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In addition, the Department provided handwork materials for use in 1928 costing some £9,065, and also refunded to Education Boards the actual receiving and distributing charges, amounting approximately to £1,346, involving a total expenditure of £10,411. The above figures exclude salaries and incidental allowances payable in respect of manual-training classes conducted by Technical School Boards. STAFFS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS. The number of adult teachers employed in the primary departments of public schools at the end of 1928 was 6,341 (men, 2,243 ; women, 4,098), an increase of 111 over the previous year. Included in the foregoing figures for adult teachers are 133 probationary assistants who were employed in public schools completing their training as teachers. The number of such assistants for the previous year was 108. In addition to adult teachers there were employed in public schools at the end of 1928, 572 probationers (males, 142 ; females, 430), compared with 567 at the end of the previous year. The following table shows the number of teachers in the schools of the various grades : —

Number of Adult Teachers employed in Primary Departments of Public Schools, December, 1928.

Ratio of Men to Women Teachers. —The following table indicates the number of women for each 100 men teachers : —

The number of adult women teachers to each 100 adult men teachers in all schools has steadily declined since the years of the Great War, the number in 1928 being ten less than in 1915, and seventy less than in 1918. The diminution in the proportion of adult women teachers employed is particularly marked in the schools with less than twenty-one pupils in average attendance, the number of adult women teachers employed in such schools to every 100 adult men teachers so employed having shrunk from 323 in 1915 to 185 in 1928. This movement is attributable to the comparatively higher salaries paid in sole-teacher schools in recent years, thus inducing male teachers to undertake service in these schools,

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Sole Teachers. Head Teachers. Teachers' Total Adult. Teachers. Grade of School. j j j — 11. F. M. F. M. J F. M. F. Total. ' i !_ « Grade 0 (1-8) .. 34 190 I 34 190 224 I (9-20) 314 450 1 1 5 315 456 771 II (21-35) .. 209 248 23 19 .. 43 232 310 542 „ IIIa (36-50) .. 6 11 184 88 4 271 194 370 564 „ IIIb (51-80) 211 39 4 273 215 i 312 527 „ IIIc (81-120) 117 7 7 246 124 1 253 377 IV (121-240) 126 1 96 ! 412 222 i 413 635 V (241-360) 72 1 122 1 369 194 370 564 VI (361-480) 58 .. 167 404 225 404 629 „ VII (over 480) .. .. .. 100 .. 388 1,020 488 1,020 1,508 All grades .. 563 899 892 156 788 3,043 2,343 4,098 6,341

1915. 1918. 1922. 1926. 1927. 1928. Adult teachers — All schools .. .. .. 193 253 197 194 187 183 Schools with roll 1-20 .. .. 323 523 299 212 202 185 Schools with roll over 20 .. 176 227 182 191 185 182 Pupil-teachers .. .. 344 425 223 * * * Probationers .. . . .. 647 688 349 248 236 303 Training-college students . . . . 387 488 256 191 213 227 * The position of " pupil-teacher " has now been abolished.