E.—lb

46

had not a single question in arithmetic correct, even when the rest of the work was of a satisfactory character. I am anxious that this point should be clearly understood, to prevent the hasty inference that the efficiency of the teaching in some of the standard classes is deteriorating because the percentage of passes in these is this year somewhat lower than it was last year. The fact is, the standard has changed in the interval, and, as things now stand, a slightly lower percentage need not—and in the present case does not —imply any decrease of general efficiency, and is even compatible with an increase. The improvement in the work of the large and important classes in Standard IV. has been as gratifying to my colleagues and myself as it must be to all who wish well to our public schools. The percentage of marks for class-subjects (60) is fully as high as could be expected, and the average of additional marks is also satisfactory. Some have feared that ranking certain subjects of instruction as class-subjects would lead to neglect of them, and in certain districts a bonus is paid to teachers who gain more than half marks in class and additional subjects, to stimulate attention to them. So far, I have not observed any noteworthy neglect of the subjects so ranked, and in a great many schools the preparation of them has been quite as good as formerly. I would draw special attention to the fact that, out of 12,488 pupils examined in standards, only 360, or less than 3 per cent., were excepted because of irregularity of attendance. A large number of pupils passed who would have been excepted on this ground had they failed. It will be interesting to notice whether the percentage of exceptions will increase in years to come. Hitherto in this district all who were presented had to take their chance of passing or of failing. I have always been strongly opposed to the recognition of a sort of purgatory where pupils who have neither passed nor failed can be shelved for an indefinite number of years. I hold that the official recognition of exceptions must exert a bad influence on teachers and on pupils too. It practically exempts teachers from responsibility in connection with all pupils who have made less than half attendances, and may tempt some to wink at or even promote irregularity. If a boy is dull and careless and likely to bring discredit on the school the temptation to wink at frequent absence may very well prove strong. lam confident that nine-tenths of the teachers in this district would prefer arrangements that would not expose them to such a temptation. The effect of the system of exceptions on pupils who attend irregularly is equally objectionable. It tends to encourage neglect of their education, when circumstances of health or fortune or character demand that they should receive special care and attention. In its every aspect it seems to me baneful and wrong. I trust and believe that the great majority of teachers will do their duty by the unfortunate children who are liable to be injuriously affected by it, and that they will themselves gain moral strength by scorning to yield to sordid temptations. But the trial is fraught with, danger. Throughout the year the examination reports have been made out according to the now prescribed form, and their interpretation has exercised the minds of members of School Committees and of others interested in education not a little. In considering them it has been found difficult, I believe, to see the wood for the trees. If a numerical estimate of the efficiency of schools is desirable, and 1 do not for a moment doubt that it is, it should be such as will show their comparative efficiency in a way that is simple and easy to interpret correctly. It may well be doubted if the present system of estimating efficiency possesses these important qualities. The percentage of failures, taken in conjunction with the percentage for class-subjects and the additional marks, will afford a fair means of comparing school with school, bearing in mind the fact that the lower the percentage of failures the higher is the efficiency. To any one but an expert the percentage of passes is almost certain to be misleading. Contrary to what might be expected from the names, the percentage of passes stands in no direct relation to the percentage of failures, but is very largely influenced by a variable quantity —viz., the number of pupils not presented in standards, which is wholly ignored in determining the percentage of failures. To all outside the ranks of teachers and Inspectors the connection between these percentages must appear highly mysterious. Take the cases of the following schools : — Q , , Percentage Percentage bcilooh of Failures. of Passes. (a.) ... ... ... ... 27 ... 58 (b.) ... ... ... ■ ... 10 ... 58 (c.) ... ... ... ... 2 ... 58 Here the same percentage of passes (58) appears alongside of percentages of failures ranging from 2to 27. A layman may well ask what he is to make of these figures. An expert will tell him that the percentage of failures measures, in a rough-and-ready way, the efficiency of the schools ; while the percentage of passes is, for this purpose, quite meaningless. From the latter he may infer that the proportion of pupils presented in standards has varied widely in the three schools, but only that, and nothing more. I sincerely regret the new departure made in this matter. It casts to the winds a feature that has proved a potent stimulus to improvement, and has with us served the objects which payments by results is designed to serve in some other colonies : I mean the practice of assigning a single number or percentage as a measure of the general efficiency of a school. Can we afford to discourage the spirit of competition, which was undoubtedly fostered by that simple expedient, which, whatever its faults, did vastly more good than harm ? Year by year the number of schools waxes larger and larger. It now takes more than six months of the Inspector's time to conduct the prescribed examinations in standards. About a month and a half are occupied with preparing questions for the standard, scholarship, and pupil-teachers' examinations, superintending tlie two latter and examining the answers, and in preparing the statistics for the year. Barely four months are thus left available for inspection, and it has become impossible in many cases to allow more than half a day to the inspection of a single school. For nearly eight months of every year the schools in this large district are practically