E—2

It is always a pleasure to visit district high schools, to see the conscientious work and the enthusiasm of teachers and the very friendly attitude of the pupils who, though they miss some of the facilities provided for students in larger schools, have of necessity to learn to work with a minimum of class teaching, and gain in self-reliance and in habits of study. These schools do very well to School Certificate standard. They cannot be expected to provide for Sixth Form pupils, except in a few cases among larger schools, and, in fact, their teachers are usually content to concentrate on work up to Form V. Some provision is made for short-course pupils in woodwork and homecrafts ; but I believe that a good deal more remains to be done for those pupils who return to country pursuits after about two years in the secondary department. We shall help in the near future by issuing a bulletin on suitable practical work in the garden and on the farm, but these schools lack the specialist staff, which we are as yet unable to supply. One difficulty confronting district high schools and the smaller rural post-primary schools is the provision of staff. There are now some 2,500 post-primary teachers, of whom 1,500 are men and only 1,000 are women. The total number of teachers is, even now, insufficient for our needs, for some schools, particularly district high schools in the North, are understaffed or have a badly balanced staff. It is necessary to employ teachers who are not adequately qualified, and the outlook for the future, with a school population increasing at such a rate, is not bright. There is a great need of fully qualified women teachers in post-primary schools and no lessening in the demand for men. The Correspondence School In 1949, enrolments were well maintained. The total post-primary roll on 31st May was 3,368, of whom 703 were full-time and 2,665 part-time (mainly students in employment). Many of these, though classified as part-time, were doing full courses. The postprimary full-time pupils were classified under the four sections : Academic, Commercial, Country Life, and Home Life. Part-time pupils were in these sections also, but many belonged to special groups as follows : District high school pupils .. .. .. 280 Maori school assistants .. .. .. .. 51 Army personnel .. .. .. .. 110 Public Service temporaries .. .. .. 193 Public Service senior .. .. .. .. 293 Post Office students .. .. .. .. 479 The full-time and part-time enrolments in the main courses were as follows :

The staff for the post-primary division consisted of 92 teachers. The pupils are prepared for the usual public examinations, including School Certificate, University Entrance, Teachers' "C" Certificate, Handicraft Teachers' Certificate, Government departmental examinations, Chamber of Commerce, Engineering Common Preliminary Examination.

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Course. Full-time. Part-time. Academic Commercial Country Life Home Life 153 139 166 245 596 179 227 257