Appendix C.I

E.—2.

XVII

Efficiency. —Our estimate of the efficiency of the schools, summarized from details in the inspection and examination reports, is as follows : — Schools. Satisfactory to good .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 149 Fair .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 16 Inferior . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5 170 These results indicate a generally satisfactory condition of efficiency, the 12 per cent, of really inefficient schools being, as usual, with a few exceptions, in Grades 0 and I, the grades for which such great difficulty is experienced in finding suitable teachers. The Board has in this matter taken full advantage of the grant made by the Department for the purpose of providing some measure of training and instruction for the teachers in these outlying schools. Classes have been held for their benefit at the Training College, and gratifying results have been obtained, but, unfortunately, without much appreciable reduction in the number of unqualified teachers, inasmuch as no sooner do such teachers become wholly or even partially certificated than they are attracted to better-paid positions, and the Board is again compelled to fill their places with raw material. It would appear that, with the low salaries and the unavoidable disadvantages of the environment of our backblock schools, the problem of suitably staffing them is as far from solution as ever. Syllabus. —Compulsory subjects : With regard to the English subjects, we have no reason for qualifying the statement in last year's report as to our general satisfaction with this department of the syllabus. Though the benefits of silent reading, more especially in the upper standards, have not been as fully appreciated as we could wish, the introduction of additional continuous readers in practically all classes and the free use of the School Journal have distinctly raised the tone of the reading from the points of view of intelligent expression, comprehension, and general accuracy. Some weaknesses in the matter of the vowel-sounds and some slovenliness in enunciation come under our notice, but glaring instances of these faults are now rare —that is, so far as the language spoken inside the school is concerned —certainly, they do not exist to the extent that some of the sweeping assertions made before the Education Commission would lead people to suppose. We are, in regard to this matter, quite in agreement with the Nelson Inspectors, who consider " that critics are too prone to dilate upon and exaggerate the prevalence of these defects " ; and our experience is precisely similar to theirs —viz., that the spoken language of the children in our primary schools compares more than favourably with that of importations from other pairs of the Empire. It is almost invariably the case that the presence in a class of these newcomers can be unmistakably detected by their strong provincialisms. We do not say that there is not room for improvement, and, as a matter of fact, we are must insistent in our demands that teachers relax no effort in striving for improvement ; but there is too great a tendency to saddle the unfortunate primary teacher with the sole responsibility for each and every failing in our social system. The feverish hustle of modern social and business intercourse is, in our opinion, much more to blame than primary teaching for the deterioration in the spoken language. In only a small proportion of schools is the treatment of recitation really satisfactory. We have not exacted any high standard of elocution, still less do we wish to encourage the exaggerated declamation and gesture that frequently do duty for elocution ; but we are disappointed at the failure of so many teachers to make the poetry lesson what it is really intended to be —that is, a means of cultivating in the child some appreciation of and taste for what is beautiful in literary form and expression. Poor judgment is shown in the selection of pieces ;in fact, they are evidently often made merely to satisfy the regulation " Not less than 200 lines," &c. Whole classes are drilled and ground in these minimum requirements; and what should be to the child a labour of love, something that he should take a real delight in, is converted into a disagreeable and wearisome task. More real educational benefit would, in our opinion, result from the proper appreciation of a dozen lines of true poetry than from the mechanical repetition of 200 or any number of lines unintelligently memorized. The efficiency mark for composition ranges from satisfactory to good, and we are pleased to note that the development continues more on the lines of freedom of expression, and less on those of stilted mechanical formula;. We have noticed, however, some slackness "in the matter of punctuation, due mainly to the lack of proper co-ordination of oral with written composition, and we have had to remind some teachers that certainly reasonable accuracy in the placing of the period should be insisted on in practically all stages of instruction in this subject. Functional grammar is not a prominent feature of the present syllabus, but in view of certain changes in the regulations already foreshadowed teachers will be asked to make provision in their schemes of work for a more definite treatment of the subject than has hitherto been required. Spelling and writing, taking the district as a whole, are satisfactory, and in quite 50 per cent, of the schools the efficiency mark ranges from good to excellent. With regard to spelling, as we have often pointed out before, the subject presents few difficulties with teachers who place less reliance on interminable spelling-lists and elaborate word-building, and more on intelligent, accurate reading and correct pronunciation and enunciation. Good readers are invariably good spellers. The question of arithmetic was very fully dealt with in our last report, and we shall confine ourselves to expressing satisfaction that the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Education are in the direction of reforms which we have always strongly advocated—viz., a reduction in the requirements in certain standards, the prescribed work to be on more practical and businesslike lines, and the style of the examination tests to encourage more oral and mental treatment of the subject. Reform on i hese lines, by enabling the arithmetic of our schools to adapt itself more readily to the requirements of everyday life, will go far to remove the long-standing grievance of the business man in regard to the deficiencies of our primary pupils in the matter of mental and practical arithmetic. Improvement is shown in the treatment of commercial and political geography, more especially in those schools in which teachers, discarding the old text-book methods, have in their schemes of work brought out

iii—E. 2 (Ap P . c