Women Workers in Seven Professions Part 3

Membership of the Teachers' Guild of Great Britain and Ireland, of the College of Preceptors, and of the National Union of Teachers is also open to secondary teachers. In the last-named they may join hands with the great body of elementary teachers; in the first two organisations with private teachers also. There are also a.s.sociations for teachers of certain subjects, the Ling a.s.sociation and the a.s.sociation of Teachers of Domestic Subjects. Membership of such bodies as the Historical, Geographical and various Scientific a.s.sociations is valuable because not confined to teachers.

Though the President of the a.s.sociation of a.s.sistant Mistresses has said that "there would be a strong feeling against definite organisation for the purpose of forcing up rates of remuneration,"[7]

yet that body has investigated the scales of pay offered by local authorities, and writes in protest when posts are advertised at low rates.

Under present conditions the principle of general equality of income, not yet being considered as a serious proposition, it is surely economically right for the teaching profession to claim remuneration sufficient to give it a status corresponding to the worth and dignity of its work. Above all, women not entirely dependent on their earnings, and therefore in a position to resist under-payment, should not act as blacklegs and keep down the rate for others dependent for a livelihood on their occupation.

Under-payment for teachers means a narrower, more anxious life than should be theirs who are to live in the strongly electric atmosphere of a body of girls and young women and yet keep a calm serenity of spirit--a life less full than is essential for those who have to give at all times freely of their best.

Similarly, in order that the fullest possible life may be open to the woman teacher, it seems desirable that continuance in the profession after marriage should be more usual than it is. Again, from the point of view of the pupils this is desirable. Mrs Humphrey Ward is not the only opponent of women's suffrage to state that the atmosphere of girls' schools suffers from the preponderating spinster element.

Suffragists may for once join hands with her and urge that the married woman is in some ways better suited for young people than her unmarried colleague.[8] Often the most valuable years of a woman's life are lost to the school by her enforced retirement at marriage.

She gives to it her younger, less experienced years, when she knows less of the world, less of the problems of the household, less of the outlook of the parents. It must be remembered that the parents' point of view is important if there is to be right co-operation between home and school. To the teacher-mother there will come an altogether new power of understanding, which should ultimately compensate the school for broken time during the earlier years of the life of her children.

Provision for absence in these cases might well render more possible provision for a "rest-term" or a _Wanderjahr_, such as should be possible to all mistresses at intervals in their teaching career.

Mistresses are not as a rule aware that under most existing agreements they may claim to continue their work after marriage. They would in a large number of cases be rendering a service to girls' education by doing so. Many secondary teachers will welcome the idea that they need not abandon either the career they have chosen or the prospect of their fullest development as women. The teaching profession would thus retain many valuable members now lost to it on marriage, and the ranks of married women be recruited by many well suited to be the mothers of citizens.

The career of teaching adolescent girls gives to those following it, in the daily routine, many experiences which others seek for in leisure hours. The woman among girls has the privilege of handing on to them the keys to the intellectual treasuries where she has enriched herself, of setting their feet in the paths which have led her to fruitful fields. She may watch over the birth and growth of the reasoning powers of her pupils and guide them to their intellectual victories, initiating them into the great fellowship of workers for truth. It is interesting but it is not easy work. We have seen that the material recompense of the teacher is not great, and if she looks for other return she will too often be disappointed. And yet there is compensation. Here as elsewhere he that saveth his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life shall indeed find it.

[Footnote 1: "A secondary school ... is a school which provides a progressive course of general education suitable for pupils of an age-range at least as wide as from twelve to seventeen" (Board of Education, Circular 826).]

[Footnote 2: Lecture on "The Life of a Teacher" given to the Fabian, Women's Group, 1912.]

[Footnote 3: Miss I.M. Drummond, _loc, cit._]

[Footnote 4: By the Conditions of Registration issued November 1913, one year's training will be required for all entering the profession after the end of 1918.]

[Footnote 5: Miss I.M. Drummond _loc. cit._ For example, a science graduate with special qualifications in geography, three years'

experience, and a training diploma has recently been appointed to a leading London High School at a salary of 110, with no agreement for yearly or other augmentation. [EDITOR].]

[Footnote 6: The practice of the Girl's Public Day School Trust, largely followed by other governing bodies, is to give the Head the right of nomination, and of dismissal during the probationary period subject to the veto, rarely exercised, of the Committee.]

[Footnote 7: Miss I.M. Drummond _loc. cit._]

[Footnote 8: This is surely a better solution than that proposed in the November 1913, Educational Supplement to the _Times_. The suggestion is there made that the "conventual system" prevailing in some girls' boarding-schools should be changed by having Headmasters instead of Headmistresses. The writer apparently fails to realise that one of the greatest difficulties in co-educational schools is to attract the right sort of mistress, because there is no prospect that she may ultimately attain a headship. The same danger will inevitably arise in any schools which introduce Headmasters. If the masculine element is desirable, and we agree that this may well be so, the obvious course is either to have some male a.s.sistants, or to have married house-mistresses, on the a.n.a.logy of the married house-master at boys' schools. A still better solution, in our opinion, is co-education, with pupils of both s.e.xes, a mixed staff, and a joint Headmaster and Headmistress. In many of the new County and Munic.i.p.al Secondary Schools this innovation has been successfully adopted, though the Senior Mistress is unfortunately in all cases definitely subordinate to the Headmaster. [EDITOR.]]

IV

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHING

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, a.s.sured. 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 grat.i.tude 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' att.i.tude 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 a.s.sociated only with inst.i.tutions 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' cla.s.ses, that is to say, cla.s.ses in which the majority of the scholars are under eight years of age, or (2) the lowest cla.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.e.xes, 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 succ.u.mbed 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 a.s.sistant 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 cla.s.ses 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 s.e.x.

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 " a.s.sistant " " 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant masters receive less than 200 per annum.

(4) 97.73 per cent. of the certificated a.s.sistant mistresses receive less than 150 per annum.

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