EDUCALION IN SOUTH CANTERBURY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13880, 17 April 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

EDUCALION IN SOUTH CANTERBURY.

' INSPECTOR'S REPORT. ] At Tuesday's meeting of the. South . Canterbury Education Board,, the- an- 1 nual -report for the past year was pre- s sented by " Mr .J. «• Gow, M.A., in- < spector "The report is a bulky paper, | and the following is an excerpt giving s the more general statements contained 1 1,1 The report stated that during the,, J year there weje operation, the same number as the previous rear. 'Hie ■■' attendance re- ] turns show for the year an increase ol ■ 'WL in the roll number. In Standards 111 to .VI. there is a decrease of 118, - while for Glass P., Standards 1. and 11. [ the increase is 319; and it is gratify- ■ in.r to find that of this increase 290 ( belong to the infant classes. The mini- ; ber present at the teacher's annual ; examination is 5117, as against 4/80 , present the previous year at the time of the inspector's annual visit. The examination of their pupils necessarily entailed a good deal of work on the teachers, and the recording or marks on a scale of 0 to 50 (the scale adopted in this district on the advice of the local Institute) against the name of every.pupil to show his strength or weakness in the main subjects of in- , struction was a matter that gave most of the teachers ah anxious time. In the maioritv of the smaller schools it was noticeable that the marks for subjects were very high, so high that one with a knowledge of the schools could not but feel that through lack of experience as examiners the teachers were no doubt unintentionally presenting the results of their teaching in too glowing colours. The adoption of a scale of 0 to 20 is recommended for future use'. Through misunderstandings of one kind/'and another about one third of the schools had their lists sent back for amendment before they could be signed and finally issued. The system of examining the pupils oi •■ Standard VI. at various centres was again successfully followed this year. Certificates of proficiency were awarded to 229 scholars, and certificates of competency to 69, the percentage of passcF for the higher certificate being 66, and for the lower 20. As the correspond ing percentages last year were 49 and respectively, this advance must be ■ gratifying both to teachers and to scholars. A scrutiny of the marks obtained shows that 82 per cent, of the pupils qualified for the proficiency certificate in arithmetic, and 81 per cent, in composition, results that are very satisfactory indeed. It is to be noted that of nineteen schools unrepresented at the sixth standard examinations all but one were "sole teacher" schools. According to the inspector's estimate of their efficiency, the schools are grouped as follows:—Good to excellent, 42 schools, with 4342 pupils; satisfactory, 15 schools, with 545 pupils; fair, 16 'schools, with 474 pupils; moderate, 2 schools, with 35 pupils. Of a total of 70 schools, 58, with 4887 pupils, are in a satisfactory condition, the remaining 18 schools, with 509 pupils, ranking below: satisfactory. The corres ponding figures last year were o3 schools, .with .4550 pupils, and 2S schools, with 615 pupils. With three exceptions the schools that 1 ailed to reach the satisfactory stage are singlehanded schools, and of the latter there is onlv one in which an excuse lor partial inefficiency might be accepted on the ground that the number of pupils and of classes was too great "£ one teacher to manage succes-siully Something must be said of the quality o t e subjects of instruction. In general the pupils" made a good appearance in reading, though the progress made in uaclimr by the infant classes in many ct ■ Ihe smaller schools is not so rapid as it Lid be. It is not always recognised « that as many young chileren on fii>* comimr to school are unable to bpeak I plain!?, they need careful training in > the use of their vocal organs, , lect from which they have suffered in their home training must »* made good : in the schoolroom, and the Uachei > mwb with infinite» U^ i courage the httle °™ a *o tQ ? p^iSd^ebelo^teadiingtheiii I to read Spelling is assiduously pre- ! pared! and the writing of dictation as

a test of spelling is well don© in most schools. In a good many cases the time-table shows that an unduly large proportion of the school time is given to spelling and dictation, more time indeed than to instruction and practice in composition. Of. course the writing of passages to dictation might well form part of the training in composition, as the pupils are expected to punctuate what they have written. The quality of the hand-writing varies greatly. In some schools it is. excellent;. in very, few is it really bad. On the whole the pupils that pass through all the standards leave school with the ability to write a good legible hand will) a fair amount of speed.. Some of the best of oijr infant .mistresses are doing very fine work, in training the children in oral expression. The pity is that the. training is not always continued and amplified as the children pass up through the standard classes. Arithmetic is on the whole well taught. Last year 73 per cent, of those examined in Standard VI. passed the test in arithmetic qualifying for certificates of nrofioienev; this vear the percentage is 82. There is still room for improvement in the setting out of the work of problems. With reference to the geography of Course A —physical and mathematical geography —it is satisfactory to record that good work on right lines has been done in- many schools, and this is especially the case, with regard to the physical geography. ,The reading of history lias been taken in alternate years with the reading of the geography of Course B. Some of the pupils are no doubt'greatly interested-in what, they read, hut it is a question whether many of them remember much of it afterwards. The different kinds of drawing generally receive a due share of attention with results that vary from moderate to very good. Some of the pupils who sat for certificates of proficiency lost heavily in this subject through failure to show that, in addition to the ordinary freehand drawing, they had done sufficient; work lor the' year in either freehand drawing from simple models, or elementary solid geometry. In nature study end elementary science a great deal of splendid work is done, and the enthusiasm of many of the teachers for this work is deserving of the highest praise. In fourteen.schools elementary agriculture has been taken as one of'the subjects for which grants are earned under the and Technical Instruction Acts. School wardens for experimental work are increasing in number. In the larger schools the forms of handwork taken in the infant classes and Standards 1. ant! 11. are modelling in plasticine sticklayirig, brick-laying, and paper-folding. In Standards 111. and IV. mode.lliii'r in plasticine is continued, with modelling in carton or in cardboard, and tiesigning with coloured paper. In i<> schools the boys of Standards \. and VI; are making very good progress in isometric, drawing and woodwork under their instructor, Mr Chaplin, while the girls at the same stage enjoy the privilege of■'•«:■ splendid' training in cookery from Miss Wilson and Miss Bennie, both teachers of exceptional merit. . In many of the smaller schools various forms of handwork find a place in the programmes of work for the/ lowei classes The girls of all schools are mstrnc'ted, in needlework, the estimate of the work done genera ly ranging from-good to excellent. • All the ptfnils have breathing exercises and physical drill for short periods every school rlpv and the cadet corns continue to uphold the name they have made tor tjiemselves in military drill, and marksmanshin. In all but a. few schools sin-nn-finds a place in the time-table. Schoo sinking is not always as sweet and tuneful as it might bo but it is not all deserving of the hard things that hi ve be-ni said of it. The schools wait the a banner or a shield for singm ; ; deoartm'euts' oftliPr-Btt-1-r.iot High Schools were inspected In Mr Gill, whose reports w»re ofa most favourable character His estimate of .tbeir efficiency was fully hope out, the great success of the s'-nolars who S at as candidates in PV»>"°- «*»»;"; tions The number of times the schools have been o"en for instruction rin™ s from 310 to A 39. After making the very liberal of eWen wee'" in the year for holidays, there would remain 410 half-days tor school \ V n V k Tn 20 schools the number, ot times' open ranees from 410 to 430. pd ;,, a ,W™ schools th~ n'-'W i" ln« thin 3«oi the average lor.all tb" ?w ;■> beinV 300. It will be se^. that this things i* not satisfactory Attached to the revmrt. is n sfj '"- hVd summary of results for the whole district. .