INSPECTORS' REPORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 36

INSPECTORS' REPORT.

The following clauses aro found in th« inspectors' report: — We group the schools according to efficiency as follows :— Good to very good, 50 per cent. ; satisfactory, 42 per cent. ; fa>r, 7 per cent. ; weak or very weak, 1 per cent. The percentage in the second group is tho same as that for 1905; but the -hird group has decreased by 3 and the fourth by 2 per cent., while the first group has increased by 5 per cent., a very satisfactory, increase in the percentage of eood schools. A comparison of the results of Table B, showing mean efficiency marks in subjects, with tho3e of tho corresponding iable for 1905 shows a slight adva-noe in the compulsory and a slight decline in the additional subjects. As a general rule the junior class-Mi, SI, S2, and S3, did well in most of their work ; but, owing to too eaey promotion from S4 to S5 and from S5 to S6, there was in these classes too often a long tail of weaklings that reduced tho efficiency mark by a grade. We have no desire to return to the old vogue — ■ namely, classification and promotion on tha results gained in the inspector's examination ; but we are sure that the transferenca of the classification fro-n tho inspector to the teacher has not mado for thoroughness of work in the senior clasps and thoroughness of work is of the Rr^atest importance in education. It m. we think, certain tnafc a considerable proportion of pupils promoted from S5 to S6 would have nrontedl greatly by another year's work in S5, a.nd that many who obtained the proficiency certificate and passed on to the High Schools would have profited by another year's vio'k in S6. Tho pupils we are now sending to the High Schools are frreatly inferior to these of the days wh-ens the only avenue to free places fe,v through scholarships and the winnings of 50 per cent, of marts in the scholarship examinations. Those sent up last year were superior to those of the previous year ; for the department, very wise/y, in our opinion, raised the standard of tho toot for free places; but the standard set is etill too low as a test for fitnoes to enter upon seoondary work. This is especially tho case in grammar and arithmetic. Tho number of schools presenting an S7 class fell from 70 in 1905 to +6 in 1906, a drop for which we cannot certainly account ; but wo may, we think, venture to suggest that it is in part owing to the circumstance that teachers receive little encouragement to induce children to rexnaii* at school after winning the proficiency certificate, for «n S7 class adds a grea.6 deal of work and brings with it very inadequate remuneration. If they dc/ worK of the sam<» kind and quality aJ thY; of th* district High Schools, they oaghh, in ou» opinion, to be paid at the same rate per pupil. Our reports on the work dbae m tna district High Schools are given in Appendftf G. The change in the organisation of these schools has not made for rncreaaeJ efficiency- Formerly the work ww*r don£ by head masters and first assistants of) great experience; now it Is done by young; men and women of good atffcammenta irf classics and mathematics, but of slender experience in teaching. Head teiicbera ore required bj rezuiatioa

to draw up schemes of work in all subjects for the several classes of their uchoof, to examine the classes periodically, and to record their estimate of the work done in the period covered by the examination. This requirement they do not all comply with as fully as they should. Moreover, they do not exact from their assistants a isufficienly-dtetailed record (of th« work done day by day or week by week. In most subjects thny bave been ercmpled from the tyranny of the syllabus, but they have not realised that the exemption has fcfoug-ht wiih it the torrcppondiTirj responsibility of careful arrangement and coordination, not only of the work of each class, but also of the work and methods of each class with those of the classes above and below. It is to his scheme of work and his time-table that we look to discover a teacher's conception of his responsibilities' in this sense.

We now proceed to make a few remarks on some of the subjects of instruction. Reading is generally fluent, accurate, and expressive, tniugh not seldom marred by indistinctness and faulty vowel sounds. The remedy for these defects has more than once been suggested in our reports. In 'deference to the taching of the old saw, " Take care of the consonants and the vowels will take care of themselves," teachers belabour the consonants and pay scant heed to the claims of the vowels. The saw does not, we venture to say, ekpress the experience of any careful observer. It is the. vowel sounds that constitute the epoken musio of a language; and, if the. vowels are well attended to, the consonantß will give little trouble. Still, judged from its elocutionary side, the reading of the majority of the schools is, for children, distinctly good. It is the intellectual side that is, except in a minority of. the schools, wanting in effective treatment. How to train the child to realise mentally the image symbolised by the words, tha-t is the difficulty. In the images themselves there is. in nine oases out of ten, little or no difficulty ; for they have, in some way more or less perfect, come within the child's personal experience. Symbolised by words of the marketplace, they would be mentally realised at once as old friends. It is their literary draping that is new; but their drapintr is precisely the draping with which the child ic-ust become familiar if tho chief purpo««c lor which he learns to read is to be realised. The teacher can do much to lessen the difficulty of reading with mental viiion by keeping constantly before his pupils the fact that in most cases the images are the images of things that have come within tneir experience ; and he can lessen the difficulties of language by using in his intercourse with nis pupils less of the language of the market-place and the nursery and more of the language of literature, which is at bottom only the better sort of speech answering to the better sort of thought and fancy, and is therefore precisely the thing to have to make part of the texture of the child's mind if he is to learn to express himself with clearness and accuracy, and read with profit and pleasure. Language is primarily epoken speech, and therefore the spoken word should precede the written. Due recognition if this ought to suggest what ehould be the language of intercourse in the schoolroom. Little is gained .and much ie lost by talking down to children.

In arithmetic the mere working of examples occupies too prominent a plac«, foundation work receiving too tcant attention oven in the best schools. The result is that children learn by dint of practice to work difficult examples without gaining a. firm grasp of principles, and without receiving adequate training in appreciation of reasoning. Tho attainment of facility in -workinjf examples is, of course, a proper aim; but it should not be placed before training in thought and expression. Indeed, to do so is in fhe lons run but to retard the progress of the pupils, for it does not give them power, does not train them- to do for themselves in unfamiliar cases. The general laws of arithmetical operations can easily be so illustrated as to enable children to realise that, even when dealing with particular numbeis, they aie dealing with principles that are applicable to all numbers alike. In every subject it is the general that should be kept in riew, and no treatment of a subject that doea not make ideas its ultimate aim is worthy treatment. The little text-books used by The pupils suggost and contain a large amount of experimental work in weighing and measuring; but. strange to Bay, this is generally neglected or, if not neglected, done in so imperfect a way as to make it almost valueless. No experimortal tsrork ie satisfactory that does not include — (1) An accurate \crbal statement of the principle the experiment is de.«igr;od to demonstrate, and (2) the memorising of the statement. First understanding and expression, then remem-bering these arc the essentials of successful work in e\ery subject. Tie truth is that the teaching of arithmetic should have two aims — namely, facility in the performance of arithmetical operations and development of thought and expression. It is unquestionable that continuous practice in exprcesiriß arithrref ical operations in logical symbolism is of much jrreater educational value than is the examplo-mnngorinff that too often goes by the namo of arithmetic Teachers sometimes complain that the text-books prescribed do not contain ononcrh example. In our opinion they err n tlio side rather of too many than of <o few. If tire examples worked •wove made to yield all they have to give, the books contain more than enough- Then, too, there is in this, as in other subjects, too much unnecessary explanation, difficulties being anticipated and removed by tho teachers before they are encountered by the pupils. It cannot be too earefwlly remembered that what matters is not what is done for the pupils, bul what thov do for themselves; and of doing for themselves there is. we repret to say. too little in all our schools, but especially in those in which there is a teacher for every class. It is the case not "of 40 feeding like one," but of 70 fed like one.

The reference to 70 reminds us of what, we paid in our last general re-port about the inadequate staffing of the schools. We do not intend to repeat here what we 6aid there; but we cannot refrain from expressing our surprise that so serious an indictment should have been itrnored by tho press and the teachers. Those are curious to 6ee the indictment will find it on page 35, paragraphs 4 and 5, and pasre 36, paragraphs 1 and 2, of our report. There never was a time when our schools were adequately staffed; and, owing- to increase of work and change* in methods, they are less adequately staffed tlian they were.

We are seldom able to award the mark "flood" to composition; for, oven when the content is good, the form in which it ie

cast is too often marred by serious errors in grammar and setting. Grammar is the bed-rock of correct form in speech, and the time will never come when we can afford to neglect it. This, we regret to say, appears not to be r the view of the Education Department, which now controls every detail of. education, even to the books that may be used in the teaching of a subject and the kind of question an inspector should give in arithmetic and composition.

We are glad to be able to report steady improvement in the teaching of geography and science. The facts of these departments of work may not be so well known as they used to be, but they are certainly approached and studied in a way tha-t is more in accordance with the method of research. In this connection we would suggest that lees money should be spent in wall maps and more in globes find pictures of typical geographical and industrial features. A Navy League map and a good physical map of New Zealand would be a sufficient equipment of wall maps, for the personal study of his atlas is the best form of map study for the pupil. Every school should have & good globe and a set of stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. These would be of vastly greater service to the pupils than are the wall maps now so liberally supplied.

Handwork is practised in a large proportion of our schools, but it is our experience that too much attention is paid to mere doing and too little to the manner of doing and the expression of what is done and what the doing teaches. In the accurate expression of accurate impressions lies the chief educational value of this as of other work.

In elementary agriculture teachers have been feeling their way, doing a large amount of good work, but generally giving prominence to the craft side and the production of good crops of flowers and vegetables, instead of to the training in habits of observation, experimentation, and inference that such work is designed to give ; and what they set themselves to do most of them do well. It now remains to give less attention to craft and crop and more to observation, experiment, and orderly development of thought and expression. In gardening, observation best grows ouir of experiment, the experiment asking the question and the pupils watching for the answer. Here accurate quantitative measurements and their accurate record are of great value. It is precisely in this department of the work that ojjeurs our most signal failure, the records often being co imperfect, ill-written, and unmethodical as to be nearly valueless. In the majority of the schools insufficient attention is given to care of the tools, all of which should, after use, be cleaned and oiled and neatly placed in the tool house. On the whole, however, steady progress i 6 being made; teachers, pupils, and parents show great enthusiasm in the work ; and agricultural and horticultural societies have encouraged it by instituting competitions for school exhibits. At the Dnuedin Horticultural Society's last chow, one of our schools succeeded in winning _ in an open competition tho second prize for vegetables. The mean efficiency mark " good for physical instruction is largely due to the military drill of the boys, which is generally very good in the large schools, and reflects great credit on the assistants who conduct it, often at considerable sacrifice of out-of -school time. The physical exerci*es of the middle and junior classes Mid of the girls of the senior classes are often so slack and slouchv as to have little or no good effect on physique and carriage. One of the chief aims of such exercieee should be a good carriage of the body. Among the girls of our senior classes good carriage of the body is too often conspicuous by its absence. As a rule, 10 or 15 minutes a day ehould be given to physical exercise and drill ; in addition, there should be a special lesson of about half an hour's duration once a week and the purpase of every exercise should be explained to the ohildren. Last year we said that Albany Street School was the only Dunedin school in which wall decoration had been seriously attempted ; this year we have pleasure in adding Union Street School, the committee of which has done a fine yeare work in this direction.