EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2057, 27 July 1893, Page 35

EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS.

THE WORK OF THE INSPECTORS. The following report has been forwarded to the chairman of the Education Board by the inspectors :— Dunedin, sth June 1893. The Chairman Otago Board of Education. Sir,— ln compliance with your request, we beg to furnish the following statement bearing on the resolution about the work of the inspectors adopted by the board at its last meeting. In the resolution referred to the board expresses the opinion " that the work of examination might be greatly reduced in the lower standards by oral instead of written examination." . We regret that we do not see how any saving of time and work is to be effected by the course indicated, and as we have for years striven to economise time and work to the utmost, we should be glad if the board would point out how it can be done. If we may suppose that by the lower standards the board means Standards I, 11, and 111, it should be easy to determine how far the substitution of oral for written examination in theseclaßses would save time and work. Accorlingto the regulations of the Education department, by which inspectors are bound, pupils in Standard I are examined in eight distinct subjects, in five of which the inspector has to say for each pupil whether he passes or does not pass, while in the three remaining subjects he has to assign marks to value the efficiency of the teaching. Of these eight subjects five are always examined orally or otherwise than in writing ; and spelling, writing, and arithmetic alone are examined in writing on slates. It is clear that arithmetic and writing cannot be examined otherwise than in writing. Spelling could, of course, be done orally ; but in all schools, except the very smallest (which are now examined in a single day), the oral examination would take up much more both of the school time and of the inspector's time than examination in writing does. We know this from experience, for we have no sort of objection to oral examination of the spelling of the Standard I class where time is not lost by so doing. There are, besides, other advantages on the side of examination in writing, for the teacher can read out the words while the inspector looks through the drawing bo«ks ; and the exercise forms a suitable test in writing as well as in spelling, so that in this way a further examination in writing is unnecessary. In these circumstances, we do not see how any time is to be saved or how the work of examination can be reduced by substituting oral for written work m Standard I. In Standard 11, according to the regulations of the Education department, pupils are examined in nine subjects, in five of which the inspector has to say for each pupil whether he passes or does not pass, while in the four remaining > subjects he has to assign marks to value the efficiency of the teaching. Of these nine subjects six, besides reading, are always examined orally or otherwise than in writing. The subjects examined in writing on elates are definition, spelling, and arithmetic. Of these arithmetic must necessarily be done in writing; and in all schools that take more than one day to examine definition and spelling can be done in writing in much leas of the school time and of the inspector's time than oral examination in them would take up. This is no mere opinion, but a result established by long experience. One of our number always examines orally in definition : indeed, we all do this, more or less, in the smaller schools, but in no case is time saved, and in the larger schools time is actually sacrificed by this method of examination. Here, as in Standard I, the tests in spelling and definition can be read out by the teacher while the inspector looks through the copy books or drawing books of the class. In the case of this class, as in that of Standard I, we do not see how the further substitution of oral for written examination pan in anyway reduce the work of examination or lessen the time it will occupy. In Standard 111 the practice of writing answers on paper is for the first time introduced, though in the smaller schools much, and sometimes the whole, of the written work is done on slates in this standard also. Here, according to the regulations of the Education department, pupils are examined in 12 distint subjects, in seven of which the inspector has to say for each pupil whether he passes or does not pass, while in the remaining five subjects he has to assign marks to value the efficiency of the teaching. Of these 12 subjects .seven, in addition to reading, are always examined orally or otherwise than in writing. Dictation, definition, arithmetic, composition, and geography are alone examined in writing on slates or on paper. Of these dictation.virithmetic, and composition must necessarily be examined in writing, but definition and geography might be done orally. The last two are nearly always done in writing (except that'definition is always taken orally by one of us), because a great deal of school time is saved by following this course, which involves no extra work on ourselves, and enables us to judge more fairly of the pupils' knowledge. If definition and geography were class subjects in this standard, we should prefer to examine in them orally whenever that could be done without serious sacrifice of time. In dealing with pass subjects orally it is often very ' difficult to decide from the two or three questions that can be given to each whether a pupil should pass or not, and it is still more difficult to give different pupils questions of approximately equal difficulty. Ihe iast is a point of great importance, for if pupils that are expected to pass happen to fail on oral examination it is always open for them and their teachera to say that they got more difficult questions than others. In this way the fairness of the work might easily come to be discredited. In pass subjects written examinations, if they can be readily applied, are in most ways better than oral ones. More questions can be given ; all get the same number of questions of approximately equal difficulty; nervous pupils have ample time to collect their thoughts ; the work can be more fairly judged, since there is plenty of time to consider its value, and the evidence is both larger in quantity and more varied; and, where the results in the other pass subjectsleavetheinspector in doubt as to whether the pupil should pass, the written answer can be consulted again, and so help the inspector to form a fair, final judgment. The written examination which we use in dealing with definition and geography in this standard thus saves a great deal of time, besides affording collateral advantages of no trifling importance. In schools that can be examined in one day by one inspector it is evidently indifferent, so far as saving work or time goes (which, is the point in question) whether certain pass subjects are examined orally or in writing. In schools that take two or more days to examine, if the time and work of examination could be reduced by taking certain subjects orally instead of in writing, we should be most glad to make the change, for we are not such slaves to work as to be unwillirig to lessen it if we can honestly do so. But, unfortunately, these are the very schools in which we have found that oral examination in pass subjects takes up much more of the school time than does written examination, and the larger the school the greater is the sacrifice of time involved in taking pass subjects orally. You will have noticed that we have repeatedly the work of examination. We have used this language because it is the saving and economising of school time that is the important matter, and not any reduction in the inspector's work. If one method of examination occupies less of the pupils time than another, the former is for us the better, for it enables us to get through the work of examination more quickly. Written examinations may not, and in small schools often do not, lessen the work of an inspector, but they enable the pupils to get through in a day what they have to do, and the inspector to finish during the evening what he was unable to do during the day. The board will hardly suppose that we would willingly undertake this extra work if wo could avoid it, and the fact that for months we devote an hour or two every evening to the valuing of written papers and the compilation of reports ought surely to be regarded as proof that this work is. as the system now stands, unavoidable. The withdrawal of the assistance which- the board hitherto has been good enough to allow us will considerably increase the time required for the examination of the schools. It will, of course, tend to increase the cost of examination, for the unaided inspector will take two days to do many

of the schools which, with the assistance allowed in recent years, he has been able to do in one, and he will be able to get through the very large schools much more slowly. It is obvious aIBO that the schools will suffei by the extension of the time taken up by examination— a result that should, if possible, be avoided. The assistance received consisted of two services—(l) the superintendence of the answering in the subjects taken in writing, and (2) the marking of all mistakes in the papers handed in by the pupils. The written answers were afterwards gone over and valued by the inspector. This assistance, with a good deal of evening work on his own part, enabled the inspector to got over in a very satisfactory way not much short of double the quantity of work he could do unaided. Everything considered, we think it would be wise economy for the board to continue the assistance formerly allowed. We append a table showing the work done orally and otherwise in each of the standards.— We are, &c, D. Pbtrib ") Wm. Taylor P. Goyen J Table showing the subjects taken in writing and those taken orally :— Standard I.— Written: 1 spelling, 2 arithmetic, 3 writing. Oral or not written : 1 reading, 2 drawing (work done during the year examined), 3 matter of reading lessons, 4 recitation, 5 object lesaons ; singing, needlework, drill. Standard ll.— Written : 1 spelling, 2 arithmetic, 3 definition. Oral or not written : 1 reading, 2 writing (work done during the year examined), 3 drawing (work done during the year examined), 4 geography, 5 object lessons, 6 matter of reading lessons, 7 recitation ; singing, needlework, drill. ' Standard lll.— Written : 1 definition, 2 spelling, 3 arithmetic, 4 composition, 5 geography. Oral or not written: 1- reading, 2 writing (work done during the year examined), 3 drawing (work done during the year examined), 4 grammar, 5 history, 6 object lessons, 7 matter of reading lessons, 8 recitation ; singing, needlework, drill. • Standard IV.— Written : 1 definition, 2 spelling, 3 arithmetic, 4 composition, 5 grammar. Oral or not written : 1 reading, 2 writing (work done during the year examined), 3 drawing (work done during the year examined), 4 geography, 5 history, 6 Bcience, 7 recitation ; singing, needlework, drill. Standard V.— Written : 1 definition, 2 spelling. 3 arithmetic, 4 composition, 5 geography. Oral or not written : 1 reading, 2 writing (work done during the year examined), 3 drawing (work done during the year examined), 4 grammar, 5' history, 6 science, 7 recitation ; singing, work, drill. Standard Vl.— Written : 1 definition, 2 spelling, 3 arithmetic, 4 composition, 5 geography. Oral or not written : 1 reading, 2 writing (work done during the year examined), 3 drawing (work done during the year examined), 4 grammar, 5 history, 6. science, 7 recitation ; singing, needlework, drill. Note.— Grammar is by one of our number sometimes taken in writing.