THE STATE SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1865, 26 September 1913, Page 10

THE STATE SCHOOLS.

.MINISTER'S ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report of the Education Department-tor inc. year ifl2 was prefaced to tlie rlouse ot Representatives ,-esterday uy the ituiusMjr lor ixiucation .the Hon. jas. Allen). I'lie number ot imhlic schools open at -the end ot 19J2 irus 2214, as against 2161 i for the year L'Jli. Tnus there is an increase ot 48. l'lio number of smull schools with an iverage attendance not exceeding 15 lias increased since 11)11 from 555 to 559. I'herc. has likowiso been a marked increase in schools, with an average'atlendanco of 16 to 80 —1268 as compared ivith 1225. Taking all the schools with not more than 80 ill average attendance, there is an increase of 4V. Of schools ;yith an average attendance of over 8(J the number has increased by 1 —387 a 6 against 386. It %vill thus be seen that Lho total inercaso (48) has taken place almost entirely in the rural schools, ivith one or two teachers only. Schools ivith an averago of 35 or under are sole-teacher schools. Thero were 1343 such schools. The number of schools ,vitli two or more teachers was, in 1911, 330. In 1912 the number was 854, an increase of 24. Of these schools there itere, in 1911, 31 with an average attonlance exceeding 600, and 35 in 1912. The average attendance for the year 1912 increased by 2.9 per cent., as compared with an increase of 3.3 pe'r cent, in the roll number. Increases of percentage were recorded in tlio Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, and Grey education districts. The percentage renained stationary in tho_ Auckland district, while the remaining eight districts showed slight decreases. The decrease was most marked in the Marljorouph, Otago, Wanganui, and-Tara-laki districts. Otago and Wellington. ;ach with a percentage of 90.2, headed ;hc. list for regularity of attendance. Faranaki shows the lowest percentage of iverage attendance —87.1 —a falling-off )f 1.2 per cent, from last year. Men and Women Teachers. With the exception of pupil-teachers ind sole teachers of small schools, the proportion of males to females is not small. As a matter of fact, the ratio pf adult males to adtilt females in icliools in the Auckland district was as u'gli as 100 —125. Tlio figures relating to pupil-teachers indicate that a very much larger percentage of females enter the service than males j but it is to be borne in mind that a number of these tannic pupil-teachers leave before completing their period of training. The largo proportion of female teachers to males ill schools having 1 to 15'scholirs in attendance is readily explained, the maximum salary in these schools, £120 per annum, being too small to attract male teachers. It may bo fairly argued, perhaps, that in districts not 100 remote women are more suitable than men for small schools of this typo; tiiere are at all events a sufficient number of other positions to absorb nil the men in tlio nrofession at present. Out of a total of 5028 persons engaged in the above-named branches of the teaching profession, there were, in 1912, 1926 men .and 3102 women. Improvement' of Status. It is interesting to' noto that the total increase of teacli6rs during . the year is 261, that the certificated teachers have increased by 136, tlio partially qualified by 67, and the uncertificated by only 58. This preponderant increase of wholly or partially qualified tcachers is distinctly gratifying,, and is duo in a largo extent to tho, facilities now available to teachers to tako classes with a view to imp'rovo their, examination status. There are, however, other causes tending to induce tcachors to improve their examination status when .possible. Certain education boards, for instance, have decided to dispense, whoro possible, with the services of teachers who are making no effort to qualify for their positions by examination. Moreover, the additional monetary inducements offered in recent years to tcachers in New Zealand schools has chocked tho outflow of competent teachers to more lucrative spheres of employment, and has proved an additional stimulus to tho younger teachers,, to improve thoir status', as quicklv as possible. And, lastly, there must be taken into account tho steady output of certificated teachers from the four training colleges. Education boards and others have submitted that it is impossiblo to «x r pect teachcrs of schools with an average attendance of 15 or less (Grades 0 and I) to qualify for certificates. Tho fact that about 25 per,cent, only of such teachers' are certificated and that the proportion is not on the increase appoars to hear out this contention. To obtain a fair comparison of tho numbers of certificated and uncertificated teachers, therefore, it would he reasonable to omit teachers of schools in Grades 0 and I. Secondary Schools. , In spito of slight decreases in the numbers at district high schools-and Maori secondary schools, thero has been a satisfactory increase in tlio total number receiving secondary education. Based on the estimated population of New Zealand as at December 31 last, the proportion of persons receiving some form of dav secondary education in that year was 94, per 10,000 of population. There are now very few pupils—only 19.7 in every IGo—wlio pay fees for admission into secondary schools. That tlie free-placo system has undoubtedly been fully taken advantage of by the people of' New Zealand is ovidenced by tho enormous increase in free places m the last few years. In 1903 there were 1600 free pupils at secondary schools; now tlie number has increased by nearly 180 per cent.