EDUCATION BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1918, 24 August 1888, Page 22

EDUCATION BOARD.

The usual monthly meeting of the Education Board .was held,on the 16fch inst. Present : The ..chairman , (Pr Brown), Dr* Hislop, Hon. T. t DJok, ■Messrs H. CJark, J. Green, IT. Fraer, and J. Macgrcgor.

FINANCE COMMITTEE,

The report of the Finance Committee was adopted, as follows : —

Beaumont — That this committee's application for n grant towards the erection of a new chimney to th'j schuol be refcmd to the inspector of works to repot t. Hendigo.— That the renewed application for an ndditiou to the residence be declined. Miller's Flat.T-Thftl the inspector be requested to report upon this committ- c's apijlicat'on for increased a'.commodAtiou wlien he is next in the district.

Scholarships.- That 17 seh ilarships (10 senior and seven junior) be offered for competition in December, and that head t etchers bo notified that tho text book iv English for the scholarship examinati 11 in December ISS », and eucceeding examinations will ba " Chambers' Graduated Reader," Xo. VI. Green Is'and.— That this eonimittee's application for repoiis to ventilator be declined, a d that the committee be i' formed thifc this work should b8 performed by them St. Leonards.— That the sum of £30 be prantert

Green Ts'and.— That thia committee's application for repoiis to ventilator be declined, a d that the committee be i' formed thifc this work should b8 performed by tlu-m Sb. Leonards.— That the sum of £30 be granted {or feaciog and improvements ou condition that all

Green ts'and.— That this committee's application for repiiis to ventilator be declined, a d thafc the committee be i- formed thit this work should be performed by them St. Leonards.— That the sum of £30 be prantert for fencing and improvements on condition that all

the works suggested by the committee are carried out to the satisfaction of the architect. RESIGNATIONS ACCEPTED. - John AHarclice, head teacher, Ports Chalmers; I Langley Pope, do, Pukeuri ; William M'Elrea, third assistant, Tokomairiro; George A. Williamson, fourth assistant, Jiornington ; Isabella Cameron, mistress, Waiareka. APPOINTMENTS CONFIRMED. John Allardice, head teacher, Kaikorai; William M'Elrea, do, Fairfax; Isabella Cameron, do, Otiake; Eleanor J. Faruie, do, Stony Creek]; Mary J. Eraser, do, Luggate. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £5260 8s 7d were passed ior payment. KAIKORAI SCHOOL. •The Kaikorai School Committee wrote asking when it was the intention of the board to have the school inspected, as the proper time for examination had passed. ' ' The Secretary stated that the inspectors intended to examine the school as soon as possible j after Ist September. 51 f FxtAEit expressed the opinion that the examination should take place before Mr M'Lauchlan lelb. A I'ter pome further discussion it was resolved — •' That the board wA? nob aware that the usual t;ruH of inspection had passed, this being a matter ordinarily left to the inspectors, but the board is informed that the inspection will take place the first week in September. The board wo aid be glad to hear that Mr M'Lauchlan would be present at the inspection." AN EXPLANATION. The Chairman said : The Otago Daily Times of this morning contains a leading article 'on the subject of the board's recent resolutions regarding school books. I wish to draw attention to the following extract from the article referred to: — "But the fact remains that those who recommended the text books were those who wrote them ; aud we again say the principle is bad. A way out of the difficulty lay open to the board. They might have with profit consulted the Otago Institute on the subject. Many of its members are quite as able to give advice on the subject as the inspectors ; and the institute would probably have recommended the works in question on their merits. This would have at least saved appearances." In the few words I have read the writer virtually prefers two distinct charges against the board aud its inspectors : (1) That the board came to a decision regarding the school books to be used without consulting the Educational Institute ; and (2) that the board, in coming to a decision, acted upon the recommendation of the inspectors, even as regards text books written by two of themselves. In justice to the board and their inspectors, it is only fair that both of these statements should becorrccted. The facts areas follows : — In October of last year the board issued a circular calling the attention of head teachers to the widespread feeling of dissatisfaction prevailing among parents arising from the frequent change of school books and the absence of any regulation by the board on the subject ; and the teachers were urged to take united action, with the object of bringing into use as far as practicable a uniform series of school books within the Otago education district. At the board's meeting last Juue there was read and considered a circular from the Minister of Education on the subject of uniformity of school books, when it was resolved that a copy of the Minister's circular and of the board's circular of October last be sent to the secretary of the Otago Educational Institute, with a request that the institute at its annual meeting, to be held in the following week, would " take the whole matter ' into consideration," and communicate the result of' its deliberations to the board. The institute accordingly took the matter into consideration, and appointed a committee to go thoroughly into the question. The report of the committee was adopted by the institute, and at the board's last meeting the resolution of the institute was fully considered with the result that the list recommended by the institute was adopted. The only alteration made was the omission of Nelson's Royal Star Readers, and the including of the Southern Gross Readers of Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, of Christchurch, as supplementary or alternative renders. Then as regards the alleged recommendations by the inspectors, members will recollect that these gentlemen were clearly given to understand that they would not be expedted to express any opinion whatever on the merits or other wise of the text books on geography and arithmetic, and that they were also given to understaud, as regards text books on " other subjects, that the board would be glad if the least possible change could be made in the list submitted by the institute ; and they were asked to say if they considered any other text book or books on those other subjects to be so superior to those submitted as to warrant the board in preferring them. The reply by the inspectors to this question was that they could not recommend any other books as preferable. The board took wholly upon themselves the responsibility of acting on the institute's recommtndaMon. It may be mentioned, on the authority of the publishers, that out of a recenb impression of 10,000 copies of Petrie's Geography no fewer than 5000 copies were purchased by a Christchurch firm of booksellers, and that a Christchurch firm recently purchased 1000 copies of each of Goyen's Arithmetics. 'The publishers also state that Petrie's Geography is largely used in the board districts of Canterbury, Wanganui,-New Plymouth, Wellington, and Southland. Petrie's Geography is used ajso in the Dunedin Girls' High S«hor>l. This shows that the text books written by the inspectors are appreciated and used in other dis- 1 tricts than that of Otago. The inspectors retired from the conference before the board decided on the text books on geography and arithmetic. The other members of the board expressed concurrence with the chairman's remarks, aud the matter then dropped. INTERCHANGING INSPECTORS. Mr Macgregor brought forward the motion of which he had given notice—" That the board invite the co-operation of some of the other education boards of the colony in divising and, carrying out a scheme for either (1^ the periodi-, cal exchange and transference of inspectors, or (2) occasional temporary interchange of inspector*." He said that the motion was in an alternative form, aud he proposed to-day to adopt the latter of the two alternatives, and make his motion read somewhat as follows : — " That the board invite the boards of Canterbury and Southland to co- operate with ib in deviling and carrying out a scheme for the occasional temporary interchange of thoir inspefctors." He made this alteration because he had come to the conclusion that anything in the nature of a permanent transference of inspectors was not practicable, so long as the inspectors remained in the service and under the control of the respective boards. At tbe time he gave notice of his m )tion he was not aware that a proposal sometihib similar ha<s been approved by the board in September 1888, aud that tbe board then communicated with the other boards in the colony, asking their opinions on fcbi-5 very point. He had prepared an abstract of the replips that were received, and found the rr suit to be as follows : — Auckland 'said that as their district was divided into three divisions,' which were inspected in turn by their different

inspectors, there was np necessity for them to join in the scheme. Westland said they thought that -inspectors should be under the control of the Education department, and failing thafc that an interchange was desirable { but th'atin their district the scheme was impracticable,' ai the offices of inspector and secretary were combined. New Plymouth said that they saw no advantage in the scheme.- Southland saw no reason for adopting it, Wellington were iv favour of it. North Canterbury were unable to answer in favour of it, but would consider it at a lateif date. Nelson came to no conclusion. Wanganui did not consider the scheme desirable unless the inspectors were solely under the control of the Education department, Greymouth approved of the scheme, but said it' was impracticable in their district because the offices of inspector and secretary were combined. Hawke's Bay had' no opinion to offer. South Canterbury did not approve of ifc, as they saw nothing to be gained by ifc. The preponderance of opinion v was, the speaker thought, in favour of the scheme ; but he would point out that the scheme that wa3 submitted to the other boards was that which was shadowed forth in the firat alternative of his notice of motion.- The difficulties thafc were suggested by some of the boards would be removed by the adoption of the second alternative, which contained, he thought, nothing"" impracticable. So far as tie could see, very little extra expense woultl be involved, and a change of residence on the part of inspectors would not be necessitated. He thought that probably most of those present would agree that the thing was generally a desirable one," aud tho only question was whether a feasible method had Been proposed of carrying ifc out. Ifc was his own opinion that inspectors should not; remain for any great leDgth of time in one place, and that any one inspector should not examine the same school for mauy years in succession, or, in fact, at all. He should prefer, if practicable, thafc the inspectors should ba under the control of the department, bub he did not think ifc was practicable.

Mr M. Fraek, while not agreeing at all with the motion, would second ifc pro forma. Hon. T. Dick moved as an amendment — " That the Education department be requested to take over the control of the inspectors of the colony, in order to effect the periodical removal of the inspectors to different districts." He thought this was more feasible and more likely to accomplish the object aimed at than Mr Macgregor's proposal. Two of the bodies that were to be asked to join iv the scheme were, they knew, against ifc— viz , the Southland and South Canterbury Boards, and ifc would be a waste of time to again enter into correspondence with them. The North Canterbury Board, too, had only said they would consider the matter. If the Government took the inspectors under their control a first-rate class of inspectors would be introduced, and he thought if the boaid recommended such a scheme, not; many years would pass before it was adopted.

Mr Green was disappointed with both motion and amendment, but would second the latter pro forma. He expressed surprise that Mr Dick had moved such an amendment, inasmuch as if carried into effect it meant the withdrawal of one of the props of the south end of the colony. He felt satisfied that if once the Otago educational system was made a colonial affair ifc would catch the Central Government blighfand descend to the dead level of other colonial affairs. Otago had always sliown that it could manage its own affairs, of any kind, more economically, more efficiently, and more to the advantage of the whole colony than if they were managed from Wellington. If once the board allow 3d the control of its inspectors to pass from ifc to the Government, there would soon be a cessation to all education boards — they would speedily be abolished, and with it their system of education, which would bs replaced by denominationalism. He wonld ra f her move iv the direction of suggesting that a meeting of all the inspectors of fche colony be held, say fcriennially, to exchange views and gather practical experience from each other.

Tho amendment was then put and lost, only the mover voting for it.

The Chairman said ho would now move the following amendment, of which he had given notice : — " Thafc as some teachers in the board's service have by natural aptitude and loDg experience shown themselves possessed of great, technical skill, this board shall take into consideration the advisability of occasionally arranging an exchange of duties between one or more of its inspectors and one or more head teichers of schools within the district. That the board is of opinion that such an txchange will be beneficial to the inspectors by affording them an opportunity of becoming familiar with the everyday work of schools, aud to head teachers by acquainting them with vaiiuus methods of reaching and organisation. Tha r < thib board shall consult with the inspectors -md with the Educational Institute of Otago as to the beat method of carrying the aforesaid resolutions into effect." He assured members ■>f the board thafc he was quite serious iv moving this amendment, although soaie of them seemed to be under a contrary impre.'-sion. He thought there was a feeling of doubt amongst- mauy teachers as to the security of their position — that they cuuld not look on their positions as life appointments, and that unless their school gained a certain percentage of marks afc examination time they would get their marching orders. This could not,' he thought, be fostered by anything done by the inspectors, bub there seemed a lurking feeling among teachers that they must keep up friendly relations with the inspectors. There were many advantages which, he urged, would result' from his proposal. The inspectors were simply critics, aud everyone knew it was far easier to be a critic than an artist. The inspectors were apt to lose touch of the emotional instincts of the teachers' character, and he held they should learn to see the difficulties- under which teachers laboured, while on the other hand the teachers should be given an opportunity of widening their knowledge by taking a turn at the inspector's work. As t6 the feasibility of the plan, he might say that, in a modified form, it was in operation in Wellington last year, when the local board's inspector having been granted leave of absence on account of illness a teacher was put in his place, and no inconvenience resulted.

Mr Green : Ah, bub they didn't put an inspector in his place to teach !

The Chairman said that might be the case ; still the plan worked well as far as it went. He might albo say that his plan was actually the tame as was in force in the highest class public schools in England — such as Eton, Harrow, Winchester, and Westminster. Then they were aware that head masters did not do much in actual teaching, but that their duty consisted to a gre&fc extent in keeping up the organisation of their schools, and that could surely be looked after by the inspectors. The latter were, he understood from the secretary, actually in favour of the plan themselves.

Mr Pryde remarked that the inspectors, he believed, merely looked upon it as relieving them from travelling for a twelvemonth.

Mr Macgbegor approved' of : the chairman's proposal, but could not second it against bis own motion. ' Tbe amendment not being seconded, lapsed.

The Chaibman expressed regret that the board had not adopted his proposal, as he believed it would shortly be adopted elsewhere, and they would then be 3orry that they had not taken the initiative. ' ' " Mr Macgregor's potion was then put and lost the mover only voting for ifc. ■ - I Mr Green then moved—" That in the opinion i of this board it is desirable in the interest of ' primary education that a conference of the inspectors of the respective districts should take place, say, triennially, and the first should be held in Wellington at the earliest convenient time. (2) That a circular be sent to the several boards asking their co-operation in giving effect to the foregoing view." This motion, after a short discussion, was put and carried, Dr Hislop and Mr Dick dissenting. teachers' certificates. The board decided to inform all teachers who are not fully certificated that it will be necessary for them to obtain certificates at the unnual examination in December, and that in the event of their failing to do so, the board will consider the necessity of replacing them by fully certificated teachers. - DUTIES OF HEAD TEACHEBS. A report on the duties of head teacher?, submitted by the inspectors, was referred to Dr Hislop and ' the chairman to prepare a circular upon the subject.