THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 24

THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. At the annual meeting of the Council of the Educational Institute Mr R\lph D. Stewart j (the president), in his opening address, said the I Education Act had now been in operation for ( 20 years, and it might be of advantage at th c close ot this second decade to oonsider whether i or not, under present circumstances, it did nob | require some araentmant. Mr Stewart pro- | ceedei to refer at some length to the circumstances which led to the passing of the Education Act and the powers which it conferred on | the department, the boards, aud the oommittees respectively. As to the payment of teachers, he pointed out that in one educational district a i teacher might receive 20 per cent, more than he ' would in the next ; another teacher, possessing the B*me qualifications and doing the ume work, in the employ of yet another board, might ba paid on a still higher scale. They were told they had a colonial system of education, and it certainly was to the extent that the colony provided the money. Mr Stewart condemned the present system of classification as unsatisfactory. He preferred the English system, ! which provided a standard examination, which all teachers must pass, certificates being issued accordingly. This corrected the tendency to subordinate experience and success to academic status. The Education Act empowered the Governor-in-Council, subject to the provisions of the act, to make regulations for the employment, education, and examinations of pupil teachers. By an Order-in-Council issued under thi3 subsection, boards were allowed, siibjert to fchf- approv.*! "of the Minister, to make ctiek Oivn regulations with regard i, pupil teachers. The matters provided fur by the other eight subsections, were all placed under the administration of the department. Why should the examination and clas-ilication of teachers be placed under the control of the department, whilst that of puoil teachers was handed over to the boards ? Why should this function of administration be taken from the denartment, whilst the other ei^hj were left ia '

; its hands ? What had been tho result ? Chaos ? > No two sets of regulations for the employment! :of pupil teachers bsing nlika. There was »n overlapping of the regulations for the two examinations. The council Ust year passed a resolution requesting the Minister to formulnto | a colonial scheme for the examination of pupil ! teachers, and it seemed thab this was tho only solution of the difficulty. The colony owed a great deal to the men who for years had given up their time and applied their abilities to local educational affairs. They had beeu well served on. the whole in the pait, despite the opportunities that existed for abuse. Whatever they might thisk of the necessity which existed to-day for boards of oducation, they must certainly admit that they had done good work in the transition from a provincial to a colonial system of administration, and that the board system might continue to exist for many years, provided that tho necessary reforms and adaptations to present circaruKiacc'B were carried oub. The method o- e!&«HOD certftiuly required reconsideration. ' Bonds weiejslected by school committee!, eacb of which possessed as mtiny votes as there wer< | members to be elected It might be the committee represented a community of 20 persouv or. a community of 1000 ; tho voting power w.<s the same in both cases. Wss this juet V Was this wisa? He thought nob. Their eleoloral sy«tem had been so modelled thab at a parliamentary election each vote was as nearly as possible of the tame value. Each electoral distriob contained approximately the same population. They had oue-man-oue-vote. Iv muuicipal elections the voting power was . made proportional to the rates paid. Ths counties werei divided into ridings, the cities into ward*, each of which was represented ; yet all such c insiderations were swept on ono eidn whesi they denlb with the election of boards aid with the election of committees. They were, told that ib wa>; necessary that the country districts should have proportionately higher representation. This was quite true. Bab should the country districts have ths power to swamp the urban and suburoan districts ? Should a oorntnuuiby of s«y, 30 or 10 householders bavo the samn voting power as the City of Auckland ? Yet thU w*B the condition of fcffaifH a'- proueut. By ths* aob of 1877 it was orignally provided that the election of fchool ottmmitilees was to taire plaoe on. the fourth Monday in January of each ycar^-and tho election of the new members of boftrds in the following March. From thii ib would appear that the L9gislal;uro intended thi\b the incoming coainv.ttosu for the yenr should oiect one-third of the board. When the time for the election of school cotuaiittees was altered (o the fourth Monday in April, it teems to have been quite overlooked that the retiring committees would thus elect the new eleaooub in the board, and .that if any burning question was under dißou^ion, the oppori tnniby was lo<b to the householders of indireotl/ i controlling the election of one-third of tho board. Would it not bs more satisfactory if the board* were elected, as they are in England, by the direol vote of the householders p Another point which ought to receive careful attention was this" : thab members of boards were not an a rule elected on account of their ; knowledge of education. Generally they had 1 to rely entirely on the advice given them by the . inspectors. Here in New Zealand the advice of practical educAtionists v/&x sometimes treated an if it were beneath contempt. They were often told tho boards had their inspectors to. guide them, what more did they want?' And the spirit iv which the question irii asked was often more offensive than the question itself. Arsuming that all inspectors had had actual • xoerience — a* chey ought to have had — of the work of small, medium, and Urge-sized school;, they in proceas of time spoke only from the inspectorial standpoint. Tho work of a teacher demanded that he should be constantly in touch with the developments of child life, and the tendency in those who were not engaged in actual teaching always was to expect more from the average child than it could do. Boards, therefore, should nob pl*ce unlimited confidence iv the opiuiou of an inspector, even j supposing him to be a man of very considerable j experience. Provision should be made in each I educational district for a nub-committee cf experts, consisting of inspectors and teachers, to whom purely educational subjects should ba , remitted for consideration, and report. Mr ; Steward went ou to do.il with the functions of | school committees. He said the class of men who acted on these budien was improving. They were getting in the populous centres man who understood the work, and in the country districts there was also an improvAtxtent. Ib ought to afford every teacher the liveliest Fatitfaction to know that if he was a member of any branch of the institute he would have in cose of unfair treatment a body at hit back determined at any costs to see tbab he got fair play. The institute would never leud itsalf to wrong, even to defend a member, but if it was satisfied, that a teacher bad suffared any injustice it would spare neither money uor time to tee him righted. The very existence of it was a protection to teachers, and as it was now an incarporabed society ib will be enabled to extend its, usefulness. In conclusion, he would say that in one seme at least every teacher was an administrator under the Education Act. Id large school?, at any rate, no head teacher could succeed who did nob po»s'ss considerable gifts in this direction ; but iv the smallest be must rule or his work was a failure. Each of them at this period of the colony's history wa§ helping to mould and to make a nation, developing here in these genial climes under the reest of popular institution?, a new people in a new environment was springing info being. The Anglo-Saxon race, with its fierce energy and great adaptive power was destined, in these islands of the south, to found auother great branch of the widespread Teutonic family. In their midst the proceni of blending Saioa and Celt, which went on in medieval England, was going on afresh. Emigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland were making this land their home, and here old enmities being forgotteD, old hatreds being lost sight of, they were uniting under propitious circumstances into a new people. Next to the parents, the teacher* were playing tha most important Barb in the creation of this young State. They stood at the country's cradle, and for good or ill were helping to direct the destinies ' of their fellow cibizsuß. Let them be indifferent neither to their opportunities nor to the responsibilities which they brought; bud let them ra'her, remembering ever that they were the servant* of a young community, rememberiDg_thit despite standards and examinations the pereoual influence of the teaoher was etill the great factor in the education of the child, lei: tham endeavour to imitate the Vno'di and the Thrings of tho motherland, ti.d thus earn the respect, the goodwill, and the gcatitudo of their fellow men. — (Applause.)

— The biggest annual pension that is paid id any part of the world is £19,000. The Duka of Riohtnond is the recipient of this vasL anouicy, which is perpetual, passing from sou to sou. The pension was granted 300 je*ra aico by Ch«ka ll*