or working out the
teaching of her subject and improving its technique. Education would
gain if more of the ablest teachers, specially successful in one or
other of these directions, were left in a position to continue this
work, instead of feeling obliged to substitute for it the perhaps
uncongenial task of organisation on a large scale, and that contact
with visitors, organisers, inspectors, committees, and the public,
which occupies the time of the heads of schools. The truth of this is,
I am told, better appreciated in Germany than in this country.

Since local authorities took over the work, secondary teachers have
gained considerably both as regards salaries and tenure. They are now,
as a rule, better paid than elementary teachers, which was not always
the case before 1902.

The tenure of the teacher varies in different schools. It is now less
common than formerly for the appointment and dismissal of the staff to
be entirely in the hands of the Headmistress; and assistants are
thus safe-guarded against possible unfair and arbitrary action. The
Headmistress,[6] however, has almost invariably a preponderating voice
in the selection of her staff--as is right if the school is to be
a living organism, not merely one of a series of machines with
interchangeable parts; but the power of dismissal, if in her hands,
is usually safe-guarded by the right of appeal to the appointing
body--local authority or board of governors as the case may be. This
right of appeal should be universal, and formal agreements should in
all cases be made. (A model form of agreement has been drawn up by the
Association of Assistant Mistresses.)

Pensions are not generally provided for secondary teachers; but a
national pension scheme for them is under consideration, and there is
hope that it will not be long delayed.

The poorer members of the teaching profession come under the National
Health Insurance Act and are provided for by the University, Secondary
and Technical Teachers' Insurance Society which already numbers eleven
thousand members. This society also offers, in its Dividend Section,
to those not compulsorily insured the opportunity for voluntary
insurance against sickness. Association among secondary teachers has
been considerably furthered by the desire to qualify for membership in
the Insurance Society.

The distinctive associations for secondary mistresses are the
Headmistresses' Association and the Association of Assistant
M