Employment Practices and Working Conditions in the Elementary and Secondary Schools

TLDR: In this article, the authors focus on the men who must select, assign, evaluate, promote, cultivate, and protect teachers, and they refer to the three or four central, vital areas in the management of schools: selection, appointment, and adjustment of teachers.

Abstract: PERSONNEL administration is generally recognized by school administrators (and professors who teach administrators) as one of the three or four central, vital areas in the management of schools. This chapter, perhaps more than others in this issue of the REVIEW, is addressed to the men who must select, assign, evaluate, promote, cultivate, and protect teachers. When one says "employment practices and working conditions," one has pretty much described the scope of public-school personnel administration. Cross references will be made from time to time to other chapters in this issue, and an effort will be made not to duplicate the analyses of others; however, what is applicable to the practitioners' problem is hard to delimit neatly. In brief, the author sees the function of Chapter IV as organizing certain pertinent publications in appropriate terms for the man who employs and who is responsibile in many ways for working conditions. Cabe (7), Fulkerson (19), and Yeager (85) summarized personnel administration in somewhat similar terms. Yeager's section on selection, appointment, and adjustment of teachers is particularly pertinent in establishing this viewpoint in regard to administrative responsibility. Before entering on a more systematic treatment of the subject, three general references deserve mention for the factual information they provide on a wide variety of topics. The International Bureau of Education (29) issues the International Yearbook of Education which contains reviews of conditions for 60 countries. Information is presented on a topical basis; items, such as teacher shortages, training, and conditions of service, include international comparisons. There are also sections on each country which give other items and greater detail. The 1953 issue was the most recent as of this writing. The 1954 International Conference on Public Education (30) produced a report which provides fascinating facts and figures about working conditions and salaries of secondary-school teachers in the nations of the world. Perspective gained from this report shows that the American high-school teacher is not in every way the most fortunate of those so employed. Garber's Yearbook of School Law (23) gives succinct treatment to a variety of topics related to employment and working conditions. Certification, tenure, contracts, salaries (paid and not paid), failure to answer questions regarding subversive activities, and other pertinent matters were dealt with. 227