THE

NATIONAL SCHOOLMASTER.

(Originally advertised as "The Schoolmaster.")

VOL. V.

TOTHEC

MANCHESTER:

JOHN HEYWOOD, 14 I AND 143, DEANSGATE;

EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT, 141, DEANSGATE.

LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT,

PREFACE.

N the first number of the National Schoolmaster, issued five years ago, we struck the keynote of what has been our policy since.

The question of Pensions was then in a quagmire, from which it seemed impossible to raise it; but by printing the text of the original Minutes, and deducing from that the nature of the expectations held out by Government, we commenced a vigorous agitation for justice, which has eventually resulted in a partial success. The new Pension Minute, issued in the past year, is valuable as a distinct official recognition of the injustice of Mr. Lowe's policy in 1861. In that sense it concedes all that we have ever demanded. We cannot, however, conceal our dissatisfaction that the Privy Council should not have seized the opportunity to inaugurate a general system of Pensions. The occasion has, however, now passed by; for the Government, having taken the sting out of the Pension agitation by redressing the most flagrant injustice complained of, is not likely to pay any attention to further demands on the part of teachers. If, therefore, a general system of Pensions is to be put in force, it must be by some independent organisation, such as the National Union or the National Society.

The policy we have pursued in the past we shall follow in the future. Inspectors are often seized with hobbies, which operate with ruinous effect upon the interests of teachers. Exposure in the press is the most efficient means of checking such oppression; and the fear of such exposure in the press prevents much injustice of this kind from

arising. The Education Department issues some new edict which carries the policy of "stringing up" to an unbearable height; it is in the press that the complaints of the teachers appear. We may congratulate ourselves on the much greater attention that is now conceded to the suggestions of teachers than was formerly the case. Mr. Forster introduced a good deal of common sense into the procedure of the Department during his Vice-Presidency, and the influence of it still

remains.

Our aim is in each number to give as fully as we can the whole Educational News of the month. We try to set it forth in as readable a manner as we are able. We endeavour by all possible means to exclude padding. To teachers in country districts, who are obliged to get their papers by post, the existence of an educational periodical which can be had post-free for one shilling and threepence is surely an important benefit. Masters and mistresses should encourage their apprentices to take in such a serial, since they cannot begin too early to make themselves accurately acquainted with the condition of things under which their whole life is to be spent. We trust those of our readers who are able

will endeavour to extend the sale of the National Schoolmaster in their immediate neighbourhood, and thus secure to us that moral strength that necessarily arises from a large circulation.