33

E.—lb

Oamaru District High School.

At the Tokomairiro District High School a large amount of extra work has been done. The mathematical subjects have been taught with very great success, and the pupils have made rapid and sound progress in the different branches studied. In English and French very fair results have attended the teaching. The Latin classes were somewhat weaker than the others. The translations were for the most part feeble, and the accidence, though well known by some, was on the whole backward. At the Lawrence District High School the Latin papers were very well answered. There has been a steady improvement in the teaching of this subject. Very satisfactory results were found both in French and in English. The algebra and geometry have been on the whole very successfully taught. Though the work was not so advanced as that at Tokomairiro, it will bear favourable comparison with the latter in accuracy and intelligence. 1 have, &c, Donald Peteie, M.A., The Secretary, Otago Education Board. Inspector of Schools.

SOUTHLAND. Sin,,— Invercargill, 27th February, 1882. I hare the honor to forward my general report for the year 1881. At the end of the year G3 schools were in operation. Of these, 62 were inspected and examined; and one, owing to the fact that it was not open til! after July, was onty examined : a few of them were inspected more than once. The schools are generally well supplied with maps, black-boards, &c, but these articles are not, I regret to say, in all cases so well taken care of as they should be. Black-boards are not properly cleaned, and maps are allowed to get into bad condition for want of a tack or two or a little paste. Locks of doors, fences, &c, too, might often be kept in good order if teachers would not be above turning a screw or driving a nail occasionally. Except in a few places very little has been done in the way of beautifying the school-grounds, which are for the most part veritable wildernesses. Teachers are somewhat migratory in their habits, and few appear to care to sow what others may reap : the result is, of course, unfortunate for the school glebes, the pupils, and, it may be added, the teachers themselves. When my last report was written, of the 80 teachers employed by the Board 24 were unclassified. At the end of the year now under review 84 teachers were employed, and of these 20 were unclassified ; there was, therefore, a small increase in the percentage of unclassified teachers. Several of these teachers presented themselves at the recent examination, and thus afforded evidence of their desire to escape from their present unsatisfactory relation to the Education Department. Many of our schools have suffered, and some are still suffering, from the scanty knowledge of their teachers; and children are losing time that can never be redeemed, and contracting mental habits that will follow them through life. They leave school at thirteen or fourteen years of age with but little power of concentration, of induction, and of observation, with only the slenderest knowledge of the language they are to speak and write through life, but with tolerably fixed habits of mental indolence and inattention. To an earnest man this is a very serious affair; but upon the minds of some that undertake the office of teacher the responsibility appears to sit very lightly. During the year I paid a great deal of attention to the work of the pupil-teachers; and I am bound to say that in only a very few schools do these teachers get sufficient instruction iv the art of teaching and class management. I know only one school in which model and criticism lessons are systematically given ; and, as might be expected, each of the pupil-teachers in that school is as good as an average assistant. The work of pupil-teachers requires continuous watching; no errors in methods and management should long escape the head-teacher's vigilant eye; and, of course, none should go unconnected. But it is not enough to say " That is wrong" and " That is wrong": the reason why it is wrong should be pointed out, and the head-teacher should take the junior's class for a few minutes to show how the correction is to be practically carried out. Nor should this be an occasional thing: it should be repeated as often as the errors are repeated. In the pupil-teacher system I have the fullest confidence, if head-teachers will but keep steadily in mind that not the least of their duties is to make teachers of those intrusted to their training. The comparative tables I. and 11. show that our schools are, on the whole, steadily improving. 5—E. Ib.

Subject. Class. No. Taught. Work clone. jatin I. 3 Grammar; Principia Latina, Part II.; Anecdotes, Mythology, and History, Books I. and II. Principia Latina, Part I., to end of verbs. De Jardin's French Class Books; Charles XII. ; Racine's Athalie (last Act) ; and Translation of English into French. De Jardin's French Class Book, pp. 1-90, and 181-220. Richard II. Euclid, Books. I., II., and III. Euclid, Book I. To Quadratics. Todhunter's for Beginners, 13 chapters. Beginners. 'rench II. I. 11 7 Inglish J-eomefcry II. 5 Jgebra I. I. II. I. II. III. 9 5 7 3 6 li)