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I am now, after mature consideration, of opinion that, so long as the pupil-teacher system continues, tho passing with ease in the Sixth Standard should be made a condition of first employment; and that no one under the age of sixteen should be eligible for employment, though candidates might be allowed to come up for examination a year earlier. I would make three years the term for which pupil-teachers should serve. In the case of candidates of seventeen the term might be reduced to two years. This would bring them to the age of nineteen, when they could come up for examination in Class E, and might be eligible for admittance to a training-school. I venture to urge that there would be many advantages derived from the following out of this plan. It is evident that the further a candidate's education has proceeded before beginning to teach, the less necessity will there be for an injurious amount of study when the actual work of teaching has begun. A young teacher who has passed easily in the Sixth Standard will require but very light study to enable him to pass in Class E in three or two years. Those engaged in the work of education, who know how many young people have broken down under the double strain of learning and teaching, will see at once how advantageous is a plan which reduces this strain to a minimum. It has also other advantages. It would reduce the number of candidates for teacherships, which is becoming almost appalling, and would insure to a considerable extent the selection of the fittest only. It was wise, I think, not to demand at first higher attainments than those required for passing the Fifth Standard; but I now believe the time has come for au alteration in this respect. I learn from a valuable report supplied to the Board by Mr. Josiah Martin, who has lately returned from a visit to Europe, that in Prussia pupil-teachers are not employed, and that no one is allowed to teach who has not gone through a long course of study. It is evident that we are not in a position to adopt such a plan here. But a step in that direction, which not only involves no extra expense, but causes a saving of money, is certainly worth taking. Many certificated teachers in this district have injured their health and impaired their usefulness by studying for higher grades. I really think some check should be put on this mania for going up for examination. It might be enacted, for instance, that two years should elapse between each step, or that leave to go up should be obtained from the Education Board of the district. The first duty of a teacher is to his pupils. I have reason to believe that many girls who are pupil-teachers injure their health by a too constant attendance at balls and parties. The necessity for frequent leave of absence is often brought about in this way. I think the Board will find it necessary to dispense with the services of teachers who thus render themselves unfit for their duties. The system of examination for standards was not adopted in this district before last year (1879). Early last year notice was given to the various schools to hold themselves prepared for the standard examinations after the 30th June. From that date to the end of the year a number of schools were examined, with satisfactory results on the whole, considering the newuess of the system to the teachers and pupils. It is not desirable, for obvious reasons, to give further particulars in this report. From the short experience we have had of the system here, it would appear that it may be of much advantage if worked judiciously by teachers and Inspectors, and that it may do wide-spread mischief if worked in another fashion. Teachers must have that conviction which begets deeds that to pass pupils in standards is not the be-all and end-all of their efforts ; but that the standards really represent—as they profess to do —the minimum amount of knowledge which a child ought to have at the several stages. Inspectors may do much harm by adopting a mechanical method of passing pupils. The adoption of such a method makes the whole thing a delusion. To give an instance, let us take the Fourth Standard, after passing which many pupils leave school. A boy who has passed this standard should be able to write a neat and creditable letter, and should have a fair knowledge of accounts. Any one employing him has a right to expect so much. Let us suppose that the plan adopted by the Inspectors is that to pass in a certain number of subjects is to pass for the standard. The number of subjects in this standard is seven. If to pass in five subjects constitutes a pass for the standard, it is evident that a boy who had failed in composition and arithmetic may be armed with a certificate that he has passed the Fourth Standard. There is unfortunately a tendency in all these systems to become dull formalities, the original idea which gave them life getting crushed out by the dead weight of routine. I think it would help a good deal to neutralize the evils likely to arise, if Inspectors would lay great stress on composition in the standards where it is required. It is the best test whether a school has been taught intelligently or not. It cannot be learned by-rote, like history for example, nor produced mechanically, as arithmetic often is. In a school where composition is good the master must have done something more than prepare his pupils for the standards. Of course it is presumed that original composition is taught, not merely that great hindrance to it—reproduction. A high percentage of passes in a school is, taken by itself, sometimes calculated to mislead. For instance, the percentage may be obtained by a large number passing in the First and Second Standards, though the higher standards may be defective. Again, in one school showing a higher percentage the pupils may have barely scraped through, while in another showing an apparently similar result they may have passed with ease. If the system of standards is to be prevented from becoming an organized hypocrisy, the most demoralizing of all shams, all Inspectors must be instructed to pass only those who can pass with ease, in the three higher standards at all events. Then the statement in the regulations that the standards are a test of the minimum attainments will have a meaning given to it which it has not now. The instructions to Inspectors (which are, I believe, the same as those adopted in other colonies) in reality amount to this : that tho Inspectors are to be lenient (see Eegulation 8). The number of school libraries in this district is, as yet, but small. There can be no doubt that their influence will be good if due care is used in the choice of books. The number of public libraries in the district is 69. For some years some of these libraries have, lam aware, been procuring books suitable for young people as well as adults, and have thus in some measure been supplying the want of school libraries. There can, I think, be little doubt that these libraries have on the whole done good by diffusing knowledge and helping to sweeten the settler's life. The Board have always assumed that it is the intention of the Education Act that both sexes should be instructed together, and this assumption has been acted ou as a rule. To this rule, however, there

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