More than 1 teacher in 3 said he would be most attracted to positions in these schools by special inducements such as smaller classes, extra preparation or counseling periods, and more instructional materials and books. More than 1 in 4 said that providing more specialists, such as guidance counselors, school psychologists, and remedial reading specialists to assist teachers would have the most appeal in getting him to teach in one of these schools. Incentive pay for teachers in such schools is rated first by less than 1 teacher in 10. Likewise, rotation systems and teacher aides have little appeal. Set up a rotation system in which all qualified teachers in the city would serve for a specified period in these schools Undecided Other Number reporting 11.6 13.3 9.5 6.5 6.2 6.8 8.0 5.8 10.9 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% ...... 1,461 789 672 It is particularly noteworthy that the special inducements which give teachers an opportunity to teach better have the strongest appeal for teachers employed in large school systems. The distributions of opinions by size of school system are as follows: Provide special in- Provide teacher-aides TEACHING INCENTIVE ACT OF 1965 A full duty-free lunch period daily for all teachers with a com petent monitorial staff employed to supervise pupils who eat at school .... A full duty-free lunch period on scheduled days and lunch duty on other scheduled days for all teachers on a rotating basis with fellow teachers Part of a lunch period duty-free daily for all teachers and a part of the period with lunch duty, on an alternating basis with fellow teachers All teachers responsible for supervising their pupils during Number reporting Number reporting .... 1,174 A duty-free lunch period for teachers is one of NEA's present priority items. Many local education associations are pressing for such policies in their school systems. Yes .... No ... Uncertain Number reporting Yes 58% Taking sides on political issues. (March 1963, Teacher Opinion Poll 5. Reported in the NEA Journal, March 1964, p. 72.) Traditionally, a feeling of public pressure has often barred public-school teachers from openly participating in partisan political campaigns. There are indications, however, that these traditional restrictions are changing. Today, 4 teachers in 5 say that, generally speaking, teachers in their communities feel free to take sides (outside the classroom) on political issues. Moreover, 2 teachers in 5 say teachers feel "as free as any other citizen." Unfortunately, 1 teacher in 5 says that, generally speaking, there is still a feeling of restraint among teachers in his community. These opinions were obtained by the NEA Research Division from a sample of teachers in 1963. The question asked was: Do you think teachers in the community in which you teach feel free to take sides publicly (outside the classroom) on political issues? |