1. Vocal Music. 2. Drawing from Models. Schedule B. 3. History and Etymology of the English Language. 4. Modern History. 5. Modern Languages. 6. Ancient History. 7. Physical Science. 8. Higher Branches of Mathematics. 9. Latin. 10. Greek. The subjects in Schedule A ought to be professed by all candidates. for certificates, but a more extensive knowledge of these subjects must be shown by candidates for the two higlier classes of certificates. The Committee of Council will, however, permit a candidate for the third or lowest certificate to substitute two of the subjects in Schedule B for a similar number of subjects in Schedule A. A large and liberal acquaintance with the subjects in Schedule A might entitle a teacher to one of the two higher classes of certificates; but generally the examination of candidates who succeed in obtaining one of the two latter classes of certificates will have been extended to some of the subjects in Schedule B. I am also to call your attention to the annexed circular letter addressed to schoolmasters to whom pupil-teachers have been apprenticed, explaining their duties, and the mode in which their interests are affected; and also showing the utility of those duties in preparing candidates for certificates. I am further directed to enclose, for your information, two "Broadsheets" relating, 1st, to the augmentation of the salaries of schoolmasters and schoolmistresses who have obtained Certificates of Merit; 2ndly, to the apprenticeship of pupil teachers and stipendiary monitors. You are requested to bring this circular letter and its enclosures immediately under the attention of the managers of your school; and, if you desire to become a candidate at the approaching examination, to move them to take the preliminary steps described therein, in order that you may be entitled to attend. I have also enclosed three copies of this Letter, in order that you may distribute them to such Schoolmasters as you may know to be anxious to offer themselves as Candidates for Certificates of Merit. It may be important that you should correct a prevalent misconception that it is necessary, in order to entitle a Schoolmaster to present himself at this Examination, that his School should have been under inspection prior to the receipt of this Circular. You are requested to inform all persons interested, that Managers of Schools may at any time place their Schools under Inspection, by filling up the enclosed Preliminary Forms of Statement in the manner hereinbefore described, and applying for the admission of their Master to the General Examination as a Candidate for a Certificate of Merit. To the Master of the I have the honor to be, &c., School. J. P. KAY SHUTTLEWORTH. Circular Letter (annexed to the preceding Circular) addressed to Schoolmasters, to whom Pupil Teachers have been apprenticed, in explanation of their duties and the mode in which their interests are affected. SIR, Committee of Council on Education, THE Committee of Council on Education having, on the Report of Her Majesty's Inspector, authorized the Apprenticeship of [number] of the Scholars in your School; and held out to them the prospect of annual stipends, and to yourself an annual increase of your income, upon the fulfilment of the conditions set forth in their Minutes of August and December, 1846, it is considered desirable to call your attention to the duties devolving upon you in relation to this Apprenticeship. Their Lordships' instructions directed Her Majesty's Inspector to put a limited interpretation on the requirement set forth in the Minutes, under the head of General Preliminary Conditions,-" That the Master or Mistress of the School should be competent to conduct the Apprentice through the course of instruction to be required." He was instructed to report in such cases whether the acquirements and skill, and the capacity and disposition of the Teacher, were such as to afford a reasonable prospect that he would be able to qualify himself to conduct the education of the Pupil Teacher in the successive years of the Apprenticeship. If the Teacher had not previously obtained one of their Lordships' Certificates of Merit, my Lords declared that they would be satisfied if Her Majesty's Inspectors could report, that his character and attainments were such as would enable him to qualify himself for success in an examination at the close of each year of the Apprenticeship, in those subjects in which the Pupil Teachers would have to be instructed in the then ensuing year. By this interpretation of the General Preliminary Condition, their Lordships trusted that the system of Apprenticeship would provide, not only for the training of the Apprentices as Candidates for Queen's Scholarships, but also for the self-education of such deserving Teachers as might be anxious during the course of the Apprenticeship (in which their own labours received an annual recompense) to prepare themselves for those distinctions and more substantial rewards of their profession, offered in the recent Minutes through the Certificates and Augmentations of Salary. This annual examination in the subjects forming the course of instruction for Pupil Teachers will afford a useful stimulus to private study; will accustom the Teacher to the method of examination pursued by Her Majesty's Inspectors; and will tend to give such precision and accuracy to his acquirements as, without painful effort, to insure his success in the General Examination for Certificates. By such means he will be enabled not only to maintain, but to raise, his relative rank in the profession. My Lords would suggest that you should immediately provide yourself with such Text-books as you may be advised to procure, in order that you may obtain a systematic and accurate knowledge of all the subjects to which the General Examination of Candidates for Certificates extends. During the Apprenticeship, it will be your duty personally to give instructions to your Pupil Teachers during one hour and a half daily, on five days in the week, either before or after the usual hour of Schoolkeeping. This course of instruction is a condition of the Apprenticeship, indispensably necessary for the preparation of the Pupil Teachers for their Annual Examination; and if it be pursued by you with diligence and skill, it will also tend to increase your familiarity with those subjects and methods which have not hitherto formed part of the ordinary course of instruction in elementary schools, but which will constitute the substance of the examination for Certificates. In proportion as this preparation of your Apprentices is successful, will you also derive advantage from their assistance in the management of your School, which you will thus be enabled to raise to a higher standard of discipline, organization, and instruction. You will observe that Her Majesty's Inspectors conduct their examination of the Apprentices, to a large extent, by the oral dictation of exercises, which are required to be worked in writing. You will find that many advantages arise from making your Pupil Teachers familiar with this method. It gives habits of precision; it tests the accuracy of their knowledge; it imparts facility in composition; and promotes neatness in exercises dictated and worked without preparation. Moreover it prepares them, as Candidates for Queen's Scholarships, for their public trials, and, if they become Teachers, for many of their future duties. While, therefore, you give chief prominence to the method of oral examination, as affording important means of developing the intelligence of your Pupils, and communicating knowledge to them, you are recommended also frequently to resort to the methods of dictation and written examination, especially as they exercise the ability of your Pupils so as to prepare them for independent efforts of self-improvement. It is scarcely necessary to point out to you how much your success, even in the intellectual improvement of your Pupil Teachers, will depend on the right cultivation of their moral sentiments and the regulation of their habits. In these respects you will doubtless have such aid and counsel as, it may be hoped, will enable you to fulfil the higher aims of the education of your Apprentices. (Signed) To the Master of the School. I am, &c., J. P. KAY SHUTTLEWORTH. SCOTLAND. Letter of Instructions to Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in Scotland, as to the proceedings to be adopted by them in carrying into execution the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education, of August and December, 1846. SIR, Committee of Council on Education, Council Office, Whitehall, February, 1848. THE APPRENTICESHIP OF PUPIL TEACHERS. THE Committee of Council on Education direct me to inform you, that they have postponed the execution of the Minutes of August and December, 1846, in Scotland, in order to complete some subordinate arrangements. My Lords are desirous that no delay should now occur in the examination of the Schools, the Managers of which have applied for the apprenticeship of Pupil Teachers, and of the Scholars who are candidates for apprenticeship in those Schools. The attention of Schoolmasters should be drawn to the annexed Circular Letter,* addressed to those to whom Pupil Teachers have been apprenticed, explaining their duties, and the mode in which their interests are affected. It is only necessary to add that this Circular is addressed to Masters who have not obtained one of their Lordships' Certificates, and who are not yet prepared to present themselves for examination for any of such Certificates. Masters who have obtained one of these Certificates would of course have the advantage of Apprentices, and the consequent annual gratuities, without any further examination. The Managers of those Schools who have not hitherto applied for the apprenticeship of Pupil Teachers, should be instructed to address a letter to the Secretary of the Committee of Council on Education, Council Office, Whitehall." CERTIFICATES ENTITLING SCHOOLMASTERS TO CONDITIONAL AUGMENTATIONS OF SALARY. The Committee of Council have before them applications under the Minutes of August and December, 1846, from the Managers of Schools in various parts of Scotland, on behalf of their Teachers, requesting they may be admitted to an examination for the Certificates of Merit, which are necessary to the enjoyment of Augmentations of Salary under those Minutes. Their Lordships have reason to know that other Candidates only await the announcement of the period when the Examination will occur, and of its chief conditions, ere they present their claims to be examined. It has been deemed expedient not to precipitate the period of the General Examination of Teachers, but rather to allow such time for preparatory studies and courses of instruction as to increase the number of Candidates who will present themselves with confidence. It is desirable that you should explain to all persons interested in this General Examination, that it is a necessary preliminary to the admis A copy of this Circular Letter will be found appended to the Circular addressed to Masters of Schools not in connexion with the Church of England (vide p. cxxv.) sion of any Candidate to it, that the Master of a Parochial School, or the Trustees or Managers of other Schools, should apply to the Committee of Council in a letter addressed to the Secretary, Privy Council Office, Whitehall, at least one month before the time appointed for the Examination, and should fill up certain Forms of Inquiry which will be transmitted to them from this Office in reply to their application. FIRST GENERAL EXAMINATION IN MAY AND JUNE, 1848. The Lord President directs me to inform you, that the First General Examination of Candidates from Schools, chiefly from the SouthEastern Districts of Scotland, will commence in Edinburgh on Monday, the first of May. Another Examination of Candidates, chiefly from the South-Western Counties, will commence in Glasgow on Monday, the eighth of May. A Third Examination of Candidates, chiefly from the North-Eastern Counties, will commence in Aberdeen on Monday, the fifth of June. A Fourth Examination of Candidates, chiefly from the North-Western Counties, will commence in Inverness on Tuesday, the thirteenth of June. These Examinations will be conducted in writing, and will be con tinued daily (Sunday excepted), and it will be necessary that every Candidate should make arrangements for a daily attendance during one week. Due notice will be given of the place in which the Examination will be conducted. SECOND GENERAL EXAMINATION IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 1848. Their Lordships, being desirous to afford facilities to deserving Schoolmasters, also intend that a Second General Examination shall occur in the present year. For this purpose Candidates will assemble in Dumfries on the First Monday in September, in Glasgow on the Second Monday in September, in Edinburgh on the Third Monday in September, in Aberdeen on the Fourth Monday in September, in Inverness on the First Monday in October, and in Wick on the Second Monday in October. The Committee of Council have conferred with you as to the subjects and the standard of attainments to be required at this Examination. Their Lordships have adapted their Regulations in these respects to what are known to be the common acquirements of skilful Masters of efficient Schools in Scotland. In the Examinations of this year, they have allowed that certain subjects not hitherto very generally studied by all classes of Schoolmasters in Scotland, should be omitted from the course of Examination for the Lowest Class of Certificates. These subjects will form part of the Examination in following years. Their Lordships have also avoided raising the requirements for their Highest Class Certificate to the standard of the qualifications of the First Class of Masters in Scotland-their present object being to encourage the studies and reward the efforts of those who are desirous to prepare themselves to fill this rank in their profession. The fact that the children of the middle as well as of the labouring classes are educated in the Parochial and other effi |