SCHOOL SYLLABUS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 71, 22 September 1919, Page 8

SCHOOL SYLLABUS

NEW REGULATIONS GAZETTED,

New regulations have been gazetted "for the organisation, examination, and inspection of public schools and syllabus of instruction." The pupils of every public school are to be divided into four divisions—preparatory division, junior division, middle division, and senior division. The preparatory division is to consist of children who have been under instruction for less than two years; junior division for two years and not more than four years ;• middle division for four years and not more than six years; senior division for six j'ears or more.. The time spent in the senior division will for the average boy or girl be two years. The classification of a school is to be j made at the discretion of the head teacher, who may arrange his pupils in different classes for different subjects according to ability and proficiency. | Pnpils shall for all purposes of record, j but not necessarily of teaching, be classi- I fied according to their capacity and at- i tainment.in English. " | The teacher must hold periodical examinations of the classes and an annual examination, which must be held in November or December, and tbe regulations prescribe the maximum number of j marks to be gained by the pupils in the several subjects. The subjects of instruction in the various classes will be grouped under the general headings of— English—which will include oral expression and written expression; the former covering- speech-training, reading, recitation, and singing, and the latter writing, spelling, composition, and grammar : i "Gra-phic" expression—including drawing and handwork :. ' Arithmetic : Man and NatuTe—including naturestudy, geography, elementary science, and home science : ■ Man and Society—including history, civics, and moral instruction : Physical Training—including physical exercises, swimming, and lessons on hygiene and health. ' . , ' Eight papers are devoted to the details of the syllabus for each of the four divisions under the above six general headings. Thus, under the heading "Civics," the syllabus for the senior division embraces "forms of education, general knowledge of forms of local government and of the functions of Parliament, together with a knowledge of the relation of the colonies to Great Britain, Courts and Magistrates, elections, local and general taxation."