AUCKLAND PUPIL TEACHERS' EXAMINATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2043, 11 August 1885, Page 2

AUCKLAND PUPIL TEACHERS' EXAMINATION.

Tiik following is the icport of the Inspector of schools (Mr R. J. O'Sullivan) pie sen ted at Fiiday'o meeting of the Buaul of Education :—: — La&t year the arithmetic was for the most p.ut, weak. This year it is \eiy decidedly better. Them appeals little or no iinpio\enient in reading — a disjointed gallop of word-. ii too prevalent. There is a falling-olf m wilting, though sonic iexception illy good. Thcie are too many letteis which may be mistaken for other letteis-. Tin- i-. a seriou-. fault in a pupil teaching wiitmg. Composition shows a low nieasiue of marks : Of the first year but one gets o\er 70 maiks. two get 70. The largei number obtiins from GO to 50, and lower. Of the second year, two get o\pi 70 mark- : e\en a larger ptopoition than those of the hist year get fiom (10 down to 50 niiik-, and lower. The apportionment of maiks in grainin.u resembles \eiy closely tliat in composition, though the examineis weie not the same. The Jiteratuie papers were as a inle far from satisfactory. Thcie weie many excellent ones but n great many on the other hand weie wi etched, betraying not only an ignorance of the mutter of the paper set, but a general ignoiance and .in ilhternteni'KH I most deplorable. Almost imanably those who were wanting in an hteiatuie weie also found wanting in geography and history. The Thames teacheis weie especially deficient in litei.ituie. The knowledge of needle woik is hotter than shown last ye.v, but it has not yet l cached the standard it should reach. The di awing and singing of the pupil teachers of the second year weie fan ly satisfactory ;of the fhst they were not so. The lequiiements of the- new stand.ud legnlations as to diawing render it necessary that pupil teacheis should de\oto special attention to this subject. The examination in singing was oral thunigli out, instead of being as it was last ye.v, partly by printed paper. By this year s plan a more thorough test was applied. It l- not satisfactory to find tint a laige nunibei failed to show an adequate knowledge of gymnistie evicnes. Too many of tins' b'long to the city and suburban sdnols. The lesults of this c\.iimnation -lrnv that many pupil teachers do not lead or make any attempt at self-culture Young teacher-* of this kind aie not likely to develop into the light kind of head oi assist Hit teacheis. It appeal -. th.it it will b • de-ii.ihlu not to ,icc'pt foi the futuie a meie p.i-s-ing of the Sixth Standard as indication of sufficient knowledge to quilify for employment. Candidates should not only pas-, but pa-s well. There are many whom an liispectoi cannot refuse to pass, wlio buely get through. The other Inspectors agico m thinking gieater -tiing-ncy desiiablc. Countiy teacheis lepoitmoic or less as to the pmgiess in study of their pupil teachei-, but not with sufficient emphasis. It would be well that all huad te idler* took .m interest in the improvement and cultuie of then young assistants. I should state that each pupil teacher i-. informed in wilting in wli.it .subjects he or sh" was found wanting. — K. J. O'Sru.iVAN, Inspuctoi of Schools. Mr Fidler, who examined in history and geography, reports as follows .—. — The papers of those in the h't-t year weie very poor. Out of (>") examined in geo graphy 37 got less th.in 10 maiks out of a jirixinmm of 100, while out of 03 examined in hi-tory, 50 got below half of tlu' same m iximiim nutnbei. As the time allowed for these papei.s was not long, T have already recommended that a lower peicent ago (40) should be accepted for a pass in geography than m history, in which latfei subject the candidates who were at all pi e pnied, could not fail to get moic than half marks in the tuiu, gnen, even allowing fur any inteiiuption that may have taken place for oial examination. I am glad that 1 can speak more favourably of the woik of the second year pupil teacheis, which was on the whole fair, as mom than half got pass marks, ,md not a few sent in excellent papeis. The fiist yeai jiupil teacheis showed veiy little knowledge of physical geography— their notions of mathematical geogiaphy weie, in many instances, absurd. The chaiactei of tlu'ir histoiy paper was such that it was a. painful task to assign marks to \arying admixtures of sense and nonsense. In many of the papors on both subjects there was far too much inelevant matter, some of it written thoughtlessly, but \ery much of it put in merely for padding. Thetc was also certain proof of a want of systematic study, and it was evident that Biany of the candidates must h ive lesuiued their acquaintance with their geography and histoiy-books- but a very ihort time befoie. the examination. I am not cntnely sui prised at these results, foi by enquiiing from the teacheis at many of the schools I have lately wsited into the dihgenco with which their pupil teachers w ci c pi osecuting their studies I got but poor accounts.

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