E.—l.

schools, of whom it is safe to say that the number holding certificates is very much larger than at any previous time. The following summary of Table E3 in the special report (E.-2) includes, however, all certificated teachers in the employment of Education Boards, whether engaged in primary work or in the secondary departments of district high schools, arranged according to sex and the class of certificate held.

Holders of Teachers' Certificates in the Service of Education Boards at 31st December, 1908.

The following table gives a comparative view of the number of persons holding certificates who were employed forms of public instruction on the 30th June of the years named. Comparative Table of Certificates held by Persons employed in Public Instruction, as at the 30th June.

Training of Three out of the four training colleges had yearjj|l9oß almost, if not quite, their full complement of students ; it is to be regretted that thef ourth college had less than half the full number it could accommodate. i The supply of trained teachers required to fill the regularly recurring vacancies, to staff new schools, and to improve the staffing of existing schools in accordance with the provisions of the Education can be maintained only if the numbers at the training colleges are maintained£at the highest figures ; otherwise, the vacancies must be filled with untrained or, partially trained teachers—a result it is desirable to avoid. The new regulations gazetted in December last increased the number of students who may be attending a training college at any one time from eighty to a hundred, the increase being called for by the new scale of staffing. The same regulations also increased the inducements to pupils from secondary schools to enter the teaching profession by giving to all students in Division B (non-pupil-teachers) living away from home the additional allowance of £30 a year formerly paid to only four of such students entering in each year ; the scale of payments to the staff was revised, giving salaries that are at once more liberal, and yet graded in accordance with the Amendment Act of last session; in order to increase the opportunities for the child-study that forms so important a part of the training-college course, permission was given to each institution, with the sanction of the Minister, to establish a small kindergarten division for a limited number of children between three and five years of age ; and the course of study and training was further defined, with a view to ensuring that subjects essential to a teacher should not be neglected. It may be necessary

13

Class of Certificate. M. P. Total. A B C D E 27 114 289 631 129 7 42 -105 773 417 34 156 394 1,404 546 Total certificate-holders (December, 1908) 1,190 1,344 2,534

Class. Number of Certificate-holders in each Year. 1909. 1908. 1908. 1907. 1906. 1905. 1904. A ■ i 99 266 544 1,442 555 94 232 415 1,479 595 87 208 294 1,593 642 86 201 197 1,650 721 83 198 172 1,499 794 75 190 151 1,251 907 I) E Totals, Classes A, B, C, and D ... 2,351 2,220 2,182 2,134 1,952 1,667 „ A, B, C, D, and E 2,906 2,815 2,824 2,855 2,746 2,574