THE

NATIONAL SCHOOLMASTER.

VOL. VIII.

MANCHESTER:

JOHN HEYWOOD, EXCELSIOR BUILDINGS, RIDGEFIELD, JOHN DALTON STREET;

AND 18, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C.

PREFACE.

N taking a review of the educational occurrences of the year

1878, there is not much to notice. There is evidence of a

steady advance along the whole line of educational progress, and the ground that has been won in the past has been well secured, and made a basis for future operations. The Education Department have manifested an inclination to turn teachers into assistant-clerks of the Department by requiring them to furnish a multitude of trivial returns, which they refuse to pay for as extra duty, and thus require them to be drawn up in the time that ought to be devoted to teaching. It is to be hoped that means will be found for removing this serious impediment in the way of educational progress. The promotion of Lord Sandon and the selection of Lord George Hamilton as his successor in the office of Vice-President of the Committee of Council has not produced any apparent change in the policy of the Department. The Earl of Harrowby is one of those Liberals who have steadily gravitated towards Toryism, and his son, Lord Sandon, may be supposed to sympathise with his father's views. But Lord G. Hamilton is a Tory of the truest blue; and therefore we may look for a more distinct policy in educational matters when his lordship has thoroughly mastered the routine duties of the office. The school-board system has answered very well, on the whole; but there is distinct and abundant evidence that it is wholly unsuited to country parishes. There have been disgraceful altercations at the meetings of these small country boards, at which the most abusive language has been used, amounting in some cases to threats of personal violence. It has been said that the School Attendance Committees of the country districts are very lukewarm in carrying out the compulsory powers with which they are armed, but

it is very likely the wisest policy not to carry out the Act in its fullest rigour at the very beginning of its operation. The question of school fees is one of those points of difficulty that will have to be settled in future years. The tendency of some of the school boards is to reduce the school fees to the lowest possible sum, and recoup themselves for the deficiency from the rates and the Government grant; but the Educational Estimates have already reached a sum which bears a sensible proportion to the expenses of the empire, and ratepayers will not always show the remarkable patience under taxation which they now display. Viewing the matter from all its aspects, we may look for an increase in the rate of school fees and an increased firmness in the mode of collection. Some of the boards have tried to use their compulsory powers to collect their school fees, i.e. by dismissing a boy because he had not brought his fee, and then summoning him for not attending school. But tortuous methods of this kind, though convenient to the boards, are not approved by the magistrates, who very wisely and rightly decline to convict in such cases. Many school boards have, therefore, begun to compel the payment of arrears of school fees by means of the County Court.

The National Union of Elementary Teachers has begun to show its practical usefulness in various forms of rendering assistance to teachers. Its orphan fund has brought it into somewhat disagreeable rivalry with a much older institution, whose good work in the past secures a blessing on its future operations. We do not hear much of the progress of the Provident Institution, for the sufficient reason that there is not much to hear. If there has been an understanding between the acting committee and Mr. Whitwell, that instead of asking the Government for a pension for all teachers, they should be content with a pension for teachers certificated before 1861, and establish a Provident Institution for teachers who have entered the profession more recently, all we can say is that the scheme will fail as it deserves to fail. The Provident Institution will be a failure if it is supposed that through its operations teachers will be secured from the pressure of want in old age. It may be useful, if it succeeds in gaining a sufficiently large constituency, in giving relief in time of sickness.

For ourselves, in entering upon the ninth year of our existence, while thanking our readers for their past support, we must ask their favour and indulgence in the future. We can truly say that in our

comments on educational events, educational reports, and educational books, we endeavour honestly, without fear or favour, to discharge the duties of our function. A journal of this kind, which brings to the teacher's door twelve times a year a summary of educational intelligence, reviews of books, and other interesting information for so small a sum as one shilling and threepence, is an event which has never been known in the educational world before, and it is not likely to be distanced in the future. Our readers will readily acknowledge that our interests in this matter and their own are reciprocal; that in extending our circulation they are increasing the influence of a journal whose influence has always been exerted in their favour, and never to their detriment. Having said this, we wish all our readers, with much sincerity, a happy and prosperous New Year.