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E.—ic

made an independent institution under a headmaster. Miss McArthur was appointed to assist Mr. Hardy in the advanced work of the secondary department. At the beginning of the year the Board appointed Mr. David Stewart as headmaster of the Model School. In this capacity he is proving himself a very skilful director of this very important part of the Training College course of training. The work of the Training College, as seen in the Model School, the Practising School, and the Training College proper, has gone on most harmoniously. No difficulties have arisen, no friction has been found anywhere. We have had a fairly large enrolment this year, the numbers in attendance being as follows: Second-year students, 24 women and 2 men = 26; first-year students, 41 women and 8 men = 49 : making a total of 75. One of these left before the end of the year; our daily roll was thus 74. The attendance has been very regular, excepting during the month when the influenza got hold of a number of the students. All practical work, too, was interrupted for nearly a month by an outbreak of measles among the pupils. The attendance at University classes: Of the 74 students, 68 attended the University of Otago: the others had not matriculated, and I thought it better that they should join the matriculation class of the secondary department than that they should make any break in their time by going to the University. The following are the numbers who attended the University: Latin, 27; English, 26; mental science, 28; history and principles of education, 26; French, 6; physics and mechanics, 2; mathematics, 4; German, 1; economics, 1; rhetoric and composition, 10. At the term examinations 12 students were placed in the first class, 38 in the second, and 32 in the third class. It will give a better idea of their University work if I state that, of 58 who attended two or more classes, 49 kept one year's terms. I consider this most satisfactory when we bear in mind that so much of a student's time, especially in the first year, is spent at the purely technical subjects of instruction—drawing, singing, science, handwork, sewing, gymnastics, and practice in teaching—and in attendance on observational and criticism lessons. I may say that it is recognised at the University that the Training College students have acquitted themselves very well, not only sharing in the Honours list, but taking an active part in the various social institutions of the University. The Stuart Prize Poem was awarded to one of our first-year students, Miss Violet C. Farnie. The following have been preparing for the Honours and Degree Examination of the New Zealand University: For the first section of the degree, 6; for the B.A. degree, 5; for the M.A. degree, 3. The examinations were held in November, and the results will not be to hand for some time yet, but I give the list of those preparing for the examination to show the status of the Training College students. It is gratifying to find so many proceeding to graduation. Most of them are looking forward to teaching in secondary schools. Training College Bursaries. —The following are the scholarship-holders for the year : Second year —Miss H. K. Dalrymple, Miss Amelia Jennings, Miss Kate Kibblewhite, Miss DeLambert, and Miss Gunn; first year, 1906 —Miss Rhoda Collins, Miss Ann Steel, and Miss Alice Pryde. The Examination of the Students. —The results of the examination for the teachers' D and C certificate for the year 1905 are as follows: D certificate--Misses Hartstonge, Kenyon, Lear, Middletou, 'Smith, Gunn, Thomas, Weir, Salmond, and Wilson. Partial D—Mr. Borrie, Misses Blackie, Bremner, Campbell, Dull, Darling, DeLambert, Gordon, Hammond, Kibblewhite, Kyle, Lyders, Mathieson, Meston, Rennie, Sinclair, Swan, Ure, M. Middleton. These candidates—most of them, at least—failed in drawing only; otherwise they would have obtained a full D certificate. C certificates — Misses Botting, Clappertou, Dalrymple, Kerse, Jane Lindsay, Janet Lindsay, Mary E. Sims. Passed in five subjects for C, Misses I. Allen and Mitchell; passed in four, Misses Blair, Long, Kerr, and Valentine: and in three subjects, Miss Skinner. Special mention —that is, those that obtained 80 per cent, or over of the attainable marks: Class D—Geography, Miss Middleton; physiology, Miss D. Robertson; hygiene, Miss D. Robertson; methods of teaching, Miss J. B. Wilson: Class C —Theory of education, Miss Catherine Clapperton, Miss Janet McLeod, Miss Sim; logic and psychology, Miss McLeod; singing, Miss Jane M. Meston. Seven students in all were placed in the Honours list. Out of all the candidates presented I think only some two or three failed completely. The Art and Method of Teaching. —A. The Junior Class : The 74 students were divided into two groups, of which 38 were considered as in their first year and 36 in their second year. We have this year come very near the maximum number (80) possible under the Training College regulations. Seeing this, I endeavoured to find out, by keeping very accurate records of all the lessons given by the students and the staff, how best to utilise the time available for giving so large a number — nearly forty—as much training and practice in teaching as the time-table would allow. The records show (a) the number of lessons given by each student, (V) the kind of lesson, (c) the standard, class, or division in which the lesson was given, and (d) the time given to each lesson. From these data I am enabled to say how many hours per week can be allotted to practice in teaching to our first-year students if not more than, say, forty students are enrolled in the first year, assuming, of course, that all first-year students are put through the first-year course, and not promoted to the class of senior or second-year students. One other problem in the successful working of the Training College requires solution: What is the value by way of training of mere observation and criticism lessons? I am convinced of this: that many students see nothing, or next to nothing. What they have seen is apparently turned to no purpose when they are asked to take the class in hand and deal with the same or a similar lesson. What is true of the pupil is also true to a large extent of the student—he stares, but does not see with the understanding eye. I have changed my methods in taking observation lessons to prevent students falling into this imn-seeing attitude of mind, but mv method is such a slow one that it has reduced the number of lessons given under this heading, and classified as "observation" lessons. The "criticism"