95

E.—l

special knowledge of the circumstances, supplemented by the local knowledge of School Committees, to make the best possible arrangement in each case. Training College.—Under the regulations for the conduct of training colleges, the College controlled by the Board for thirty years has become almost, if not entirely, a Government institution. It is true the regulations set out with the declaration : " The Education Board of any district in which any training college is situated, hereinafter called the ' Board,' shall have the entire control and management of such college, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained " ; but " the provisions hereinafter contained " provide for eve cything that is essential to the control and management, and divest the Board of every shred of real authority. The relation of the Board to the training college is precisely that of a Committee to the school of its district, and the Department is to training colleges what the Education Board of a district is to the schools of that district. That, it seems to the Board, exactly defines the position in which the Boards are placed by the regulations. Realising as it did and does that a single examination is not always an adequate test of a student's acquirements, and, above all, that a teacher's personality is of greater importance than are his literary qualifications, and that personality cannot be tested at all by a written examination, the Board proposed that the teacher's certificate should depend not solely upon a single written examination applied by the Department at the end of the year, but in large part upon the results gained in class and college examinations conducted by the principal and his staff during the currency of the year, and that the judgment of the principal as to the fitness or unfitness of a student for a teacher's certificate should be the chief determining factor in the classification of the students under his charge. Regulations to give effect to this proposal were submitted to the Department ; but neither the one nor the other found favour there. It would, the Board considered, be a great boon to settlers living remote from surgical aid to have among them a person capable of administering first aid in cases of accident, and accordingly recommended that skill in this branch of work should be allowed to count a pass for a teacher's certificate ; but the recommendation was rejected by the Department. Recognising the importance of what is implied in " nature study " and the impossibility of its adequate treatment by teachers who have done little or no field-work, the Board recommended that the following course should be substituted for some of the work at present prescribed for the teacher's certificate : (a.) A course of experimental work in elementary physics and chemistry extending over the winter session, (b.) A summer course of outdoor studies having for its subject-matter the meteorology, physical geography, geology, and plant and animal life of the district. The plant and animal life may be made the chief subject of investigation, but the relation of the others to it must be kept in view ; and, as opportunity offers, the attention of the students should be directed to significant facts irrespective of the branch of nature-knowledge to which they are related. Every outdoor excursion should have a definite purpose, and should be carefully planned beforehand ; and accurate notes should be made by the students of what they observe in the field. The notes made and the objects collected during the outdoor excursions will furnish material for study in the lecture-room. To this, as to the other proposals made by the Board, the Department answered : " It does not seem practicable or indeed desirable at present to alter the requirements for teachers' certificates in the way suggested by the Board." Of the recommendations made by the Board, one was adopted, the recommendation, namely, that the bursary for trainees who have during their training to live away from their homes should be greatly increased. Sixty-two students entered the College at the beginning of the session ; one retired during the year, leaving 61 on the roll at 31st December, 1905. Twenty-nine were in their second year, and 32 were in their first year, as follows : First year, 2 males and 30 females ; second year, 2 males and 27 females. Fifty-three of the students attended classes at the University. Eight students who had not passed matriculation were not required to undertake University work. Finance. —A statement of the Board's income and expenditure for the year is given below. The sum expended in teachers' salaries, including house and lodging allowances, was £61,649 6s. sd. ; the amount paid to School Committees for incidental expenses was £5,848 Is. 7d. , the amount expended in the erection, enlargement, and improvement of school buildings and the purchase of sites was £7,965 16s. 6d. The receipts for school buildings include grant for maintenance, £8,407 6s. , special grants for new buildings, £2,970 10s. , house allowances to teachers, £431 18s. Id. ; local contributions, £116 15s. 4d. ; deposits on contracts, £148 6s. 6d. ; special grants for technical-school buildings, and furniture, fittings, &c, for same, £895 19s. : total, £12,970 14s. lid. The main items of expenditure on buildings were : General maintenance (repairs, alterations, and small additions), £4,375 18s. ; rebuilding, £119 2s. 7d. ; new buildings, £3,470 15s. lid. ; house allowances, £432 2s. sd. ; for manual and technical purposes, £599 ss. Id. At the end of the year the credit balances were :On Buildings Account, £312 15s. sd. ; on General Account, £6,474 4s. : total, £6,786 19s. sd. Against this credit balance of £6,474 4s. on General Account there were various liabilities on account of primary-reserve rents, technical classes association, training college bursaries, and general purposes amounting in total to £5,123 11s. 4d., leaving the available credit balance £1,350 12s. Bd. By order of the Board. The Right Hon. the Minister of Education, Wellington. F. G. Peyde, Secretary.