and a new building is proposed to be erected upon it, at an estimated cost of 10,000l. The following are the officers of this training school : Rev. William David, St. Mark's College, Chelsea, Certificated Master, Rev. E. C. Harrington, M.A., Oxford, Chancellor of the Cathedral, Mr. Abraham Haworth, St. Mark's College, Certificated Master, Vice- Mr. James Ingham, Music Master. None of the candidates for certificates from this college at the Christmas examination having been Queen's scholars, the fact that sixty-six per cent. obtained certificates is conclusive evidence of the efficient way in which the Rev. the principal and the vice-principal have laboured for their instruction, and reflects honour, not only on themselves, but on St. Mark's College, of which they are alumni. It is impossible not, however, to feel how deep a debt of gratitude the college owes to the watchful care and supervision of the chancellor of the cathedral, whose learning and ability are well known, and who fills gratuitously the office of lecturer on theology and ecclesiastical history. In the oral examination of the students of the first class by Her Majesty's Inspector, the Rev. E. D. Tinling, and myself, they answered remarkably well in English grammar, and very satisfactorily in Scriptural knowledge and geography and arithmetic. In English history they did not acquit themselves so well. In ecclesiastical history their knowledge appears to be at once extensive and accurate. "serious Having in my last report to your Lordships spoken of it as a defect in the arrangements of the institution that the boys of the cathedral choir attend it daily, and are taught with the students," I have great satisfaction in stating that the attendance of the choristers has been discontinued. The large parochial schools in Exeter are partly taught by the students, and serve as practising schools. These are in many respects very good schools of their class; but when the new college is erected I would suggest the expediency of forming a model school, as distinguished from a practising school,-in immediate connexion with it. HIGHBURY METROPOLITAN TRAINING SCHOOL.-Forty-eight students were resident in this institution at the time of inspection. It is supported at an annual cost of about 2,5007., of which sum 1,5647. is contributed by subscriptions, and 1027. by collections in churches specially for the use of the college, 6741. by the fees of the students, 2607. by the fees of the practising school, and 2701. by Government grants. The following are its officers :— Rev. Vincent W. Ryan, M.A., Magdalen College, Oxford, Principal. Mr. Bowman, Tutor and Singing Master. Mr. Daintree, Master of Method and of the Model School. Mr. Viner, Drawing Master. Mr. G. W. Martin, Music Master. Mr. W. Hughes, Lecturer on Geography. Mr. Randall, Drill Master. Mr. Theobald, Writing Master. This training school is situated on high ground on the northern side of the metropolis. Its site covers six acres. No other, has more substantial buildings, or better adapted for the purposes of a training school. It has separate dormitories for eighty students, and these dormitories are of ample dimensions. The Principal has a good residence, and there are apartments for the other officers. Beside it, stands a practising school and master's house. The grounds include a large garden and shrubbery, and a paddock. I visited it in the month of November, accompanied by Her Majesty's Inspector, the Rev. F. C. Cook. Some of the members of the committee were present during the whole of our inspection. We were present at various of the lectures delivered to the students. We examined the students orally, and inspected carefully the practising school. The students take copious notes of the lectures, and some of these on history and on school management are now before me. They afford abundant evidence of the useful character of the instruction they receive in this subject, and of the care and pains with which the writers of the notes have sought to profit by it. To fix in their minds the chronology of history, they are furnished with blank tables, divided horizontally by ten columns, and vertically by the same number. On each such table the characteristic events of a century in a given department of history are to be recorded. Each horizontal column is to contain those of a decade of the century, and the vertical divisions of it mark the successive years of the decade. Thus the square upon the table in which each event is recorded marks its date. Since our last inspection, and in pursuance of a recommendation we then made, certain of the students have been appointed to the office of assistant lecturer or repeater, of which the duties have been described in a previous part of this report. In their oral examination in Scriptural knowledge the students acquitted themselves well, showing that great progress had been made by them during the preceding year. In arithmetic they are skilful, working rapidly and accurately. They passed in their written examination at Christmas an excellent examination in school management and in English grammar, and did tolerably well in English history, and extremely well in geometry, which is taught then by the vice-principal; but they did not pass so well in religious knowledge as at the preceding oral examination. I have an unfavourable record of their reading, and they acquitted themselves but ill in geography. The practising school is composed of 175 boys, of whom 135 were present on the day of examination. They are above the class of labourers' children, the school fee being 10s. per quarter, and the annual income arising from the fees, 2591. 10s. They are taught in one large school-room and in a large class-room, the latter being occupied by a gallery, and set apart for oral instruction. Another class-room is about to be built. The school is organized on the tripartite plan, and when the new classroom is built, it will form an excellent model of a school conducted on that plan. The master, Mr. Daintree, formerly master of the Parkhurst School, is a man of much experience in his profession, and is skilful in the management of a school. On one afternoon in every week all the students and the masters attend the school, and lessons are delivered by two or three of their number, taken in succession, of which the rest take notes. These form the subjects of a discussion afterwards, at which the Principal presides as moderator. It is in this way that the attention of the students is directed to the art of teaching, and that an interest is kept alive in the work of the teacher. I cannot record a very favourable impression of the success of the students in the lessons we heard them give. The children read well, as is generally the case in a tripartite school. I have before me specimens of the writing on paper from dictation of the boys of the first division. The writing is very good; the spelling bad. We were present at a very interesting lesson delivered to them on experimental philosophy. They listened to it with great interest, and answered questions upon it with much intelligence. They are accustomed to write abstracts of these lessons at home. One of the best of these abstracts of every lesson is selected, and copied into a book, which is kept in the school. Some of the exercises entered in this book were interesting and well expressed. WINCHESTER. My report to your Lordships on the application of this college for inspection, and for the appointment of Queen's scholars, having been printed in the present volume, I need not further advert to it than to point out the excellent way in which its students passed the Christmas examination. Those of no other college obtained a like proportion of certificates, as appears by the Table, page 402. This success is as remarkable in what are called the higher subjects of instruction as in those which are proper to elementary instruction. The results of the examination of this college and of those at Durham and Exeter is the more worthy of observation as there were no Queen's scholars or (I believe) pupil-teachers included among their candidates. They justify your Lordships' decision to admit these lesser diocesan colleges to a full share of the privileges offered by your Minutes of 1846, YORK AND RIPON. Forty-five students were resident in this institution in October, when it was inspected by Her Majesty's Inspector, the Rev. F. Watkins, and myself. It is supported at an annual cost of 2,1447., of which sum 3317. is contributed by a grant from the York and Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, and 2751. from exhibitions founded by that board, 9001. arises from the fees of students, and 6551. from Government grants. The extensive buildings of the college, with the exception of the fences, are now completed, and are, I believe, in an architectural point of view, unimpeachable; but the brick-work appears in some parts to be defective; and in respect to their ventilation they are open to grave objections. The following is the staff of officers : Rev. George Hodgkinson, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, Principal. *Mr. C. S. Buncombe, Music Master, assists also otherwise, chiefly in English. Mr.J.T. Fowler, St. Mark's College, Certificated Master, Normal Master. *Mr. James Birchall, Writing and Drawing Master. Mr. Robert Charlton, York Training School, Certificated Master, A clergyman resident in the neighbourhood also assists, taking chiefly a Scripture history and elementary Latin class. The hours of study appear, from the time-table before me, to be from nine A.M. to five P.M., with an interval of two hours for dinner. We were present at lectures delivered by the principal on Church history, and by the viceprincipal on English history, and we attended one of the weekly meetings of the students, at which a model lesson was delivered by one of them, of which the rest take notes, which are afterwards read, the masters taking a part in the discussion of them, and the Principal acting as moderator. The method adopted by the Principal and vice-principal in lecturing is to leave time to the students to take copious notes, or in some instances to write their lectures verbatim. This method appears to me well adapted to the teaching of a training school. It is a motive to the careful selection of his matter by the lecturer, it impresses it on the mind of the student, and it compels his attention, opposing itself effectually to that dreaminess which is apt to grow on a certain class of minds under oral instruction, however judiciously given, and which, becoming a habit of the teacher, soon becomes a habit of the scholars. Each lecture begins with an examination upon the subject of the preceding lecture, for which the students are expected to prepare themselves by a perusal of their notes. No teaching could be better adapted to the pur * These masters are also employed in the training school for mistresses, and Mr. Birchall also in the yeoman's school. poses of such an institution as this than the two excellent lectures to which I have referred. The subject of the vice-principal's lecture was the history of commerce in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It appeared to me to be treated with ability and originality, and with a very just appreciation of the form under which history should present itself to the mind of the elementary teacher. The model lesson, and the subsequent discussion on the art of teaching, have been introduced since my last inspection; they will contribute greatly to give to the course of instruction that professional bearing in which I have thought it at some of my previous inspections to be deficient. The idea of good teaching, although as yet but imperfectly formed among the students, appears to be in process of development; and to this end nothing will more contribute than such discussions. The practising school, which forms part of the college building, is largely attended. It is under the charge of a master trained at St. Mark's College. I have a very favourable record of the results of our oral examination in religious knowledge, English grammar, and arithmetic, but an unfavourable one of the reading of the students, and of their knowledge of history. On the whole I have a confidence and a great pleasure in reporting to your Lordships that this training school is making steady and substantial progress, and in looking forward to the time when it will take a high place among institutions of its class. To the Right Honorable I have the honor to be, &c. The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. APPENDIX A. MEMORANDUM presented by Lord Dynevor; with Reply. MY DEAR LORD, Dover Street, 16 July 1852. I HAVE had placed in my hands a memorandum, drawn up by some friends of education in Wales who are members of the Welsh Education Committee of the National Society. I venture, as one of that body, to ask you to consider with as much favour as you can the appeal thus made to you. I can say with truth, that, whether we look at the circumstance of our having to contend with the difficulties caused by the Welsh language, or by the smallness of the resources of the principality, we may, I trust, hope for a patient, if not for a favourable, consideration of our request, that, the exhibitions heretofore granted may not now be withdrawn. I venture to add we do not make this appeal without having made every effort in our power amongst ourselves; witness the number of those connected with Wales who have given some 1007., others 501., and smaller sums, to be continued annually for ten years from 1846, when the movement first took place. We have also been nobly supported by many who knew little of Wales but her wants in respect to education. I am, my dear Lord, &c. MEMORANDUM intended for the Lord President of the Council, in support of an application from the Welsh Education Committee of the National Society that a limited yearly Grant for Exhibitions to Students of the Training School at Caermarthen may be continued by the Committee of Council on Education. THE training school at Caermarthen was completed in the year 1848, at a cost exceeding 9,0007., including a grant of 3,0007. made by the Committee of Council. The number of students in residence has exceeded on an average thirty, and has recently amounted to forty-four. The class of society in Wales from which the teachers of the poor are taken is unable to provide for the support of its members in training schools; the endowments of the clergy are too scanty to afford substantial assistance for that object; and in many districts these is no resident gentry. By means of subscriptions promised for ten years from 1846, the Welsh Education Committee have supported an adequate staff of officers, and provided a suitable domestic establishment. The payment required by them from students is 217. a year, for education, board, lodging, and washing; but, of forty-four students now in residence, two only can provide from their own resources, or by the aid of friends, the very moderate charge made for their maintenance. On the 12th of May 1848 the Welsh Education Committee represented to the Lord President, that, if the Committee of Council would confer, or, by adequate grants, enable the Welsh Education Committee to confer, a sufficient number of exhibitions on deserving young persons, important aid would be given to the objects for which the institution at Caermarthen was founded; and on the 8th of June 1848 the Committee of Council undertook to select a certain number of students to whom exhibitions would be given; and twelve exhibitions of the aggregate value of 2007. have been granted yearly since that time by the Committee of Council, after an examination conducted by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools. In a letter addressed from the Council Office on the 16th of March 1849 to the Welsh Education Committee, the motives which actuated the Lord President in conferring exhibitions, and the regulations under which they would be granted, were explained; and an assurance was given of his Lordship's anxiety to grant such exhibitions as might be conferred without establishing any precedent injurious to the public service. In June 1850 the Lord President expressed misgivings at the exceptional character of the grant; and in May 1851 it was notified to the Welsh Education Committee that the grant made for the year ending Midsummer 1852 was the last occasion on which the Lord President could advise the Committee to allow exhibitions, except to Queen's scholars, pursuant to the Minutes of December 1846 and July 1850. The grounds assigned for discontinuing the exhibitions were that several candidates qualified for Queen's scholarships would be admissible before Christmas 1851 to compete for Church of England schools in Wales. The expectation of the Committee of Council, that an adequate number of Queen's scholars would become candidates for admission at Caermarthen, has not been realised, and only two Queen's scholars from Church of England schools in Wales have hitherto presented themselves as candidates for admission to that institution. Of the peculiar difficulties by which the work of training teachers is obstructed in the principality, one of the most embarrassing is found in the existence of a separate language, and the necessity for a familiar acquaintance with two living languages in the teachers of the children of the poor; and Caermarthen is the only training school recognized by the Committee of Council at which instruction is given in the Welsh language to the students. |