H.—li

18

Waerengahika, and the other places are merely waiting until meetings can be called to settle upon suitable school sites. Whilst on the question of accommodation, I cannot help again expressing my opinion that special arrangements ought to be made by the Education Department for educating tho children residing in scattered districts, and for whom the Board cannot be expected to provide a teacher so long as tho grant for such children is at the same rate on the average attendance as for those attending the schools in large centres of population. I am pleased to notice that the attendance at the district schools has greatly improved during the year. The number on the registers at the close of the year is stated in the returns as 1,438 males and 1,259 females, making a total of 2,697. At the corresponding period of last year there were 1,065 males and 920 females, or a difference of 712 children, or nearly 36 per cent. I attribute much of this increase to the growing interest manifested by School Committees, who have in several instances enforced the compulsoiy clause of the Education Act. I anticipate that by the end of March, 1880, the numbers attending at the district schools will not be far short of three thousand, as Committees have in nearly all instances intimated their determination of enforcing the compulsory clause at the opening of the school year. It is to be hoped that clause 89 will be so modified as to assist them in their endeavours by defining tiie minimum number of attendances to be made by every child of school age. I have elsewhere pointed out that 250 attendances can be made in little more than half a year, and children must make these attendances at school every year if their education is to be of any value to them. It is not only in connection with the attendance of children that I notice much improvement in the work of the district Committees. A new aspect has come over many of tbe school grounds : where eighteen months ago I found untidiness and neglect, I now find neat school grounds, well-arranged conveniences for both sexes, and in several instances sites planted with trees and shrubs. This is as it should be, and I hope that the next few months will find every school under the Board possessing school grounds well fenced, and as neat and precise as the schoolhouses themselves. The work is easy of accomplishment if only Committees will determine that neatness and order shall he the normal condition of their schools. I now pass on to the work of the teachers, and here I would draw special attention to the eifects already produced by the introduction of a number of trained and certificated teachers into our schools. I know no pleasure greater than to walk into a well-conducted school, where the first glance is sufficient to judge the hard-working aud conscientious teacher. Everything is as it should be ; there is no fear; there are happy faces from young and old, and eyes speaking cheerful work. There are no leaves and bits of paper lying about, no copybooks lying here and slates there ; but order reigns supreme. It is in the schoolroom of a good teacher that the reality of youthful training is manifested, where alone can be seen the difference betweea the training of a child and the teaching, wrongly so called, of those who teach for the money they can earn rather than for the good they do. When I wrote last year, the teachers employed in the various schools were like men groping their way in the dark. Their knowdedge of school work was limited to the doings of their own schoolrooms. They were generally earnest men, but they had a mountain of difficulties to encounter. These difficulties have been gradually vanishing ; but there still remains the question, What of tho teachers ? Are they improving ? I must confess a great improvement is apparent even here. The opportunity which the Board afforded to the teachers to visit the Napier District School and receive that technical instruction which I have more than once pointed out as indispensable if we would have efficient teachers in our schools, has done wonders in this direction. I greatly regret that the Government has not seen fit to continue the training grant for another year, for, from my personal knowledge, no money has been spent in this district to better advantage. Another such meeting of teachers as that which assembled in June last year would give an advantage to all our teachers not possessed by the students of training colleges, for the reason that the former come into direct contact with work which they have been required to do as heads of schools, and are better able to appreciate points of organization and general management. I have visited each school at least twice during the year. One of my visits is made without notice, when I judge of tho general capabilities of the teachers, and allot marks for my recommendation to the Education Department, as it is not the man who passes the highest percentage in the examinations that is always the most deserving; and my aim is to find out the trainer as well as the teacher, and this can only be done by a visit of inspection. As yet very few of the teachers know the difference between teaching and training, and they will never know it unless they make teaching a study as well as a profession. It is an easy matter for persons to become teachers, but only those who know the progress of development of child life, as applied to the mind, can hope to become trainers. To tell is not to train, any more than the repetition of a hundred lines of prose or poetry constitutes knowledge; and until the teachers have learned to appreciate the difference between teaching and training, information and knowledge, the education in our schools, whatever other improvements there may be, will be imperfect. In the examination of the district schools 2,237 were present on the days of examination, of whom 1,164 were not capable of being presented for examination in Standard I. The examination was strictly in accordance with the standard requirements of the Education Department, and every child who has passed in the standards has obtained 60 per cent, of the total possible marks. The following table shows the number of children who passed in each standard :—

Table No. I.

In Table IV. (not printed) of the returns, which gives the classifications in standards of all the children in attendance at the district schools for the December quarter, the numbers preparing for the standards are stated to be, —■

Passed Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. Total passed. 429 390 189 65 Nil Nil I 1,073