Signed on behalf of the Committee of Conference on Preventive and Reformatory Schools, (Enclosure B.) DAVID POWER, Treasurer. JOHN MAGREGOR, Honorary Secretaries. PREVENTIVE AND REFORMATORY SCHOOLS. LIST of the COMMITTEE appointed at a Conference upon this Subject, held at Birmingham on 10th December 1851; M. D. Hill, Esq., Recorder of Birmingham, in the Chair. Chairman :-DAVID POWER, Esq., Recorder of Ipswich. C. H. Bracebridge, Esq., Warwick. W. Campbell, Esq., Glasgow. Rev. E. Chapman, Bristol. Rev. J. Clay, Preston. J. Corder, Esq., Birmingham. W. E. Gladstone, Esq., Red Hill, W. Grant, Esq., Bristol. R. M. Milnes, Esq., London. Mr. Serjeant Merewether. J. W. Nutt, Esq. Rev. W. C. Osborne, Bath. Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P. J. Pollock, Esq., Judge of the County H. Pownall, Esq., Chairman' of J. F. Ransom, Esq., Ipswich. Rev. J. Foster Rogers, Westminster. Edward Rushton, Esq., Temple, London. M. D. Hill, Esq., Q.C., Recorder of R. Ricardo, Esq. J. Hubback, Esq., Liverpool. Temple, London, Jas. Stewart, Esq., London. Mr. Serjeant Stephen. Rev. Sydney Turner, Red Hill, A. Thomson, Esq., Aberdeen. (With power to add to their number.) SYDNEY TURNER, Hon. Secs. (No. 3.) REVEREND SIR, Committee of Council on Education, ADVERTING to the memorial enclosed in your letter of the 11th ultimo, on behalf of ragged schools and free day schools for the destitute, I am directed to inform you that the Committee of Council is not prepared to adopt any further Minutes for the special appropriation of a part of the present vote for education to schools of this class. In reply, therefore, to the several prayers of the memorial I am desired to state that, 1. My Lords, as guardians of the public purse, feel bound to require, in augmenting the salaries of teachers, that evidence of positive attainments up to a certain point shall be given in a form capable of being recorded. Their Lordships cannot admit that the standard prescribed for the lowest class of their certificates exceeds what may fairly be required of every schoolmaster who seeks public recognition; nor do my Lords conceive that it falls within their province to remunerate, independently of this standard, the peculiar qualifications which you state to be essential in the masters of ragged schools. 2. My Lords would not object, where a boy in a ragged school had during a considerable period continued to give undeniable evidence of good character, and a special aptitude for becoming a teacher in such a school, to apprentice him to the master on the ordinary terms. The enclosed Minute*, so far as it relates to assistants, might also be rendered available; but my Lords would not consent to sanction such apprenticeships with the same readiness as in common schools, nor generally to make this class of children direct recipients in their own persons of money raised by taxation. 3. Grants for the purchase of books and maps might be made to ragged schools on the same terms as to other schools, and my Lords have already adopted Minutes which would enable them to make grants for the erection or hire (one half the rent) of workshops, and for the purchase of tools. Where master workmen (not being otherwise remunerated as teachers at the public expense) are retained, my Lords would consider themselves at liberty to allow a fee for the average number of children under each such master's instruction, at a rate not exceeding 10s. per annum for each scholar.† Beyond admitting ragged schools to these forms of aid, my Lords are not prepared to recognize them specially in distributing the grant for education. The Rev. Sydney Turner, SIR, EVENING SCHOOLS FOR LABOURING CLASSES. ‡ (No. 1.) Circular Letter to Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, &c. Committee of Council on Education, Council Office, Downing Street, 24 September 1852. I AM directed to forward for your information the enclosed copy of a letter (A), from your colleague, the Rev. J. P. Norris, relative to the employ * Minute dated 23 July 1852, vide suprà, page 10. Ragged Schools.-The characteristic difference between ragged and common schools for the poor seems to be this: the former are attended by a class of children who, without special provision, will never learn to work for their living; while the latter are attended by a class who will, in the common course of things, learn to work, but will fail to obtain any due measure of moral and intellectual preparation for life. In the former, therefore, labour, in the latter learning, is the staple of instruction; not, of course, exclusively, but in the main. The average cost per scholar in common elementary day schools under Inspection appears to be (including their Lordships annual grants) rather more than 28s. per annum, of which sum about 108. 3d. is derived from public sources.-Minutes of 1851-2, Vol. i., p. 144. See Minutes of 1851-2, page 74, for a correspondence with the London Diocesan Board of Education, on the subject of Evening Schools. ment of assistant teachers in evening schools, with their Lordships reply (B.) thereto. Her Majesty's SIR, Inspector of Schools, &c. I have the honor to be, &c. (Signed) R. R. W. LINGEN. Enclosures referred to in foregoing Circular. (Enclosure A.) 18 September 1852. ADVERTING to the Minute of the 23d July 1852, and the explanatory letter which accompanied it, I beg to be informed whether their Lordships would allow such assistant teachers to attend for half the day in the day school assisting the master, and in the evening to take charge of an evening school under the master's general direction, but not necessarily in his presence. Thus the great difficulty of providing for the conduct of night schools would be met. Excepting for this purpose, I see no likelihood of any demand for assistant teachers in my district. Committee of Council on Education, I HAVE the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated 18 September 1852, in which, adverting to the Minute of the 23rd of July 1852, and to the explanatory letter which accompanied it, you inquire whether their Lordships would allow assistant teachers to attend for half the day in the day school assisting the master, and in the evenings to take charge of an evening school under the master's general direction, but not necessarily in his presence; and in reply I am directed to inform you that my Lords, so far from entertaining any objection to the proposed arrangement, had it in view when they adopted the Minute in question. It would, however, have to be understood that the evening school must be inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectors, and that the principal teacher, if not always present, would nevertheless be present at, and in personal charge of, the evening school sufficiently often to keep him acquainted with its state, and to make him personally responsible accordingly. I have the honor to be, &c. (Signed) To the Rev. J. P. Norris, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, &c. (No. 2.) R. R. W. LINGEN. Extracts from Letters concerning Evening Schools. Extract from letter addressed to Committee of Council on Education, and from reply thereto. "AT present we have not before their Lordships any application in regard to pupil-teachers, and I presume this is no obstacle to the teacher obtaining the government grant in aid,—although, in addition to a morning and afternoon class, he teaches an evening class for the six winter months of the year." [Reply.] THEIR Lordships would not consider a certificated teacher disqualified, under the circumstances stated in your letter, for receiving a grant in augmentation of his salary, provided that Her Majesty's Inspector were able to report that the master's duties in the two schools were fairly compatible with each other. My Lords desire, however, to impress upon the managers of your school the necessity of extreme caution with reference to the employment in an evening school of a teacher who assiduously discharges his duties in an elementary school during the day. Extract from letter from Committee of Council on Education, dated 15 January 1853. THE Committee of Council has not undertaken the promotion of night schools except in connexion with common day schools. If a night school were established independently of a day school, my Lords might, on being satisfied with the particulars, assist it with a grant at the usual rate for the purchase of books and maps, but such a school would manifestly be unsuitable for the apprenticeship of pupil-teachers, and (except in connexion with a day school) would not be thought to afford sufficient employment for a master and assistants to warrant the payment of augmentation grants, or of stipends pursuant to the minute of 23 July 1852. MIDDLE AND ENDOWED SCHOOLS. (No. 1.) Bromsgrove, King Edward the VIth's Grammar School. Bromsgrove, 22 April 1852. SIR, THERE are always twelve boys here as blue-coats, who are educated in English (not classics), and between sixty and seventy whose education includes the classical languages, but who learn writing, arithmetic, &c. more or less from the blue-coat boys' master, A young man, recommended to me by Mr. Wilson of Westminster, has just come as the master. He is very anxious to qualify for a Government certificate. Under what circumstances could this school be open to inspection so as to allow of his getting extra pay from Government, or at all events qualifying himself to stand an examination? Will H.M. inspector examine the twelve blue-coat boys, and will their Lordships of the Education Committee certify the master on so small a number? I have the honor to be, &c. The Secretary of the Committee of Council on Education. (Signed) J. D. COLLIS. (No. 2.) Reverend SIR, Committee of Council on Education, Council Office, Downing Street, 1 May 1852. I HAVE the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th of April 1852. I regret to state, that as the grammar school at Bromsgrove is not primarily intended for the education of children of the labouring classes, my Lords could not admit a master from it to be examined for a certificate of merit. The Rev. J. D. Collis, Bromsgrove. I have the honor to be, &c. (Signed) R. R. W. LINGEN. SIR, (No. 3.) Bromsgrove, 3 May 1852. IN reference to your reply of the 1st instant, I wish to observe that, though this grammar school is not intended primarily for the sons of the labouring classes, yet the twelve blue-coat boys are exclusively taken from the labouring classes; and the master I want examined and certified has the entire management and control of their education. Will this fact make any difference? Also, the certificate is what is wanted, not any gratuity to the master or school. The Secretary of the Committee of Council on Education. I have the honor to be, &c., (No. 4.) REVEREND SIR, Committee of Council on Education, Council Office, Downing Street, 7 May 1852. In reply to your letter of the 3rd instant, I am directed to inform you that, as the twelve blue-coat boys appear to be mere accessories to the school, and do not determine its general character, it cannot be considered as falling within the scope of their Lordships' minutes, which are confined to schools for the children of the labouring classes. The examinations for certificates of merit are confined to those teachers on whose behalf the managers of their respective schools apply for grants in augmentation of their salaries, and in whose cases the conditions of such grant are fulfilled. My Lords could not allow their certificates to become mere testimonials, or to lose that connection with the general scheme of their administration, which alone justifies such an expenditure of the time and labour of public officers as is employed on these examinations.* The Rev. J. D. Collis, Bromsgrove. I have the honor to be, &c. AN ENDOWED SCHOOL. Trustee and ΟΥ SIR, Committee of Council on Education, 24 August 1852. In reply to your letter of the 20th instant, I have the honor to inform you that the Committee of Council on Education has no authority to advise the trustees of endowed schools in acting under the powers which may be given to them by the terms of their several foundations." The school of which you speak may be visited by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors in pursuance of an application to be made to the Committee of Council, by the trustees, in the enclosed form.† * Vide Minutes of 1850-1, vol. i. page xcvi. + Memorial inviting Inspection. Church of England Schools. To the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. MY LORDS, The undersigned, being * *The Sole of the School for the Education of the Children of the Poor in the Parish of in the County of request that your Lordships will Manager provide for the periodical inspection of this School by an Inspector appointed under The Major the Order in Council dated 10 August 1840, and will cause this school to be part of the periodically examined in conformity with the instructions issued under that Order. Trusteesand The undersigned will be careful to secure for the Inspector, at his periodical visits, every facility for the examination of the scholars and of the discipline and management of the School. day of Managers. Signed this 185 |