33

E.—lb

gether 255 pupils working arithmetic in a lower standard class than that in which they were placed for English. The numbers from the various standards were as follows : Standard VI, 25; Standard V, 74; Standard IV, 61; Standard 111, 48; Standard 11, 41; Standard I, 6. English.— Reading and recitation continue to be well taught, very few indeed of our schools failing to give these branches of instruction satisfactory treatment. While several were classed good in each, of these subjects, the marks for which often closely agreed, one small household school (Wairoa Gorge) was graded " excellent " for recitation. Improvements may yet be made in developing a more thorough appreciation of the subject-matter, and especially of the poems to be committed to memory, references to the authors, to the incidents in connection with the story, and to the literary merits of the poems not being omitted. In certain localities faulty pronunciation such as the misuse of the letter "h," the "colonial twang," the clipping of final consonants, the omission of the final " r," as well as its opposite, the addition of one to a final vowel, and the broadening of vowel-sounds must still be resolutely fought, though the general character of the reading is distinctly satisfactory. Two literary readers are still generally used, with, the addition or substitution, in some few instances, of a geographical or historical reader. The School Journal, which first appeared during the year, has been used as an extra, and has not yet been commonly substituted for a literary reader. In schools above Grade 8 three readers might well be insisted upon; but in schools under sole teachers one literary reader, with a geographical or historical reader in lieu of the geography B or history course, is all that can be usually prepared in the time at the teacher's disposal. Though the majority of the schools produced satisfactory work in the spelling and dictation tests, it is disappointing to find the papers less accurate than last year's, especially as we had hoped that the adoption of a systematic course of word-building in the lower standards would have had a beneficial effect. On the contrary, we regret to say that there has been a steady deterioration for the last four years. Probably the introduction of so many additional subjects into the curriculum has made increasingly difficult the task of maintaining a high standard in the essential subjects of an elementary education —spelling, composition, and the three " R's." Whether correct spelling be a necessity or not, there can be little doubt of the educational value of each of the other four subjects, and we shall certainly expect that teachers will see that in future the all-important branches of English and arithmetic are not crowded out of the syllabus or less effectively treated. In composition and other written exercises the spelling has been taken into account in assigning marks for the subject. In composition, too, the marks obtained were not so high as previously, in spite of the fact that the test papers, of which, we complained last year, were greatly improved in quality, the wording being less obscure, and the exercises less complicated in form and more within the comprehension of children of tender years. They may yet be improved by making them of more even quality throughout. In the Third Standard the papers set by us were rather more difficult than those previously set by the Department, and a letter was always exacted from Standard IV. We too often found both letters and essays meagre in subject-matter, the children being apparently unable to enlarge upon any topic, or even to describe fully an object which they had previously examined in the course of their nature-study. This difficulty may be overcome by always encouraging the children to express themselves fully in oral answering, especially when such an attractive subject as a natural object or phenomenon comes under observation. We notice the following from the Board of Education's suggestions published with the English Code : " By the time the child has learnt to write without undue need of attention to the process itself, he should be able to express orally, with ease and clearness, a story heard, or incident seen, or a lesson received, and can then begin to use the same readiness of expression in writing. The length of the composition should naturally increase as facility of expression is gained; and in the higher classes facility is an object of equal importance with accuracy. No matter how advanced the composition may be, the oral exercises should never be discontinued. But it is not in the work of the lower classes that deficiencies were so frequently found as in that of Standard V. Here, faults of which we have previously complained were too often apparent. Not only were many of the children ignorant of the functions of clauses and phrases, as was readily seen in their feeble attempts to answer such a test as "What question does this phrase answer?" but they were often quite unable to distinguish a phrase from a clause. Knowledge of the meaning of common prefixes and familiar selected words was also rare —a defect noticed also in connection with the reading lessons —whilst grammatical reasons for alterations made in faulty sentences were almost entirely lacking. Writing and Drawing.—-In regard to these subjects we have little to add to our remarks in previous reports. We are satisfied that no deterioration is shown in these branches, which are as truly "manual "as any that come under the "handwork " class. The drawing especially shows to somewhat better advantage. Singing, too, is receiving more attention, and we were especially pleased with the great improvement made in Physical Instruction, chiefly in regard to its bearing on the health of the children, and to lessons on health. Thirty-seven of our schools, more than for any other subject, were awarded " good " marks for physical instruction. History is still generally taught orally, Historical Readers being used in comparatively few cases. The record of schools doing satisfactory work in this subject is higher than previously attained. Geography.—ln our estimate of the work done under the head of geography but slight improvement is shown, though courses of work in observational geography should prove highly interesting as well as educative. At the same time we fear that some of the inferences expected to be drawn are almost beyond the reasoning-powers of children, and some of the astronomioal phenomena might well be omitted from the course.

5—E. 18.