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of the country, and by many of our most eminent scientific men; thus giving a commercial value to education, as well as a moral one, which when once generally recognized by all classes of society will settle the education question.

The first examination took place last June, and the results in every way justified the expectations of those who established it. A similar examination, is intended for this year,* both in London and at Huddersfield; and it is much to be regretted that the Council declined to comply with the request of the Hants and Wilts Association—to extend the same benefit to the South which they had offered to the North,-by holding an examination at one of the three towns, Winchester, Southampton or Salisbury.

As the ignorance which still prevails, both among clergy and laity, of the various ways in which assistance is given by the Committee of Council in support of schools is still great, notwithstanding the information contained in the Blue Books, the following brief statement of the principal of them may be useful to many into whose hands this book may fall, although, to give this information does not always encourage others in the way one expects it to do. I mentioned them to a wealthy farmer not long ago, and also a large grant made towards building a school in a neighbouring parish, thinking it would encourage him to promote one in his own; but instead of this, to my surprise it had a contrary effect, and he wondered "how government could venture to spend public money in that way."

The assistance from the Committee of Council is not only in building, which is given under certain conditions, to the extent of one-half the cost of building schools and teachers' houses; but, what is of still greater importance, assistance in the following ways is given for making the schools effective when built :

1. Augmentation of salaries to certified masters and mistresses, varying in amount, according to the class of certificate, from £15 to £30 per annum for masters, and from £10 to £25 per annum for mistresses.

The papers which are read at the Wednesday evening meetings of the Society of Arts, from October to the end of June, and the discussions which take place upon them, published in the Society's journal, makes that journal a very useful publication to schoolmasters in the more important of our National Schools.

2. Stipends to pupil-teachers, beginning with £10 for the first year, and increasing £2 10s. each year to £20 in the last, and at the end of their apprenticeship they have an opportunity of going to a Training School as a Queen's Scholar, for one or two years, free of expence or nearly so.

3. Gratuities to masters and mistresses for instructing their pupil-teachers during apprenticeship, £5 per annum for the first, £4 for the second, and £3 for every additional apprentice.

4. Capitation grants of 6s. per head in boys' schools, and 5s. for girls, for all children who have attended 176 days in the year, and are paying at least one penny per week to the school, and not more than 4d. per week: an annual attendance of eighty-eight instead of 176 whole days in school in the rural districts, will be accepted for boys over ten years of age, provided a scheme shall have been approved, to provide for the alternation of lessons in school with ordinary labour.

5. Assistance in the purchase of school books, and of all useful educational apparatus, which are to be had at reduced prices, and which may be applied for once a year; and the advantage of being made acquainted with what is best in this way,* no small advantage, particularly in a rural district.

6. Annual inspection and published results of it, which are necessary to any school system expecting to be efficient.

* A revised list of apparatus for scientific instruction, in a Special Report, by the Rev. F. Temple, has just been issued by the Council of Education, to which is added, in an appendix, a list of maps, diagrams, models, etc., approved of by the Department of Science and Art, with the prices. It gives all the information on this head which can possibly be wanted.

The Committee of Council will grant to schools, in which pupilteachers are apprenticed, pecuniary assistance, to the extent of twothirds of the cost, and of suitable cabinets to instruct them. Apparatus may be selected to the amount of £10, £15, or £20.

The master must be examined in order to give proof of his qualification to use the apparatus selected for any school.

The text-books of examination are named under each of the divisions of the list, and the term of examination is the same as for certificates or for registration.

In the case of masters already holding certificates of merit, special examination is waived, if the selection be made from the revision of mechanical and geometrical parts of the list, or from some of the more elementary parts of the physical science list.

These things may be known to certified teachers; but it is desirable they should be able to point them out in a brief form to those among whom they live.

A very important change has lately been made by the Committee of Council in the conditions of being eligible to Queen's Scholarships in the Training Schools. Hitherto it has been limited to those who had been pupil-teachers; but the examination is now thrown open to others; young persons of both sexes, who may be well qualified by acquirements and disposition are now eligible. To use the words of Mr. Lingen's letter to Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools:

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'Their Lordships have thrown open the examination for Queen's Scholarships to a new class of competitors, and they anticipate that a considerable supply of candidates may be found among young persons who are now assistants in private schools-among untrained schoolmasters and schoolmistresses desirous of improving their attainments among Sunday-school teachers—and generally among all those individuals with a natural aptitude for the work of instruction, who become known, from time to time, to the clergy and other promoters of education; and who, with a little preparatory assistance in their private studies, may readily be made to reach the standard of examination."

There is a prevailing opinion, that in the examination of teachers for certificates of merit, by the Committee of Council, a knowledge of subjects far beyond those of an elementary kind is expected; and that, in consequence of this, many deserving and well-qualified schoolmasters and schoolmistresses will not venture into the examination.

Now, this impression about the difficulty of the examination, I believe to be quite an erroneous one, judging from my own experience and knowledge of many schoolteachers who have had the courage to go up for certificates of merit, and have succeeded; and Mr. Lingen, the secretary to the Committee of Council, writing in answer to observations of this kind, has said," It may be stated, that any one who is fit to continue to hold the office of teacher, may, by a moderate degree of private study, under the guidance of an educated person, pass the needful examination, on which the high marks assigned to

real proficiency in the elementary subjects ensure success to those candidates who have mastered them, although such candidates may be less well prepared in some of the other branches." And he further adds:

"By elementary subjects are understood"1. Religious knowledge.

"2. Reading.

"3. Writing.

"4. Arithmetic.

"5. Grammar and Composition.

"6. The Theory and Practice of Managing Schools. "In addition to which, a teacher, in order to be able to conduct the instruction of pupil-teachers, ought to have a fair knowledge of English History and of Geography, and (if a master) of Euclid.

"It is, however, to be repeated, that, by the scale of marks in use, a teacher who obtained the maximum in each of the first six subjects, might receive a high certificate; or might, although the number of marks attained previously were considerably lower, be registered if qualified by age.”

So that I think it may be fairly assumed, that any one with a competent knowledge of what may be deemed absolutely necessary subjects, and a fair teaching-power in them, has a very reasonable chance of success in these examinations. It may be observed, there are two classes of registered teachers. A school having a teacher of the first class, is entitled to have both pupil teachers and the capitulation grants-the lower division, the capitulation grants only, and any one who does not possess the requisite amount of knowledge for the last, can hardly be looked upon as qualified for the office of a teacher.

I hope this may be an encouragement to many deserving teachers, who from diffidence are prevented offering themselves, and on this account lose the advantages of being either certificated or registered teachers of schools under the Committee of Council. Those who make objections to supposed difficulties, ought to recollect that "little is gained for the advancement of education, until good teachers are placed in our schools."

With a view to encourage children to remain at school longer than they generally do at present, the Committee of

Council recommend that certificates of creditable attainments and of good conduct should be granted by the managers of schools to such as deserved them; and have prepared forms, on a neatly-devised card, to be filled up with the name and other particulars applying to the individual case, signed by the managers and by the schoolmaster, and countersigned by the school inspector-to be given to children in schools under a registered or certificated teacher; but no certificate to be filled up for a child under twelve years of age, and who has not been in the school for 176 days (exclusive of Sundays), at the least, in each of three consecutive years; the morning school and the evening school are respectively understood to be each half a day. It is also a condition, that irregularity or unpunctuality in attendance, want of cleanliness in person or neatness in dress, or any single act of gross disobedience or immoral conduct, be considered as entirely disqualifying a child for any claim to a school-certificate. The managers to be answerable that the particulars stated in the certificate are correct.

With the same end in view, Mr. Norris, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, in Staffordshire, has recommended, a scheme of registration of school children above a certain age and of good conduct. A register is to be kept of the names of all children of whom the managers can certify—that they had attended school regularly for two complete years subsequently to their ninth birth-day, regular attendance being defined to mean, as above, 176 days in the year, exclusive of Sundays. The Honorary Secretary to the Board of Education for the Archdeaconry of Stafford, and the Clerk of the Peace, have undertaken to register such names in a book for that purpose.

To each child a neat card, properly filled up, is given; and which I have no doubt will, in many instances, be much prized. Mr. Norris very properly urges upon employers of labour, the duty of requiring all children seeking employment (in manufactories, in mines, in shops, in farmwork, in domestic service, etc.), to produce these tickets of registration; and adds, Whenever it were possible, it would be desirable that employers of labour should sign an agreement to this effect."

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