[Appendix B.

E.—2.

The, following are the figures for the years named : —

It may be of interest to note that the average, attendance for the year under review, 11,063, was composed of 5,859 boys and 5,204 girls —that is approximately in the ratio of 53 and 47 per cent, for the respective sexes. The Attendance Officer, in his annual report to the Board, states that he sent out during the year 317 warning notices to defaulters, issued twenty-four summonses, and secured eighteen convictions, the amount of fines inflicted being £5 7s. Teachers. —At the end of the year there were 474 teachers in the service of the Board, occupying positions as under : — Males. Females. Total. Head teachers .. .. .. .. .. ..64 17 81. Sole teachers .. .. .. .. .. ..48 64 112 Assistant teachers .. .. .. .. 23 142 165 Total adult teachers .. .. .. ..135 223 358 Pupil-teachers .. .. .. .. .. ..15 17 32 Probationers . . .. .. . . .. ... 8 42 50 Teachers of needlework . . . . .. . . .... 27 27 Manual and technical teachers . . .. .. .. 3 4 7 Totals .. .. .. .. .. .. 161 313 474 Of the 358 adult primary-school teachers in the service of the Board, 234 held teachers' certificates, 4 held licenses to teach, while 120 were uncertificated. The Board regrets that the uncertificated teacher still remains with it in considerable force. With the substantial increase, in the Education vote it was anticipated that the number of uncertificated teachers in the service of this Board would be reduced considerably. During the year several teachers who were " resting on their oars " were notified that unless they secured by the 31st December, 1922, a partial pass for Class D or a license to teach they would, be called upon to show cause why their services should not be dispensed with.. Although the Board has received into its service this year a larger number than usual of ex-Training College students, the, fact remains that the difficulty in filling some of the lowergrade positions in the service has been keenly felt this year. Instruction of Teachers. —During the year Saturday classes for the training of pupil-teachers, probationers, and uncertificated teachers were held in Invercargill for a period of twenty-seven weeks, and in Gore for twenty-six weeks, there being eighty-four teachers in attendance at Invercargill and thirty-three at Gore. The subjects in which instruction was given and the roll numbers in each case were as follows: Invercargill centre—Drawing (three classes), 49; agriculture (two classes), 56; hygiene, 12 ; general elementary science, 1.4 ; physical drill (two classes), 43. Gore centre Drawing, 30; agriculture, 20; hygiene, 10; general elementary science, 13. In addition to these Saturday classes, afternoon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays were held in Invercargill regularly throughout the year for the benefit of town and suburban pupil-teachers and probationers, the number of students attending being twenty-six. Owing to delay in getting the classes established and to the fact of the certificate examinations being held four months earlier than hitherto, instructors found it impossible to overtake the prescribed course, of work before the date of the, examinations. To meet the, altered conditions the Board should have the, Department's authority to arrange, for the commencement of these classes immediately the schools resume after the summer vacation. As a result of the introduction of new regulations the control of the Saturday classes in Invercargill passed out of the hands of the Board, but in view of all arrangements for the year's work having already been made the Board was allowed to continue in charge for the year just ended. The Board would again strongly protest against, the, control of classes, established for the benefit of its own teachers, being taken from. it. School Libraries. —With a view to the establishment of school libraries, or adding to those already in existence, contributions amounting to £86 13s. 6d. were received during the year from nineteen schools. As these contributions carry a subsidy of an equal amount, and as in addition each contribution, in accordance with the regulations, carries also a grant out of the Board's funds, a sum of over £200 was available for expenditure in connection with the purchase of books or library accommodation. When one considers, however, the educational value of a good school library in increasing a child's general knowledge and in cultivating a love for good literature it is astonishing that a larger number of schools should not have taken advantage of the facilities provided for obtaining without any great effort a supply of approved books. Teachers' Library. —There is in the Board's Office a library consisting of several hundred books on educational subjects, and available to all teachers in the Board's service. This valuable collection

XVIII

Year. Average Roll. Average Attendance. Percentage. 913 .. .918 . . .922 .. 10,966 11,846 12,207 9,671 10,475 11.063 j 88-"2 89-2 90-0