BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 463, 16 April 1890, Page 4

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Auckland, April 11 This afternoon, at the meeting of the Board of Education, the first business, after the Chairman’s report was read, was the election of chairman. . . . Mr Upton, the retiring Chairman, said he wished to make a few remarks on the last years woik, and the present seemed a convenient time to make a retrospect. The purpose of the Board of Education was to carry out the provisions of the Act, get the children and the province to read with intelligence, to write legibly, to express their thoughts on paper intelligibly, to learn something of their country and the outside world, and most important of all to learn habits of obedience and right conduct Had they succeeded? Their only means of judging was from the reports of their officers? Judging from the reports of their inspectors,they might say that on the whole the*work wasbeing welldone, but there were they had not yet reached perfection. The Board must be vigilant and take care to have efficient teachers. They had 573 teachers, unfortunately not divided in the best way, for they had 110 assistants in excess and about the same number of pupil teachers too few. The literary classification of the teachershad greatly improved, for they had now none but pupil teachers without classification. They had 261 E teachers, 133 D, but only 21 above D. In the appointment of teachers to vacancies they had always considered classification, and had given the preference to D teachers, the reason being that the D certificate meant the possession of a good Englisheducation. At the same time they _ had given due weight to other considerations, such a position in the class, length of service, length of time of holding certificate, and to teaching power as judged from the reports of Inspectors and head teachers. He believed that this system of appointing by fair and definite rules had given confidence to the staff. Another question on which he wished to speak was the change that had been effected during his term of office. That change was the removal from the town of surplus assistants, and the supplying of their places by pupil teachers, at a saving of over £I,OOO. In his hand he held a list of teachers who might be removed in the same way, and by following the same system they would save about £I9OO. Another matter in which he had taken much interest was the establishment of a practising school for young teachers to learn the work of a country school, but for various reasons the school had been a failure. At the same time he thought such a school should be in existence, and he suggested that a room should be obtained where an efficient teacher could bo appointed to conduct a model country school. The relations of the Board with the Committees had on the whole been most cordial, as was evidenced by the way in which the Committees had fallen in with the Board’s plans._ Since he had taken office a saving of £2340 was made in the maintenance aecount. The business now was the election of a chairman. After all the members of the Board had spoken in the highest terms as to Mr Upton’s period of chairmanship Mr Richard Udy was appointed to the vacant position.