PRIMARY EDUCATION IN TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 12, 19 May 1902, Page 2

PRIMARY EDUCATION IN TARANAKI.

THK WSPJEOTOR'd ANNUAL REPORT In tha general way the critical perusal of an official report is more a matter of duty than a source of pleasure, hut an agreeable surprise await* the reader of Mr Spencer's report to tho Taranaki Education Board for the year 1901, which was laid oil the table at tha last monthly meeting rf the Binrri. He has infused that life into the dry bones of his subject which not only makes the report interesting, but givt-s added force to the opinions expressed on th« various matter touched upon, It i«s moreover, replete with common observations; and gives evidence that, the writer i£ not only thoroughly aU fait in educational matters,' btit is also full nl:ve to the interests of the • eacker? and children, as well as to the Unfortunate hindiances cccjsiotud by th> lack of money by which the Board is handicapped in its work and tho district made to suffer. Perhaps <>ne of the most striking characteristics of the report is its judicial impirtiality. This is a good sign, and may b taken «s d'rcct evidonca that the Inspector's earnest and zealous labour.* during the past few years in raising the educational tone of the dis'rict have borne good fruit, though much still remains to be accomglished in this d.rectior. The past year may ho regarded »s the dawn of a new era in primary school work. Education is at last getting out; of that old rut which had nothing to n-commend i r except its antiquity. In the youoger classes, kindergarten work is being introduced with the invariable succ-ss attendant on this enlightened and natural method of awakening and developing intelligence*; class subjects are receiving more attention ; object les9ons a<6 now being skilfully treated, handwork is miking rapid stride, and the majority of teachers have well earned tho measure of praise bestowed by the Inspector on their zeal in equipping themselves (often at, much sacrifice) with the means of up-to-date teaching, i by attending special classes of instruc- , tion in manual and kindergarten work, with most satisfactory results. Two i other innovations ha»e been introduced [ —(1) The examination of Standard 1.1 to V. by the head teacher, and (2) the I colonial scale of staffing and salaries. ■; On both these matters Mr Spencer ■'. offers some pertinent and useful rn- (| marks, to which reference will be mads ; later on. ■ j At the close of the year 66 schools i j were open, the total number on the roll 1 j being 4336, an increase of 219 over , | the previous year. Two new sohoili-' , were opened, one at Tututawa and the j other at Purangi, the latter being a .' hilf-tirae school. Of the 2752 children ' j presented for examination in Standards j.I. to VI. 2096 passed. The mean ['average age of the pupils, taking \ S'andards I. to VII., was 12 y«ars and ; 4 months. In previous yeirs tho averlaga has been corn pur,, d without ref-r----jenci) to Standard VII;, but this yen* j that Standard hae been included («s i<< 1 done in other districts) and baH had the effect of raising tho ofieun avenge by five m>.>n',l'B Nothing attests the ad- . vaune and prosp rity of the distiicr, ; more than the phasing feature referred I to in the report in connection with thi increase in the number of pupils who | are remuinint; in the higher classes i 45 per cunt. in Standard VII., 22 per cnt. in Standard VI., 26 per cent, in Standard V. Tha full effect of this j highly creditable state of affairs, ho>v-' ever, is all the mora apparent when the figures are compared wi'h those in Mr j MurrayV l ist report in 1894, whereby 'jit is seen that Standard VII. was pracitically non existent (only five pupils Jfor the whole district), Standard VI. j showing an incrpase of 151 percent, ! and Standard V. 89 per coot. When lit is boi-ne in mind that since Mr ; Spencer's tenure of office the mean | standard of attainment of the children is acknowledged to have been raised to a higher lsv*l than in most ohher districts, the result is extremely gratifying to all concerned. Naturally, the much discussed question of tho effect of child labour ia connection with the dairy industry is touched upon, but with a close acquaintance, during seven years, of the conditions of child lifu in Tn'anaki, the Inspector m»y we!l be allowed to speak authoritatively on the matter, and he states in no uncertain t -rms that the , conditions of both pi rents and children j

i has vastly improve !, the former being 1 lifted from almost penury to compara- \ tive affluence, whereby not only have | the children been physically benefitted, but they are now kept longer at schooi and sent more regularly. It is true that the average age foijjStun'dard I. is the highest in eolony (9 - 2), bu» it i 6 evident thit this is due to the bid state of most country roads, and the long distances to be travelled. Of the ' 66 schools, 19 are class jd as good to excellent, 22 satisfactory, 11 fair, 14 moderate or inferior. As regards dig--1 cipline, 54 are c'asssd as good to excellent, five satisfactory, five fair, and 1 one has a category to itself —moderate. The schools in which inferior work is found ran us from small schools to those' having 100 in attendance. It is here J that the teachers " display little apti- j tude for their profession, or am io ( other ways unsatisfactory. ' At the j time of writing, five of tin sa teaatn-is! have resigned, or have baen removed." j The question is—How long are the! children io the remaining nine schools i to be handicapped for life by this in-j ferior teaching? No doubt teachersj will hang on long a 1? possible, but sooner or later the Borrd mus f , If o sly j in jastice to the children, facj the ualy question, and remove the only b'ofc now I staining the creditable record of cduca tional progress in the district. In dealing with the manner in which i the various sublets in the syllabus arc! taught, the Inspector's remarks arei characterised by a di-.ci imii.atiug firmness that should encour.g 3 the teachers to remedy those subj cts which are pointed out, and to adopt the useful suggestions offered. It is v ry satisfactory to find that reading shows satisfactory progress, in very few schools such a thing s sing-sons; reading bang Tins impiovement >s one that Mr Spencer ban ar .tf year beea striving to attain, not by cocfcinuous " growling," but by the far better plan of pointing out the proper methods of teaching this import tnt sub • joct, and he is to bo congratulated on the resulc of his efforts. Spelling in the special test is satisfactory, but, as in previous years, is weik in the general work, Theie is no r,e d to be disheartened over this, as spelliog is a veritable pitfall to the majority of; puople, young and old, and a p oficientr spoiler is u rarity. With regard toj. writing, the Inspector eoasiiers i. generally satisfactory, especially when compared with specimons to be found in j cc py i.nd oxettdsj books ficmotLor dis-< lucu. A -vcl i! pci.-ii ic : f-.-.d : ; ,wllige». u u.'.-pkyjd iu ,'&■s •im:n*<ion papeis. coiapobi- j | tvi up t; St , <4 l,l'ii IV. sliOW*. s - i -y «i pragy«Bi, tat it upjiCKij '.j be tAMh .

room forimp'ovemen', especially in h higher standards, Until the b st avail able literature is placed before the younger children, and the present crude jerky sentences put out of sigh composition will continue to be fuctoiy. Arithmetic, as indicsttd by the test cards, exhibits a steady increaan in intelligence, but mental p.ritbmft tic is described as poor. The Utter lepends so much on the special aptitude of the teachers for this work that the children must not be blamed, It is just one of thoa<» subjects that call for exceptional ability on the instructor'tt part, but is frequently approached in a perfunctory or haphazard manner, which confuses rather than developes the reasoning powers of children, The efficiency or otherwise of any school w demonstrated m re than anything else by the r«sults attained in teaching "class subjects" drawing, geography, grammar,, history, Hcidnce, object lessons, recitations, and handwork. In these subjects the work in 17 schools wasgood to excellent, in 13 satisfactorv, in 12 fair, in 13 moderate, and in 10 inferior. The best work in geography feems to be map-drawing (New Zealand). Physical and mathematical geography still leave much b i desired. This menu that only the fringe of the subject; is taught, and yet with up-to-date methods ge>grapny can not only be taught successfully, but made interesicg. It, is a real pleasure to find that', at length the old system of drawing is likely to disappear. It should ] have been accorded a respectable funeral | years back and given way to more in'elligent methods. It is to he hoped 'hat the necessary funds for appliances for fre» arm drawing will be forthcoming. Another forward utep has been made by the introduction of brush work, whioh in many schools is displacing drawing. There is only om drawback to this work, and th it is the expense; but thi*could, iri great measure, be mitigated by the Board procuring the material at wholesale prices, and supplying it to the schools at net. cos I '. A similtr course might, with advantage, be pursued in relatiou to kiHur- | garten mat-rial. On th-j subjfc ;t of grammar, the Inspector does not hesitate tocond. mntha present t-ystem. In \ his sweeping remarks on this subject he should be backed up by all right- , minded educationalits of the day. Ha not only puts his fing?r on the Wot, , but points out the remedy, giving weighty and unanswerable reasons for ! the much desired change. Object lesI sons, skilfully treated, are powerful . levers in educational work, and it is , satisfactory to learn that continued ira- ( proveraent is manifest, d. Itisnotsurt prif-irg to find that the results of | gener.il science teaching continue to be j unsatisfactory, and thera is little room ( for h"pe of its baing otherwise, Success- , ful sciecce teachers aw -'born, not i made."

With regard to tho new systm whereby the schools are examined hy the head teachers up to Standard V, the Inspector offers some very sound and practical criticisms on the results for the past two yews. As a whole he gives the teachers credit for exercising 'sound judgment, add nir that in ft few cases rattier '.to h'gh a standard has been exacted. In the light of the classification of the schools previously mentioned, it is n..t surprising to find that repeated experience has .'aught tho Inspector th it not the elighti sS reliance can be placed on the results of tho examinations held by a few of the teachers, and this is an additional reason why such should make way for those more zoalous and able. The Inspector's work has grown so vastly that the existence of such hindrances to his o>her dutits impairs the progress of educational work by taking up valuable time which could be mote profitably employed. That he i® on th:i right track is evident from the: fact that his efforts are directed towards being satisfied that the iuMli-1 gence of the children i-i being trained, rather than thrir memories overloaded, and therefore lie rightly kys much sties? en 'he quality of the work in the class subjects, Hi; no'.e of warning to those who continually neglect cias? subjects is well timed, and t-hould have a good effect. On the matter of p>o-rn-itions, and ptriodic examinations, Mr Spencer offers some well considered re marks which teiohors will d> w.ll t.; rfead, mark, leim, :;nd inwardly digest.

Allusion is made to the way in which frequent changing of teachers, and the appointment of temporary substitutes militates) again>t the efficiency of the pupil*, and the Inspector rightly points out; that this drawback cm emi'y he avoided. There is much truth in his remarks, and it is to ba hoped th;n they will bear and be made th< medium of pecuiing to come nf the teachers well deseived piomotio. Reference is also nude to the pupi l teacher difficulty oaused by the nsw scale reducing the numbnr of pupil teachers by 50 per cent., thus curtail iug the supply of teachers. Pjssibly rs the schema is in its experimental stage somo modifica'ioos mav ba iutroduced next session, although there eeenn to hvi a very general desiri on tho parr, of the Department to subnti'irn as far as possible as-dsiaut teachers for pupil teachers—a course which is evidently prompted by th« d-w* (o provide the bcs". posible i> structiin : for tho youngest children. In relation |to tin que-.ti >n of emolujments under th> rent Act, Mr ,Spence points ou- that; while the | change is uq lonbte 'ly fir the better, some of tha assis'an's in the larger echoo's arrt underpaid. He alsi <x presses reg et at the ::V"B"i.ce o p th<recognition of certificates in p'vmo'it, of s ilario-i, and points out tha' no*v » teacher's silaryis dependent only on nvMane attendance it'i of skill. Thern is much lores in tho Inspwtor'.« .Arguments on this point, awl if pushed to 'cheir lo ie-1 conclusion <.nl nte<ib m ide the chief point in the teacWs piy the inferior te ■ s would s ;o > be '•educe! to s'.<va'i in |ioin\ Atientioa is <irawu t,o the abs? ;c ' > f .juy ,vgv siun for piy wli-L'a te->oh<>r is abvani on sick h ave, no matter <io«r iong uu« v-liuble may hav • bvu '.-is . «.-v oj-k. Thio has siuco oteo remedied by i D >partment. Although some considerable poriior. of the report is dev.ited to thn impure ! i efficiency of the schools cans-vquent on 1 th'i inadequate allowance madn to t he Board for administrative and building ' purposes, the Inspector c A uld hardly save said less, Thi u'gi-nt want of ( funds is an iiver present 'o 1 tneoling thfl leqairemeuti of th« dis- i ilrict. He point) out that while the < Department lias adopted the pri' cip'e ' f.h:j.t to chers should have a i wage," t ho same c.nsideration ha-t n it "een applie 1 to the ra'ivo v.or'i of :ho boards. New s h . . •■■Mga-Mia&y icsidaoca, p<i• <i ■ , ccp.'iir-'j aie urge.) ly «v «d d 11 fiits of t! o di fei ii-t, and some striv- < ! 'i* «MmpU« are givea of t!.:» »in'«o*- 1 • zU tuid dißcreclital .lo mak(joLifii.j thut

Hi-e e e«n -r,• uti-!«" C'ie C'ipplfd filacer of th« 8008 It would a'rmst seem a« if I startad tbe educational " tower" 1 out first counting ih« eo»t thsreif. doubt it ling grown beyond all pation, but lunsmuch as it sign of tbe prosperous th'j coloty, and looking to tbe the impor'. >ni'e of eduction is mount, the urgent n c. tssity for iug all rsusor'able requirements be r'icoynise'l by tbe Cabinet as * charge ou tbe Treasury, Mr adopts tbe «ame view us has been expt'fiasid at the Board's namely, that a graduated seals ments —the smaller tbe schools district tbe larger the subsidy Board—should bs instituted. would keep things going, but not provide for tbe Jarge penditure which is now together tbe Inspector is to gratulated on bis exhaustive which is neces-arily, this dimensions tban usual, and reaeoa doubtless several would otherwise bava been! are omitted. To all educational work the report '• elcome, nod there is littjl# will ba read with interest far heyond the district of