factor that must be borne in mind is that these rural schools, being small, should, to secure efficiency, be proportionately expensive for up-keep. In order to keep the cost of maintenance as low as possible, however, the remuneration offered to teachers in rural schools is so small as to be a national disgrace. To this must be further added the fact that many rural teachers are compelled to live 5, 10, and even 15 miles away from a railway station, so that the cost of living is much more than it would be in town. Thus it is that rural schools which should cost more for up-keep than large urban schools, work out at a smaller figure per scholar.[7]

Not only is her salary low, but a mistress in a rural school often has to live in a state of semi-isolation from social and intellectual activities. It should excite no surprise, therefore, that mistresses are reluctant to apply for such posts. This difficulty of shortage of supply is having a sinister and subtle effect on the economic interests of married women teachers, for, owing to the difficulty in obtaining assistant teachers in rural districts, it frequently happens that where the head teacher is a master, his wife, who may be a fully qualified certificated teacher, has to act as his assistant and receive the pay of a supplementary teacher.

During her years of service, each mistress in an elementary school is required to contribute £2, 8s. per annum to the Government Superannuation Fund. These contributions purchase a small annuity to which the Government add a pension at the rate of 10s. for each year of service. When she becomes qualified for a pension, the mistress must surrender her certificate and cease to practise as a teacher, so that, if we assume she has begun work at the age of twenty and has continued teaching to the age of sixty-five, she will, after forty-five years of recorded service, receive a pension of £22, 10s. per annum, plus the annuity which her contributions will have purchased. It should, however, be mentioned that London and a few other towns have established complementary schemes whereby teachers, though contributing more, obtain pensions more commensurate with their salaries. Under the Government scheme, the superannuation allowance cannot become payable until the teacher has attained the age of sixty-five years, and, even then, it can be obtained only by a teacher whose years of recorded service are not less than half the number of years which have elapsed since she became certificated; thus, if the mistress, being certificated at the age of twenty, marries and, by the regulations of the local authority, is forced to resign, she forfeits all claim to the Government contribution, unless she has completed twenty-two years of recorded service: nor are her contributions returned to her.

Teachers in elementary schools are well organised for the purpose of self-protection. The National Union of Teachers is a powerful body, having a membership of 78,000 men and women teachers. It is directly represented in Parliament, both on the Liberal and Labour sides, and owes its influence largely to the voting power of its members.[8]

When the National Insurance Act of 1912 came into force, there were 85,000 elementary teachers to whom its clauses applied, and who therefore found it advisable to join an approved society. For this purpose the Teachers' Provident Society of the National Union of Teachers was re-organised as an approved society under the Act. In addition to providing protection for its members, the National Union of Teachers, by means of its Benevolent and Orphan Fund, helps those, who, through ill-health or other causes are in need of assistance. It also maintains two orphanages—one for boys in London, and one for girls in Sheffield.

At the present time there is a strong probability of a dearth of qualified teachers for elementary schools in the near future. There are several factors which have been influential in bringing about this state of affairs—one is, the uncertainty of employment, even after a long and comparatively costly training. This defect will be remedied only when a rational method of regulating the supply of teachers is established, so that each candidate may be certain that, if she qualifies, she will be guaranteed employment.

Many desirable persons are debarred from entering the teaching profession, because the rate of remuneration is low, considering the responsibility of the work; and this drawback is still further emphasised by the very inadequate pension which is offered at the close of the teacher's career. This difficulty can be overcome only when the main burden of the cost of education is removed from local taxation and placed on the national exchequer.

Another factor which tends to make the teaching profession unattractive, is the very strenuous life which it entails under modern conditions. Again, so far as women are concerned, there is not complete security of tenure, though apart from the regulation that obtains under some local authorities, requiring women to resign on marriage, teachers in elementary schools, owing to the efforts of their various organisations, possess far greater security of tenure than teachers in any other branch of the profession. Another point in favour of the teachers in elementary schools, is their freedom from the burden of extraneous duties, and from the nightmare of external examinations.

When schools can be more generously staffed, so that, for example, the number of assistant teachers exceeds the number of classes to be taught, a good deal will have been done to relieve the strain under which teachers are at present working.

Finally, when education authorities and the public generally, become sufficiently enlightened to realise that it is uneconomical to dismiss a teacher when she marries i.e., when by her experience she is most capable of preparing her pupils for life—then women will be encouraged to enter the teaching profession, and to realise that they must equip themselves as well as possible for what is to be their life-work.

[Footnote 1: In this connection, the work of the Care-Committees, now an integral feature of the elementary education system, must not be forgotten. It will be fully considered in a later volume of this series. [EDITOR.]]

[Footnote 2: The conditions for registration were issued on 22nd

November 1913, after this book had gone to press. [EDITOR.]]

[Footnote 3: Vide Article on Education in Ireland, by May Starkie in The New Statesman Supplement on "The Awakening of Ireland," 12th July 1913. [EDITOR.]]

[Footnote 4: Since this paper was written, a fresh report (Code 6707) has been published by the Board of Education. The statistical tables do not materially differ from those given above.]

[Footnote 5: On the other hand, the Board seldom proceeds against teachers who have broken their bond. [Editor.]]

[Footnote 6: The experiment of ending the College course for certain students at Easter, is now being made. But the movement is too young, and the Colleges experimenting are too few, to make it possible to draw deductions. At any rate it looks like a move in the right direction.]

[Footnote 7: This is a matter, the investigation of which should be included in Mr. Lloyd George's Land Campaign. There is an obvious connection between the status of the agricultural labourer and the inefficiency of rural schools. [EDITOR.]]

[Footnote 8: The women members are in a large majority, but, being women, do not, as yet, possess the vote. Their peculiar interests, of course, do not obtain representation.]