REPORT OF THE INSPECTORGENERAL OF SCHOOLS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3732, 2 July 1883, Page 4

REPORT OF THE INSPECTORGENERAL OF SCHOOLS.

Tho Inspector-General's report on the examination of teachers has been presented to the House. Mr Habens pronounces tho results "more satisfactory than in any_ provious examination, the proportion of complete failures, and especially of very bad failures, being much smaller than in former years." Ho states that 5-19 candidates entered, -105 appeared, and 226 were more or less successful. Tho expenses of the examination this year wero £117, aud tho fees received £381. The examiner in English for Class E. complains frequently of the occurrence of ignorant or careless punctuation a defect to which several failures in tho subject are due. In chemistry, an optional subject for Class D. there wore three candidates. The examiner reports that all passed with great credit. As a rule tho paper on domestic economy, which women may take instead of the paper on elementary science, was extremely well done. In elementary science, although a few papers were good, many candidates who obtained sufficient marks for a pass exhibited such misconception as to the scientific principles involved as would be very misleading to their pupils. The Examiner inDrawing remarks on the general tendency to "line in" figure before the form has been accurately sketched. Regarding the examination on school management, the examiners say the result is very disappointing. " With every desire to err, if we erred at all, rather on the side of leniency than of severity, we havo been able only to pass only 14 per cent, of candidates ; while at a very moderate estimate 20 per cent, of papers are practically valueless. Many candidates lack the necessary intellectual qualifications for the work. Their general education is at fault tea degree none but examiners would credit. Their writing, spelling, and composition are in some cases alike unsatisfactory. The writers show lamentable ignorance of meanings of common words. "Other evidence of defective intelligence is furnished by the inability of many candidates to perceive the plain drift of a question, unless, as is sometimes suspected, they wilfully shut their eyes to it and addressed themselves to a subject they thought they could discuss more satisfactorily. Numerous answers were totally irrelevant. Disorderly habits of thought, confusion of ideas, and incoherence of statement seemed rather tho rule than the exception in the papers. Another cause "3 failure is defective professional knowledge, arising in many cases, perhaps, from inexperience, in others from neglect of study or from injudiciously directed reading. It was particularly disappointing to witness the steady way in which candidates avoided all questions of principle. Gross carelessness is responsible for a number of failures. In no other way can we account for tho repeated violations of the rules of examination, and for the neglect of the most important sections of pjipors which were left till the last iv spite of the printed advice of examiners, and wero abandoned unfinished (tho writers uniformly said) for want of time. This carelessness was further shown in the disgraceful untidiness and wretched writing of some of the papers, stamping the authors at once as unfitted in these respects for the teacher's office. There is reason to think the highest aim of some candidates is not professional efficiency, but just by hook or by crook to pass the examination, no matter how barely. The examiners were brought face to face with the unpleasant fact that the "notes of lessons" produced wero in many cases not the work of candidates, but merely a reproduction, sometimes word for word, of published notes, occasionally very bad ones. They deemed it unfair and very unworthy of teachers to attempt thus to palm off on the examiners published notes as the candidates' own work." No marks were given for such answers, and the examiners sarcastically suggest that iv future candidates should g-ivo them (the examiners) credit for knowledge of such published works. in conclusion the examiners say: "Many of the answers would be amusing if the ignorance displayed by tho would-be teachers were not so lamentable. Wo were told several times that arithmetic and Euclid otter excellent opportunities for cultivating the imagination. 'I would recommend in teaching grammar to begin at the beginning and continue throughout the whole course;' but what was tho beginning, and what constituted the course, wero left to be found out. We rise from the perusal of these papers with the impressions (1) that even when every allowance is made for the imperfect character of the examination test, many of the certificated teachers of the country aro not at all qualified for the profession, and we cannot conceive the possibility of those candidates doing good work ; (2) that there is little or no improvement noticeable in tho quality of work done by candidates year by year ; (3) that many of those whom wo examined this year havo bestowed no study upon their profession, and will not until some limit is placed on the number of times they may present themselves without final rejection."