The National Schoolmaster.

SUMMARY.

RCHDEACON DENISON has had some correspondence with the Education Department, in which he declares that he will have nothing to do with the Education Acts, 1870-1876, 'except the making forced payment of Schol Rate, if such rate shall be assessed upon me." He finally declines to receive any other letter, or copy of letter, on this subject. The opinion of the Lords of the Council on this policy has been well expressed on a former occasion by Archdeacon Denison himself, who represents them as saying, "the Archdeacon is a stupid old man, but he will die soon "-meanwhile the course on which he has entered must be either injurious to the poor of his parish or end in the ruin of his schools. The latter result is the more probable, as another set of schools will have to be built, which will be the only ones recognised by the Education Department as satisfying the requirements of the Act of 1876 concerning the attendances to be made by children before they can go to work.

The Government have taken an important step with regard to the training of teachers in Scotland which we trust will strengthen the hands of those who wish that there should be in England a definite relation established between the Universities and elementary education. The following letter on the subject has been written by Sir A. Grant, the Principal of Edinburgh University :

Sir,-As some of your readers may like to have precise information as to the concessions recently promised by the Education Department to a deputation from the four Universities, I beg to mention the following particulars :

After a general agreement had been come to with the deputation, the details of the new arrangements to be made were finally adjusted in a subsequent interview which Professor Ramsay and myself had with Sir Francis Sandford. There were two points which the deputation were anxious to obtain from the Department-first, that the M.A. degree should be recognised as giving the holder of that degree a distinct claim for a teacher's certificate without the necessity of his going through the ordinary examination for such certificates; secondly, that all the élite of the pupil-teachers should No. 80.-July, 1877.

receive, at all events, some portion of their training at one of the Universities. Both these points were conceded, and arrangements of the most satisfactory kind were finally agreed upon, and promised to be adopted by Sir Francis, as follows:

1. Any Master of Arts of a Scottish University, on passing a satisfactory examination in "school management" alone, is to be entitled to a teacher's certificate of the second class, being higher than any certificate at present obtainable on first entering the profession.

2. All those pupil-teachers who come up to a certain standard in the July examinations for Queen's scholarships are to be sent in the following November, by order of the Department, to attend one of the Universities for the winter session. They will each attend a University two winter sessions, and during the summer will continue to go through the regular course at a training college. These picked Queen's scholars will have to attend five different classes of the University professors, and will be examined in the subjects. Those who pass "with merit" in three out of their five subjects will obtain a second-class certificate (like the Master of Arts); those who pass without the above distinction will obtain the ordinary third-class certificates.

University of Edinburgh.

I am, &c.,

A. GRANT.

The sixty-sixth annual meeting of the National Society, was held on Wednesday, June 6th; the Archbishop of York presiding. The following paragraph of the report shows what proportion of the schools of the country are in the hands of the Church :

Out of the total accommodation provided in day schols under Government inspection (for 3,426,318 children), the Church gives 2,105,849 places; the British and Wesleyan Schools, &c., 563,566; the Roman Catholics, 200,753; and the Board schools, 556,150; or, in other words, the Church holds nearly two-thirds of the existing school accommodation. In the average numbers on the register the same proportion is maintained, the figures showing-out of a total of 2,943,774-Church, 1,793,952; British, &c., 488,911; Roman Catholic, 168,135; Board, 492,776. ratios of average attendance are to the same effect.

The

The total income of the National Society for the year was £22,284, being an increase of £1,000 on the income of the preceding year. The Church of England Training Colleges for teachers are reported to be in a most satisfactory condition, and the National Society, in conjunction with the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, is considering the best means of providing additional accommodation for the training of female teachers, which is much needed. The meeting was then addressed by the Archbishop of York, after which the vacancies on the Committee were filled up. The meeting was afterwards addressed by Lord Redesdale, Dean Bickersteth, Messrs. F. S. Powell, Hugh Birley, M.P., Talbot, M.P., and other speakers.

The advocates of Spelling Reform do not receive much favour at the hands of the leading journals of the country. The Times declares that " a reform of spelling, such as the late London School Board has suggested, is simply a literary hobby, out of all relation to real life, and with a dozen irresistible claims to be added to the long list of the follies of impracticable men. Mr. Lowe tells us that he is not afraid of ridicule; he certainly never showed his courage more

fully than by his intervention in this astonishing discussion. The Saturday Review remarks: "Phonetic spelling is merely one of the many fantastic shapes of modern individualism. It is like spirit-rapping, like conscientious objections to vaccination, like the morbid desire to marry a deceased wife's sister, like Miss Cobbe's patent religion. To most of these crazes one or two distinguished men have given a kind of support. Is it necessary to say that the phonetic people have 'drawn' Mr. Gladstone? They quote this text from the ex-Premier : "The difficulties of spelling are enough to drive the learner mad."" The Spectator says: "These enthusiastic and fanatic spelling reformers are so eager to help small children that they imagine they can change the face of a great society by a mere decree." The Daily News remarks: "We are not going to introduce anarchy merely that boys may pass their examinations more easily. . The public is not going to revolutionise established orthography. with crotchets do not last long, and there is schoolmasters and philologists combine." language which for hundreds of years has been spreading by fashion, by emigration, and by conquest in every quarter of the globe is not a toy to be trifled with, or a sapling that amateur hands can transplant."

a

The alliances of people

no cause for alarm, though The Standard says: "A

We have to record the death of Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth at the age of 73. Sir James may be considered the founder of our present system of national education, having been Secretary of the Committee of Council from its first formation in 1839 to 1849. We give the following extract from a sketch of his career, which appears in the School Guardian:

Although he was warmly attached to the pupil-teacher system, he relied upon it more as a means of recruiting the profession than for efficiency, and looked forward to a gradual substitution of assistant-teachers for pupil-teachers. He was strongly in favour of admitting teachers to the inspectorate, nor would he have excluded schoolmistresses from acting as inspectors of girls' schools. Teachers have lost in him a friend, who did more than any other man to improve their position, and who was always ready to advise them with valuable counsel in their difficulties.

REVIEWS.

Syllabus for the Periodical Examination of Pupil-Teachers and Candidates in connection with the Huddersfield and District Teachers' Association. Second Edition.

THE scheme drawn up in this syllabus is such a very admirable one in every respect that we are anxious to give our readers as full an account of it as possible, so that the good work done in Huddersfield and neighbourhood may be extended to other districts. The Huddersfield Association has a list of patrons, including several M.P.'s, and the school board for the town. Its president is Mr. E. G. A. Holms, Her Majesty's

Inspector, and the chairman of its Committee of Management is Mr. S. B. Tait, master of the Board School, Beaumont Street, Huddersfield. The object of the association is "to promote the education of pupil-teachers by means of a fixed course of study and periodical examinations." There are two sets of examinations-the ordinary examinations, which are confined to the requirements of the Code, and examinations in a syllabus of extra subjects, which is optional. The ordinary examinations are held five times in the year, those in the extra subjects being held three times only. In the syllabus for the ordinary examinations the work for each year is divided, as far as it can be, into four sections, which we shall best explain by giving a portion of the syllabus for the first year pupil-teachers :—

If a scheme of this kind were confined to the ordinary examinations, it would be of great value; but its usefulness is enhanced when we examine the list of extra subjects in which also examinations are held. These extra subjects are English Literature, French Language and Literature, Latin Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music (old notation), Music (Tonic Sol-fa), Needlework, and Domestic Economy. In all these extra subjects, there are three examinations held; but the pupil-teachers are left at liberty to select as many of these subjects as they choose, and they are not compelled to be examined in any. This series of examinations is very valuable, as will be seen from the syllabus of the Latin Language and Literature, which we subjoin.

At the end of the syllabus there is a list of Text-Books which are recommended for study, which seems very sensibly drawn up. In concluding our notice of this admirable scheme, we would say to all other teacher's associations, "Go, thou, and do likewise.”