HC Deb 13 March 1905 vol 142 cc1193-5
MR. MACVEAGH

To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that many of those Queen's scholars who were in training at the time of the abolition of the results system got notifications from the Pension Office to the effect that they were recognised as second-class teachers, and, as such, are subjected to the stoppage of this class for the Pension Fund; that they are now paid third-grade salary; that, in the year 1900, the words "Special

number of men employed in each case, the number of supervisors, inspectors, gangmen, and others engaged, and the rate of wages paid to the labourers and the others; and whether the men relieved by these works are thereby disfranchised.

(Answered by Mr. Atkinson.)

Distinction" were marked on the pass papers of those candidates who obtained sixty-five per cent. of answering; that these teachers are in first division of second class, and therefore rank higher than third grade; and whether the remuneration will be increased accordingly.

(Answered by Mr. Atkinson.) The system of promotion of teachers by examination and classification was abolished from the 1st April, 1900. But teachers already "classed" were allowed to retain their classification, and others who at the time were seeking promotion in classification either by undergoing a course of training or through efficient service extending over a number of years, were granted special consideration when the amounts of their consolidated salaries were being fixed. In some cases where the teachers had already qualified for promotion in classification on or before the 1st April, 1900,or were then completing service that would qualify them for higher classification, the promotions were granted subsequently by the Board, and the Pensions Office was duly advised. But it did not follow as a necessary consequence of such promotion in classification that the teachers concerned should get a corresponding promotion in gradation, classification and gradation being very different things. There are very many teachers in the service whose classification is higher than their gradation, and there is a considerable number whose gradation is higher than their classification. The remuneration of teachers under the present system of payments depends entirely on their "gradation," and though the classification of a teacher may be a not unimportant element in the determination of a teacher's gradation, it is only one of such elements.