17

E.—2

teachers, the fact of the great majority of the small country schools being staffed by women teachers accounting for the difference in favour of the men. If schools with an average attendance of twenty and under are excluded, the proportion of certificated teachers is 81 per cent. The following table shows the number of teachers holding the various certificates in 1918 and 1919 : —

Classes of Certificates held by Primary-school Teachers.

Training of Teachers. (Sec also Appendix D.) There are four training colleges situated in the four principal centres of the Dominion, which are open to four classes of students, as follows : Division A, ex-pupil-teachers, ex-probationers, or ex-trainees of recognized kindergarten schools who have obtained the necessary educational qualification ; Division B, other students who have passed Matriculation or obtained a higher leaving-certificate ; Division C, University graduates admitted for one year ; and Division D, teachers entering on short-period studentships. The numbers of students in attendance during the last quarter of 1919 under the various divisions were —Division A, 516, Division B, 51 ; Division C, 4 ; and Division D, 11 : the total being 582, as compared with 500 for the previous year ; 323 students were first-year students and 259 were second-year students. The number of students at each training college during the last quarters of 1918 and 1919 respectively are indicated in the following table : — , 1918. , , 1919. , Men. Women. Total. Men. Women. Total. Auckland ... ... ... 27 111 138 52 123 175 Wellington ... ... ... 19 117 136 26 126 152 Christchurch ... ... ... 18 99 117 21 108 129 Dunedin ... ... ... 21 88 109 27 99 126 Totals ... ... 85 415 500 126 456 582 The number of students continues to increase, and it is satisfactory to note an increase of nearly 50 per cent, in the number of men students in 1919 as compared with the previous year; there are now more male students at the training colleges than there were in 1914. The ordinary course of training is for two years, so that if the training colleges had their full complement of students (150 in each case) the number of students annually completing their training and passing into the schools would be about 300. Under certain conditions a one-year course is provided for in the case of University graduates or matriculated students who have completed a two-years course at an agricultural college or a school of home science recognized by the University of New Zealand. In addition, there are short-period studentships, of not less than three months' or more than one year's dtiration, for the benefit of teachers who have been already employed in teaching and are deemed worthy of further training in professional work, the allowances payable to such students being the same as those payable to students under Division. B. The actual number of students completing one or other of these courses at the end of 1919 was 271, as compared with 229 in 1918. For the teaching practice of students the normal practising schools forming part of the training college in each case are available, and opportunities of observation are also extended so as to embrace specially selected teachers and classes in neighbouring schools. Each normal school includes— (a) a main school, organized as a " mixed school " ; and (b) such " model schools " as may be approved by the Minister, each model school being one of the following types : (i) A rural public school under a sole teacher ; (ii) a junior school under one teacher with not more than 45 children of classes P to S2 on the roll ; (iii) a class representing the secondary department of a district high school; (iv) a class for backward children ;

3—E. 2.

Class of Certificate. M. 1918. M. .191.9. F. P. Total. Total. A B 0 I) E 30 178 504 360 44 7 68 841 1,146 248 37 246 I ,345 1,506 292 38 186 622 419 38 8 64 885 1,102 215 46 250 1,507 1,521 253 Total 1,116 2,310 3,426 1,303 2,274 3,577