STATE SCHOOLS REPORTS OF WELLINGTON INSPECTORS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1914, Page 8

STATE SCHOOLS REPORTS OF WELLINGTON INSPECTORS.

The report of the inspectors of schools on the condition and work of the primary and district high schools in the Wellington education district for the past year has been presented' to the Education Board. , They state that there were 169 schools in active operation at the close of the year, as compared with 168 in 1912. Visits of inspection were paid to 15 private schools in addition to" the State schools. There was an increased roll number of 486 over that of the previous year. Unfortuhately, they say,, the increase is mainly confined to .the 1 town schools. Except in »the case of the Manawatu line, the miral school population is at best only stationary. The inspectors have classified 153 schools as satisfactory to good, 13 as fair, and 3as inferior. Compared with 1912, the percentage of unsatisfactory schools has fallen from .12 to 9 per cent, The chief factor of this decrease has been the establishment of classes at the Training College and at Masterton for tho instruction of uncertificated teachers. While defending the schools from the accusation of any general failing in pronunciation or accent, the inspectors state that they have on occasions had to draw attention to lack of expression and sloven, liness of enunciation and articulatioh. The efficiency mark in arithmetic is said to be the same a-s in former yearssatisfactory to good in Standards 1. to IV., moderate to fair in Standard Vn, and satisfactory in Standard VI. Atten> tion is again drawn to the "harm dono to the rational treatment ' and .to the educational and practical value of this subject by the too exacting requirements of the public examinations." ' Although the work in instrumental drawing has improved somewhat during the year, there is still room for further improvement on the lines of last year's report. Inaccuracy is still found ii) some schools, and is due not only to the use of unsuitable pencils and compasses, but also to inadequate supervision on the part of the teacher,. While approving of the change from slavish adherence to flat copies to the drawing from the natural object, the inspectors ,feel that judicious use of the former is $ still of advantage from the point of view of accuracy of. proportion, which has a tendency to bd neglected where the natural objects consist mainly of irregular leaf forms, etc.