The Newfoundland Teachers' Association 1890-1930: its founding

• Main Author: Cuff, Harry Alfred
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1971
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7113/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7113/1/Cuff_HarryAlfred.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7113/3/Cuff_HarryAlfred.pdf

The Newfoundland Teachers' Association was founded in 1890 by a group of teachers who desired an association which would lay primary emphasis on teacher welfare and protection. At the same time, the Superintendents of Education were attempting to found a "Teachers' Institute" - a type of organization operating in England and Canada at the time, which would stress a program of professional development of teachers and the improvement of education in general, and which would admit to membership such people as Superintendents, Inspectors and School Board members. -- Following phenomenal success in persuading the Liberal government to establish a teachers' pension plan and to increase teachers' salaries, the infant association ceased to function shortly after its founder was given a high-paying Civil Service position. -- In the year 1898 a Superintendent of Education, with the support of a principal of a school operated by his religious denomination and in collaboration with the Colonial Secretary, revived the NTA - but with the hope that it would function as an Institute. Such an organization was rejected by the teachers, however, who refused to accept a clause in the constitution which would have extended honorary membership to people other than teachers. Shortly thereafter, the NTA expired for the second time. -- There was a similar struggle taking place at the time in Canada, but there, in every province the existence of a general educational organization or an Institute had preceded the founding of a teachers' association, with such organizations in many cases being transformed into independent teachers' associations in the early 1900's. -- When the NTA was revived in 1908, the privilege of honorary membership was extended to Superintendents of Education, and the Association pursued a concurrent policy of protective and professional objectives. Had it not been for its continuous publication of the NTA Journal, a subscription to which was included in the membership fee, the Association would probably have become ...