E—l.

87

There is a cry for certificated teachers all over the colony, and such will be the case until more inducement is given to our youths to devote themselves to the work of education. We have now a general scheme which, I believe, on the whole is working well ; and youths are coming forward as pupil-teachers, and more efficient teachers may be expected to be the result. Yet I fear enough inducement is not held out to our clever youths. Not only should they receive fair remuneration for their work during their apprenticeship ; but scholarships similar to those given in Britain should be offered to enable them to pursue their studies still further at the Normal Schools, and to obtain a better acquaintance with the art and science oE education. I am aware that at present many pupil-teachers are carefully taught by their instructors ; but it cannot be supposed by any one acquainted with the work of teaching that so much time is given as the importance of the subject demands. These youths are engaged in school-work five hours a day, and only one hour a day is spent in obtaining instruction in the various subjects required by the respective Boards of Education to which they are apprenticed. The casual observer may easily perceive that this is not enough. The Education Department should therefore place the different Boards in such a position that they could offer inducements to pupilteachers, after their years of service have expired, to enable them to continue their studies for at least two years at a training establishment. During this session two scholarships of the annual value of £00, and tenable for three years, have been offered by the Board to pupil-teachers in their service, to enable them to pursue their studies at the Normal School and Canterbury College, and so obtain high classification, and six scholarships of £50 and tenable for two years to those who stand highest in an examination on the various subjects required of pupil-teachers at the end of their course ; and the result has been highly satisfactory. The tutors and myself have observed among our students a greater desire for knowledge and a more healthy tone of rivalry than previously existed. Those who are able to take advantage of the lectures of Canterbury College will be permitted to do so, and I look forward to good fruit being the result. I concur with a writer who says that the qualifications necessary for a teacher will be best secured by making it compulsory that every candidate for admission to the profession " shall have gone through a prescribed curriculum, either at the Normal School or the University, o-r at both. To this it may be objected that, if a person has qualified himself by other means to pass an examination, it would be unreasonable to exact attendance at either of the institutions. True, there may be exceptional cases in which such a prescribed course of study might properly be dispensed with, and I am aware that many of our best teachers are men who can scarcely be said to have had any professional training; but as a general rule there are habits of study, literary tastes, and depths of culture acquired at a University, and there are details of school management and discipline and a certain esprit de corps acquired at a normal school, which cannot be obtained by a few weeks' 'cram,' or by a few years' experience in promiscuous teaching. It seems to me, however, that the University should be regarded as the complement of the Normal School, and that attendance at both should be insisted on." At a normal school a student meets only with those of his own profession, and is apt to acquire a narrowness of view which makes him aim at being a schoolmaster and nothing more, while, owing to the limited number of the teaching staff, and the unlimited number of subjects they are called upon to teach, it would be unreasonable to expect his knowledge to be very thorough, or his researches profound; but at the University he comes into contact with men who aspire to all the learned professions, and acquires that knowledge of men and of the world which is so essential to a person in every walk of life, and at the same time he enjoys the advantage of having each department of his studies superintended by a professor who is specially qualified for the purpose. I have long held the opinion that no normal school should be planted, unless in a University town, and that as far as possible the students should receive their education within the walls of the University, and their acquaintance with the theory and practice of education within the walls of the normal school. But in order to induce our best youths to prepare themselves for the noble work, and thus raise the tone of education throughout the colony, numerous scholarships of a fair value should be offered, and I trust that the Board of Education will be enabled hereafter to offer such inducements to our young people. If we are to hold our own among the nations, our youths must be educated, and our schools placed under the charge of highly efficient teachers. During the early part of the session, when the students were taught in badly-ventilated rooms, a considerable amount of sickness prevailed among them; but, since they entered the new class-rooms, the ventilation of which has been properly attended to, their health has been very good. At my suggestion, the different rooms of the practising school looking towards the south have had their windows altered, and a good supply of ventilators afforded them; and I trust that the Board will soon see its way to have the whole school similarly supplied. The health of both teachers and children must be looked after, if good work is to be done; and nothing tends more to this than a sufficiency of fresh air in the rooms in which they are so long confined. There have been several changes of teachers in the practising department, and the vacancies that have occurred have been supplied by teachers who appear to me to be performing their duties faithfully. Likewise, on account of the change iv the system of employing the students in the practising school already referred to, it has been found necessary to add one teacher and two pupil-teachers to the staff; and" the work of the school has been carried on more to my satisfaction. I trust, however, that still better results will be produced than have been in the past, for I consider that a normal school should be found more efficient in education than an ordinary district school. I believe that both Mr. Kayner, the headmaster of the Boys' School, and Mrs. Patterson, the headmistress of the Girls' School, are striving to place the school in the forefront, aud I trust their efforts will prove satisfactory to the parents of the children and the Board of Education. I should wish to see a little better discipline in the Girls' School, some classes of which are not so perfectly under command as might be expected. Towards the end of the session, Mrs. Crowley, who has for two years conducted the kindergarten department, resigned her situation, giving, as required by her agreement with the Board, six months' notice. I would recommend that the kindergarten system be not carried out so fully as it has been in the past, because of its expense, but that a modified system of kindergarten and ordinary infant school